Kobo has been progressively improving its user interface and, we have to admit, has made it a lot more streamlined than the clunky UX you’ll find on any of the Kindles. However, we found that you need to be very precise where you place your finger while typing (either a Wi-Fi password or in the search bar) as even the slightest shift to the left or right would select the adjacent key even though they’re all well spaced out on the 6-inch screen. Moving those same markers around is also easy. Things like text selection for dictionary look-up (or highlighting and note-taking) are less hit-and-miss than on the Kindle or the older Kobo Aura range, with markers falling accurately where your finger touches. The Nia’s screen is quite responsive, on par with the Clara HD but a touch slower than the Libra H2O. The Kobo branding is the only design element on the top surface of the Nia (Image credit: TechRadar) Reading experience That means you should be able to get up to four weeks of use per full charge if you read for a couple of hours every day with Wi-Fi on at all times. It’s hard to quantify exactly how long a single charge will last you as it depends on how long you read each day, what brightness your screen is set at and how long you spend browsing the Kobo Store on the device.ĭuring our time testing the new ereader, we had the device set at 25% brightness, had Wi-Fi switched off most of the time, and read for about an hour and a half each day, and only managed to drain the battery by about 20% by the end of a week. This time, though, Kobo has specified that there’s a 1,000mAh battery under the hood of the Nia. Kobo has previously not divulged battery specifications for its entry-level ereaders instead the company has only claimed that you’ll get weeks of reading from a single charge (depending on use). So which cheap ereader you decide to go for will depend on other factors, like user interface, your preference for Amazon’s Kindle Store or whether you’d like to borrow ebooks from your local public library. Many of the other factors are on par with its Amazon competition – there’s no waterproofing or blue-light filter in either, for instance – but the Kindle does have Bluetooth support that the Kobo lacks. In some markets, a 4GB capacity Kindle is still available, although the Nia only comes in one flavour – 8GB internal storage – that’s twice the capacity of the Kobo Aura it’s replacing.Īnd that’s about where its advantages over the Kindle stop. The Nia, like all other ereaders, still uses a microUSB port for charging (Image credit: TechRadar) We’re also a little partial to Kobo’s more streamlined interface.Īll in all, Kobo’s new Nia is a very compelling alternative to the Kindle, particularly for anyone who’s not keen on getting locked into Amazon’s ecosystem. The Nia might not have Bluetooth like the Kindle (used for the VoiceView feature, a text-to-speech screen reader, as well as for audiobooks), but it offers wider file support and the ability to sideload different fonts, including Amazon’s own Bookerly or Ember. And you can switch from reading on the device to the Kobo app on your smartphone or tablet (in case you’ve left the house without your ereader) without losing your place. Like all other Kobo ereaders, the Nia comes with OverDrive support in many countries, so borrowing ebooks from a public library is seamless. However, unlike the Clara HD and the more premium Kobo ereaders, there’s no blue-light filter on the Nia (or the Kindle), meaning the hue of the light cannot be adjusted to warmer tones at night. Kobo’s patented ComfortLight technology makes its way to the Nia, meaning you can easily adjust the brightness of the front light by just swiping up or down the left edge of the screen for a more comfortable reading experience at night. Thanks to a newer processor (1GHz i.MX 6 CPU) and a more streamlined interface than before, the Nia is definitely a far superior ereader to what the Aura was, and can give the Kindle a run for its money.Īlongside a shared screen size, both the Nia and the Kindle lack waterproofing, and both boast front-lit displays.
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