Unlike with the original Kobo, whose buttons were stiff, the buttons here are highly responsive. With the improved buttons, the device's overall design feels elevated somehow. The buttons (four along the left, plus a five-way navigation pad beneath the screen at right) are all in the same locations as they were on the original Kobo, and they're easy to access. The unit's light weight (about 7.8 ounces, lighter than the 8.7-ounce Amazon Kindle and the 7.9-ounce Sony Reader Touch Edition) contributes to making the Kobo a pleasure to hold while reading.

Where this e-reader truly continues to excel, though, is in its interface. The text is easy to read, logically and attractively presented, and genuinely friendly (more so than that of even more mature devices, such as the ), with clear directions. For example, press the center nav button while reading, and you'll invoke the fly-out menu options; on-screen, you get a note as to which button to press to close the menu.

The Kobo Wireless eReader's main appeal is to those people who would prefer to stick with an e-reader ecosystem that can handle ePub files; at this writing, the Kobo reader is the least expensive Wi-Fi-connected model to do so, and it does the job well. But for the same price, Amazon's Kindle provides better performance and a built-in keyboard for easier searching.