Gear

Why Borders' Kobo E-Reader Still Falls Short

The knock on Borders’ E Ink reader at launch was that unlike the Kindle, Nook, or Sony entries, it had no wireless access. The new Kobo Wireless adds that to the mix, along with three color options, as Gadget Lab’s Charlie Sorrel reported this morning. The new Kobo also keeps its pricing low: $139, identical […]

The knock on Borders' E Ink reader at launch was that unlike the Kindle, Nook, or Sony entries, it had no wireless access. The new Kobo Wireless adds that to the mix, along with three color options, as Gadget Lab's Charlie Sorrel reported this morning.

The new Kobo also keeps its pricing low: $139, identical to the Wi-Fi-only Kindle, $10 less than the Wi-Fi Nook. Kobo's e-books are also priced competitively compared to the Nook and Kindle stores. Finally, the Kobo costs $40 less than the similarly multi-colored Sony's Pocket Edition. Like the first Kobo, the Sony has no network capability -- but importantly, it does have an optical touchscreen.

Ultimately, the big problem I foresee with the new Kobo isn't the network gap but the interface gap, particularly as it adds the ability to browse and buy books online. One reason the first Kobo didn't have an on-board bookstore was that adding that functionality to the device typically commits the manufacturer to including some key hardware. But check out a picture of the Kobo from the front and tell me what you don't see:

That's right -- still no keyboard, just a big five-way controller button.

Now, the Kobo's store and library navigation look very nice, and I'm sure many people will appreciate the added ability to wirelessly browse best-sellers and genre categories. But the key advantages of shopping in a digital bookstore for most of us are:

  1. a gigantic selection, bigger than any physical bookstore;
  2. the ability to search for and quickly find EXACTLY the book you want to buy.

Text entry on the Kindle and Nook are not fantastic, but they work. And you can search for and buy e-books on the web site or using the desktop application, but that negates most of the benefits of being able to buy over Wi-Fi. Without 3G, you can't buy books anywhere; without a built-in web browser, I don't really see much other use for Wi-Fi connectivity.

Those are the trade-offs that Borders has chosen for Kobo -- and the tradeoffs you'd have to weigh as a Kobo Wireless owner. Me, if I had my heart set on hot pink, I'd spend the extra scratch and get the Sony. If I'm giving up on network access and text entry to browse virtual bookshelves, I at least want to be able to flick through them with my fingertips rather than using a Nintendo controller.

Update: Kobo CEO Mike Serbinis chimed in in the comments to this post to note that on the company's new readers, "there is a virtual keyboard to search for authors, titles, etc. It's easy to use, and keeps the industrial design clean & simple and focused on reading vs typing, or accidentally hitting a button which does happen often on other devices."

All images via Borders.com.

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