Review: Kobo Glo

Since I switched from paper books to eBooks almost exclusively, about six months ago, it’s taken a while to find the perfect solution for reading in bed. Kindle has no light, iPad is too bright – as is my phone, even with white text on black. I was working with an app to let me make my phone screen darker than its baseline... until the Kobo Glo appeared.

The Kobo Glo is a six-inch, padded-back eBook reader, much like the Kobo Touch. In fact, the only real difference from the Kobo Touch is that the Glo has a light. It’s not a true backlight – more like a sidelight that come from the edges of the device – so it’s nowhere near as bright as a tablet or smartphone. Instead, there’s the kind of gentle glow that I would have loved for reading under the covers as a kid. Heck, I still love it. The brightness is set using a slider bar that covers the range from dim to eye-watering, and I found myself tending towards the lower end of the brightness range. It was enough to illuminate all the text, but not so bright as to eliminate all my night vision.

I found the Kobo comfortable to hold, and its text crisp and clear to read. As with previous versions, the adjustment of text size is great, and the default refresh leaves no ghosting of text.

The white plastic screen-surround marks and scuffs quite easily, however.

Overall, this is a great addition to the family, and ideal for those who read in the dark, perhaps while the rest of the family watch TV, without disturbing others.