Kobo’s latest E Ink ebook readers, the Kobo Glo and Kobo Mini, are now available from certain retailers in Canada and the United Kingdom, and possibly some other European countries will be getting them soon too.
Neither of Kobo’s new ereaders have reached the United States yet, however. Best Buy has them listed but they aren’t available for purchase or even pre-order yet. The delay really isn’t surprising because this always seems to happen in the US every time Kobo releases a new gadget—there must be some reason behind it.
Update: Speak of the devil, as of this afternoon Best Buy has the Kobo Mini in white and black available for order now.
In Canada you can find the Kobo Glo and Kobo Mini at Indigo Music & Books, Future Shop, and Best Buy. In the UK they are available from WHSmith.
The Kobo Glo is a 6-inch ebook reader that comes equipped with a frontlight for reading at night, much like the GlowLight Nook Touch and new Kindle Paperwhite. It sells for $129 in the US and Canada, and £99 in the UK.
The Kobo Mini is a smaller ebook reader with 5-inch screen and no frontlight, although it does have a touchscreen. It sells for $79 in the US and Canada, and £59 in the UK.
Kobo’s new tablet, the Kobo Arc, is not available yet. It’s expected to start shipping in November.
Once Kobo’s new ereaders become available in the US I’ll post the usual reviews and walkthroughs. And it will be fun to compare the frontlight on the Kobo Glo with the Kindle and the Nook. Stay tuned for more.
Hello ..
Thanks a lot for these information.
ehm .. Would you please make a comparison between Kobo Glo and Kindle Paperwhite?
I’m very confused..
I also want to ask about Kobo Glo, can I turn off the light completely?
Yes on both accounts :).
Hi Nathan Best Buy website is showing that the Kobo Mini in black is now available for shipping.
Sorry Nathan missed the update above before posting.
Just for info:
I live in Italy and Kobo sells thru Mondadori (the largest italian editor)
http://www.inmondadori.it
They claims shipped before oct.15, mine was already shipped.
Price are ok, eergh… including VAT obviously 🙁
I am really looking forward to Nathan’s comparison video between the Kobo Glo and Kindle Paperwhite. From the videos I have already seen on YouTube, the Kobo Glo has an extremely uniform lighting feature. I am most interested to know if their light guide interferes with text contrast/boldness in anyway. Amazon has done a great job of making the Paperwhite’s high-res text appear sharp and bold, despite the light guide. As I have mentioned before on this blog, my Kobo touch had the worst text boldness and contrast of any new eReader I had ever used. I’m hoping they have given their text more punch in there new firmware update.
Sorry for my english.
Just received today my Kobo Glo “silver”.
Let me says I’m amazed: totally uniform light (apparently a little “blueish” and visible on the bottom: Kobo put a black line, only with lights on, on the bottom for this reason, if you disable the black line you see a little “wave”), amazing interface and social network connection, ultra-responsive touch and, just for extras, chess and other games inside. 🙂
I have not the possibility to test the Kindle Paperwhite (a no-no for Europe) however I’ve used the Kindle4 for 8 months and now… ok .. this is another planet.
IMHO for the moment I’m really enthusiast, just want to share with you.
You know, I have had my Kobo Glo for a week and a half, and I never even noticed the “wavy line” at the bottom, or figured out why Kobo put that grey bar there when the light is on. Tells you how inconspicuous the wavy line really is.
My biggest gripe about the Glo is that I find page turns to be rather erratic. I often find I have top tap multiple times to effect a page turn which is very annoying… I have ordered a Kindle Paperwhite as a potential replacement to the Glo but in light of the latest admissions by Amazon, I’m wondering if this is such a good idea.
I hope Kobo brings out a firmware update soon…