Is there a big enough market for e-readers in the bath? Kobo certainly thinks so, and if that suits you, the Kobo Aura H2O is a solid choice.
There’s not really a lot of choice in the e-reader market to speak of. Amazon strides large over the market thanks to the near-dominance of its Kindle brand, exemplified with units such as the new Kindle Paperwhite. There’s the real bargain basement units, but they’re almost universally junk not worth your time, given that an e-reader in 2015 has to be a purchase geared towards the serious reader. Then there’s Kobo, the little brand that could, and does, continue to nibble away at the Kindle’s dominance with some interesting models, price points, and ideas.
The Kobo Aura H2O isn’t a spectacularly new unit, but it’s an interesting one simply because of its core selling point. Unlike the Kobo Glo HD and its gorgeous high resolution screen, the H2O’s selling point is rather implicit in its name. It’s a waterproof e-reader, for those times when you want to indulge in some reading in slightly more moist environments than most e-readers can handle.
The Aura H2O’s display is a 6.8 inch e-Ink display with a resolution of 1430×1080, making for a 265dpi display. That’s suitably sharp for most e-reading purposes, although a little outclassed by its smaller sibling the Kobo Glo HD. There’s a relatively thick bezel around the display screen, which is marginally distracting at first. The inbuilt “Comfortlight” backlighting works well in dim light if you need a little illumination. There’s 4GB of storage onboard, expandable via microSD, which should be enough to keep you happily reading for a good long time.
The Kobo Aura H2O measures in at 179 x 129 x 9.7 mm with a carrying weight of 233 grams, which is relatively bulky for an e-reader. The reason for the bezel almost certainly ties into the Aura H2O’s party piece, which is that it’s waterproof, rated for up to 30 minutes of immersion in clean water as long as the lower port cover is snapped shut. That clean water modifier is important. You could take the Aura H2O to the beach, and a splash or two is unlikely to trouble it, but if you’re part of that surfer demographic that just has to stop mid-break for a chapter or two of Proust* then you may find the Kobo Aura H2O unsuitable for your needs. Then again, nobody else at all is doing a waterproof e-reader, so maybe you’re plumb out of luck.
The Kobo Aura H2O’s waterproofing does work quite well, at least in my own ad-hoc tests. Predictably screen response isn’t great when the display is wet, and it’s somewhat nervous stuff dunking any kind of electronic gadget underwater, but that aside it does work as advertised. You can dunk, splash and wash the Kobo Aura H2O to your heart’s content, and it’ll keep on working.
Actually using the Kobo Aura H2O is much like using any other Kobo e-reader. There’s some noticeable screen lag when refreshing pages, so if you’re a particularly rapid reader it might not be your best option, but for most ordinary page turners it should work just fine. Kobo’s struck many of the same book deals as Amazon, so its store is well stocked with titles to buy. In terms of file format compatibility, Kobo lists multiple formats, but as with other Kobo readers, ePub is the star of the show.
The real pain point for the Kobo Aura H2O isn’t the fact that it’s a little bulky, or that page refreshing is a somewhat sedate process. It’s the asking price, which at the time of writing runs to around $229.
That’s quite pricey for an e-reader, and while I can’t fault the waterproofing status of the H2O, if you just want an e-reader there are plenty to choose from that will cost you much less than the H2O. If you’re a perpetually damp reader, or only want an e-reader for when you’re in the bath or at the beach, it’s pretty much your only choice, but that’s quite the niche market.
*That demographic exists, right?