As of yesterday, October 1st, the new Kobo Aura H2O ebook reader is now officially available for purchase online at Kobo.com and from some retail stores.
In Canada, the Aura H2O is available from Indigo, Best Buy, and Future Shop. It’s also available in Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands from retailers on this list. In the UK, Argos is expected to be getting some in shortly. The Aura H2O will be arriving in France and Spain soon as well.
Kobo has no retail partners in the US anymore, so Kobo’s website is the only option. Sometimes you can get them through select indie bookstores but it’s really hit or miss finding any that carry Kobo ereaders.
Pre-orders started shipping on September 29th. At least that’s what one would assume. Kobo doesn’t actually provide any shipping information or a tracking number, but they did send an invoice that indicates the Aura H2O is on the way, with 7-10 day ground shipping.
I ordered one to review and figure it will get here sometime next week, which is good timing since new Kindles are arriving today.
It will be especially interesting comparing the Kobo Aura H2O with the Kindle Voyage when it gets released on October 21st. This is going to be a fun month full of reviews and comparisons with all these new ereaders arriving!
I’m particularly interested in side by side comparison of the new 6.8″ Aura H2O (Carta screen 1080×1430) and the 6.8″ Aura HD (older Pearl screen and nearly same resolution … 1080×1440)
I’d prefer the H2O model, but not at the expense of clarity and readability.
If the readability is the same, the I would expect Kobo to obsolete the Aura HD.
Thanks for the info. Now I just have to tell my wife that my Christmas (or Halloween) present will be the Aura H20. 🙂
My guess is that Kobo will obsolete the Aura HD once stock is depleted — there doesn’t seem to be any downside at all to the H2O and it is only $10 more than the Aura HD.
I was wondering if Kobo would discontinue the Aura HD too. They dropped the price down to $149 on their website, but it’s been listed as “Out of stock” for awhile now. I agree, there really doesn’t seem to be any reason to continue to offer it with the H2O out now.
Hi Nathan I was wondering if you ever received your Kobo Aura H2O and if so how do you like it ??
I have received the H2O. The review is getting bogged down because of the Kindles I received first. I like the hardware, but just like Kobo’s other ereaders the software keeps me from enjoying it. Right now I’ve got an ePub loaded up, and like always there’s a huge gigantic inch to inch and a half of wasted space at the bottom of every page. Line spacing won’t adjust, the sideloaded font I’m using isn’t rendering properly. So I load up a Kobo ebook instead (.kepub) and like always there’s spaces between every paragraph (which I personally detest but Kobo’s ebooks always seem to have them), and there’s still the obnoxious header and footer on every page, like I need to see the title of the book I’m reading on every single page. It’s amazing how Kobo can update the software every month and still nothing ever changes. Same story, different year…
Thanks Nathan for the quick update. I just wondered if it was taking this long to get it.