Closer Look: Kobo Arc

A tablet needs to look great, and be comfortable to hold. The Kobo Arc doesn’t try to buck the current trends of 7″ tablets but it is by no means a bad looking tablet.

Kobo gave the Arc no physical buttons on its front, instead opting to use the software buttons available through the Android interface. Kobo used the traditional raised bezel on the Arc, instead of opting for a flush bezel and screen like on the Nexus 7.

The Kobo Arc comes with a textured rubber back that is quite comfortable to hold, and should user want to customize his or her Arc it can be removed and replaced with another color or style. Currently Kobo is offering the colors blue and purple as options for the Kobo Arc.

Kobo gave the Arc a large battery, listing a 10-hour battery life as part of its features and as we will see later on many of our tests, it comes quite close to this number or even surpasses it.

Kobo has given the Arc a 1.3MP front facing camera. This allows a user to use Skype or other video-based communication services. It also enables Google’s face unlock feature which was introduced in Android 4.1

The two speakers on the Kobo Arc are adequate for their size; they are loud enough to be heard but they sound tinny and hollow. I wish that manufacturers would spend more money on the speakers in their tablets and provide something better to listen to than the typical speakers being used in the current generation of tablets.

Kobo uses a standard Micro-USB port to charge and connect to the Arc. This means that as long as the user has an Android phone with them they can use the same charger for their phone and tablet. This helps a user cut down on the number of cables they need to carry with them as they travel, a true godsend for those of us who are frequently spending time on planes and in airports.