Kobo is not as successful as Amazon and Barnes and Nobles when it comes to e-readers. But the Canadian company is competitive enough to not lag behind when the giants released the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet. The Kobo Vox is supposed to be their answer for the emerging trend of hybrid tablet/reader devices. But does it have the firepower to compete?

At first glance, the Kobo Vox looks like your generic 7-inch Android tablet. Its bezel is wider than the Kindle Fire although their screen size is the same. This makes the display of the Kindle Fire appear larger. What separates the Kobo Vox from other readers in terms of design is the quilted diamond patter on its back. If you have been using past Kobo readers then you are familiar with it. You can choose from a variety of Vox colors like green, pink and blue.

Just a few months ago, you can’t expect something good out of a tablet that can be bought for only $199. This was changed when the Kindle Fire was released. Its performance is pretty decent for a tablet with that price. It has a RAM of 512 MB (same as iPad 2) and its processor is clocked at 1 GHz. For the Kobo Vox to compete, we expected it to have the same computing. But alas it does not compare to the Kindle Fire when it comes to performance despite having the same price tag. The processor is only clocked at 800 MHz and although the number seems high, you can easily notice the sluggishness once you try the Vox for yourself.

The Kobo Vox is at best an ordinary Android tablet. It contains preloaded apps like those found on other Gingerbread tablets. There were no special apps included except for the Kobo reader. The thing is that you can download the same reader app for free. This means buying the Vox reader for its apps is not the same as buying the Kindle Fire also for its apps.

Unlike the Nook Tablet which has its own unique characteristics, you will find it hard to isolate the Kobo Vox from other tablets of the same size. It is like having those Chinese tablets at a higher price (those tablets can be bought for $99). And when the Kindle Fire around, there is no reason to choose the Kobo Vox. It would be hard pressed to join the Kindle Fire vs. Nook Tablet debate. If you hate Amazon or Barnes and Noble that much that you don’t want any of their products then you could buy Kobo’s hybrid.

Olan Dantes is a writer for Tech-Vs-Tech, a blog that reviews all the latest gadgets by clashing them with one another. Check out a comprehensive Kindle Fire vs. Kobo Vox review by checking the blog now.