Some other ereader website has a news article up saying that Kobo is going to release a new ereader called the Kobo Spa later this year, but after doing 2 minutes of research I don’t think that is true at all—once again they’re missing some key details and getting the facts wrong, as they often do.
The report is based off of FCC listings for two new Kobo products that first showed up back in June, so that’s not even news.
The model numbers for both products are existing model numbers for the Kobo Clara BW and Kobo Clara Colour, but with a “B” at the end, so those new FCC listings are for revisions of those existing models.
The screenshot that other website is using that shows the “Kobo Spa” name says that it is model number N365B. The Kobo Clara BW is model number N365. The iFixit website confirms the N365B model number as another variant of the Kobo Clara BW, along with the P365 variant that showed up earlier this year.
If you look up the P365 version on the FCC website, it also shows the same “About Kobo Spa” page, but with the model number P365. That model has been independently confirmed to be the Kobo Clara BW so the about page clearly has the wrong name.
Who knows why Kobo is using the Kobo Spa name on the about page for that model (maybe they’re doing it just to throw people off that snoop in the FCC paperwork), but it’s clearly not a new product based off of the model number, and the N365B version isn’t a new model called the Kobo Spa either.
Maybe that was a test name or a temporary moniker the developers used, but either way the fact that it shows model number 365 debunks the notion that it’s a new product called the Kobo Spa. Maybe that really is a new model name they’re working on, but not with model number 365 because that product already exists in the form of the Clara BW—there just happens to be three different variations of it now.
When I saw the headline, I thought it was a Kobo designed to be read in a spa. The idea sounds pleasant but I worry that would push the limits of the waterproofing.