Thinking of buying a Kobo Aura H20 Edition 2 ... looking for insight from Kobo owners

[Dr. Drib]

Walmart's Return Policy:

https://help.walmart.com/app/answers...ts-and-refunds

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by barryem

Thanks. I must have missed hearing about that one.

Barry

The wiki article Kobo Aura H2O covers both models. The main difference is the blue light fixes. The water proofing also got a makeover.

Dale

[FulciLives]

I want to thank everyone who helped me here by posting in this thread.

I've made my mind up...

I ordered the Kindle Oasis 2 from Amazon.

I know I know this was all about Kobo but I think I did mention that the Kindle Oasis 2 was one of my possible choices. I do admit that I was really trying to avoid it though due to the higher price but I had a relative pony up some additional Amazon gift card money and that made it much more financially feasible for me.

So again, thanks for all the helpful info and I'll probably see you all in the Kindle and Calibre sections here

[ZodWallop]

Enjoy your new reader man. The truth is, whether you buy a Kindle, Kobo or Nook, you'll likely enjoy your reader just fine. They're all pretty good, with fairly slight differences between them in the end.

[johnnyb]

I have an H2O Edition 2. Having previously owned an Edition 1 and currently still owning a Kindle Voyage, I will say that that the Ed. 2 feels a bit cheap and flimsy compared to the latter. However, the screen is great, the yellow light is good and with a few tweaks you can get a very natural looking page from the kepub reader. That being said, I still prefer the Kindle system for its way better apps on iOS and Mac (and presumably on Windows and Android as well), the ability to sync books that I haven't bought from Amazon across my devices and (as a result of the vastly better apps), generally better options for processing annotations. Kindle has caught up a lot in the page customization department in the past couple of updates and I must say that I find the ability to save themes (and hence complete looks of the pages) really good. Were there a larger screen, ‘normal’ design Kindle with some sort of ‘comfort light’, I'd ditch my Kobo completely.
In any case, however, the H2O Ed.2 is a perfect choice if you are mainly into reading books front to back with the best possible looking page under any lighting conditions (e.g. it is most like a book, with variations of all the benefits and restrictions that come with it).

[Michal Jancik]

Originally Posted by FulciLives

Hello!

I'm thinking of buying a Kobo Aura H20 Edition 2 because I like the bigger than 6" screen and the idea of the ComfortLight option.

Hi !
- I would like to express my opinion
- I used both devices for some time, and I prefer KOBO H2O "2 edition"
* The main difference between H2O and H2O 2 edicion is also their CPU H2O version 2 = HW Mark 7, Edition 1 = Mark 6

My main 5 reasons reasons for choosing KOBO H2O 2 edition V2 (vs Kindle Oasis 2)
1) With KOBO H2O, I can read the format of "ePUb", "Kepub", "CBZ" and "CBR"
2) I can adjust the night light (orange). At Oasis I find almost absent.
3) I also find that KOBO H2O has better contrast, the font letter are cleaner. Screen 6.8
4) Kobo has "Reading statistics" (which I really got used to)
* I can also upload other SWs to the kobo without the need for a Jailbreak.
5)The battery life at Oasis is horrible, very fast discharge. (just my opinion), KOBO I recharge 1x in 3 weeks, Oasis 3 times a week..
* At kobo I can use the book cover as much as "SreenSaver" KOBO does not leave a finger traig on the body like Oasis.

What I like about Oasis
- Reactivity
- The Mobius screen
- General quality of reading body (metallic)
- The two physical buttons for turning pages.
IMPORTANT : I live in France, so I can not use Audible, TSS, like other functions.
* so my opinion may not be objective for Americans.


If I had to choose again, I would choose KOBO H2O 2 edition version 2 again.
* Perfectly held in hand, does not slip.

PS: However, WP4 or Kobo Clara HD can be a good compromise at a small price

[mobama]

Originally Posted by mathil

The Oasis 2 does have the option to invert the screen natively though, IIRC, which is something you can only get on a Kobo with a specific patch.

And you can get it on Kobo officially (without patching) as of firmware version 4.19.

A reasonable way to get around the epub/kepub issues is to install more reader apps. On this forum, there is a "one-click installation" of Koreader and Plato available (which I never got to work and it is not really one click at all, but there are plenty of other people who report success). There is also the Kobo Start Menu which I use to deploy Koreader and Vlasovsoft's bundle. I like the hardware on Kobo H2O, but I avoid booting into the software.

[ps67]

Originally Posted by mobama

And you can get it on Kobo officially (without patching) as of firmware version 4.19.

A reasonable way to get around the epub/kepub issues is to install more reader apps. On this forum, there is a "one-click installation" of Koreader and Plato available (which I never got to work and it is not really one click at all, but there are plenty of other people who report success). There is also the Kobo Start Menu which I use to deploy Koreader and Vlasovsoft's bundle. I like the hardware on Kobo H2O, but I avoid booting into the software.

I was afraid at the beginning and I didn't installed KOReader which I was curious to try, because of KSM or KFMON etc. But the one click installation of KOReader and Plato is really "one click", is very very simple so now I regularly use KOReader.

[dordale]

Originally Posted by Kaysclie

Thanks for your reply dordale . I hate to ask, but how high a $$ amount do you think I should reasonable offer for a new Aura One? I am trying to maintain some good judgement about this.

Kaysclie--I really can't say what I would consider a reasonable amount to spend on a new Aura One. For me, I think it's would be on par with the Kobo Forma--as far as I'm concerned, the only advantage the Forma has is page turn buttons. I personally like the form factor of the Aura One better than the Forma, so it's a wash. I guess what I'm saying is that if I were in the market for a new reader, I'd be willing to pay about the same for a new Aura One as I would for a Forma.

[mobama]

Originally Posted by ps67

But the one click installation of KOReader and Plato is really "one click", is very very simple so now I regularly use KOReader.

"Very simple" and "one click" are relative to one's prior experience. My prior experience is with Pocketbook, where you copy-paste a folder and that's how you get a working program on the device. In Kobo, I have never seen anything even remotely as simple and "one-click". Things claimed to be simple by other Kobo owners, such as patching to get more formatting options, are in reality ridiculously convoluted, time-consuming, and error-prone procedures - not to mention that much of it should be inbuilt in the first place. I own both Kobos and Pocketbooks, so I know.

Kobo is an excellent choice due to hardware and if you are willing to replace the default reading app. The default reading app absolutely needs to be replaced if your reading material consists mostly of pdf and djvu files. In comparison, Pocketbook's default reading app is quite good for pdf and djvu files out of the box with features like rotating, cropping the margins, per-column view and zoom, which behave sensibly across page turns. Koreader adds invert mode and other niceties, but it still lacks per-column options that would be comparable to what is available in Pocketbook's and Onyx's default readers. Unfortunately we still do not have an app that would provide everything necessary all in one.

[johnnyb]

Originally Posted by mobama

The default reading app absolutely needs to be replaced if your reading material consists mostly of pdf and djvu files. In comparison, Pocketbook's default reading app is quite good for pdf and djvu files out of the box with features like rotating, cropping the margins, per-column view and zoom, which behave sensibly across page turns.

Cue comments about how eink is absolutely not suited for PDF, despite large Android readers popping up left and right...

I totally agree with you, though. Even Amazon's devices have better PDF readers, despite Amazon constantly being the scapegoat for their walled garden approach and proprietary formats.

[Kaysclie]

Originally Posted by dordale

Kaysclie--I really can't say what I would consider a reasonable amount to spend on a new Aura One. I guess what I'm saying is that if I were in the market for a new reader, I'd be willing to pay about the same for a new Aura One as I would for a Forma.

dordale….Much thanks. I appreciate your reply. As it turned out, I decided that it was the Aura One that I wanted. Since I couldn't find a brand new one, I took a chance and bid on ebay from a seller with an excellent standing. I won the bidding with what I thought was a reasonable bid and received it promptly. The One was used, but you could never tell. Looked new. No problems with lighting or anything that I have read about. And I saved quite a bit of $$$$.

Very Happy with my "new" Kobo Aura One.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by mobama

Things claimed to be simple by other Kobo owners, such as patching to get more formatting options, are in reality ridiculously convoluted, time-consuming, and error-prone procedures - not to mention that much of it should be inbuilt in the first place..

I agree there, though things have gotten better. Full screen reading is now available without patching.

I'm glad Kobo is so easily patchable. But I don't understand why patching is needed to enable ligatures in kepub and add advanced font control for sideloaded fonts. If those were added, I wouldn't patch any longer.