I’ve been spending a lot of time reading on my iPad lately. While it’s great between all the potential apps for reading, there are times where it’s just not the best tool for the job. Although I hadn’t touched an e-reader in a while, I was looking forward to trying out the Kobo Glo HD e-reader after seeing it at an event.
The first thing that was notable about the Kobo Glo HD was the size. It has a six inch screen, with a bezel of about a half inch on each side. It was the perfect size and weight to hold in one hand and fit in the back pocket of my jeans easily. With the exception of sitting down, it was the perfect size to carry around without needing to bring something to carry it in.
The six inch screen is crisp and easy to read. The 1448 x 1072, 300 ppi resolution is crisp and easy to read. I never had problems reading the screen (except when I went to the smallest possible font size, but that’s more my eyesight than the screen), the writing was always crisp and clear, and any pictures on the e-ink page were as equally easy to look at on the screen.
The Glo HD gets it name from the ability to light up the screen using their ComfortLight technology. The backlighting on the e-reader screen are perfect for viewing in lowlight and dark rooms. The light gives it a white glow that can be adjusted by swiping up and down the left side of the screen. I had a habit of just leaving the light on at all times and it never affected readability, even in sunlight, and the battery was not negatively affected too badly.
The Kobo Glo HD has a battery life of up to two months. I never really tested out to see if it truly lasted that long, it has easily survived over a month of regularly reading with the light on whenever I read from it. Unlike having to charge my iPad every day if I were to read it as much as I did the Kobo Glo HD, the long battery life was perfect for getting through my books while commuting and traveling.
While Kobo has its own eBookstore, it also takes most e-reader formats. The eBookstore is rather comprehensive with over 4 million books. Additionally, the Glo HD can take PDF, ePub and Mobi files that can be loaded onto the device. I was able to read both books from the eBookstore and ones I loaded onto the device without any problems. I had a couple minor format issues with a file I loaded onto it, but nothing that affected readability in any way.
If there are portions of a book you like, you can bookmark, highlight, take notes, and share them online. When finding something you want to come back to later, it’s easy to mark passages or pages to come back to later, or make notes of – and possibly share on facebook. Additionally if there’s an unknown word in a book, highlighting it can bring up a dictionary definition to let you know what it means and how it would be pronounced.
The Kobo Glo HD is an excellent e-reader. It has the ability to carry thousands of books in the size of a small paperback, and I found it to be a great way to read. It is the perfect device for reading while commuting or on vacation, and a device I would definitely start carrying with me anywhere I would do some reading.
