Kobo eReader Review: The Vox

The eReader world has jumped in a less reader friendly direction this year. Newer almost-tablets have been released by the three leading brands producing eReaders and the reviews are fairly positive. While most eReader purchases are based on the fact that an eReader allows you to carry thousands of books on one little device, the Kobo Vox, Kindle Fire, and Nook Tablet are all much more than that. The Kobo Vox is meant to be something of a competitor, but Kobo is also not attempting to become a replacement for a high end tablet like the iPad. The Kobo Vox really is a color eReader with a few fun features.

The most unique and fun feature is Reading Life, an app that connects you to Facebook and Twitter, and keeps you up to date with your own reading successes. Kobo seems to be attempting to encourage reading, giving awards for finishing books and reading for certain lengths of time. Reading Life keeps your stats available for you, and allows you to share with your friends. While this may seem hokey to some, the truth is that it does kind of get you in the competitive reading spirit. As a gift for a child who doesn’t read much, this might be a good inspiration.

The sad story is that the Kobo Vox does not compete on the internals. The 800MHz processor is a bit of an embarrassment when compared to the 1GHz dual processors in the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet. The results in performance are noticeable if you’re paying attention to those kinds of things. The 8GB of space is the same as Kindle’s, but half that of the Nook Tablet. However, the Kobo Vox has the SD slot to handle an additional 32GB of space, something to take note of if you need a lot of space. The Kobo Vox is a WiFi only machine, no 3G, which is the same as the competition.

Click here to visit the Kobo Vox page

The Vox is nice but we felt the Kindle Fire was the best for the money.

Additionally, Kobo is not a company focused on selling more and more of their own stuff to you. On the Kobo Vox, if you want to view your own files, including PDFs, check out EPUB books from your local library, or purchase ebooks from Amazon, you can do all those things. Many people are frustrated with the proprietary nature of the Kindle and Nook for being proprietary and self-serving. The Kobo Vox breaks that tradition and allows you to read and view what you want. Unfortunately, that does not mean they have Hulu, Pandora, or Netflix app available – something that you may find unacceptable in a color tablet/eReader. The Kobo Vox stays true to the eReader mission with a slightly better screen for reading even in bright light, but doesn’t deliver on all the perks of having a tablet.

The battery life is not especially great, about 5-7 hours on average, and the less you use WiFi, the better. That compares with the Kindle Fire almost exactly and is pretty close to what the Nook Tablet can hold. If you are looking for an eReader with some added perks, including reading in color – great for magazines and comic books – as well as connectivity with social networking sites and with access to 15,000 Android apps, the Kobo Vox is a pretty good option. However, the processor speed, the fact that even 15,000 isn’t all the apps, and that you can’t use the most popular movie, TV, and music providers does make this a bit of a bummer. Perhaps the next edition will bring the Kobo Vox up to speed on those fronts. And really, if you want an eReader, perhaps the Kobo Touch is enough for you, with it’s greyscale E Ink screen and access to lots of free books.

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Kobo Vox Technical Specs

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Price	$199
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Design
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Touch Screen	Yes
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Screen Size	7”
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Screen Type	LCD
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Resolution	1024 x 600
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Overall Size	7.57” x 5.06” x .53”
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Weight	14.2 ounces
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Content
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EBooks	2.2 million
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Magazines	16
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Newspapers	24
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Memory & Battery
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Memory	8GB for 8,000 books
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Battery Life	7 month