Kobo Aura H2O Edition 2, Kobo's new bet to fight against Amazon's Kindle

Kobo continues its efforts to challenge the all-powerful Amazon and its Kindle, which remains the best-selling eReader on the market. To achieve this, Kobo continues to focus on devices with a sleek design, powerful performance, and features that set them apart from other e-readers. The latest example is the Kobo Aura H2O Edition 2 , an updated and improved version of the Kobo Aura Edition 2 that the company released a few months ago.

Available worldwide, it offers an excellent digital reading experience, including water resistance that allows submersion to a depth of two meters for two hours, and a new feature called ComfortLight PRO that reduces blue light exposure for more comfortable reading in complete darkness. Naturally, we've already thoroughly tested Kobo's new device, and this is our review of this device poised to become a market leader.

Design and construction

At first glance, it's not the most elegant or well-built eReader on the market. Amazon deliberately meticulously crafted every detail of the Kindle Oasis, and this Kobo Aura H20 (2017) doesn't quite surpass it. Externally, it's made of black plastic on the front with a grippy rubber grip , which is very useful in many situations, preventing the device from slipping through your fingers. It's worth noting that this rubber grip isn't particularly attractive and might even be a bit harsh on the eyes, but its effectiveness quickly makes you forget almost all of its drawbacks.

It is available in the always sober black color, with the only color tint on the power button, located on the back, and which is blue. At the moment Kobo has not confirmed if it will launch more colors on the market, something that many of us would surely appreciate for not always living in the seriousness of black.

Regarding its construction, we must highlight the IPX68 certification , which, in addition to allowing us to submerge it 2 meters underwater for up to 60 minutes, sets it apart from many other e-readers on the market. This feature lets us take our Kobo Aura H2O Edition 2 to the beach, the pool, or the bathtub without worrying about getting it wet. It's not highly recommended, but we can also try reading underwater, something that will be extremely difficult for most people.

Finally, when it comes to design and manufacturing, we cannot overlook the weight of this device, which is 207 grams, which makes it one of the heaviest eReaders on the market in terms of numbers, although once we have the device in hand, it is not a burden that "bothers us" when it comes to enjoying digital reading.

Characteristics and specifications

Below we show you the main features and specifications of the new Kobo Aura H2O Edition 2 ;

• Dimensions: 129 x 172 x 8.8 mm
• Weight: 207 grams
• 6.8-inch Letter touchscreen with 265 dpi e-ink print quality
• Front lighting: ComfortLigth PRO that reduces exposure to blue light for a much more comfortable night reading
• Internal storage: 8GB where we can store more than 6.000 eBooks
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g / n, Micro USB
• Battery: 1.500 mAh that ensures autonomy for weeks
• Supported formats: 14 directly supported file formats (EPUB, EPUB3, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF, CBZ, CBR)
• Available languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Portuguese, Japanese and Turkish
• Personalization: TypeGenius - 11 different font types and 50+ font styles
  Unique font thickness and sharpness settings

Without a doubt, one of the most outstanding features of this new Kobo device is its 6.8-inch screen, which allows us to enjoy books in digital format with practically the same size as books in the traditional paper format. In addition, we should also highlight the front lighting of the device, which has ComfortLight PRO technology and which reduces exposure to blue light, which in turn allows us to read in very dark situations without our eyes suffering or directly hurting us .

Our experience when reading

It's not very common to find e-readers with such large screens on the market these days, but being able to enjoy digital books on a 6.8-inch screen is undoubtedly a great advantage. It's not as big as the Kobo Aura's screen, but its size is more than enough for a much better experience than what you can get with any device with a 6-inch screen or even smaller.

In addition, its 256ppi resolution helps greatly to maintain the sharpness of text and images, which for example is a great advantage to enjoy graphic novels.

Kobo has not spared when it comes to offering support for different formats and in this Aura H20 Edition 2 we can enjoy eBooks in the following formats; EPUB, EPUB3, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF, CBZ, CBR. Of course, there are also different fonts, which are a total of 11 and the different sizes that reach 50.

Everything that we have reviewed so far is of great importance, but of the new Kobo device we must highlight the great experience offered by the E Ink Carta screen, which makes digital books look very much like any book in paper format. In addition, the possibility of reading with light is more than good, thanks to the different possibilities offered by the device itself.

We're talking about the ComfortLight PRO feature, which reduces exposure to blue light and adjusts itself depending on the ambient light, making reading comfortable at all times. Simply put, if you're reading outdoors, the light will be much brighter, and if you're reading in the dark, the brightness will be reduced to prevent eye strain.

In recent times we have been lucky enough to try many eReaders, of different brands, and with features of all kinds, but without a doubt this Kobo Aura H2O Edition 2 is one of the best experience has offered us when it comes to reading, ranking even ahead of some of Amazon's Kindle. Of course, if we value the device globally, putting its design at stake, it may lose a little weight, but who cares about its design if the experience when enjoying digital reading is very positive.

Video Analysis

Below we show you the analysis of this Kobo Aura H2O Edition 2017 in video;

Final assessment

This new Kobo Aura H2O Edition is sure to turn heads the moment you hold it in your hands . Its design is eye-catching, and the materials it's made from offer a feel that's impossible to ignore.

In addition, this new device combines several very interesting features, which make this Kobo Aura H2O 2017 a very interesting electronic book. We are talking about the huge screen that it offers us, the possibility of wetting it, something that is ideal for these summer days, and the speed with which we can handle ourselves through the user interface and through the different digital books that we are enjoying .

If, like in school, I were asked to give this new Kobo Aura H2O Edition a final grade, it would be very high, almost perfect . However, to achieve that, it needs improvement in some areas, something Kobo will surely address with its future devices. This new device is a serious competitor to Amazon's Kindles, as few e-readers come close to achieving top marks overall.

Price and Availability

The new Kobo Aura H2O Edition 2 is now available worldwide through the official Kobo website and at some major electronics retailers. Its price isn't exactly low, at €179,99 , but it's important to remember that this is an e-reader with some truly outstanding features.

You can purchase the new Kobo Aura H2O Edition 2 HERE and also through FNAC physical stores, fnac.es and kobo.com

What do you think of this new Kobo Aura H2O Edition 2? Tell us your opinion in the comments section of this post, on our forum, or through any of the social media channels where we're present and where we're eager to hear your thoughts.