Canadian ebook specialist Kobo recently signed a UK exclusive deal with WH Smith to sell its two new models – the Kobo Wi Fi and the Kobo Touch.
While the Wi Fi model comes with a wallet-friendly price tag of £89 that puts it head to head with the new Amazon Kindle, the Kobo Touch adds touchscreen capability along with an extra £20 to the price. We took the touch-control Kobo for a test run to find out how it would fare.
Kobo Touch – Build
Almost identical to the Kindle in size and shape, the Kobo sports a silky brushed rubber finish to add bit of grip for the more ham-fisted among you, while the raised, quilted finish on the back makes it even more comfy to hold – possibly even more so than an actual paper-based book.
Kobo Touch – Screen
Pages render very slightly slower than on the Kindle, although they’re certainly not sluggish enough to stop you from reading at 
normal pace. Text and images are just as clear as they are on the Kindle, but as with Amazon’s gadget, the screen isn’t as good as paper just yet.
Kobo Touch – Controls
Unlike the Kindle, the Kobo has done away with all physical controls – except for a solitary Home button and a power switch – in favour of touchscreen control, giving you more room to grip the gadget without knocking any buttons. Pages can be turned simply by tapping the left or right side of the screen, or by swiping across the display.
You can read the rest of the article on Stuff.tv (originally published Nov 2011).
