Summer Reading Made Easy

There’s a new kid in town giving style and sass to summer reading. Kobo’s new Aura H2O is a fully waterproof eReader taking the stress out of reading by the dock, on a lilypad, or by the Muskoka shoreline. MuskokaStyle tested one recently; here’s the verdict:

Waterproof… really.

Muskoka’s summer 2016 heat has meant we not only read by the water, we read in the water. Past attempts with an iPad have been rife with peril as we fear the $1000+ replacement fee if it gets wet. The Aura H2O is not only water resistant, it’s waterproof, meaning we can drop in the lake and lose it there for up to 30 minutes and it’ll still work… bonus.

Sandproof… really.

Sand is another stressor in our unapologetically sublime submissions to Sunday-long, by-the-lake summer reading. MuskokaStyle‘s headquarters happen to be situated on a sandy beach, which means grains of Canadian Shield granite threaten to marr our reading pleasure. The Aura H2O’s design is “dustproof” — a feature we translated liberally to “sandproof”… another bonus.

Setbacks… too few to mention

As for negatives, our review revealed few. The H2O’s two-month battery life meant that in our testing time period (approx one month), MuskokaStyle was never presented with a need to recharge, despite many-a-late-night spent reading. (And while we’re dedicated Apple users, truly, we did not miss those necessary nightly iPad plug-ins). This Kobo’s “extra-large 6.8″ Carta E Ink HD infrared touchscreen” was easy to read; its built-in “ComfortLight” meant our eyes weren’t straining. There’s 4 GB of storage standard with each H2O, which, for wifi-starved Muskoka cottagers, is a fairly huge feature: We could load up on books back at home where wifi is more bountiful and less expensive, then read on the dock all summer long in Muskoka.

More specs

Added items of interest: The H2O comes with a built-in dictionary—handy when you’re faced with words like equidistant and tourniquet (not especially difficult words to define, yet, admittedly, ones we struggled with!). The H2O also boasts the inherent, highly social ability to share favourite passages with your friends. Case in point from F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of our most treasured summer writers: “Life is essentially a cheat and its conditions are those of defeat … the redeeming things are not ‘happiness and pleasure’ but the deeper satisfactions that come out of struggle.”

Essential details:

MSRP: $179 (CANADA & USA) / www.Kobo.com

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Bottom two photos courtesy of Kobo.