Following in the recent footsteps of the Nook Ereader, Kobo have just launched their first ereader with a built in front light – So no more hassles with wobbly clip-on reading lights with this ereader, from now on you will have the light on the screen where you need it, and never again have to adjust your reading light.

As with the equally recently launched Kindle with built in reading light, this is about the only thing that is really new about this latest offering from Kobo, but it is a serious step forward, and really does increase the ease of reading with your ereader.

Sony did this years ago… But…….

Curiously enough, Sony had an ereader about 4 years ago with a reasonably efficient built-in front lighting system, but for some reason they discontinued this and since then have done nothing in this direction… Silly of them I feel.

Along the bottom….

This ereader has its built-in front lighting in the form of a row of LED’s along the bottom of the screen, – the Nook has its lights along the top, and the old Sony had them on both sides of the screen – but which works best I do not yet know..

In the case of the Kobo Glo, these lights can be dimmed so you can set the light level at whatever works best in the situation you find yourself in.. A nice touch I feel.

So, what is this latest Kobo ereader?

Well, apart from the lighting system, it is a very normal ereader really, with only small but probably quite good improvements on earlier models.

As with all Kobo ereaders, this one works with both DRM protected ebooks and non-DRM protected ebooks in the e-Pub format, so the world’s ebooks are available to you with this ereader, and Kobo have a very large selection of ebooks in their own ebook store as well.. so finding ebooks to read will be no problem with this one. As a nice extra, as it works with the standard e-Pub, you will probably find that your local library can also lend you ebooks to read on it.. so free reading, not bad really.

Being a serious player in the ereader world, this one also has WiFi connectivity, so you can hunt for, buy and download ebooks directly onto the ereader, and thus have no need of a computer to do this – though of course you can always connect it to your computer to recharge its batteries, and to organise and find ebooks that way as well.

It also has a touch screen (also normal these days) so navigation around your ebooks and so on is done with finger swipes on the screen.

So, it is really simply a good, well built and up to date ereader, nothing specially amazing about it (apart from its screen lighting) and as such, well worth buying I would say.

Technical Specifications:

Size 114mm. x 157mm. x 10mm. (4.5 in x 6.2 in x 0.39 in)

Weight 185g (6.5 ounces)

Processor 1GHz

Display 6” E Ink XGA Pearl screen; 1024×768 resolution; 16-level grey scale

Light Built-in ComfortLight technology with micro-thin hard coating for durability and even light distribution

Screen Non-glass touchscreen for glare-free, fingerprint-resistant reading.

Buttons Power on/off, light on/off

Connectivity Wi Fi 802.11 b/g/n and micro USB

Storage 2GB

Option to expand to 32GB with a Micro SD card

Battery Over 1 month with Wi Fi and light turned off.

Up to 55 hours of continuous use with light on.

Colours Black Night. Pink Sunset. Blue Moon. Silver Star.

Each featuring Kobo‘s signature soft quilted back.

Price: $ 130

Availability: As from October it will be available all over the world I gather, and can be pre-ordered already form a wide range of places. Kobo sell their ereaders in a huge number of stores all over the world, so no problem getting your hands on one when you want it.

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Does the addition of the built-in front light matter to you? Do you see this as an advantage that would make you want to own one of them?  Do let us know your thoughts on this