KOBO TABLET 720POur streaming videos off Netflix and YouTube were able to show a good amount of detail, as were the 720p and 1080p Blu-ray source video files we trialed. It is slightly too glossy to be easy to use out in bright daylight, but that’s true of any display that’s not e-Ink. It’s got good viewing angles, a high maximum brightness, and at 1280x800pixels in a 7-inch size it’s more than detailed enough to flatter the interface and make the edges of small fonts appreciably smooth. The Kobo Arc displays Web pages mostly accurately, in both the stock Browser and Chrome browser apps. KOBO TABLET UPDATEThis is something that will be addressed within months as the Arc’s Jelly Bean update is released, but until then, this is a tablet that generally feels responsive, but is undoubtedly inferior in this regard to its closest competitor. It occasionally stutters through an otherwise smooth scroll, or takes a second to display a menu which is otherwise instant on a Jelly Bean tablet. The biggest impact of Ice Cream Sandwich on the Kobo Arc is that when you’re using it day-to-day, switching apps, browsing Web pages and flicking through Twitter streams, the Arc’s interface feels slightly slow to respond. Kobo Arc: Performance and real-world usage The Kobo Arc has a 4.1 Jelly Bean update in the works, but it’ll perpetually be one step behind the vanilla Nexus tablet in the operating system stakes. KOBO TABLET ANDROIDThe biggest difference in practical use is that the Kobo Arc runs a slightly modified, but still fully-functional, version of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, while the Google Nexus 7 runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. These figures are largely in line with the Nexus 4, which has a slightly less powerful, but slightly more versatile 1.3.Ghz quad-core NVidia Tegra 3 processor and 8 hours of battery life. KOBO TABLET FULLIt’s got a battery life rated at a full 10 hours, with over 2 weeks of claimed low-power standby. It’s available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB storage capacities. Under the hood, the Kobo Arc has a 1.5GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4470 processor, paired with 1GB of RAM. Having them forward-facing is a huge boon for video viewing, slightly less so for music, and it means that if you’re not going to be using headphones, the Arc has that significant advantage over the Nexus 7 or iPad mini. We think the Arc’s speakers are worth a special mention - all too often on smartphones and tablets, speakers face away from the viewer, meaning higher volumes are needed and audio is hard to hear. A power/lock button and notification light are on the top panel, and a headphone jack and volume control are on the right (when holding the tablet in portrait). There’s a front-facing 1.3-megapixel (720p capable) camera up top, and two front-facing stereo speakers down the bottom. The slightly-raised, soft-touch plastic bezel that surrounds the Arc’s 7-inch screen, again, is thicker than on the iPad, but slightly thinner than the Nexus 7. In our testing, we never thought “well, this is just too thick” - it’s definitely thicker than an iPad mini (7.2mm) and marginally thicker than a Nexus 7 (10.45mm), but it’s not even slightly a problem in the real world. On specifications alone, the Kobo Arc is quite thick - it’s 11.5mm from front to back - but this doesn’t take into account the smooth curve of the rear cover. It’s comfortable to hold, and easier to grip than a sheer glass-backed device of the same size. Like the Kobo Glo, the Arc has a removable soft-touch plastic rear cover that’s adorned with the Kobo open-book logo and cut with a pleasing quilted pattern. The Kobo Arc largely mirrors Kobo’s existing e-readers in its design.
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