Whenever Kobo gets set to release a new ereader, the details always turn up somewhere online from a small retailer before the official announcement is made.
And that’s exactly what’s happened again today with the new 7.8-inch Kobo Aura One. Most of the specs and a couple of pictures turned up on a Dutch website.
The Kobo Aura One does indeed have a 7.8-inch E Ink screen as earlier details had suggested, and it appears to have a flush glass screen as well.
That makes it the first ereader to offer a screen that size, although it’s not much different than a few devices that have 8-inch screens, but the bump in resolution is a plus.
The screen tech is E Ink Carta with a resolution of 1872 x 1404, which equates to 300 ppi.
Another interesting detail, the Kobo Aura One is waterproof and dust proof. If the translation is accurate, it’s more waterproof than the Kobo Aura H2O. The description says that it’s waterproof for 60 minutes in up to 2 meters of water (that’s double the time and depth for the Kobo Aura H2O).
Another improvement with the Kobo Aura One is it has 8GB of internal memory, double the usual, with 512 MB of RAM. Unfortunately it doesn’t have a memory card slot, so it looks like Kobo is doing away with those entirely at this point, this being the third new model in a row without one.
The battery life is rated at approximately one month—pretty standard. The weight is only 252 grams, which is pretty light considering the size. The 6.8-inch Kobo Aura H2O weighs 233 grams, so it’s not very much heavier.
Kobo is expected to officially announce the Kobo Aura One around the middle of this month so stay tuned for more details.
via: MobileRead
Premium build, premium specs, much larger, waterproof, 300ppi and double the storage of the Kindle Oasis and something tells me it will be priced lower. Cant wait I just might order two of them!
The price was listed at 229 euros before they took it down. That equates to about $250 so it’ll probably be quite a bit cheaper than the Oasis, albeit without a cover.
As long as it doesnt need a cover to charge or stay charged im good. I can always buy a 3rd party cover later. $250 is an incredible deal with these specs.
Note that €229.99 is *including* the 21% sales tax (but not shipping). Without sales tax, that translates to $211.29 at current exchange rates.
That sounds even better!
Sign me up! It sounds like the ereader of my dreams. With 8GB of storage, I don’t think I’ll miss having a SD card much.
I’ll reserve judgment until I see reviews but absent some great new features, not having an SD card kills it for me. Might as well go back to Kindle when my H2O dies. What I love about the H2O is how I can keep everything on the card and be back up and running on a new device by just transferring the card. Sad.
Why would you go back to a Kindle when it actually has less storage at 4gb? The Kobo Aura One has 8gb..
Rick, owning a kobo in bbq the us is a pain. I cannot get a replcement overnight and i have to convert books from other sources that are more affordable including amazon. I do it because i like the open storage capacity and the system features. If memory is limited, even if it its twice as much as amazon i might as well use amazon with their cloud storage feature. I prefer kobo’s features but without the expandable and transferable storage amazon convenience will probably win out. Really a shame.
With 8GB of storage, the need for an SDCard kinda goes away for most folks, at least it does for me.
This looks like the device Amazon should’ve given us and I’m all too happy to kick Kindle to the curb as long as they make this available in the US.
They won’t make this available in the US but you should definitely try to kick Kindle to the curb anyway. The way they are price gouging is ridiculous with minimal improvements. Try to snatch this up either on eBay Or indigo. This will definitely be a day one purchase for me hoping that it will finally end my Kindle woes!
I agree Amazon should have released this product a year ago but unfortunately unlike Kobo they could care less what the customers want. Monopolies don’t listen to customers and I wouldn’t be surprised that they are still selling 6 inch Kindles years from now.
I find it interesting that we’ve come to the point where the default screen is frontlit, and there’s no longer any need to mention lighting in “Details” articles like this.
Typical only replaced my Kobo HD with H2O 12 weeks ago. But with this spec will get one asap. Nice to see a good not overtop pricing take note Amazon. if it had Bluetooth and wireless charging as well that would be perfect.
I would think the screen is a 8 inch but with waterproofing seals it would reduce screen area. Also seems to be a light sensor at top right hand side. is chess back? and no light symbol on screen.
Ugh. Is this reader ever going to be released? (-_-)
A review on the new Kobo Aura One 7.8-inch display
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/kobo-aura-one,review-3850.html
Cool. I guess that means I don’t have to spend $230 to review it now. 🙂
I miss the expansion memory card slot. Really, even with 8G RAM… I will stick to my AuraHD for a while.
This gutting of otherwise acceptable ereaders is disheartening. They’ve finally managed to improve the screens to a point where it really looks like paper, not an etch-a-sketch and they’re ripping out any semblance of descent storage capability.
I like to be prepared for times when I don’t have unlimited access to either the Internet or my stuff and the constant availability of books is paramount.
The only way to insure that is local storage, not cloud or even wifi.