Aura H20 Edition 2 is Kobo's improved waterproof Kindle rival

Kobo has updated its 6.8-inch waterproof e-reader with an improved design, more memory and an improved integrated lighting scheme.

David Carnoy Executive Editor / Reviews

Executive Editor David Carnoy has been a leading member of CNET's Reviews team since 2000. He covers the gamut of gadgets and is a notable reviewer of mobile accessories and portable audio products, including headphones and speakers. He's also an e-reader and e-publishing expert as well as the author of the novels Knife Music, The Big Exit and Lucidity. All the titles are available as Kindle, iBooks, Nook e-books and audiobooks.

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David Carnoy

May 4, 2017 7:01 a.m. PT

2 min read

The Kobo Aura H20 Edition 2 is due out soon.
Kobo

Kobo's latest Aura e-readers have one big competitive advantage over Amazon's Kindle range. Just like Barnes & Noble's Nook GlowLight Plus, they're fully waterproof. Now the Canadian company, which is owned by Rakuten, has made some improvements to its original Aura H20 and reissued it as the "new" Aura H20 Edition 2. It's shipping soon and will cost $180, £150 or AU$240.

The new version of the Aura H20 is essentially a shrunken Aura One that features a larger 7.8-inch screen compared to the Aura H20 Edition 2's 6.8-inch screen. Like the Aura One, the updated H20 has a rubberized back that's designed to be more grippy than the smooth plastic back of the original H20.

The Aura H20 has the same back as the larger Kobo Aura One (pictured).
Sarah Tew/CNET

The new Aura H20 has very similar specs to the Aura One, getting a bump to 8GB of internal memory and the same ComfortLight Pro lighting scheme found in its larger sibling.

We'll post a full review of the Aura H20 Edition 2 after we spend some time with it. For now, here's a look at its key specs.

Specs and features

6.8-inch Carta E Ink touchscreen, 265 ppi
129x172x8.9 mm, 210g
Connects via Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Micro USB
Processor: Freescale SoloLite iMx6 1Ghz
Fully adjustable built-in ComfortLight PRO technology
HZO Protection meets IPX8 rating, so it's waterproof for up to 60 minutes in up to 2m of water
8GB of internal memory stores more than 6000 eBooks)
Weeks of battery life on a single charge
Includes access to Kobo's eBookstore with over 5 million titles
TypeGenius feature offers 11 fonts in 50 sizes, plus exclusive weight and sharpness settings
Supported eBook formats: EPUB, EPUB3, PDF and MOBI
Supported images: JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP and TIFF
Supported text: TXT, HTML, XHTML and RTF
Supported comic book formats: CBZ and CBR
Languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Japanese, Italian, Portuguese and Turkish
Price: $180, £150 or AU$240