Kobo Arc 10HD review

POWER GAMING

With so many pixels to render, the Arc 10HD needs some powerful internal components, and here the tablet doesn’t disappoint. Its Nvidia Tegra 4 system-on-chip (SoC) has four cores running at 1.8GHz and is paired with 2GB of RAM, which together make Android blisteringly quick. Whether you’re simply browsing the web or switching between 3D games and other apps, the Arc 10HD stays smooth and responsive. A SunSpider JavaScript benchmark score of 615ms beats just about every Android 10in tablet we’ve reviewed to date, but can’t compete with the iPad Air’s amazing 382ms.

Games are the best way to show off the 10HD’s power – we don’t think we’ve ever seen Real Racing 3 run as smoothly as it does here, even at 2,650×1,600. The tablet maxed out the 3DMark graphics benchmark at its standard settings, and scored an iPad Air-rivalling 9,184 in the 3DMark Extreme test. Pretty much anything available in the Google Play Store will run smoothly on this tablet.

APPS AND ANDROID

Shopping for apps is one area where Kobo has a distinct advantage over book-selling rival Amazon, as the Arc 10HD has full Play Store access. The Kindle Fire can only download apps from Amazon’s limited app store. You also aren’t stuck with a heavily customised version of Android, either – Kobo has taken a minimal approach, keeping the default App drawer and only adding two dedicated homescreens for reading. The tablet even lets you install custom launchers such as Apex Launcher, which will remove the last of the Kobo influence if it bothers you.

As you would expect from a company that primarily makes eBook readers, the Arc 10HD is largely focused on reading. Swipe once to the left from the main screen and your most recently purchased eBooks are shown; swipe a second time and your book collection appears, stored in a virtual bookshelf. The Kobo book store is heavily integrated, but there’s nothing stopping you from using Google Play Books – or any other third-party book store, for that matter.

A dedicated reading mode lowers the screen brightness, disables Wi-Fi and turns off all notifications so you aren’t disturbed. The fifth power-saving core in the Tegra 4 chipset should help the Arc 10HD’s battery life, with Kobo expecting up to nine and a half hours’ use from the 6550mAh battery. However, in our video rundown test the tablet managed 7h 44m, which is below average for a 10in tablet and behind the Asus Transformer Pad TF701T, which is the only other Tegra 4 tablet we’ve seen.

There are quite a few pre-installed apps, including several duplicates. We don’t think anyone needs three separate web browsers or two Play Store links, but other inclusions were more useful. Pinterest, Pocket and Feedly, our favourite RSS reader, are ideal for collecting links, articles and video for reading or watching later. 7Digital and Rdio are on hand for music streaming, while Kobo’s sister company Wuaki.tv is installed for on-demand video.

With no rear-facing camera, you have to rely on the front-facing webcam for video chats and taking pictures. The 1.3-megapixel sensor can record 720p video, but with no tap-to-focus you’re unlikely to be taking many photos with it.

CONCLUSION

Thanks to its built-in support for Kobo’s content store, the Arc 10HD is a rival for Amazon’s tablets, but it’s so much less customised than the Kindle Fire range that it’s also a rival for standard Android tablets. In fact, we’d go so far as to say that the 10HD’s biggest rivals are the Sony Xperia Tablet Z and Google’s own Nexus 10 tablet. The former has a waterproof design, but costs £100 more than the 10HD and has a lower-resolution display. The Nexus 10 matches the Kobo in terms of resolution, but is now over a year old and can’t compete for performance. Simply put, there’s no cheaper 10in tablet that can rival the Arc 10HD for display resolution or performance.

That may well change once Google refreshes the Nexus 10, which could happen imminently if rumours are to be believed, but in the meantime there’s just no better 10.1in tablet available for the price of the Kobo Arc 10HD.