My birthday gift this year from my family was any Kobo product of my choice. I ended up deciding that pre-ordering a Kobo Arc was the best course of action. While I liked the Kobo Touch and Kobo Mini, I really wanted to be able to read in low light. While I liked the Kobo Glo, I also was really intrigued by the idea of subscribing to Visio and reading magazines, or by downloading comics. A quick check through my family and friends resulted in the conclusion that an e-reader/tablet combo was likely the best option for me. It was time to stop relying on my 15" Macbook Pro as my only electronic device, and time for me to enter the brave new world of tablets.
Unfortunately, my physical book collection has gotten quite cubersome. I've already moved twice in the last 2 months, and it is entirely possible I might be moving again relatively soon. Trucking my 150+ paperbacks around just isn't a feasible option anymore, it takes away space that could be used for other things. An e-reader actually makes a lot of sense for me. The Kobo app on my iPod worked very well, but the main limitation was the comically small screen. This leaves me, currently, with my laptop. Given that I spend the majority of my time consuming content, not creating it, the laptop is probably overkill, not really that portable and not wholly neccessary. SO. Tablet. E-Reader. Together. 7 inch tablet. The Kobo Arc is exactly what I'm looking for, right?
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| An accurate representation of what it will look like in my ownership. |
Pre-order goes in. Plum Rewards are used. Money saved, everyone is happy. The Arc looks like a really impressive chunk of tech. Nice screen, Google certified, solid memory, good processor and running on a skinned Ice Cream Sandwich with a Jelly Bean update soon to come.
And then f***ing Google has to go and screw it up.
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| Hey, Brad, f*** you. |
The Google m*****f***ing Nexus 7. Google's newest salvo against Apple. It's running Jelly Bean. It's visually appealing. You can download a Kobo app for it. All of the Kobo books you buy are in .epub format, so you could use them with any reader. AND the Nexus line hired GSP to do advertising. No, seriously. When GSP tells you to go and buy a Nexus, you shut the hell up and go buy a Nexus.
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| Did ah stutter? |
But seriously: Here's the problem I have. Technically they match up very very well. Every review I've read of the Nexus 7 makes me want to go and buy one. The Arc is still a bit of a wild card, what with it not coming out for another 4 days. The Nexus has the benefits of astounding reviews, no lag time on OS updates and some pretty impressive reviews. The Arc looks like it will match up just fine.
I'm shamelessly nationalistic. I buy Canadian products just because they're from Canada. While Kobo is now owned by Japanese investors, to me it will always be Indigo's crazy foray into the e-reader world. It is based in Toronto. It is the only e-reader-centric company in existence that I know of. It is trying to prove that companies who focus on digital publishing can make it, and that it isn't only the tech industry heavyweights who can make a good product.
I really want to get a Kobo.
I'm also shamefully someone who wants to be "different" from "the crowd." Everyone is like "Muay Thai and BJJ! Awesome!" and my response is "I would rather do Sambo and Sanda or Savate." For a couple years there was a lot of "Krav Maga! Real fighting for real life! Yeah, Krav is amazing," and my response was to get into Filipino Martial Arts. Most people's first cars were Chevrolets, mine was a Saturn. When all my friends were getting XBoxes, I threw my money into Sony.
Apple is kicking the industry's ass right now. They really need some competition to keep them honest. I, personally, really want to be able to get a similar/superior experience off of a competitor, hopefully for less money. Because of this, I really need Android to be a legitimate competitor to iOS. This crazy experiment needs to succeed, if for no other reason than RIM's failure to be that competitor. How does this experiment succeed? It makes money.
I really want to get a Nexus 7.
So...bollocks. Ultimate first world problem. Two very comparable products each with merits both measurable and sentimental, where the primary difference between them is branding. The choice is actually which brand do I like more.
I guess on those grounds, I'll go with Kobo, it hits my heart strings better.
Besides, if it sucks then I can always sell it to a family member and get a Nexus 7 on my own dime.
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