Kobo has announced a new edition of its waterproof eBook reader, that you can use in the bath or by the pool without fear it might get water damaged.

The Kobo Aura H2O Edition 2 is IPX8 rated, which means it's waterproof down to two metres for up to 60 minutes. Drop it in the pool therefore and you're likely to be able to carry on reading after fishing it out.

It is similar to Kobo's current flagship device, the Aura One, although it sports a 6.8-inch E Ink Carta display rather than the massive 7.8-inch version on the One.

It has a resolution of 1440 x 1080 so offers a pixel count of 265ppi, which should keep text looking clean and sharp.

carry on reading in the bath or at the pool with the kobo aura h2o edition 2 image 2
Kobo

There's Wi-Fi on-board along with a Micro USB port for charging and hooking it up to a computer. Battery is claimed to last a week between charges.

Adjustable built-in lighting is present and the H2O Edition 2 comes with 8GB of internal storage that can contain around 6,000 eBooks. It accesses the Kobo bookstore, which boasts over five million titles for sale.

Kobo's eBook readers are also compatible with multiple eBook file formats, so you can transfer other digital books from around the 'net. EPUB, EPUB3, PDF and MOBI are all supported. Comic books in CBR and CBZ format are also recognised, as are TXT, HTML, XHTML and RTF format documents.

The Kobo Aura H20 Edition 2 will be available for £149.99 from 22 May in the UK. It'll also be available in North America and other select regions. Pre-orders will start from 15 May.