Kobo Arc Android 4.0 ICS Tablet Challenges Nexus 7 Michael Kwan September 6, 2012 And the world of cheap Android tablets has just gained another resident. Kobo isn’t new to the Android tablet world, but the Kobo Vox hasn’t exactly been all that hot. Now, they’ve officially followed it up with a new Android tablet called the Kobo Arc. Not surprisingly, it taps into the same Kobo marketplace that we’ve seen before, making it easy for you to buy e-books and the like, but they’ve significantly upgraded the specs too. For starters, you get Android 4.0 under the hood. While there is definitely a Kobo skin there, it really is ICS underneath and you should get full access to the Google Play Store. You could be all ironic about it and get the Kindle app on here, for example. The rest of the specs aren’t anything to sneeze at either with a 1.5GHz dual core TI OMAP 4470 processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 7-inch 1280×800 IPS display. While there is no expandable memory or rear camera, there is a front-facing 1.3MP shooter. If you’re thinking the specs sound a little familiar, that’s because they’re eerily similar to the Google Nexus 7. Even the price is the same with the 8GB selling for $199 and the 16GB selling for $249. Given that, I’m not sure why someone would choose the Kobo Arc over a Nexus 7. In any case, you can expect to see this launch in November. Along with the Kobo Arc, two other devices were announced at the same time. These are e-ink touchscreen e-readers rather than full-blown tablets. The Kobo Mini is the cheaper of the two at $79. It has a 5-inch display, 2GB of memory, WiFi, and social reading features. Bump up to the Kobo Glo for $129 and you get a microSD slot and a 6-inch “ComfortLight” touch display. Via TC Share This With The World!
