The cat is out of the bag on Kobo’s next ebook reader. They were unable to keep this one secret like they did with the Kobo Aura HD, which surprised everyone when it was unveiled.
Today leaked photos of Kobo’s next ebook reader surfaced online, and so did details from the FCC. Both reveal key information about Kobo’s newest ereader.
The images show a completely new design. The device looks nothing like the Kobo Glo. It’s somewhat similar to the Kobo Aura HD, but the contours on the back aren’t as drastic and there appears to be a textured coating that is lacking on the Aura HD.
The new Kobo device also has a red power slide similar to Kobo Aura HD. There’s even what appears to be a button for the frontlight next to it too. On the bottom edge of the device there’s a microSD card slot and micro USB port.
The FCC paperwork reveals that the manufacturer of the device is Netronix (no surprise there), and that certain information is embargoed until August 30th (expect the new Kobo device to be officially announced by then).
The test report describes the new Kobo device as having a 6″ screen. It most certainly has a 1024×758 HD screen like the current Kobo Glo, but I wonder if it is going to use E Ink’s new screen tech with less ghosting and improved contrast?
Other details about Kobo’s new ebook reader include Wi-Fi and a 1500mAh battery, which is considerably larger than the Kobo Glo’s 1000mAh battery.
Other than the design, there doesn’t appear to be much difference between this new Kobo ereader and the Kobo Glo. But we don’t have all the details yet so there could be some nice surprises when Kobo decides to officially unveil this new ereader.
What an odd and oversized logo placement at the front… Don’t they have designers?
Now that you mention it, that is rather ugly off to one side like that. They usually have it centered. That’s going to drive me nuts…
Let’s just hope that is a prototype and they change it before it gets released.
Seriously hope so too 🙂 Sorry to go offtopic here but what about the 13inch ereader Sony prototype? Do you have any info about its release Nathan?
No new news yet. They are going to do a trial run this fall in Japan. It’s still in the early stages so it will probably be a year or two before we get anything here in the States with a Mobius display.
Darn it! Thanks Nathan! 🙂
I am of course curious about the features of this new reader but it does not seem that it will have what I’m waiting for in a new device.
I would love to have a 7″ with a higher screen ratio in favor of up/down space which would look more like a paperback print book and would help solve the wasted space issue. (If you compare to paperbacks, the up/down ratio is higher which is why they can afford “wasted space” with info like page number and book title without feeling like wasted space).
A color screen and of course the latest e-ink technology (or other if better).
on the bright side this model seems to have a smaller bezel at the bottom which seems nice compared to the unnecessarily huge one that current models have.
Let’s hope Kobo has fixed their horrible and unusable PDF reader. The Nook still vastly outstrips the Kobo Touch in this area. (See my comments on this site compariing the Nook and the Kobo Touch
I doubt it… Kobo doesn’t really seem to care much about PDFs. They’ve never put much effort into their PDF reader and I don’t see them changing that now since most of the books they sell are ePub.
Another 6″. OMG!! Kobo, please release a 10″ color e ink reader.