Kobo Nia review (hands-on)

Our Verdict

The Kobo Nia is an e-reader worth considering for those who want less Amazon in their Kindle.

For

• Clean interface
• Solid local library integration
• No lock screen ads

Against

• No audiobook support
• Kinda tedious processor
• $ten more than than Amazon Kindle

Tom's Guide Verdict

The Kobo Nia is an e-reader worth considering for those who want less Amazon in their Kindle.

Pros

• +

  Clean interface

• +

  Solid local library integration

• +

  No lock screen ads

Cons

• -

  No audiobook back up

• -

  Kinda slow processor

• -

  $ten more than Amazon Kindle

Kobo Nia specs

Cost: $99.99 USD | $129.99 CAD | €99.99 | £89.99
Display: 6-inch Due east Ink
Size: six.iii x iv.4 10 0.4 inches
Processor: NXP i.MX 6ULL
Weight: 6.1 ounces (0.37 pounds)
Resolution: 1024 ten 758 resolution (212 ppi)
Memory: 256 MB
Connectivity: 802.11b/k/n Wi-Fi
Port: Micro USB
Lighting: ComfortLight: adjustable brightness
Storage: 8GB (stores upwards to 6,000 eBooks)
Battery: i,000 mAh
Supported file formats: eBooks (EPUB, EPUB3, PDF and MOBI), images (JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP and TIFF), text (TXT, HTML, XHTML and RTF), comic books (CBZ and CBR)

I've just got my hands on the Kobo Nia, a new e-reader that lowers the point of entry for the Rakuten Kobo line, the main alternatives to Amazon's Kindles. Priced at $99, the Kobo Nia is $10 more than than the Amazon Kindle, its almost-similar due east-reader.

Just is the Kobo Nia good enough to make it to our all-time Kindles page, despite it non being a Kindle? I'm non so sure. This Kobo Nia review is a preliminary cess of the tablet, which is why it'southward not rated at this time — I'll need more hours spent reading on it to know whether or not to recommend it.

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On the positive side, nosotros like the the Kobo interface over the Kindle's because it's but less cluttered and more focused on the books than the social networks and Amazon-y-ness of even the best Kindle (you shouldn't demand to get the Kindle Kids Edition for a minimalist interface).

Kobo Nia review: Blueprint

Aside from the slight, indented Kobo logo on its front, the Kobo Nia has such a unproblematic await that you'd exist forgiven for calling it a Kindle if it were handed to yous. It looks an atrocious lot like the $90 Amazon Kindle it's competing with, down to the indented pic-box bezels.

Measuring 6.3 x 4.four ten 0.4 inches and weighing six.1 ounces, the Kobo Nia is also practically identical in size to the Kindle (half dozen.three 10 4.5 x 0.4 inches, 6.i ounces).

(Epitome credit: Henry T. Casey)

But while the Kindle has a apartment dorsum, the Kobo Nia has a neat-looking dimpled dorsum panel. This doesn't brand it any easier to concur or grip, at least in my experience, but it's overnice to look at.

The Kobo Nia, only like that Kindle, has its microUSB port and power push on its bottom edge, and I wish the latter stuck out a petty more, as it requires a footling thought and effort to activate.

(Image credit: Henry T. Casey)

Kobo Nia review: Display

The Kobo Nia's 6-inch E Link screen is abrupt for its cost, merely not exactly impressive. Measuring 1024 x 758 pixels, it'south got a resolution of 221 pixels per inch, which is sharper than the $ninety Kindle's 167 ppi panel just not as well-baked as the Kindle Paperwhite'southward 300 ppi brandish.

(Paradigm credit: Henry T. Casey)

The Kobo Nia'south ComfortLight lighting is strong enough for reading in direct sunlight, which I tested by taking a moment to bring it out onto a hot NYC sidewalk. The Nia's effulgence is manually controlled by a brightness slider, and I constitute information technology vivid plenty at 15% brightness.

With v front-lit LED lights, the Kobo Nia's got i more LED than the Amazon Kindle, and that lighting is pretty even by my middle so far.

Kobo Nia review: Performance

The Kobo Nia's NXP i.MX 6ULL processor is the no-namiest no-proper noun computer component I've come beyond in a while, and the tablet doesn't give me a stiff impression of its adequacy.

(Image credit: Henry T. Casey)

For case it took 7 seconds for the Kobo Nia to load the listing of nearby Wi-Fi routers. Fortunately, that's the kind of job you're merely going to demand to perform a handful of times. Loading different sections on the home screen, though, I saw virtually 3-five seconds pass, which felt a bit long.

Otherwise, the Kobo Nia performs "good enough." Most of the time Pages load relatively smoothly when y'all tap or swipe to move forward or back, as does the Dorsum to My Books button that returns yous to the home screen.

Kobo Nia review: Software

The Rakuten Kobo e-readers are so interesting to me, because their interface is much more aligned with what I want from an e-reader than the Amazon Kindles offering.

When you lot outset a new book, you just but offset at page one of the volume, rather than dealing with a prompt well-nigh a social network (every bit Amazon'south Goodreads integration does) or seeing metadata about the book.

(Image credit: Henry T. Casey)

The Kobo Nia doesn't automatically show you lot the passages others have highlighted similar Kindles do. That'southward a characteristic I've always disliked, considering it felt similar I was given a used book.

Oh, and Rakuten and Kobo don't force yous to pay to remove lock screen ads either (Amazon charges $xv for a make clean feel). Y'all just come across embrace of the last book yous were reading.

Kobo Nia review: Content

I didn't have whatsoever problem finding books I was looking for in the Kobo eBookstore library store, and y'all shouldn't either: they merits to house over 6 million titles. Amazon doesn't listing how many information technology offers online, but my colleague and Tom's Guide editor Marshall Honorof pegs Amazon's tally at around 4 million, and the seller claims a meg or so exclusive titles.

The best part well-nigh the Kobo reading experience is that you don't always have to pay for what you read. That'southward right, Kobo'due south Overdrive section allows yous to tether your local library account, to borrow eBooks.

(Image credit: Henry T. Casey)

While the Kobo Nia supports a ton of file formats, with EPUB, EPUB3, PDF and MOBI eBooks, likewise every bit CBZ and CBR comic books and various text files and images, information technology's seriously lacking when information technology comes to audiobooks. Yes, Kobo sells them online, no you lot can't listen to them on the Nia. Amazon'south Kindle does support audiobooks, but merely Amazon's ain Audible audiobooks.

Kobo Nia review: Battery life

The Kobo Nia has a 1,000 mAh battery, which the company says should last for weeks on a single charge. I'1000 going to be spending more time with the Nia to see how that factors out, as Rakuten admits battery life varies past use, and I'chiliad guessing excessive backlight can hinder that.

Kobo Nia review: Outlook

The Kobo Nia may be a fiddling deadening, only it'due south a solid entry-level e-reader . While the Kobo Nia is $10 more than the Amazon Kindle, that extra fee softens in one case you lot realize that Rakuten and Kobo don't make you pay extra to remove ads.

(Paradigm credit: Henry T. Casey)

So while it might come off as a Kindle imitator, this Kobo Nia review has shown how it puts the 'reader' back in e-reader. While it could exist more than unique, I wait forward to spending more than time with the Kobo Nia to meet how things work outside of Amazon's Kindle globe.

Henry is a senior editor at Tom's Guide roofing streaming media, laptops and all things Apple, reviewing devices and services for the past six-plus years. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he reviewed software and hardware for TechRadar Pro, and interviewed artists for Patek Philippe International Magazine. He's also covered the wild world of professional wrestling for Cageside Seats, interviewing athletes and other industry veterans.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/kobo-nia-review-hands-on

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