Review Date: September 2016 – Review unit purchased from Chapters.Indigo
Overview
The Kobo Aura One is the first ebook reader to feature a 7.8-inch 300 ppi E Ink display. It’s also the first ereader to offer a frontlight with adjustable color temperature.
Additionally the Kobo Aura One is the first and only Kobo ereader to offer built-in OverDrive support to download library ebooks from public libraries for free.
The device sells for $229 in the Unites States and $249 in Canada.
Kobo also sells their ereaders in the UK, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Japan, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, and Brazil.
Quick Review
Pros
- The large 7.8-inch screen size is a great alternative to all the 6-inch ereaders out there, and text looks crisp and clear with the high resolution 300 ppi E Ink screen.
- Built-in OverDrive support to download free ebooks from your public library directly without having to use a computer.
- The color tone of the frontlight can be adjusted to suit your taste from blue to yellow to orange, and it also has an auto adjusting sensor.
- Despite the larger size the Aura One is surprisingly lightweight and comfortable to hold.
- It’s waterproof, IPX8 rated.
Cons
- Touchscreen unresponsive at times, requires multiple taps.
- The auto-adjusting frontlight adjusts too much at times and can be distracting.
- Overall battery life is a bit less than other E Ink ereaders.
- Software laggy at times, especially with certain PDF files, images, and comics.
Verdict
The 7.8-inch screen and built-in OverDrive support make the Kobo Aura One one of the best ebook readers on the market, especially as an alternative to the 47 different Kindles with the same 6-inch screens.
However, Kobo’s software still lags behind the Kindle’s in terms of overall performance, and especially when it comes to advanced features and learning tools. Kobo has some advantages when it comes to fonts and layout options, but they just don’t seem to put much priority in software improvement and optimization, especially when it comes to sideloaded content (for instance, PDF performance is just as bad as it was 5 years ago), but for reading regular ebooks the Aura One is really solid. See this Kindle vs Kobo Aura One comparison for more details.
Kobo Aura One Video Review
Hardware and Design
By far the most impressive thing about the Kobo Aura One is the larger 7.8-inch E Ink screen. Most ereaders have 6-inch screens. Personally, I much prefer the 7.8-inch screen now that I’ve gotten used to it and I don’t think I can go back.
Even despite the larger screen, the Aura One feels very light for its size at 230 grams. That’s the second most impressive thing about it. You’d think that it would end up being a lot heavier with the larger display but it actually weighs less than the smaller Kobo Aura H2O. It also weighs less than the older Kindles like the Kindle Keyboard, so the weight really isn’t a negative factor at all. It’s much lighter than a comparable-sized tablet, like the new Fire HD 8 that weighs 341 grams, which is about 50% heavier than the Aura One.
Another cool thing about the Aura One is the premium design. It has a flush glass screen similar to the Kindle Voyage and original Kobo Aura. That makes it seem a little more tablet-like. The device is also very slim at 6.9mm. Most other Kobo ereaders are over 9mm so it’s quite a bit thinner.
The frontlight is another unique feature with the Kobo Aura One. It’s the first ereader to have a frontlight with adjustable color temperature. You can customize the screen tone however you want, from a brighter blue tone to a warmer yellow/orange tone.
Additionally, both the frontlight brightness and color tone can be set to auto so that the brightness and color will change depending on the amount of ambient lighting and the time of day. Personally I don’t care for the auto setting so I keep it turned off because it adjusts too much and it’s distracting while reading.
Overall the frontlight looks pretty good on the Kobo Aura One. No frontlight is perfect, however, and the Aura One is no exception. It has the usual shadowy cones at the bottom of the screen and you can see a color difference in terms of brightness when using the orange lights. Overall it’s not bad but I’ve seen better.
Another impressive detail about the Kobo Aura One is the fact that it’s waterproof. It’s IPX8 rated and can survive in up to 2 meters of water for 60 minutes.
On the negative side, Kobo has done away with memory card slots on all their newer ereaders. At least they doubled the storage space on the Aura One up to 8GB, with about 6.8GB usable.
It still has the same 1GHz processor and 512MB of RAM as all the other ereaders so nothing has changed there.
Initially after release there was a battery drain issue with the Aura One that would deplete the battery in a matter of hours (or overnight) but that has since been fixed for most devices with firmware updates. Still, the Aura One’s battery doesn’t last as long as other E Ink ereaders. The battery isn’t very large so the device is thinner and lighter—that’s the trade off. From my experience the Aura One’s battery lasts about 15-20 hours per charge.
Software
Kobo’s ebook readers all basically run the same exact software, so there really isn’t much to add that I haven’t already said before in past reviews of Kobo’s devices.
The main new feature with the Aura One is the onboard support for library ebooks from OverDrive. All you have to do is enter your library card number and then you can download free ebooks from your library through the Kobo store. It’s a really cool feature and is a lot easier to use than the old method that required a computer to sideload library ebooks. See this separate review for more details: Here’s How OverDrive Works on Kobo Aura One for Free Library eBooks.
Kobo’s software isn’t quite as user-friendly and smooth to operate as Kindle software, and there are more bugs and random problems, but Kobo software is more capable, versatile, and open to more customizations.
Lots of patches and custom mods can be installed on Kobo ereaders, thanks to the development community at MobileRead, even alternate reading apps like Cool Reader and KOReader can be installed. One of the more popular options is to use the full screen mode patch to remove the header and footer to get more screen space. However, with the larger screen I don’t mind the header and footer on the Aura One.
Kobo’s ereaders use a different kind of homescreen layout than other devices. Instead of listing just books, the homescreen shows tiles for all recent activity, including things like categories from the Kobo ebookstore, the web browser, and recommended titles in addition to recently-opened books. It also shows things like how many notes and highlights have been added to a book, along with estimated reading times and percentages.
There’s also the more typical library view that displays a list of ebooks. There are different sections for books, collections, and articles from Pocket. The library list offers cover view and list view, the latter shows more information, including percentage read, size and format. Sorting options include by recent, title, author, file size, and file type. Additionally, you can break it down further with the option to sort by all, reading, unread, purchased, previews, imported, and OverDrive.
One of the advantages with Kobo’s ereaders is they offer more font and layout settings than most ereaders. You can adjust the boldness of the text with Kobo’s preloaded fonts, plus you can sideload your own fonts. There are several margin and line-spacing settings, with a ton of font sizes.
Kobo Aura One Reading Features
OverDrive Support: Just enter a library card number and you can start downloading ebooks for free from your public library. The features is dependent on library participation, of course, but there are a number of libraries in the US that you can signup for even without being a resident of the state. This feature is supported by libraries in North America, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
Notes and Highlights: Hold down on a word and drag to bring up the option to highlight and add text notes using the onscreen keyboard. There’s an annotations list to view them. There’s no option for export, but they can be shared on Facebook.
Bookmarks: When reading an ebook, tapping the upper right hand corner adds and removes bookmarks. They can be viewed, shared, and edited from the annotations list.
Font Choices: The Kobo Aura One includes 10 fonts and over 50 font sizes. Font weight can be adjusted to embolden text. You can also sideload your own TTF and OFT fonts by placing them in a "fonts" folder on the Kobo drive, but you can’t adjust weight with sideloaded fonts. Pre-installed font choices include: Amasis, Avenir Next, Caecilia, Georgia, Gill Sans, Kobo Nickel, Malabar, Gothic, Ryumin, and OpenDyslexic.
Text Adjustment: All Kobo ereaders offer line spacing and margin adjustment for ebooks. There’s also the option to choose full justification, left justification, and you can turn justification off. These don’t always work with sideloaded books, however.
Dictionary: Holding down on a word opens a dictionary window. From there you can choose different dictionaries and translation dictionaries. 22 different dictionaries are available in the settings menu.
Search: From the library and homescreen you can search Kobo’s bookstore and your Library by title, author or keyword. You can run searches within ebooks for specific terms and easily navigate around the book using search, which is limited to 100 results. You can also highlight a word or phrase while reading and then choose to search Wikipedia or Google and a window will popup to open the browser.
Navigation: There’s a table of contents for navigating through an ebook, along with a page dial to jump by pages and chapters.
Reading Stats: Kobo ereaders offer reading stats that provide information about how long it will take to finish an ebook and chapter based on your reading speed. It shows book progress, chapter progress, average minutes per reading session, average pages per minute, total hours reading, and the percentage of total library read. There’s an indicator while reading that shows upcoming chapter length too. Works only with Kobo ePubs.
Reading Awards: There’s a section for reading awards. You can earn various badges for accomplishing certain tasks and goals. Works only with Kobo ePubs.
Beyond the Book: This used to show additional information about the author and key terms in Kobo books, with references from Wikipedia, but now it only displays related titles.
Pocket Integration: Kobo ereaders work with Pocket, a service that can send web articles that you’ve tagged online to your Kobo device. Plus the articles get reformatted to display better on mobile devices.
Sharing: You can share highlighted sections and notes on Facebook.
Landscape Mode: Kobo ereaders offer landscape mode for PDFs and comics but not for ebooks.
Language Support: The following languages are available in the settings menu: English, French, Canadian French, Japanese, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, and Turkish.
Partial Page Refresh: In the settings menu you can set E Ink page refresh from 1 to 6 pages.
Page Turns: In the settings menu there are different tap zones that you can set to page forward, back, and open settings.
Beta Features: From the settings menu there’s a beta features section, but it only includes a basic web browser these days. There used to be a sketch pad and some games but Kobo removed them.
Additional Kobo Aura One Reviews
- Kobo Aura One PDF Review (Video)
- OverDrive Library eBooks on Aura One
- Kindle vs Kobo Aura One Comparison Review (Video)
- Kobo Aura One Comics and Manga Review (Video)
- Tips for Buying Kobo eReaders in the United States
Kobo Aura One Specs
- 7.8-inch HD Carta E Ink display.
- 1872 x 1404 screen resolution (300 dpi).
- Waterproof for up to 60 minutes in up to 2 meters of water; IPX8 certified.
- Frontlight with ComfortLight PRO to reduce blue light.
- Capacitive touchscreen with 2-point touch.
- 1GHz processor with 512MB of RAM.
- 8GB internal memory.
- Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n.
- Supported formats: Adobe DRM, EPUB, EPUB3, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF, CBZ, CBR.
- Battery Life: up to 1 month, according to Kobo, but 1-2 weeks is a lot more realistic.
- Languages supported: English, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Brazilian, Portuguese, Japanese, Turkish.
- Weight: 230 grams.
- Dimensions: 195.1 x 138.5 x 6.9 mm.
- Price: $229 USD from Kobo.com.
Hi
Have you tried the Kobo with the official sleep cover?? Unfortunately I had to return mine. The cover would intermittently put the device to sleep and on occasion would activate the screen when closed.
When activated with the cover closed, the Kobo would not go into sleep mode as it would normally after a timeout period. This meant it would be left on all night causing battery drain.
The cover does not seem to be particularly very well designed or road tested. Luckily, I do not have this problem with my Kobo Glo HD, then again this may be related to the fact that the screen is recessed and not flush and so does not come into contact with the cover. Shame
Kobo after care were very good though.
No, I’m not a big fan of covers. I don’t like the added weight and size. I’ll probably just get a slip cover to stick it in when not in use.
Is there a night mode (white text on black) built in finally, or do you still have to use the hack that flashes in between page turns?
How bright is the lowest setting? Even with the hack, the screen on my original Aura is still brighter than I would like for reading in the dark before sleep.
They most likely will never add night mode officially, knowing Kobo. The light on the Aura One is pretty bright. I usually have it at 10% or less but I don’t have a problem with the lowest setting for reading at night, but it might be a little too bright in total darkness.
Hello Nathan,
Thanks for this nice review, I mostly agree with your observations. But I prefer to remove the header and footer.
Do you think that the problemen with the battery can be solved with a software update?
And do you plan a test with coreader ? I ‘m really curious wat the benefits of this programme are.
Kind regards,
Mo
I guess we’ll find out if they fix the battery on the 26th…
I’ll install KOreader and Cool Reader and post a review in couple weeks.
Great, I’m looking forward to it!
Collected mine today Argos in UK £189.99 over counter no postage. Had unit out of box 2 hours now.What do I think. Stunning display slim and light. The test reports, not just here do not do it justice.
Example the Front LED light actually provides information not just on bootup and its a designer square sided LED in keeping with design. It reminds me of the Sony PRS-T1 which was slim nice to hold and easy to use.Now letting it charge. Get one.
Okay, now here is a reader that tempts me to dump my rooted Nook Glowlight Plus. The ability to add additional fonts and reader software is why I bought a Nook I could root and this device has a larger screen too. Now all I have to do is find $230 in a hole in the back yard…..
It’s only like $200 USD if you order it from Chapters.Indigo since they charge is CAD. My credit card charged an extra 3% for a foreign currency transaction fee, but you can avoid that by using PayPal or a credit card that doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees.
kobo for the aura one why not produce a silicone case like they use to do?
Seems like the perfect partnership. Add a simi rigid cover?
I’m frustrated with the lack of availability! It was supposed to be available at the end of September, then in October, and finally on November 1st. It is now November 1st, and their listing says “Out of stock, available November 1st.” I just want to buy the reader!
Meanwhile it’s been in stock from Chapters.Indigo’s website for most of that time. It’s no use trying to figure out Kobo’s sales strategy….
Is Chapters an authorized retailer? Kobo only stands behind the warranty on their products if you buy from an authorized retailer.
Just checked the Kobo website, and yes, Chapters is an authorized retailer. I just never click on the Canadian link because I live in the US. If Kobo doesn’t open it’s availability on their website soon, I’ll probably have to order from a Canadian store. Hopefully the shipping won’t break the bank. It’s only to Washington state.
It’s actually cheaper to order from Chapters because they charge in Canadian dollars, even with having to pay extra for shipping. It works out to a little over $200 that way.
Available from Kobo now!
Looks like they are now available from the Kobo website! Better get one before they sell out!
Sold out again, but mine is ordered!
There is something weird going on with their website. in October I emailed them the day it said they would have more in stock. I was assured that they would open up sales. I have a app that checks when changes are made to websites . I was notified of a change and within seconds I was on the page, the only change was that they changed the date from October to Nov 1st. It was never opened up to allow users to purchase. Very frustrating.
I think I just might do that. I could be an old woman before they get their availability issues worked out.
Man, I won’t ever buy this (because I’ve already invested plenty of $$ into my Amazon ebook library) but I wish the Kindle has as many reading/font options. And the screensaver with the actual cover of the book is so cool.
First I bought a Pocket Book. Then two Kobo Touch followed by a Glo-Lite Kobo.
The Pocketbook is still going in my son’s hands. The Kobo Touches bought within two weeks of each other both died of a software problem which would refuse to allow recharging if the current demand was above a certain threshold. It seems this was not an isolated fault as I read of several people with the same problem.
The Glo died when the screen looked as if it had physically smashed although no damage was visible. It worked but was unreadable.
My question:
has Kobo solved the battery charge fault?
I want to buy the Aurora 1 or 2 for its wireless connection to Libby but hesitate before getting advice on the charging problem. Help, please.
I currently read on a Samsung Tab E but it is very heavy and impossible to read in sunshine. However, it does allow me to read Kindle, Kobo, my local library and all epub books.
I prefer larger screen and would definetely like to buy Kobo Aura One, but … I can´t. Living in Estonia, nobody ships here, Amazon USA, GB, Germany. They ship Kobo H2, but not One. Chapters Indigo does not ship to Estonia dispite it´s EU country. In fact,they ship to only few EU countries. What to do?
I have a kindle by now. I use a lot the search functionality. I often need to search for words/phrases not only within the current open book, but on all the books in my library. The kindle does it reasonably well, and includes in the search results more than just the exact matches. It has though no advanced search options, and does not include PDFs when searching in all the library. I wonder what are the search functionalities in the Kobo Aura One, and how it compares to the Kindle.
Personally I find Kindle’s search better than Kobo’s search. For some odd reason Kobo limits search results to 100. And with Kobo when you search your library it will only search titles and authors, not book contents unless you select the book specifically and then you can only search one book at at time that way. I do like Kobo’s drop-down menu that lets you select where to search and I like the on-screen arrows to move through results, where with the Kindle you have to go back to the results page, but Kindles just seem to do a better job overall.