There have been a lot of sales on dedicated reading devices lately, and now the 8-inch Kobo Forma has made the list.
Right now the Kobo Forma is on sale at Amazon and Walmart for $219 with free shipping. That’s $30 off the regular price of $249, but it originally sold for $279 when it was first released.
The Kobo Forma is the only ereader on the market that uses an 8-inch flexible Mobius screen, which is a lot more durable than a typical glass-based screen.
It has 300 ppi and a frontlight with adjustable color temperature, along with page buttons and 8GB of storage space. It’s also waterproof and surprisingly lightweight for its size at just 197 grams. It has a 1200mAh battery and a micro USB port.
See my Kobo Forma review for more details about the device.
The Kobo Forma will turn three years old in October so it might be getting replaced by a newer model soon, but then again the smaller Kobo Clara HD turned three in June and Kobo still hasn’t replaced it yet.
Either way $219 is a great price for an 8-inch ereader, especially one with an upgraded Mobius screen. Most ereaders with similar-sized screens sell for quite a bit more.
Wondering if a newer Storma will be out soon.
Whatever they call it it will probably end in an “a”. 😀
I have the Kobo Forma and it is an excellent reader.
Have you seen the Kickstarter for a colour ereader?
Called the Topjoy Butterfly ereader.
I would like your view on it.
I would advise not wasting money on any Kickstarter projects. Those type of crowdfunded ereaders never amount to anything. It’s the same story nine times out of ten. They take people’s money and then create an underdeveloped product that’s basically a prototype with shoddy half-finished software, and then the company disappears or continues to promise software updates that never happen. Plus those new types of displays have major ghosting issues and other problems that still need to be worked out.
Advice noted. Thanks.
Amen! I made the mistake in funding the good-e (or however you spell it). They promised shipping by Christmas. 3 years later, never received the ereader. $500 lost. No response from them, hundreds got swindled.
No, no more kickstarters for me.
Thanks for the sale tip! I think a Forma will suit me quite well as is, my Aura One is still going along fine, but battery life isn’t what it was, so I’m treating myself. I expect I will *love* the Dropbox integration on the Forma!
I was thinking to wait, see if anything new was coming from Kobo in an 8″ reader this fall, but if there is, Kobo sure hasn’t let anything slip. And I haven’t heard of anything super new to e-ink technology that makes me think a newer device will be worth the extra $. I don’t need color or audiobook support.
If there is something exciting in the works, well, it’ll likely be there next year and I can sell up and buy later if I see a benefit to my reading.
The only interesting development on the horizon is E Ink’s new On-Cell touchscreen that is supposed to improve contrast by up to 30%, but given their marketing department’s tendency to stretch the truth who knows if the difference will even be noticeable or not, and there aren’t any devices that use it yet.
I’d heard of that new e-ink technology, but as you say, until it’s actually being used in devices, moot.
Anyway, thanks again for posting about the sale, my Forma is here and I’m loving it! Screen seems sharper than my Oasis 2, and the touchscreen experience is definitely better behaved than with my Kobo Aura One.
I’m glad to have gotten the sale price, considering I always want a cover.