# Kobo Glo HD on the way



## TheGapBetweenMerlons

After too much pondering and hesitating and vacillating and questioning and wavering and shilly-shallying and using the thesaurus to look up synonyms, I finally have a Kobo Glo HD on order. Not technically "on the way" (per the subject line) since it hasn't shipped yet, but the payment was made and the process was started.

Despite finally making a commitment to it, I'm still not 100% sold on it. In fact, after comparing it (to the extent possible online) with the NOOK GlowLight Plus, which is the same price without discounts, I suspect that I would like the NOOK more. So why not buy that, especially since I could get a discount as a B&N member? Basically it comes down to not wanting to support B&N's attitude toward indie writers.

As I see it, B&N has shown multiple times, such as by offering "POD" with zero distribution even within B&N, that they see indies as a source of revenue by selling _to_ them instead of selling _for_ them. Buying a device from them would just put the power of my money behind their dismissal of indies as serious business partners. (I'd already decided to not get a Kindle with the main motivation of supporting a competitive marketplace, so yes, I'm one of _those_ people who believes in "voting" (influencing) with my dollars.) Thus, the Kobo Glo HD it will be, although I suspect -- because I dislike the Kobo store -- that much of what I read on it will be sideloaded.


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## SusieQ

For what it's worth, I loved my kobo aura he. It recently went kaput, and I bought a kindle voyage. The voyage is a beautiful device, but, I really missed the font flexibility of the Kobo esp the font weight. Add to that the micro sd card in the Kobe, and yea, to me the kindle comes in second! Just my 2 cents!

Susie


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## TheGapBetweenMerlons

I'm pretty sure the model I ordered doesn't have a microSD slot, but that would be handy. I'm accustomed to having my content stored on and served from "the cloud," though, so it should work out well.

I'm intrigued by the Pocket integration, now that I've found myself using Pocket more. I don't manually add things the way most people probably do, but I send things of potential interest into it via IFTTT. It's a great way to filter things; anything that is not really interesting I delete right away, anything that will be temporarily interesting I read in Pocket to get the value of their clean presentation layout; and, anything that will be interesting long-term I "archive" in Pocket -- which triggers another IFTTT recipe to copy it to Evernote. My only concern regarding how the Kobo reader will factor into this is that I've read that "deleting" content on it doesn't delete it from Pocket, it just removes it from the device. If I can't find a way around that, I guess the reader will be used _just_ for reading content in Pocket but not managing it, which I'll still do on Android or the Web site.

Still no shipment notification. Now that I finally committed to it, I'm eager for it to get here.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked

Did you get it? What do you think of it?n I've been idly considering upgrading to the HD model.

Mike


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## TheGapBetweenMerlons

It did arrive a couple days ago. They never sent the shipping notification, so that's not good for managing customer expectations, but at least it arrived within the originally-indicated timeframe. It's not good, however, that the only reason I didn't contact them to ensure they hadn't lost my order was because I was too busy. That's not something a buyer should feel a need to do, and the inability to check order status without contacting their support staff is a major weakness compared to other modern e-commerce sites. (Buying a device and buying an e-book are handled through separate systems, and there is no "account" for the device side, unlike the e-book side.)

The device itself seems pretty nice. I don't have a lot to compare it to (i.e., based on my personal experience), as the only other e-ink reader I've used is my wife's Kindle Touch, and even that I've only used a little. I have more experience with Android tablets.

The display looks good (crisp, etc.), illumination looks even (no bright/dark spots), and the illumination control is good. The first time I used it, I noticed some inconsistencies in font weight that couldn't be explained by document settings, so it was the reader itself -- but I haven't noticed that since then. The USB connection seems poorly designed or implemented -- I can't explain it exactly, but I struggle to connect the cable whereas on other devices I have no problem. Not sure if it's an alignment thing or what. The power button is also more recessed than it should be with the amount of travel it needs to activate, so it's more of a challenge to use than it should be. (I went cheap and didn't buy the cover, which I understand handles turning on and off.) Typing on it, like for entering the WiFi password, searching, etc., is not very responsive, but that might be common for e-ink interfaces. Screen updates do a lot of blinking, which is irritating -- probably my biggest complaint so far device-wise. I don't remember seeing that on the Kindle Touch, so I don't think that's just an e-ink issue.

I have a lot of "suggestions" for Kobo about their overall e-book ecosystem, but I'm mostly liking the Glo HD so far. I've read one book so far (from Kobo directly) and am reading a second one (from Project Gutenberg), and reading seems fine. Some people have commented on slow page turns but I think they're at least as quick and responsive as the Kindle Touch. I don't have buyer's remorse, so that's a good thing.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked

I've had a Kobo Glo (not HD) for about two years. Mostly I like it a lot, but there are some rough edges here and there. I agree about the power switch. Having a cover with the magnet in it ameliorates the situation somewhat, since you don't have to use the power switch. I'm still looking for a good case for the Glo; the Kobo one is clunky and bulky.

It took a while for me to get accustomed to the way the touch screen works, it didn't seem to respond every time I touched it, but after a while, I guess we finally got on the same wavelength, as it is fine now.

One of the features I like very much is the ability to adjust the font weight with a slider. The fonts on my Voyage are all just a bit to thin for me. I also like the ability to adjust the line spacing and margins with a slider, as well as turn justification off. Unfortunately, some of these features are pretty much hit-and-miss if you side-load an ePub onto the device. The Kobo has two programs in it, one for reading ePub (books that are side-loaded), and one for Kepubs (books purchased from the Kobo store). The one for ePubs is definitely the step-child and has some bugs, and some of the customization features work on one side-loaded book and not on another

I also appreciate the way the Kobo can get the time from an internet server, which eInk Kindles can't do (despite my many complaints about this to Kindle CS). Amazon seems to be in a race to be as feature-free as possible as far as customization goes. This is why despite my having bought a Kindle Voyage early this year, I'm still considering a Glo HD. I may get one after the first of the year.


Mike


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## TheGapBetweenMerlons

As a little footnote to my comments about the Pocket integration, it is possible -- and relatively easy -- to delete content from my Pocket account using the Glo HD. This may have been a firmware update, since I'd read earlier reviews that said it wasn't possible. My only gripe is that I have to specify every time that I want to remove it from my account in addition to removing it from the device; ideally, it should either "remember" my most recent choice or let me set a default.


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## SusieQ

2 yrs ago in the spring of 2013, I bought the kobo aura hd. That device served me very well these past 2.5 yrs and recently the usb connection started not connecting. I use Calibre to manage my ebooks, even those purchased on Amazon. So I started looking at new readers. I currently have a voyage, a kobo aura, and the Kobo h2o will arrive later today. The clarity on the Aura is not as good as on the hd, and I'm told the h2o is as good as the Aura hd. Kobo offers the sd card, the slider bar for font size, weight, margins etc. Like jmiked, the extra weight to the font helps a great deal. I truly don't understand Amazon. They already offer so much, and they have the potential to be truly amazing, but it seems to me they have reached a certain plateau and just stopped. Anything Kobo does, Amazon could do. A waterproof ereader for under $200. Infinite font personalization, and yes, an sd card or at the very least a slightly higher storage option, 8gbs perhaps. In my area, WiFi away from my home network is hard to find. I have come to feel like Amazon has decided, here's what we're giving you, period. Even the new line of Fire tablets, why not keep the HDX line available and offer the other options too? 

The voyage is a truly beautiful device and a pleasure to read on. Just not sure it's pluses are enough for the price. When adjusting the fonts I get to a point where 1size is a tad to small, but the next font is a bit too big! I will make a decision after I see the h2o later today and 2 of the 3 will be returned. I know I am in the minority here, but I hope Kobo keeps on keeping on, if for no other reason than to keep Amazon on it's toes. Just my 2 cents. Crenel, I hope you and your Kobo share a long and happy partnership!

Susie


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## booklover888

Just a note - the Kobo Glo HD is on sale right now. Chapters in Canada has it for $99 + shipping, and the Kobo US site has it for $109 free shipping.

With the exchange rate, you will get it cheaper ordering from Chapters, even with shipping it should come to under $90. You probably won't get a tracking number or even a shipped notification, but you will receive it in a few days. I ordered mine from them (when the device was first available) and it was a great experience.

I have a Voyage but I also highly recommend the Kobo Glo HD.


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## SusieQ

Here's my update: the H2O arrived on Wed. Afternoon and I've already packed the Voyage & Aura to be returned. It's as nice as my Aura HD was, the waterproofing is just a bonus. So many little perks that suit me perfectly! I hope Kobo never gives up sd card capabilities, and I hope you enjoy your glo!

Susie


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