Kobo Arc 10HD Review - Battery Life and Verdict Review
Battery Life and Verdict
Kobo's 10-inch Android tablet does not make for good reading
Sections
- Page 1 Kobo Arc 10HD Review
- Page 2 Software, Performance and Camera Review
- Page 3 Battery Life and Verdict Review
Kobo Arc 10HD – Battery life
Powering the Arc 10HD is a 6,550 mAh capacity battery promising up to 9.5 hours of staying power and up to 25 days of standby time. Next to the Nexus 10 (9,000mAh) and the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition (8,220mAh) the capacity doesn’t sound so impressive but in general use it will make it through a day. If you use Reading mode a lot it should last longer.
In more extreme testing running the film Ice Ace downloaded to the device on loop with Wi-Fi off and brightness on half-way, the Arc musters up around 7-7.5 hours. It’s not quite the iPad Air realms of battery life but it does outperform other similarly priced 10-inch Android tablets.
Should I buy the Kobo Arc 10HD?
The Kobo Arc 10HD is a powerful 10-inch Android tablet with some nice reading-centric features and crucially has access to Google Play. That being said there some serious design issues that make it difficult to recommend. The heavy build and sharp corners really make it uncomfortable to use while the over saturated colours in the screen are an issue as well.
If you can afford to pay the extra £20 the Nexus 10 is a better option. There is still talk that Google will announce a new Nexus 10 before the end of the year, but the current model is still a great performer. It’s lighter and better looking than the Arc 10HD has a nicer screen and the dual-core CPU makes little difference in real world use unless you’re serious game player.
Throw in another £100 on top, the iPad Air is comfortably the best 10-inch tablet to buy and you won’t be disappointed.
Verdict
The Kobo Arc 10HD is a powerful tablet with some great reading features let down by a far from perfect screen and bulky, uncomfortable design.
Next, read our round-up of the best Android tablets to buy.
How we test tablets
We test every tablet we review thoroughly. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly and we use the tablet as our main device over the review period. We’ll always tell you what we find and we never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Trusted Score
Score in detail
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Performance 7
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Value 6
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Design 6
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Sound Quality 6
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Screen Quality 7
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Features 7
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Battery Life 6
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Build Quality 7
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
