The Kobo Clara HD and the Tolino Shine 3 have the exact same hardware. This is no coincidence, because Kobo is now responsible for designing the hardware for all Tolino e-readers. Deutsche Telecom sold Kobo their stake in the Tolino Alliance in late 2017. The software for Tolino e-readers is the same and it uses Android, whereas all Kobo branded e-readers use Linux.
When Kobo bought their way into the Tolino Alliance, Kobo promised that they will no longer sell their own e-readers in Germany, so they would not cannibalize their own interests in that market and allow Tolino to compete better against Amazon.
In this exclusive Good e-Reader Video, Peter directly compares these two devices, side by side. You can get a sense on what they both bring to the table, but design wise, they are a mirror image of each other.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
