January 19, 2012

Web Browsing + Wireless Wifi Experience on the Kobo Vox Color eReader

The default web browser on the Kobo Vox Color eReader is the Google Android Gingerbread web browser which is pretty good for visiting mobile sites. The 800MHz CPU, 512MB of RAM, 8GB storage, and 802.11N Wifi adapter found on the Vox is great for browsing most websites online quickly, and download files online to latter transfer to your laptop, or desktop by using the Vox's USB transfer cable. The 7 inch screen, thin case and light weight of the Vox makes it great for carrying around in a bag or purse. I also notice it is easy to read text on the browser because of the sharp screen and bright back light. The 7 inch screen is big enough to display most popular websites like YouTube, Wikipedia, Facebook, Google, and Twitter without the need to zoom in or scroll a lot. The Vox can play YouTube and DailyMotion videos without the Adobe Flash Player add-on if you use the mobile version of Youtube at m.youtube.com . Videos will be played in Full Screen High Quality by default in YouTube mobile.



The Kobo Vox also comes with the bookmarks with the mobile version of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, so easily accessing the mobile version of popular social networks are simple.

Rdio, PressReader, and Globe2Go also comes bundled with the Vox, so you can listen to music, read magazines, and newspapers streamed to you from the internet easily.

The WiFi performance of the Kobo Vox is also very good. The Kobo Vox connects a lot faster to my older Wireless router which uses 802.11G in a few seconds which is a lor faster then my laptop which sometimes take minutes to connect to WiFi.



The Vox also features a 802.11N Wireless wi-fi adapter which means it can detect wireless networks which are farther a way, and have a better range for the Wireless signal. 802.11N can achieve speeds of 300 megabits per second or higher, and longer range. This means if your Wireless router also has 802.11N your speed and range would be very fast and long. But, If you still use a 802.11G router then the speed and range will still be good, but not as good as a N router.

When I use the Vox, it never disconnects me from my home router while I use it.

Downloading eBooks, .APK installer files for android, and media files are also pretty fast.


 The default Google Android browser is good enough for browsing 1-3 websites at a time on the same browser.


However, using Opera Mini could be better since you can set Opera mini to compress images to low or medium quality on a website to use less bandwidth and load faster, and you will save a little bit of battery power since you won't need to download image files which are as big, and Wifi uses battery power on the Vox when on. Opera is a tab browser, so it is easy to switch to different websites. Opera also has a back and forward and other buttons found on desktop browsers to make browsing the web on a tablet easier for Newbies. YouTube, and most video sharing sites do not work well in Opera for some reason.

Dolphin Browser HD, and Maxthon Mobile Android browsers seem to work better for Multimedia rich sites, or sites that do not display well on Android, Opera, and other browser. I prefer Dolphin Browser more since it's user interface looks similar to Google Chrome user interface, and Dolphin seems a little more fast and easy to use then Maxthon. Maxthon has customisable themes, and more settings if you care a lot about customisation.

Opera Mini, Dolphin HD, Maxthon, and other mobile browsers are available for download for free at the GetJar Android Marketplace, or online at their websites.

You can also side load APK files with the Internet, USB cable or a Micro SD card  to install  other 3rd party web browser, or web apps which are not available in GetJar marketplace.

You can also use SlideIT which is a 3rd party keyboard app for Google Android on GetJar to replace the default Android keyboard if you find the Android Keyboard hard to use when typing in searches or website addresses in mobile web browsers.

When using your Kobo Vox for web browsing, and wi-fi is on the battery life is about 3-4 hours on low brightness. By removing un-needed apps like the Rdio, search, clock, and Kobo app from your desktop to the trashcan, you can increase the battery life a bit because fewer apps are running in the background on the Vox. Opera Mini is probably the most power efficient web browser you can find for the Vox since Opera can be set to lower the quality of images, so they download faster, and use less power when downloading.

If you are visiting websites without a mobile version of their site, it is best to hold the Vox horizontally to see the entire width of the page without zooming in and out. Holding your Vox vertically is best for sites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube which has a mobile version of its website since you can see more posts, and status updates on the page without the need to scroll up and down as much.

Using the Kobo Vox as a casual web browsing reader for reading and watching videos and music online is pretty good. The Vox's built-in mono speaker is good enough for listening to most videos and music online, but headphones or external speakers will improve the listening experience.

It is also possible to install the Adobe Flash Player plug-in for Android to playback flash videos on sites which need it. You just need to search Google for the Adobe Flash Player 11 APK installer file.

Tip: some websites has a mobile app for their website which works like a custom newsreader or browser for only their website for Android devices using these apps would make browsing their website easier, and faster.

Making Bookmarks can also improve your user experience in mobile web browsers since you would not have to type as much with the mobile web browsers keyboard. Dolphin and Opera Mobile browser also might have some shortcut gestures, add-ons and extensions which would improve your mobile web experience.

By making your mobile web browsing experience faster, and more enjoyable, it would make you be able to get more done in a shorter amount of time which could save you some battery life, and time in the long run.

1 comment:

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