Kobo Announces New Line of Tablets and Ereaders

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Well now, this was a bit unexpected. As a follow-up to their Aura experiment, Kobo silently announced a new line of 7" and 10" tablets, as well as a 6" Aura reader for everyone.

Kobo has always been the underdog to other OEMs and Ereader companies. They released a tablet previously, but was not given much credit. However they came out swinging this year with a bunch of decent spec'd tablets for low prices. Each of them with specs is listed below:

Kobo Arc 7 - $149.99

  • 7" 1024x600 display
  • 122x194x10.05 mm
  • 360g
  • MTK Quad-Core, 1.2 GHz
  • 1GB DDR3L RAM
  • FFC (0.3MP)
  • Mono-speaker, Headphone Jack
  • 8GB internal storage, expandable up to 32GB with micro SD card
  • 4200 mAh battery
    • Up to 9 hours of usage
    • Up to 20 days of standby time
  • WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth v4.0
  • Micro-USB, Micro HDMI-out, micro SD
  • Android 4.2.2, Google Play Certified
  •  On-Screen button Navigation

Kobo Arc 7 HD - $199.99 (16GB), $249.99 (32GB)

  • 7" 1920x1200 HD+ display
  • 122x194x9.6 mm
  • 341g
  • NVidia Tegra 3 Quad-Core, 1.7 GHz
  • 1GB DDR3L RAM
  • FFC (1.3MP)
  • Mono-speaker, Headphone Jack
  • Internal Storage
    • 16GB (12.9GB Usable)
    •  32GB (27.3GB Usable)
  • 4200 mAh battery
    • Up to 8 hours of usage
    • Up to 14 days of standby time
  • WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth v4.0
  • Micro-USB, Micro HDMI-out, micro SD
  • Android 4.2.2, Google Play Certified
  •  On-Screen button Navigation

Kobo Arc 10 HD - $399.99

  • 10.1" 2560x1600 HD+ display
  • 253x172x9.9 mm
  • 627g
  • NVidia Tegra 4 Quad-Core, 1.8 GHz
  • 2GB DDR3L RAM
  • FFC (1.3MP)
  • Dual Stereo speakers, Headphone Jack
  • 16GB (12.9GB Usable)
  • 6550 mAh battery
    • Up to 9.5 hours of usage
    • Up to 25 days of standby time
  • Dual Band WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n with 2x2 MIMO, Bluetooth v4.0, Miracast Support
  • Micro-USB, Micro HDMI-out, micro SD
  • Android 4.2.2, Google Play Certified
  •  On-Screen button Navigation

This is a pretty compelling list, especially the 10" tablet with Tegra 4 in it. It looks like they are taking the Nexus 10 directly on. The Kobo Arc 10HD matches or exceeds the Nexus 10 in almost every way, including the price (although not Android version). It will be interesting to see if Kobo can finally take off in the android world.

I'm rooting for them, if only because they are the only company HQ'd in Canada (formerly Canadian owned). They are suppose to all get released October 16th, but are up for pre-order now at Kobo's website. Hopefully we can get our hands on them and let you know if they really are a Nexus 10-beater.

Source: Kobo, Press Release



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