As if the black-and-white e-reader marketplace weren’t complicated enough, here comes another one. Borders’ new $150 “Kobo”, is the cheapest e-reader so far.
Available at Borders Books, the $150 Kobo features the same-sized 6-inch e-ink display as the $259 Nook from Barnes and Noble (which features onboard WiFi), and the $259 Kindle from Amazon (which features an onboard cellular link). Kobo does offer Bluetooth syncing, but uses USB as its primary way of getting books.
The Kobo weighs less than 8 ounces, holds over 1,000 books, comes with 100 classic ebooks for free. But it doesn’t have a wireless connection like the Kindle or a touchscreen pad like the Nook. The $150 device will ship on June 17 and is being billed as an ideal Father Day’s gift. Sony’s PRS-300 Pocket Reader is being sold for as low as $149 at some online stores, but has a smaller 5-inch e-ink display.
To download a book, you click on the Store button in the Borders eBook Desktop App. Then plug in your eReader to your computer to transfer your new book onto the device. The Kobo eReader supports SD cards up to 4GB, but does not support High Capacity (SDHC) cards.
The new Borders eBook store will open this month when the new Kobos becomes available You can buy an eBook at Borders.com or through their apps and download it instantly to your choice of devices—popular smartphones, eReaders, or your PC. Free Borders eBook apps are available for the Mac, PC, Blackberry, Android, iPhone, and iPad.
You can also use the Desktop App to load eBooks purchased from other vendors, provided that they support Reader Mobile Technology from Adobe Systems. Adobe Reader (formerly Acrobat Reader) is available as a no-charge download from Adobe’s web site, and allows the viewing and printing of PDF files.
Borders says more than a million titles will be available, everything from the latest New York Times bestsellers to classics.
Adobe added a text re-flow facility to its Acrobat Reader software, but the document must be marked for re-flowing at creation. Adobe Reader is Adobe’s product used to view PDF files; although third party viewers such as xpdf are also available.
Related e-book articles on Dailywireless include; Google’s e-Book Store, Apple Sells 1M iPads, Flash Support in Android 2.2, Battle of the eBooks, Dell Android Tablet for AT&T/T-Mobile?, Google Tablet: Android or What?, and Tablet Revolution!
