Rakuten Kobo is adding colour to its popular e-reader line with the 7-inch Kobo Libra Colour and 6-inch Kobo Clara Colour.
Both devices feature an “optimized colour E Ink Kaleido 3 display” to create a subtle palette, allowing users to add colour notes, scribbles and doodles to whatever book or document they’re reading. It’s important to note that creating anything beyond simple highlights (which you can make with your finger) requires the pricey Kobo Stylus 2 ($89.99).
After spending the last few days using the Libra Colour, I can confirm that while the subtle colour filter array effect works well, it adds a weird sheen to the screen that makes the display look more like a traditional laptop’s screen than what I’ve come to expect from am e-readers.
I’ve also struggled to find a reason to pull out the Stylus 2 and start doodling, though this likely just comes down to how I read books.
Seeing book covers in full colour is pretty cool.
There are a lot of people who like to annotate books with brief notes or map out a character’s journey, and the Libra and Clara Colour offer a cheaper, stylus-compatible alternative to Kobo’s Elipsa 2E ($499.99) or Sage ($299.99) for those that are interested in doing exactly that.
It’s also just undeniably cool to see book covers and menus in colour, though this is far from a game-changing addition to an e-reader. You can even view colour graphic novels on the Libra Colour, though they’ll feature muted hues.
When I first got my hands on the Libra Colour, I envisioned turning it into a digital notebook alongside being my new main e-reader. I often create itemized lists of what I need to get done in a given day, and ditching my hefty real-life notebook for a slightly smaller, lightweight e-reader was an exciting prospect. Unfortunately, the writing experience the Libra Colour offers is too cramped for my liking, and there’s a minor delay between the stylus’ actions and the display that makes Kobo’s new e-reader feel less intuitive than I hoped. Palm detection is also far from perfect, resulting in the Libra jumping pages while trying to take notes.
The Libra Colour I’ve been using is running beta software, so there’s a possibility the final release will be more responsive (if that’s the case, I’ll update this story). But for what it’s worth, in my brief time with Amazon’s Kindle Scribe, I didn’t encounter this issue. I can’t speak to the performance of Kobo’s higher-end e-reader, the Elipsa 2e, because I haven’t used it myself, but its writing and note-taking features have received positive coverage (including from MobileSyrup).
The fact that I construct most of my letters like a 5-year-old who’s still learning to print likely doesn’t help matters.
You can use the Kobo Libra Colour as a notebook, but most people likely won’t want to.
On the more positive side, the Libra Colour features shape recognition, the ability to turn handwritten letters into a typed-out list (which you can then upload to Google Drive and other cloud storage platforms), various forms of writing thickness, including a ballpoint pen, a fountain pen, a calligraphy pen and more, and the ability to insert diagrams and math equations into notebooks. The Libra Colour offers far more note-taking features than I expected, surpassing even the far more expensive Kindle Scribe in several respects. However, writing thickness doesn’t shift depending on how hard you push with the stylus, which is a surprising and disappointing limitation (these are features the Kobo Sage and Elipsa offer).
It’s also important to note that the Libra Colour Kobo sent me has a distracting dead pixel in the lower right corner. This isn’t a deal breaker, and I doubt it’s a widespread problem, but it’s still worth mentioning as something to look out for if you plan to pick up this e-reader.
“Kobo’s new colour e-books are designed for a very specific type of reader — those who want to doodle and write in the margins.”
Lastly, like all e-readers, the Libra Colour remains pretty laggy. If you’ve never used an e-reader before, you’ll likely be shocked at how slow and unresponsive the Libra Colour’s displays can sometimes be, especially when compared to modern tablets or smartphones. I know e-readers have a different purpose and that this is a trade-off for better battery life, a simpler experience and a display that’s easier on the eyes, but I can’t help but expect better out of an e-reader in 2024 — especially now that Kobo has jumped to colour E Ink and is really pushing its stylus.
The Libra Colour sports a 7-inch 1264 x 1680 resolution (300 ppi for black-and-white content/150ppi for colour content), and the Clara Colour features a 6-inch 1448 x 1071 resolution (300 ppi for black-and-white/150ppi for colour content). The only other notable difference between the two new colour e-readers is that the Libra Colour includes two side-set buttons for turning pages. I’ve used the Kobo Forma as my main e-reader for the last few years, and I prefer to use these buttons to turn pages rather than tapping on the display.
Looking at the broader e-reader industry, Amazon, Kobo’s key competitor in the space, is expected to release a colour Kindle within the coming months. It’s unclear if users will be able to add notes directly to ebooks and documents like they can with Kobo’s Stylus 2 compatible e-readers. The Kindle Scribe currently isn’t capable of this and instead only allows annotations. Given the Kindle’s locked-down nature, I don’t see this changing, unfortunately.
In the end, Kobo’s new colour e-books are designed for a very specific type of reader — those who want to doodle and write in the margins. If you don’t fall into that camp, you’re better off sticking with one of the e-book maker’s cheaper black-and-white offerings.
Like every Kobo I’ve ever used, the Libra Colour 2 feels solid and well-made.
The Kobo Libra Colour costs $249.99 while the Kobo Clara Colour costs $179.99. The new colour e-readers will be available in-store starting April 30th, 2024. The Sleep Cover for the Libra Colour costs $44.99 (it feels and looks great and includes a convenient stylus storage clip), and the Clara Colour version costs $34.99.
Along with the Libra Colour, Kobo is also launching the $159 Kobo Clara BW, an upgraded version of the classic e-reader. The black and white e-reader features 6-inch display, 16GB of storage and adjustable brightness/colour temperature. Specs-wise, the Kobo Clara BW seems nearly identical to the Kobo Clara 2E, with the only upgrade being a 1300 E Ink Carta touchscreen versus its predecessor’s 1200 display.
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