Stop off at home long enough to put away the bits of dead things and then hike off in the other direction, to Southland, to visit the bank for much-needed cash, and then over to the Chapters/Indigo store down there to look at Kobos. Came home not with a Touch or a Glo, but with an Aura ... a brand-shiny-new model that was only released the day before yesterday. Very VERY nice. The same screen as the Glo but with even higher definition and with the casing borders reduced to create a larger reading surface, twice the memory, and a page turn that responds to either tap, swipe or top corner flick and is as fast as any of those actions. Very simple, minimalist menu that gets you to and into your books fast. Tons of font face and size choices, including one face exclusive to Kobo that is very nice on the eyes. Very easy to get synced, loaded and started. And on the physical side ... very light (a whopping 243 grams according to my yarn scale), deep chocolate brown casing with a sculptured groove in the back that is in exactly the ideal spot for your fingertips no matter which hand you're holding it in. Very clean, simple, elegant design. Ditto for the packaging, which has nary a scrap of cellophane or other plastic beyond two small seal dots on the box ... the company's Japanese influence shows there with a box covered in heavy, handmade-like paper and the manual covered in the same and tucked into a matching envelope. The manual's interior pages are the same heavy paper in cream (the box, cover and envelope are khaki). Even the USB cable looks more like a piece of jewelry than something related to electronics.
I think I chose well. :-)
