Using the Kobo Vox as a Portable multimedia player for watching video on the GO!

The Kobo Vox  color eReader is great for viewing video with its 7 inch screen which is optimized for outdoor reading on a eReader tablet. The Vox is one of the fewest Tablets which can be bought for under 180 dollars when on sale, but features a capacitive touch screen with a bright display.

The Kobo Vox can also be used as a photo viewer when you are not using it to view video and music files on it.

The Kobo Vox supports 3GP; MP4; WEBM video file formats, and MP3; AAC; .3GP; MP4; M4A; FLAC; OGG; WAV; MID sound file formats. It also supports JPG; PNG; GIF; BMP picture file format.

All you need is the default media player app for your Vox, or a good media player like Meridian Player for Android which can open and play music and video files. You can also use media players from GetJar which is Kobo default App store.

You can use an Video or audio converter in Windows, Mac, or Linux to convert incompatible video, and audio formats like MKV, WMV, etc to compatible file formats like MP4, MP3, etc. MS paint or other photo editing software can be used to convert incompatible picture formats like Tiff to JPG. By using media file converter software and Image file editors, you can playback almost any file on the Vox as long as you convert it to a compatible file format which works on the Vox and other portable devices like Sony PSP, MP4 player, etc.

You can set the brightness of your Vox's screen higher when outdoors because of the reflection from the sun making the screen not as bright, but when in doors videos and photos look great even on low to medium brightness settings if you want to conserve battery power.

I recommend buying a 32GB MicroSD Card and MicroSD Card Reader like the Sandisk 32GB MicroSDHC Micro SD Card with MicroSD to SD adapter & Mobilemate Reader, so you can load it up with video and music files for playing back on the Kobo Vox to give you even more space from the default 8GB of space.
To save space on your Vox, it would be best to load Standard definition 360P-480P video on the memory card, or HD video files with a resolution of 720P or use the resolution of 1024 x 600 to encode your home movies for the Vox's native resolution. 192 KBps or lower KBps like 96-128 KBps MP3 would be best for audio playback. MP4, OGG, and MID video and sound file formats usually use less space and are high quality at lower bitrates.

Improving your Wi-Fi performance on your Kobo Vox color eReader!

The Kobo Vox Color eReader Wi-Fi adapter is very good. I can pick up Wi-Fi signals from a few houses a way. But, if you have a older wireless router which uses 802.11 b or g then you might be missing out on the high performance of 802.11N which the Kobo Vox's Wi-Fi adapter uses.

These tips will also improve the wireless performance and  wireless signal range for your laptop, computer, smartphone, gaming handheld, Tablet, eReaders, and other wireless devicess which uses Wi-Fi to go online, or network with other computers and devices.

This means streaming video to your Vox from your computer, or streaming video from your Vox to your laptop might be a lot slower since you are using an older version of Wireless networking which is 802.11 N which can acheive speeds up to 450Mbps vs 54Mbps with 802.11G or 11 Mbps with 802.11B.

If you have internet like Fibre Optic, T3, or higher end broadband internet, you'll notice a huge difference when using an 802.11G router like D-Link DIR-655 Extreme-N Gigabit Wireless Router which has a max speed of 450Mbps and better signal range then most older wireless router's. This mean you'll be able to surf the internet, stream video from your computer to your Vox with an App, or stream video from your Vox to your PC even when you are outside at super high speeds.
If you use your Vox to wirelessly share files with a laptop or desktop computer via an Wi-Fi sharing App, buying a 802.11N Wireless USB adapter like the D-Link DWA-130 Wireless-N USB Adapter  for your desktop and laptop can speed things up and extend the range of the signal instead of using slower wireless adapter which came with your PC or laptop. You can also use Internet Connection sharing to convert your Wired internet service into Wireless in Windows XP, Vista, and 7, so if you don't have access to wireless internet, but you have access to cable to DSL internet you can use Windows Internet Sharing Connection wizard to share your internet connection with your Kobo Vox and other Wi-Fi devices via ICS.

How to save Battery life power with Kobo Vox eReader Tablet

The Kobo Vox eReader tablet has pretty good battery life for eBook reading at about 7 hours. However, it uses more battery life when browsing the web, gaming, and video. These tips will also help you save battery life and improve performance on your smartphone, and other mobile devices.

These Tips on saving battery life power may also make your Kobo Vox slightly faster since turning off Widgets, and background programs free up your RAM,  and CPU cycle, so Apps, Games, and ebooks may load a little faster since it has more free RAM and CPU cycles to use.

Having less Apps and processes running in the background can also increase your Kobo Vox's overall stability meaning it is less likely to crash because of no free RAM or CPU Cycles when too many Apps are running in the background.

The first thing you can do is remove the Rdio, Kobo Book widget, Search, Clock, and all the Widgets and icons which you don't need on your home screens / multiple desktops by pressing on them and dragging the widgets to the trash can icon on the bottom. You can always re ad them later when you plan on using them. I notice the Widgets tend to use up a little bit of RAM and CPU cycles which may affect battery life and performance.

The Kobo Vox also does not need an antivirus since it uses Google Android which is one of the most secure mobile operating systems in the World because it is based on Linux which does not need an Anti-virus. A Google Android anti-virus made by antivirus companies will most likely just make your battery life worse, and slow down your Vox. If you just download apps from GetJar, Amazon App store, and trusted app stores you should be fine since these Apps stores check to see if Apps are safe. Also, read reviews on Apps before you download and install them on your Vox.

Third party launchers like GO Launcher EX, Launcher Pro, etc and third party keyboards like SlideIT can also use up some battery life since I notice they tend to use some RAM, and CPU cycles when on, and their animations, graphics, and special features may also make Android use more power.

The default App launcher and keyboard for Android should be good enough, and keep the Vox running fast without using as much power as third party launchers and keyboards.

Replacing Widgets with shortcuts can increase your battery life if the widget uses a lot of RAM and CPU cycles when being displayed on your home screens.

You can also set the Kobo Vox's reading apps like Pulse, and Notifications off in the book settings, and the book reading app you can set it to a list rather then a 3D book shelf which can use a little bit more power since 2D lists are simpler and usually use less power then 3D book shelfs.

Removing icons and shortcuts which you rarely use can also save you time, and some battery life since you can find the short cuts for apps which you use most often, and you won't have to scroll as much to find them.
Moving most of your most used apps to your Home Screen can also save a little bit of time and battery life since you are not switching screens as much to find them, so you can just launch them after your Vox has turned on, and start using your favorite apps rather then scrolling through the multiple home screen desktops to find the shortcut for your favorite apps.

In the Settings, you can go to your Display settings, and turn down the brightness to the lowest. The Kobo Vox color and brightness is still pretty readable at its lowest setting. You can also turn off the animation for your Vox's display when using the Vox.

You can also turn off Wireless/Wi-Fi in the settings when you are not using Wi-Fi to browse the web, play mobile games which require Wi-Fi for posting high scores or downloading updates. To Turn Wi-Fi back on you just go back into the settings for Wireless, and turn Wireless back on.

If you browse the web a lot, I recommend Opera Mini Web Browser when browsing text and image based website since Opera Mini can be set to compress images to a lower quality, so you don't use as much bandwidth and power to display websites. Except Opera Mini does not work for YouTube, and video sites, but is good enough for blogs, social networks, and other sites which are text and video based.

Dolphin Browser HD is a pretty fast and easy to use browser for YouTube, and more advance websites which have videos, games, and flash content.
When you plan on not using your Kobo Vox eReader for a few hours, it is best to turn it off by holding the power button until you see a pop up window to turn it off instead of Standby mode since Standby uses a little bit of power to keep your RAM powered up for faster start ups, but if you plan on using your Vox in a few minutes or less then Standby would be better since you won't have to wait for your Vox to start up from Off which could take one minute or more instead of a second from wake from standby when you press the power button. Standyby and power off are both better then leaving your Vox on, and not in use since the Vox could use a lot of power when it is on, and not in use.