Software
Those who’re upgrading from Kobo Touch will
see that the interface of Glo is familiar. At the center of the home page is
the collection showing the cover of the recently-read books. Right above this
thing is Reading and Discover buttons, allowing you to turn off/on between the
reading pane and other panes that provide recommendations. There’s no special
reason so that this feature can’t be moved to the store, but obviously Kobo
wants it to be as simple as possible so that you will pay extra for the Dean
Koontz books. Along the top of the home screen are the icons for home, battery
life and a drop-down settings which provides date and time, Wi-Fi check box, more
accurate battery life readings, search and a notification showing the last time
you synchronize the content with cloud. Under this are the links to Library,
Store and Reading Life social network of Kobo. Along the bottom is the link to
your reading “Wish List” (which you can announce while shopping).
Those
who’re upgrading from Kobo Touch will see that the interface of Glo is
familiar.
Clicking Library will give you fine-tuning
options, allowing you to watch by Books, Newspapers/Magazine, review the book
and the bookshelf, which you can build form a local stored content. The parts
of Library are organized in a way that is easy to understand, listed with a
small cover image, author name, the % you have read and file format. On the
right side, 1 button allows you to open the book (you can also do this by
clicking the books), view the title info, erase it from the shelf or look for
similar books.
Clicking
Library will give you fine-tuning options, allowing you to watch by Books,
Newspapers/Magazine, review the book and the bookshelf
Reading Life is the attempt of Kobo to make
reading become more social and interesting – however, if you buy the electronic
reader, we think that at least you’re convinced that reading is unwinding. This
feature, which is also available on Touch, shows you how long you’ve been
reading, how many pages you’ve read, the number of books you’ve finished and
the % of the library you’ve read through. The service provides small, silly
award for your activities, some don’t require any effort (let’s think about the
“book lover” award you have thanks to buying Kobo). There’s also Facebook award
you can achieve when you link your Facebook, if you’re a type of person that
need to shows the world that you’re reading.
Reading
Life is the attempt of Kobo to make reading become more social and interesting.
On Extras, accessible through settings, you
will find some games (chess and Sudoku), and a sketchpad that allow you to use
the touch screen to write down notes and draw pictures with fingers. Below that
page is a link to the web browser, continuing the proud tradition of the
electronic reader which completely hides that feature. Of course, there’re
reasons – the modern e-ink tech is not build for web browsing – the page
refreshes many times throughout the scrolling process, the images don’t look
stunning and in the situation of Kobo, there’s no pinch-to-zoom, so you have to
count on a slider which always appears on the bottom to make things bigger.
That is to say, it will be there for your need.
Reading experience is pretty
understandable. By default, the pages are mainly monopolized by the text. On
top, you have book title, and along the bottom are the chapter number and your
process in that special part – we love to have more basic page number. Clicking
at the top right corner will crisp the page for marking. Hitting and holding
the text will underline it, providing a window with definition from Merriam-Webster.
Along the bottom, you will have options to add note or highlight, translate,
look for document case all over the book and post it on Facebook.
Clicking the screen bottom and 2 toolbars
will pop up. Along the upper part, you will see a home button, the % of text
you’ve read, battery life and a button for settings. Along the bottom are the
buttons for brightness (which only appears if you turn on the light), page
process (through a slider), text format and some additions features. Clicking
the format button and you will see 10 style of font and the size to choose, as
well as many options for line and margin.
Conclusion
One more time, Kobo has created a stable
small reader. Glo has features that help turning the last-generation Touch into
a good device, this time combined with front light tech that may be the best
among the group. UI is loss of words, Reading Life is not a money point that
the company seems to think so and it’s still not as comfortable for handheld as
Nook SimpleTouch with GlowLight. Then coming to a fact that the device releases
after a good start of Amazon and Barnes & Noble, both is 10USD lower that
it (with advertisement, in case of Kindle Paperwhite). However, the bright,
evenly illuminated screen of Glo provides excellent reading experience, making
it worth considering despite of the high price.
One
more time, Kobo has created a stable small reader.
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Info
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Price: $129
Advantages
·
Excellent front light screen
·
Expandable storage
·
Ultra-lightweight
Disadvantages
·
Unimpressed design
·
Feel a little cheap
·
More expensive than the rivals
Key point
·
Kobo has a stable reader in its hand, but the
company may have missed the train.
Technical
specs
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Size: 114 x157x10 mm (4.5x6.2x0.4 inches)
·
Weight: 185 g (6.5 oz)
·
Processor: 1 GHz
·
Display: 6" XGA Pearl E Ink touchscreen;
1024x758 resolution; 16-level grey scale
·
Screen: Responsive touchscreen for glare-free,
fingerprint-resistant reading
·
Light: Built-in ComfortLight technology with
micro-thin hard coating for durability and even light distribution
·
Buttons: Power on/off, light on/off
·
Connectivity: Wi Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Micro USB
·
Storage: 2 GB* ; Option to expand up to 32 GB
with a Micro SD card
·
Battery: Over 1 month with Wi Fi turned off**;
Up to 70 hours of continuous usage with ComfortLight
·
Colors: Black Night, Pink Sunset, Blue Moon,
Silver Star; Each featuring Kobo’s signature soft quilted-patterned back
·
eBookstore: Over 3 million eBooks, newspapers,
and magazines / Over 1 million free titles
·
Kobo Everywhere: Kobo eBooks are stored safely
in the cloud - retrieve them at any time / Bookmarks and settings are
seamlessly synced across all your Kobo eReading apps and devices
·
Social Reading: Includes Reading Life - Track
your reading stats and share what you're reading, favourite passages, and
Reading Life awards to Facebook and Twitter
·
Kobo Picks: Brings readers personalized
recommendations based on their feedback and preferences
·
Fonts: 8 font styles with 24 font sizes and
exclusive weight and sharpness settings
·
Dictionary: Built-in dictionary
·
Notes, Quotes: Highlight text, type notes,
share to Facebook and Twitter
·
Advanced Features: Library personalization,
predictive search, brightness controls, double-tap PDF zoom in, SimpleTurn™
page turning
·
Open: Read almost any eBook on your Kobo Glo.
Supports ePub and Adobe DRM
·
File Types: EPUB, PDF, JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIFF,
TXT, (X)HTML, RTF, CBZ, CBR
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