Kobo Aura H2O: World’s first Waterproof eReader launching in early 2015

Kobo has announced that the world’s first waterproof premium eReader, the Aura H2O will be available in Australia from February 2015. The high definition Aura H2O eReader is waterproof, dust-proof and anti-glare, with loads of features including a built-in dictionary and popular word games – but don’t go tossing it into the pool because this technology does have limitations.

The Aura H2O was designed for use in the bath, at the beach and beside the pool, without damaging the device if accidently dropped in water. The device is waterproof but only for up to 30 minutes in 1 metre of water with the port closed – under any other conditions you could end up with nothing more than an expensive paper weight.

Kobo will advertise the Aura H2O as having a long battery life of up to two months but this estimate is based on only 30 minutes of reading per day. More avid readers will have to recharge their device more often and depending on your reading habits, users would be well advised to pack their recharger when going on holidays.

Like all Kobo devices, the Aura H2O makes the discovery of new titles a breeze, with on-device recommendations based on your reading activity and preferences. From romance to thrillers, biographies and memoirs to business books, non-fiction to literary fiction, Kobo has more than 4 million eBooks, comics, and magazines available for download, including many free titles.

Kobo Reading Life™ gives users the ability to take notes, highlight text, make bookmarks, and track stats to learn more about their own reading habits. Readers can also share favourite passages, quotes, and books with friends and family on Facebook.

Advanced features include: Library personalisation, predictive search, brightness controls, double-tap PDF zoom in, and SimpleTurn for comfortable page turns. The device also supports these languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Brazilian, Portuguese, Portuguese, and Japanese.

An increasing number of public libraries are enabling their patrons to borrow eBooks via their website. All you need to borrow an eBook from your public library is a device that supports EPUB and Adobe DRM. The Aura H2O supports these file types and many others, including: EPUB3, PDF, and MOBI for eBooks; JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP and TIFF for Images; TXT, HTML, XHTML, and RTF for Text; and CBZ and CBR for Comic Books.

You can also play the following games on your Aura H2O: Chess, Sudoku, Sketch Pad, Unblock It, Solitaire, and Word Scramble.

The Kobo Aura H2O eReader will be available in Australia online from 5 February 2015 at www.kobo.com and in-store at JB Hi Fi for the recommended retail price of $229. Shortly thereafter, the device will be sold online and in-store at Bookworld, Booktopia, Myer, Harvey Norman, Angus & Robertson and other selected retailers.

The Kobo Aura H2O will also be available for purchase early next year in the US & Canada ($179.99), United Kingdom (£139.99) and the European Union (€179).

For more information about Kobo eReaders visit the website www.kobo.com