Kobo Arc Review

When e-readers were first introduced to us, they were pitted against tablets. To some extent they still are. Unfortunately, one thing most people miss out on is the fact that both can co-exist harmoniously in the market, while trying to address slightly different consumer needs.

The likes of Kobo though, a Toronto-based company, try to merge both capabilities in one form factor. Till now, it has mostly been the Kindles (for reading) or the iPads and Galaxy Tabs (for multimedia experience) that have been available for consumers in India. Kobo Inc. recently entered the market with its Kobo Arc and Kobo Touch to add to the competition, while aiming to pack in both these experiences into one device. We picked up the higher-end Kobo Arc to see how well it executes this task.

The 7-inch Kobo Arc feels a bit bulky, right out of the box. Mind you, the device itself is not heavy or even necessarily ‘fat’. But considering how slim devices have become, it feels bulky to hold, especially when compared to the likes of the Kindle Paperwhite.

The physical buttons are a no-brainer to figure out, considering there’s only the power button and a volume rocker on the body. For those who might have never used a tablet or e-reader, Kobo Arc has a nice little illustrative tutorial the moment you switch this on. This might be useful for users comfortable with other devices, considering Kobo uses a proprietary ‘Tapestries’ interface to enhance the user experience.

That the Arc is trying to double up as a tablet and an e-reader is evident from the homescreen itself. Two-thirds of it is consumed by icons such as Entertainment or Social, which contain a handful of apps each belonging to that specific category. Not unlike how we find similar apps bunched into a folder on a smartphone. A neat row of book suggestions line the bottom of the device.

Now, that’s another thing that the Arc lets you do at the very beginning. It allows you to educate the system about your reading preferences, so it can suggest similar books to you in this section.

The first time I went through the ‘Taste Profile’ process, I said either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to more than a 100 titles to make sure the device knows what I like and what I don’t. Despite this, there were some titles that didn’t seem to match my interest in the ‘Discover’ panel. I would have said ‘No’ to about ten children’s titles and books about religion, but suggestions in these genres strangely kept showing up in my Discover list.

The native Kobo app has Facebook integrated into it, so when you read something it automatically updates your Reading Activity on Facebook.

Once you exit the home screen, a comforting, familiar interface greets you. It’s good ol’ Android. You can download your favourite apps from Google Play and start using the Arc as a tablet. The display on the Arc is pretty decent, although we didn’t have the HD version for review. We streamed a bunch of high-def videos on Vimeo and they were rendered well enough. No complaints there.

As far as native apps are concerned, apart from the library, there’s something called the Press Reader, which lets you choose from thousands of international newspapers and magazines. The 200-plus options from within India included vernacular publications such as Malayala Manorama (Malayalam), Divya Bhaskar (Hindi) and Kadambini (Bengali). The only catch is that the version we got to try out first was a 24-hour free trial, and you’d subsequently have to pay to access this service. You have to pay about $5.99 for the first month of unlimited access to all titles.

Apart from their’s you can use Zinio to purchase digital publications – both magazines and newspapers. The app neatly divides all available titles into genres such as Art, Lifestyle, News, Travel and so on, so you can pick conveniently based on your interests.

The company markets Kobo Arc as a ‘tablet for readers’. So, while it technically is NOT an e-reader, it tries to optimise the experience for bibliophiles on a tablet. The app on Kobo Arc is intuitive enough. There’s only so many controls you’d want to tweak while reading. You have the usual brightness, font size, background options ready to be changed with a tap on the screen while you’re reading a book. The experience is engaging enough, something that works in favour of dedicated e-readers.

The only issue I had with the Kobo Arc was that at times, it felt like it was designed to be the opposite. The prominent bezel makes swiping down from top a bit weird, and at times gives the effect of eating into the virtual real estate on the display. There were also times when the Kobo Arc would seemingly struggle with executing multiple tasks at the same time, but these weren’t often enough or long-lasting enough to be a major worry. Also, given the price point at which it is being marketed, the Arc doesn’t give much room for complaint.

Rs 9,999

Love – Decent tablet-cum-e-reader, intuitive user interface

Hate – Not exactly sleek, slows down at times

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