Does the Kobo Remote enable easier and faster reading of your eBooks? Yes. Does it cost too much? Also yes.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Easy page turning for Kobo e-readers | It costs… how much? |
| Huge potential as an assistive technology for those with disabilities | Battery cover is hard to remove |
| Easy to set up | Lanyard is difficult to fit |
Score: 2.5/5
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In this review
Kobo Remote Specifications
Kobo Remote Design
Kobo Remote Performance
Kobo Remote Verdict
Ethical disclaimer:
The Kobo Remote used in this review was sent to me by Kobo’s representatives, and they’re not asking for it back. All too often online, that kind of “deal” involves an implicit pressure to provide a gushing, “influencer” style review.
Nope. That’s not what I do, because I hold to this apparently “crazy” idea that reviews should be honest, trustworthy and ethically sound. Whether or not a product goes back or stays with me makes zero difference to how I review it. Many other sites omit disclosure or simply take the easy money, and that’s not how I operate. End of story.
For more on ART’s Ethics position, see here.
Design
The Kobo Remote, as the name might suggest to you, is a remote control designed for use with Kobo e-readers such as the recently reviewed (and rather excellent) Kobo Libra Colour:
Also Read
Design-wise, it’s a small rounded remote control that ships in either a white or black colour; Kobo sent me the black variant, and – at least according to Kobo’s official specifications – it’s a whole 0.8g lighter than the white variant. If anyone can explain to me why white plastic is heavier, leave a comment below, not that this makes a huge likely difference to the hand feel of the remote control itself.
The Kobo Remote is almost ridiculously simple; its front face features two primary buttons, plus one button at the top for Bluetooth 5.0 pairing, and that’s your lot. The selling proposition here is simplicity, though that (as I’ll get into shortly) does also introduce some pretty significant limitations.
The only other major note on the design I have to make are that the battery cover is extremely hard to remove.
Open Sesame does not work. A firm hand grip might.
It looks like simple plastic, but it locks in hard; the best approach I’ve found to getting it to open is to grip the remote sideways with both hands and pull as though you were trying to tear it in half. This doesn’t feel great for a remote that costs this much, but it does seem to work.
Apart from the remote and a slender installation manaul, the only other thing you’ll find in the box with the Kobo Remote is a small lanyard.
I’m not a big fan of lanyards, but if you are, it’s worth noting that fitting it through the lanyard loop at the base is quite tricky… well, I’ll be honest here, I’ve totally failed to get it to loop through at all despite numerous tries. Maybe I’m just rubbish at fitting lanyards, we may never know.
Performance
The Kobo Remote comes with a AAA battery pre-installed and the predictable plastic pull tab to remove to activate it.
From there, it’s a matter of holding in the pairing button until the blue light on the back of the remote flashes and then heading to the Bluetooth menu on your compatible Kobo device. As per Kobo, any Bluetooth-ready Kobo e-reader should be compatible; for the purposes of testing I used the Kobo Libra Colour, where the approach was to go to More, then Settings and then Bluetooth to switch that particular radio on and to pair the Kobo Remote to it.
At which point you have to tackle what the Kobo Remote actually does.
The answer? Not all that much given its asking price.
The larger top button goes forward a page, the smaller bottom button goes back a page, and that’s your lot.
It won’t do anything at all if you’re not already in a book, and it won’t allow you to exit a book if you reach the last page, though you could always read the whole thing backwards again once you’re done if that floats your boat.
Kobo’s big pitch around the Kobo Remote is one of convenience, talking up the potential for it to enable easier reading in bed, or where you want totally uninterrupted reading without having to reach for the screen each time you finish a page.
The specifications suggest a range of up to 20 metres for connectivity, but unless you’ve got a massive Kobo with font size set to huge, or you’re happy to read through binoculars, I can’t quite see the utility of that.
There is, I feel, a better and stronger use case for the Kobo Remote, and that’s for readers with disabilities that make reaching out for page turn buttons a non-starter.
I do love assistive technology devices, and this does fit rather firmly in that space, though again I feel the limited feature set is an issue.
Having the ability to fully interact with at least the eBook parts of a Kobo would be a much stronger play at this price point, because it would enable those with limited mobility to browse bookshelves, borrow through Overdrive or buy books as they felt the need.
As it is, for anyone who might find the Kobo Remote a useful assistive tool, you’re still going to have to get somebody else to actually select and open each book you read.
Curiosity compelled me, so I did check if the Kobo Remote was using any kind of funky custom Bluetooth profile to do what it does, so I tried experimentally pairing it up with a MacBook to see what would happen.
It worked, detected as a keyboard with the buttons taking the place of up/down cursor keys, though amusingly in reverse orientation. Not that useful, really, and it’s worth keeping in mind that the Kobo Remote does not support multiple device pairing, so if you do that kind of thing, you’ll have to forget it on your non-Kobo device if you want to pair it back up with your e-reader.
Kobo lists the battery life of the Kobo Remote as “Months of daily reading, dependent on individual usage”, which isn’t that useful a metric.
Honestly, I’ve not had it long enough to give much of a real world figure, especially as AAA battery capacities can vary and it’s not like it broadcasts a power capacity reading to make that a realistic possibility.
It does strike me that the more likely battery impact here is going to be having Bluetooth enabled on your Kobo; while that communication protocol is by design relatively light on power usage, you’re still going to get less battery life out of your e-reader if it’s constantly scanning for signals.
Kobo Remote: Alex’s Verdict
Most of the pitch for the Kobo Remote is for e-reading fanatics who want a slightly easier way to turn pages when they’re reading for pleasure.
I do love reading for pleasure, and I can see how in some circumstances the Kobo Remote might make that a slightly simpler or more enjoyable matter. I can also see a position for this device (or a device like it) for those who might need assistance just using an e-reader, because the larger buttons on the remote are a little easier to hit than a touch display or smaller side buttons might be. That’s all good.
However, at $44.95, this is an expensive device for what is ultimately just a two-button Bluetooth remote control. The battery cover is a fiddly creature, and the use of AAA rather than some kind of rechargeable solution means that at some point you will find yourself wrestling with getting it open. It doesn’t fail to live up to its promises, but when its promises are so small and its price is so high, it’s a hard one to recommend.
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Kobo Remote: Pricing and availability
The Kobo Remote retails in Australia for $44.95
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About the Author
Hi Alex. Thank you for the review of the Kobo remote! I don’t really see the point of it. I kind of like holding my e-readers while I’m reading, and holding the remote as well would just be cumbersome. If you aren’t holding your e-reader, you have to have a stand, or something to prop it up, which would be difficult if you are reading, say, in bed. Of course , I will probably get one! Haha. I do actually like the simplicity of having only 2 buttons. Any more would just make it too complicated, in my opinion.
I actually thought the price was reasonable ($39 Cdn), and they seem to be popular: they are sold out on the Canadian website!
I use a handheld GPS with a similar setup for a lanyard. I have found that it makes it easier to install if you push it in as far as you can and then grab it from the other side with a paper clip or pin.