The cat is out of the bag. Kobo’s “new little hardware surprise” that they’ve been teasing on social media for the past couple months is a Bluetooth page turner with Kobo branding.
The new page turner is called the Kobo Remote, and it’s now listed on Kobo’s website, but it’s not available to order just yet. The release date is set for November 4th. The price is $29.99 USD, and it’s available in both white and black.
Kobo says the Kobo Remote is compatible with all Kobo ereaders that have Bluetooth, which includes all the current models and several of the older ones. It’ll probably work with other ereaders that support Bluetooth as well, if they’re set up to use page turners, unlike Kindles that support Bluetooth for audio only (the Kobo Remote will not work on Kindles; you have to use one of those clip-on page turners that touches the screen with Kindles).
Kobo says the new remote “pairs instantly with your Kobo ereader via Bluetooth with a single button press,” so hopefully that means Kobo has streamlined their software to work with the Kobo Remote.
The last time I tried to use a Bluetooth page turner with a Kobo ereader it worked well enough, but then Kobo’s devices are configured to automatically turn off Bluetooth whenever you turn them off, so you had to go to the settings menu and turn it back on and manually reconnect the controller every time you wanted to use it.
The Kobo Remote uses a single AAA battery. It supports Bluetooth 5.0. It has an ergonomic design, and it only weighs 36 grams. It has two buttons, but they don’t specifically say if it supports paging forward and back with both buttons, and they don’t say if it supports multiple functions for long-press and short-press. They say it also works with Kobo audiobooks, but with limited functions.
The price is on the high side for a remote page turner, but Kobo fans are sure to love it anyway. For those that like the idea of a remote page turner but want something cheaper, you can get an 8Bitdo micro bluetooth controller with more buttons and more functionality for nearly half the price. The green one is currently on sale for $16.79 and the blue one is $21.99. Those have been a popular choice to use with Kobos for a while now.
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