Kobo Touch

This model of the Kobo Touch improved upon its predecessors by using a zForce touch-sensitive display; hence its name, the Kobo Touch. The infrared based touch interface does not require electrical conductivity, allowing for the user to interact with the device when wearing gloves. Other improvements included an E Ink Pearl screen, a faster processor capable of smooth PDF panning, 802.11n Wi-Fi capability, and reduced size and weight. The Kobo Touch is shipped in five colours: lilac, blue, silver, black, and white. The Kobo Touch was introduced to compete with Amazon's Kindle and Barnes & Noble's Nook. By not including a physical keyboard like the Kindle Keyboard, and leaving only a home button on the front face of the device, Kobo was able to further shrink down the dimensions of the Touch. The 2 GB of memory was similar to what competitors offered; this memory allows for the storage of approximately 1,000 books. With a 32 GB microSD card that can be inserted in the side of the Kobo Touch, the number of books that can be stored rises to 30,000. == Software ==

Kobo Touch runs on the Kobo Touch Firmware, based on the Linux kernel. The software is available in 8 languages and 2 variants: English, French, Canadian French, Japanese, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Brazilian Portuguese. The main screen shows tiles that automatically update based on actions the user has performed. Tiles may appear for books, newspapers, magazines, store categories, or games the user has recently read, browsed, or played, respectively. The main screen is called "Reading Life". The main application, the digital reader, supports a variety of ebook formats: ePub, PDF, Adobe DRM, MOBI, RTF, HTML, TXT, Comic Book Archive file, JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF, TIFF. Highlighting, adding notes, and looking up definitions in the built-in dictionaries is also possible by long-tapping a passage in any part of the book. eBooks compatible with the Kobo Touch can be borrowed from many public libraries, including the Ottawa Public Library and the Toronto Public Library. These books with DRM require authentication from Adobe in order to be read on the device. Books may be added to the device with the Kobo Desktop app or third party apps such as Calibre. The Kobo Touch also includes integration with the read-it-later service Pocket. Once a user has signed in with their Pocket account, articles saved to Pocket can be read on the Kobo Touch. Four applications are included with the Kobo Touch: a web browser, sudoku, chess - now replaced by Unblock It - and a sketch pad. The web browser allows for downloading of files that can be read on the device. Kobo does not provide technical support for these applications. Originally, 15 free previews of select books were included, although Kobo ceased including books with their devices. == Reception ==

The initial reaction to the Kobo Touch was mixed to positive. Reviewers lauded the design of the device, and the software, most notably praising the inclusion of a touch screen, a new E-ink panel, a microSD card slot, included applications, and the minimalism of the device. Complaints included an overall sluggishness to the interface ==See also==