Books

This New E-Reader Resists the Elements

by Meredith Turits

Real talk for a second: There are a few really over-saturated markets for this whole reading thing — the park, your bed, the train — my god, books everywhere. But no one's quite figured out the art of reading in the bathtub, regardless of whether you're on an e-reader or with those silly books with pages. One company is hoping to change that: Kobo has introduced a waterproof and dustproof e-reader, the Aura H20, so you can tune out the world in the tub, too. And, I guess, the beach and desert while you're at it.

According to Yahoo! UK & Ireland, the device is the world's first with the spec, and will cost $179 when it hits stores in October. We'll all have to see if this point of differentiation is what makes it the new go-to device, especially since its price-point is set higher than Kindle Paperwhite ($119 or $139) in an already Amazon-dominated market. Here's a peek at its profile:

Although if the port cover is closed it'll technically be OK up to a half-hour submerged at a meter, I wouldn't exactly feel 100 percent calm sending my device swimming like that — I don't about about you. Nice that the brand has some serious confidence in its water-resistance, however, if you feel like going all Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

Seeing as some readers clearly prefer the e-reading experience to the paper one, maybe this innovation will just add more fire to their arguments. After all, although I'm a read-on-the-page-until-the-day-I-die kind of woman, I could waste another 300 words of this post mourning the hardcovers I've lost to unexpected downpours, unfortunate coffee spills, and, yes, stubborn attempts at a relaxing bath, despite knowing better.

Hm, when I put it like that... Kobo, are you taking testers? I'd like to go to the beach for Labor Day.

Image: 28208534@N07/flickr; Kobo