The One Gadget I Couldn't Live Without!

Alright, be honest, the first thought that popped into your head was "iPhone" right?  Nope, not one of those, infact, I think I could easily live without my POS, WP7.  It's one of those items that breeds love-hate relationships wherever it goes.  (but that's a whole other post)  Actually, the one gadget I could not live without out is ....

my Kobo Touch e-reader. 

I am seriously in love with this pretty little thing.   So, what do I love about it?  Well, first, I love that it was a gift from Travis.  He gave it to me last year for our anniversary.  BEST. GIFT. EVER!!!!  That, right there, is reason enough to love it.  :-)  Onto the more serious stuff though.

I love that Kobo is affiliated with Chapters (Indigo).  Chapters is one of my all time favourite stores.  They have a little of everything,and a whole lot of books!!!  And they're Canadian!  Who could ask for more?  You can also use your Chapters gift card to purchase books on Kobo, which is a nice touch, especially for someone like me who likes to have a budget to work with.

The e-reader itself is really nice.  The quilted back makes for easy holding.  It's light, portable (I purchased a hard cover bookstyle case for it because it comes almost everywhere with me)  and for anyone who enjoys reading outside, you'll love this part too, the screen gets BETTER outside in sunny weather.  Yep!  You heard right, the screen gets better, as in easier to read, when you're outdoors.  FABULOUS right?  That's e-ink screens for you.  And I have to say that, after being affiliated with a Canadian company, the e-ink was the big draw for me.  I wanted something that wasn't backlit, that had no glare, that gave the illusion of reading a book.  The Kobo Touch hit all those points.

It also comes with a few fun features that really appealed to the geek in me.  I can choose from different fonts, change the font size, choose the refresh rate, look up words in the built in dictionary, borrow e-books from the library, and load any DRM free e-pub or pdf book onto it.  This means, that say a blogger I enjoy reading publishes an e-book, in PDF format.  Even if the book is not in the Kobo store, I can purchase it from the blogger, and use Adobe Digital Editions to load it onto my reader.  SWEET!  Love that!

And it has more features.  Like Reading Life, where the e-reader keeps track of wonderful things like, how many books you've finished, how many hours you've read, and what percentage of your library you've gone through.  It will also tell you funny little things like, how many hours you've been reading your current book for, how many minutes per reading session you're averaging, and how many pages you've turned in the book.  (I know, totally geeky, but fun, and it gets better)  Adding to the fun, you can earn awards, little virtual stickers for meeting certain goals.  A little silly, but I can see this having merit for kids who don't like reading.  (and adults who never really grew up.... not saying that's me or anything, but I did happen to notice that I have all my stickers :-) )

Social media plays a huge role in society now, and Kobo jumped right in, and allows to link to your facebook account so you can share your reading experiences with your friends and family.  They seem to really be trying to make reading a social experience, which is kind of neat.  You can have your Kobo account synced through multiple devices, your phone (Android, iPhone, Blackberry) tablet (Android, iPad, Blackberry) and your PC or Mac.  (Not available for Linux yet, but Travis and I are researching ways to get around that) as well as online through the Kobo site.  Best part.... you really can access your Kobo account from all those places, including your library.  You are not confined to just one.  The only thing you need to do, is sync your e-reader with the desktop app to keep it up to date.


Navigating the store is easy, though I will say, it would be nice if it was easier to find the free titles.  The selection is vast and growing for all genres.  You can surf the web on this one, but I don't recommend it.  It's slow, and not very easy to navigate.  This wasn't really meant to be anything but an e-reader.

I know I should tell you somethings I don't like about it, but other than the web surfing being slow, I can't think of any.  Oh, yes I can, they don't have an App for POS WP7, so I can't sync it to my phone :-(  other than that, I'm totally loving it.  It's been my savior during the packing process.  I packed all our books, except for some of Liam's.  Without my Kobo I would go insane.  I have almost 100 books stored on it, and let me tell you, it sure saves space!  lol  Despite all I love about my e-reader, there is still nothing quite like cracking open a good, old fashioned book.  That won't ever change for me.  It just means that I pick and choose the books to purchase a little more carefully.

So, there you have it.  Not really surprising that the one gadget this bookworm can't live without, is her e-reader.

***  Please note that all the opinions found in this post are mine!  I'm sharing this because I really do LOVE my e-reader (ask my husband, my parents, my BFF, my kids... they'll tell you!)  I was in no way compensated for writing this post.  I was not asked to review or share my thoughts on this product.  ***