On multiple occasions eBook-using friends have sheepishly admitted to us that they don’t actually know what they are currently reading because they never get to see the cover, as they would with a physical book. Some may find the latter limitation annoying, but we love the default setting. But we suspect that at least some users will find the hair-trigger auto-rotation annoying, and would appreciate a third setting for total lock in a single orientation.īy default, the Kobo uses the cover of your current book as the screensaver – indeed there aren’t any alternatives, so if you disable this option you just get a blank screen with ‘Sleeping’ or ‘Power off’ at the bottom. We habitually swap hands, and after prolonged use would probably choose to keep things this way even if another option was presented. Now, we can see why the makers wanted to allow users to switch from left- to righthand use very easily, even if landscape mode was not wanted. ![]() But locked mode, while preventing portrait mode from switching 90 degrees to landscape, still allows the device to rotate the full 180 degrees, and it’s so sensitive that it often flips upside-down when you put the device down on the table. It can be used in either portrait or landscape orientation (the latter designed to have the grip at the bottom), and there’s an option to ‘lock’ this. We mentioned earlier that rotating the device automatically rotates the screen, but we have a slight reservation on that count. ![]() There’s a good range of text customisation options: 10 fonts, and the ability to fine-tune text size, margin size and line spacing to an enormously granular degree. Tap the central third of the screen to bring up menu options, including brightness, text size, and chapter quick jumps. Select something to read from the My Books menu, then navigate by either tapping on the left or right side of the screen, or using the top (back) and bottom (forward) buttons on the grip. ![]() For folks who like to read on the go, it could be a nice digital companion to pack for a trip.As you would hope, the Forma is simple to use. The Kobo Forma is out in Singapore now for S$369, a slight discount over the sticker price of S$399. So, say no to disruptions, if you have been annoyed with Amazon of late. That’s handy if you are doing research and want to keep all the articles, for reading later on a plane ride.įinally, as a direct pitch to Kindle users, Rakuten also promises no advertisements. Another feature, called Pocket, lets you save Web articles for reading later. Plus, the close integration with Dropbox lets you browse stuff on the cloud easily. This means you can read a lot of your own documents along with the e-books on the Kobo store. It supports 14 file formats, such as EPUB, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, TXT and HTML. The good news for the Kobo Forma is that it offers flexibility. The Kobo store isn’t as populated with the format as Amazon’s Kindle. To be fair, the downside here is the lack of audio books, if you’re a fan of those. I’ve been a Kobo service user since I was using an early Samsung tablet several years ago, so I’ve liked the interface all this while. What about the e-books available? Well, the Kobo store is well stocked with millions of titles, whether you’re looking for recipe books or the latest bestsellers. With the separately available SleepCover (at S$69), the e-reader is an elegant, practical gadget to have when catching up on a book or two. ![]() This means it can get wet, say, when you are reading at the poolside in Bali or simply browsing recipes at the kitchen, and not get damaged.įor me, the device has few faults in its design. What I particularly like is the IPX8 rating that the Rakuten device comes with. Speaking of that, it helps to have up to 32GB of storage that will store thousands of books (though the Singapore store seems to only have the 8GB version on sale at the time of writing). Certainly, the device is well made and practical for folks who find themselves unable to put down a good e-book. That’s good enough for most users to use the device for weeks. Weighing just 197g, it is easy to carry in one hand, whether you’re lounging in the sofa or cramped in an economy seat on a plane.ĭespite its slim profile, the Kobo Forma sports a 1,200mAh power pack. The next thing is the lightweight construction. But the Rakuten Kobo Forma, out last month in Singapore, wants users to consider it as a viable alternative.Īmong the first things you’d notice about the device is the relatively large 8-inch screen that provides sharp text and great contrast for a comfortable reading experience. Talk about e-book readers and the first gadgets that come to mind are often Amazon’s Kindle devices.
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