On Friday, I took a small piece of my inheritance and went shopping for something I’d been saving for (before trips to the hospital and car repair/borrowing and life intervened). I didn’t get that e-reader I’d been hoping for, though. At first I was just going in to pick up whatever Kindle works in Canada right now, but -

None of the local stores had ‘em. Seriously – there was not a Kindle to be found. Even the Kobos and Sonys didn’t look like something I’d be wanting, and NONE – absolutely NONE – were on display so I could look at them and get a feel…

We came home not quite empty handed, though. I did pick up some clothes (sorely needed, believe me), Rhia picked up some stuff for her upcoming Comic Con artist table thingy, and Carrie got neon-colored Sharpie markers and gas for the truck. Practicality ruled the night, I guess. One thing I did do pretty much right when I got home though, I went online and began to research other e-readers, Kobo specifically, and where to get ‘em.

Turns out, Kobo has been putting out some devices which are actually more tablet than e-reader, and that’s what I’ve chosen to go with. Saturday, before tripping over to Carman for the last of Carrie’s tattoo inkage, we stopped in Winkler and I picked up a Kobo Arc 7hd. It’s the smaller one, 16G storage rather than 32. I’d have to order in the 32, it’s $50 more and frankly – I can store unread books on a hard drive. It’s Wifi capable, blu-tooth capable, and Carrie had an extended mini-USB charger cord to suffice for the bitty thing that came with it. (Seriously, 8 inches of cord.)

My first ebook download? The first of Steve Vernon’s Tatterdemon novella series (the rest of which is now on my wishlist for Christmas). Thankfully Kobo reads straight epub files, so I can convert any non-DRM files I have kicking around, too.

It’s been great so far, I’m getting used to the Android-y apps stuff. It came pre-loaded with a version of Office, so I’ll be able to use it to read submissions in spring. If I can track down the blu-tooth keyboard case made for it, I may even be able to edit on the go.

With this device, I’m less likely to get a smartphone, to be honest. I’ll probably end up having to keep the landline when/if we move, but the cost for it is the same as the monthly fee for the smartphone I was looking at (cheapest Samsung & plan that monopo-MTS has…) so I’d be no worse off.

There’s still far more to be done on the computer rather than a tablet, but… I’m a wee bit more portable now than I was last week.

’til we meet again…
<3 JL