Kobo Arc 10HD review: $400 is a lot to spend on a ‘tablet for readers’

Kobo Arc 10HD review: $400 is a lot to spend on a 'tablet for readers'

A tablet for readers has always been a tricky proposition. For starters, the manufacturers that have attempted to create such a thing also make dedicated e-readers — devices with longer battery life and screens designed to make text look as much like print as possible. Barnes & Noble has given the category a shot with its Nook Tablets, though there are lingering questions as to whether that line will even survive. Amazon, meanwhile, has gone the opposite route, with reading representing just one of many features. Kobo’s latest readers see the company doubling down on reading, with a trio of tablets built around a reading core.

The Arc 10HD is the top-of-the-line model, a slate that doesn’t skimp on the specs (or price, for that matter, at $400). Most notably, it maintains a clear focus, promising to be (in Kobo’s own PR speak) “the best 10-inch HD tablet for readers.” For Kobo, that means loading up on book-centric features, including one that turns off all of those tablety distractions so you can just read. What, precisely, does it mean to be “the best 10-inch HD tablet for readers”? Does Kobo even deserve that distinction? Most importantly, is it a category within a category that really needs to exist in the first place?

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Kobo Arc 10HD Set To Rock And Roll

Kobo Arc 10HD Set To Rock And RollKobo has made the jump into the world of high definition tablets with the introduction of the Kobo Arc 10HD, where it will also celebrate the joy of reading with Kobo’s Reading Life platform. The Reading Life platform is said to be a compelling reading dashboard which will make up some segments of the user interface, where it also delivers full access to the content that folks love to consume, ranging from books to magazines, news, and social media. There is also an NVIDIA Tegra 4 1.8GHz quad-core processor running at the heart of things, accompanied by 2GB RAM.

Kobo claims that their own Kobo Arc 10HD tablet happens to be the best 10-inch HD Google-certified multimedia tablet on the market today where e-Book readers are concerned, and I guess we will have to take their word for it at the moment unless someone else comes along and says otherwise. Your eyes will definitely appreciate the stunning 2,560 x 1,600 high-definition display that also supports up to 1080p video playback, which would make it the perfect companion so that you can enjoy the rich content from Kobo’s bookstore. Other hardware specifications include a front-facing 1.3-megapixel HD camera, dual stereo speakers, WiFi 802.11, Bluetooth 4.0, and Miracast connectivity. The Kobo Arc 10HD will not come cheap though, as it costs $399.99 a pop. [Press Release]

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  • Kobo Arc 10HD Set To Rock And Roll original content from Ubergizmo.