Kobo Elipsa

Because I feel compelled to buy stuff I don't need for more money than it's probably worth, I just ordered a Kobo Elipsa. I already have about a dozen versions of Kindles, but I'm not too fond of the idea that Amazon can remove or edit books I have purchased and paid for, so I wanted to try something different. Kobo has less expensive models and at least one more expensive model, but I bought this one. I am also a little annoyed that books that I have already downloaded onto my Kindles often have to be re-downloaded when I want to continue reading them, which requires an Internet connection. With SD cards, I have plenty of room to store everything I have purchased on the device, yet almost nothing is being downloaded to my SD cards. I'll let you know what I think when the Kobo arrives.

 

I have NEVER had amazon remove any book that I have bought, ever. I have the option of storing them in the cloud, or on the device, but even if they are in the cloud, they are still there and just need to be downloaded again.
They do update books, but that is usually small stuff like misspelling and stuff like that, and I have never had any books that were substantially different after being updated, that I know of.

If you are reading a book on one device and then start to read it on another device, you have to download it onto that device, but if you do not have WiFi , you can just turn on the hotspot on your phone to download it, I think. I have never tried to link an amazon device to my iphone hotspot, so maybe you can’t do that.
But if you know you are going to travel, it is easy enough to make sure any books you want to read are downloaded on the device you are taking along.

I looked at this on Amazon, and it looks to me sort of like that new Kindle e-reader, the Kindle Scribe, that you can use to make notes with. Are you saying that you can download your entire Kindle library onto this new ereader, like you can on the amazon Kindle ? I thought other devices could only use the kindle app to read Kindle ebooks ?

Looking forward to your review once you have this new device, @Ken Anderson ! !

 

There is a way to download Kindle books to the Kobo, but it doesn't look very easy, and I'm not interested in that. I'll buy new (different) books for the Kobo and read them on that device.

As for the Kindle, I have gone to a restaurant without my iPhone and found that I couldn't continue reading a book I had been reading at home only the night before. It would insist on re-downloading it, and more than once, I have tried to read my Kindle while my wife was driving and couldn't do it until reaching a place where there was a cell signal for my Hotspot, although they were books that I had previously downloaded. Kindle didn't use to do that to me, but it's a frequent problem now.

Insofar as removing books, there have been a couple that I know I had purchased that seem to no longer be on my devices. I know that they periodically remove books from their platform, either because they're not selling anymore or (perhaps) for political reasons. This is the same as with their movies. When given the option of renting or buying a movie, a few times I have opted to buy it because I figured it was a movie I'd want to watch again and because the sale price wasn't much more than the rental price, only to find that I no longer have access to them because Amazon has removed them from the platform. While I have bought countless books from Amazon, I have purchased only four streaming movies, and I have access to only one of them now.

So I'm looking for options.

 

I loved my Kindle for reading with, but it was just not simple to return a book and then get another book opened, at least no where near as simple as it is on my ipad; so I now just read with the iPad mini which is just a little bit larger than a Kindle fire 7” and a little bit smaller than the Kindle Fire 8”; but much lighter weight than the 8” Kindle.
Since I can do other things, like check email or answer texts and iMessages on any of the ipads, the Mini is handy that way, too, in case one of my kids message me (or Mr. Bobby sends me a picture of the kittens or a new Moonflower).

I have looked at some of the other cheaper tablets, but i really do not have any use for anything other than my iPads. But, being a Gadget Girl, I am always interested in hearing what someone thinks about a new device.
What I think that I love the most about reading on a kindle or kindle app, is the ability to look up words with the dictionary that comes with the app. Even if it is a word that I am familiar with, the dictionary also tells me the word origins, and I like learning about that.

 

The Kobo has physical buttons, like the early Kindles, and I prefer that.

 

My Kobo was just shipped, about six days after ordering it, and it is supposed to arrive on Tuesday. Once I've had a chance to look at it, I'll report back, and again after I've used it for a while.

 

Now that I've had a chance to view the Kobo and start reading a book on Kobo, I'll give my first impressions.

To begin with, one of the things I liked about the Kobo was that it had real buttons for turning pages, a feature I liked on the earlier Kindles that isn't on the new one.

However, I was initially looking at one of the less expensive Kobo versions. When I decided to buy one of the more expensive ones, I saw a wide physical space to the right of the screen and assumed (wrongly) that the buttons were there, as they were on the less expensive version.

But no, the Kobo Elipsa reserves that space for nothing other than the Kobo logo at the bottom. There are no physical buttons for the Elipsa other than the on-off button. That's not a huge deal, and it was my fault for not looking more closely.

It is supposed to automatically sleep and wake up (an option I have checked), but it doesn't appear to wake up automatically; I have to depress the on-off button to get it out of sleep mode. I may be missing something there.

Some reviews I had seen for the Kobo complained that they were noticeably flimsier than the Kindles, but I do not see that. It seems the equivalent of the Kindle in that respect.

Unsurprisingly, it comes in a box almost twice as large as would be needed to store the device and its accessories. Again, that's not an issue because it won't return to the box unless I decide to sell it.

Another complaint I read was that the clip that Kobo includes to store the stylus doesn't secure it well enough, and it keeps falling off. They may have fixed that problem because it appears secure to me. It may loosen up over time. I doubt I'll use the stylus often, but I could be wrong.

The case that comes with it is okay, but I wish they had included a flap that covers the screen, the part that's most likely to be damaged. It doesn't do that. It's a larger screen device, so I am not likely to be reading it in bed, which is when I am the most likely to drop an e-reading device.

Also, the case includes a flap that can be used to prop the device up for reading on a table or desktop, but, like similar Kindle cases, that only proves to be somewhat secure. It's not awful, but I do have some third-party cases for Kindles that are better than that.

I'd prefer that the on-off button be larger, but that's not a big issue.

As for the actual usage of the Kobo, I don't see anything to complain about there. It's easy to read the text in the daylight and the dark. Adjusting the backlight is easy to do. Although it uses virtual buttons, turning the pages is not complicated, as it can be done either by touching the right part of the screen or by swiping, as if you were turning the pages of a physical book. Unlike the Kindle Paperwhite, finding your way back to the home screen is easy.

There is an option for large print, but I am not yet at the point where I need that.

I don't think it will hold a charge as long as the Kindle Paperwhite, but it's probably equivalent to a Kindle Fire in that respect. So far, I am just judging from the charge indicator.

It comes with 32 GB storage, but no SD card slots exist to expand that. However, 32 GB will store a lot of e-books, and it will sync with Dropbox, which I have, which could be used to add additional storage and simplify the task of importing e-books not obtained through the Kobo store.

Shopping for new books via the device is not as satisfying as shopping via the Kindle store. For one thing, when searching for content via a keyword and, let's say, you find something you like on the 11th page of results; if you buy that, there is no easy way to return to the page you were on if you want to continue shopping via the same keyword. Instead, it is necessary to re-enter the keyword search and click your way over to where you were. An easy fix is to do your shopping on your computer since it's easier to navigate through a computer screen.

Overall, books seem more expensive on Kobo, which makes sense, given that it's a smaller platform. I have yet to do a lot of shopping on Kobo, however. I just wanted to get a feel for it. Kindle has some expensive books, too.

Like Kindle Unlimited, Kobo offers the option to access free books for a monthly payment, but it's more expensive. Unless I find other reasons to use my Kobo more often than my Kindle, that probably wouldn't be worth it.

It's too early to say with any certainty, but the Kobo store doesn't seem to be particularly limited. They have a nice selection.

Kobo has a self-publishing platform for e-books and audiobooks. It's not exclusive, so you can publish the same book through Amazon.

Overall, after reading only one chapter of one book and buying three, I like the Kobo well enough. However, I don't know if I like it enough to replace my Kindles.

 

It does have a screen cover. I put it on wrong. Installed correctly, it not only protects the screen but it will also put it to sleep automatically when I close the cover and wake up when I open it.

 

This stand, which is an Amazon product, works better.