Thank you Kobo
for providing me with a product to review, free of charge.
These are my own honest opinions.

Even since I received my Kobo Aura HD eReader, I’ve been a huge fan of Kobo. This company started out 5 years ago in Toronto, Canada and became popular worldwide very quickly. Their goal from the beginning was to offer an affordable and high-quality digital reading experiene to millions of people. They are one of the largest eBookstore with millions of books, magazines, kids’ books and more in 68 different languages. Kobo also has some of the best free apps for Apple, BlackBerry, Android, and Windows platforms so people can easily read anytime and anywhere on any device they choose and their bookmarks conveniently sync across devices. They also recently expanded their product line into tablets specifically designed for readers.

I am extremely happy to have received the amazing new Kobo Arc 10 HD. Given that this is my first tablet, I didn’t really know what to expect. I thought I’d get something good enough to do a few things on the internet without having to turn on my laptop. I didn’t really expect that I would love my tablet so much and that it would be so powerful and fast I wouldn’t even want nor need to turn my laptop on.

This gorgeous tablet is in fact a little beast: it has a large 10.1 inch screen with the highest resolution screen on the market (it’s twice as good as my laptop which I thought had a very decent graphic resolution). Of course, great resolution without a powerful processor wouldn’t make any sense so they actually put a quad-core 1.8Ghz processor in it which means the Arc 10 HD can handle pretty much anything: reading books and magazines but also surfing the web, watching movies and videos as well as playing games. It has a Micro HDMI out, Bluetooth v4.0 and Miracast. I was really impressed by how smooth the multimedia experience is on this tablet. No delays, no screen freezing. The only downfall of having such high resolution and hi tech features is that the battery tends to drain quite fast. It has up to 9.5 hours of battery life but it can be less if you’re watching movies or playing games.

In terms of multimedia experience, the Arc 10 is powered by Android 4.2 Jellybeen which means you have instant access to over 1 million apps and games through Google Play. As far as storage goes, it has 16BG of storage which means you can carry with you about 12,600 ebooks or 1,800 songs, or about 20 movies. By the way, ttransferringdata to and from your Kobo is super easy: all you have to do is plug it in your computer using the USB cable provided (if you have a Mac, you need to download and install the Android File Transfer software first).

Reading on this tablet is great because the HD display means text is very sharp is easy to read. You can also totally customize the font and font size to your preference and rotate the screen horizontally or vertically, whichever feels most comfortable for you. The brightness can also be adjusted which means you can read outdoors during the day, then read in bed without any lights one without fatiguing your eyes (you can choose white text over a black background). I had stopped reading in bed because the bedside lamp kept my husband awake but since I got my first Kobo eReader, I don’t need to worry about it anymore! The only thing that is different from my eReader is that the screen isn’t matte so glare can be a little more of a problem.

For our techy readers, here are some of the key features of the Kobo Arc 10 HD:

– 10.1 in screen with 2560 x 1600 HD+ Display (300 ppi) (up to 1080p video playback)
– Dimensions and weight: 9.9 x 6.7 x 0.39 in and 1.38 lbs  (or 253 x 172 x 9.9 mm and 627 gr)
– Nvidia Tegra 4 Quad-Core, 1.8 GHz with 2 GB DDR3L RAM
– 16 GB of storage
– Camera: front facing 1.3 MP (720p) HD camera
– Audio: dual stereo speakers, microphone and 3.5mm stereo headphone jack
– Battery life: up to 9.5 hours (25 days of standby time)

Contrary to what you might think, this tablet is actually very affordable. At only $299.99, this is probably one of best tech gift you could put under the tree this year! It’s powerful and versatile and considering all the features, it’s a steal. It combines the best of both worlds: it’s a great tablet and a great eReader.

Find Out More: Head over to Kobo to see for yourself the selection of eReaders and tablets they offer. 

Connect: Kobo is connected! Don’t forget to like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter and Pinterest and subscribe to their YouTube channel for all the latest news and promotions. 

Rachel