A brand new e-reader period in full bloom

For too lengthy, e-reader customers have seen the world in black and white — actually. E-ink began as an emulator of phrases on paper — black and white. However what about books with stunning covers? Books with attractive maps, photographic prints, and vibrant illustrations? What about types of media that depend on photos to inform their story, like comedian books?

E ink pill producers are lastly seeing the world in shade. We’re excited for what’s in retailer from the Libra Color and the Clara Color, Kobo’s first two-color e-readers hitting cabinets this month. These new tablets promise the identical interface that Kobo readers are used to and a well-recognized kind issue, plus the addition of 4,000+ E ink colours.

Even being the brand new child on the block, you would be hard-pressed to discover a higher shade E ink worth than Kobo’s contemporary Libra, the Color.

Kobo Libra Color

The Libra Color is a part of Rakuten’s first technology of shade E ink studying tablets. It contains a Kaleido 3 shade E ink display screen, a 7-inch 150 PPI show, and 32 GB of onboard storage. You may additionally get pleasure from easy accessibility to cloud storage through Google Drive and Dropbox, Kobo audiobook compatibility, and an ideal middle-of-the-road kind issue.

Professionals

• Shade! On E ink!
• Light-weight regardless of display screen measurement
• Built-in cloud storage with Dropbox and Google Drive
• Stylus is supported

Cons

• Stylus is a separate buy
• Kobo UI has just a few quirks

Worth, availability, and specs

The Kobo Libra Color may be very inexpensive, retailing for $220. It is available in a black or white mannequin and is at present out there for preorder on Kobo’s web site, with success anticipated to start April 30. After the e-reader turns into broadly out there, it must also be supplied by means of retailers the place you’d discover older Kobos, like Amazon and Finest Purchase.

What’s good in regards to the Kobo Libra Color?

Let’s speak about a very powerful half first — the colour. The Libra Color options 4,096 shade shades on a Kaleido 3 E ink display screen. It is crucial right here that customers maintain their expectations of the Libra Color in test. For those who resolve to change to this pill from, say, a Kindle Hearth since you need to reduce eye pressure and streamline your studying expertise, the colour expertise isn’t going to blow you away. Nonetheless, whether or not highlighting in shade or studying a comic book e-book, Kobo’s new e-reader stands toe-to-toe with competing shade E ink gadgets, of which there are only a few.

After spending a couple of minutes studying outdoors on a sunny day, I found that the already pastel-like shade does go somewhat bit comfortable in harsh lighting settings. Nonetheless, outdoors of studying with full, unfiltered solar coming down immediately on the pill, the show stays vibrant and sharp. Simply the weakest colours to view on Kobo’s new shade E ink display screen are heat, vibrant colours; the books pictured on this overview are good examples.

The reds on the River Sing Me Residence e-book cowl are speculated to be a pointy scarlet crimson, and the yellows on the Ghost Forest: A Novel e-book cowl seem a extra canary yellow on LCD screens. However you would not deliver a tricycle to a Method 1 race, so do not count on the Libra to go the identical pace as a Kindle Hearth or one thing comparable.

An enormous energy of the Libra in generations previous and current is its kind issue. It is a very light-weight system, making it simple to deal with when studying, writing, or touring. My writing expertise on the Kobo Libra Color may be greatest described as assembly expectations. It is too easy and slippery to emulate an genuine paper expertise, however the technical efficiency, together with the display screen’s response time and palm rejection, performs reliably, absolutely because of Kobo doubling the processing energy in comparison with the Libra 2.

The Libra Color’s battery is about 25% bigger than the Libra 2’s. Like with most E ink gadgets, we’re promised “weeks” of battery life with the Kobo Libra Color, however it is a big roll of the cube, relying on the heaviness of your every day use.

Beginning on a full battery and with automated entrance gentle changes turned on, I learn on the Libra Color for 3 to 4 hours per day, taking loads of alternatives to spotlight and annotate with Kobo’s stylus. I learn some plain, colorless textual content, and a handful of comedian books the place each web page was full shade. After 5 days, the battery had solely dropped to about 85%.

What’s dangerous in regards to the Kobo Libra Color?

Actually, hardly something has been dangerous about my expertise with the Libra Color. You must undergo the trouble of constructing a second buy if you need a stylus, however for $220, I really feel improper in complaining that this e-reader does not include Kobo’s devoted pen. Most shade E ink competitors to date prices nicely over $300. The Kobo Stylus is a further $70; for lower than $300, you are still spending much less on a number of competing e-tablet + stylus duos.

Whereas the extensive ambidextrous bezel makes the Libra Color snug to carry whereas utilizing the stylus, some customers might want somewhat extra actual property than the 7-inch show gives. You will not really feel cramped writing quick annotations on books and articles or highlighting essential passages, however extra full-fledged handwriting could really feel a bit tight.

There are just a few quirks within the general Kobo expertise to pay attention to, particularly for first-time Kobo customers. I keep my gripe from trying out the Kobo Nia {that a} record of lately completed books is an odd selection for the swipe-down menu you entry whereas mid-book. Like with the Libra 2, there is not any 3.5mm jack for private headsets, and like with any Kobo mannequin, E ink ghosting is minimal, solely cropping up in settings sliders and quick typing.

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One final thing that is not a direct fault of the Libra Color itself is that I initially had a difficulty with the included origami Sleep Cowl. It is speculated to robotically put the e-reader to sleep upon closing, however the case equipped with my Libra Color was faulty, and did not robotically put the e-reader to sleep because it ought to. Kobo despatched a brand new SleepCover for me to strive, which constantly locked the Libra Color after I closed the quilt, confirming that my first case was merely a dud.

Do you have to purchase it?

In case you are a devoted client of illustration- and photograph-based media and do not need to spend $350+ for a shade E ink pill — as you’d with the Libra Color’s closest competitor, the Boox Tab Mini C — then you should purchase (or preorder) the brand new Libra proper now. If issues like shade manga and comedian books are something lower than 90% of the literature you select, then the reply continues to be sure — however in due time.

I do not assume including shade and even stylus compatibility is sufficient to throw an outdated mannequin out the window. You needn’t kick your present Kobo E ink system to the curb for the Libra Color, however maintain it within the cart for when your improve time comes.

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It is powerful to advocate a brand new e-reader to customers outdoors the model household — come to the Socs, Ponyboy! — however in case you’re in search of the proper alternative to discover one thing outdoors the Amazon Kindle or B&N Nook strains, it does not get any higher than proper now.

Kobo is at present the one of those three to offer us a shade E ink pill, and whereas Boox gives shade competitors, Boox’s gadgets stay in a special value tier. There’s an opportunity we’ll see shade E ink from Kindle this yr, however for now, Kobo is the one main e-reader model within the US that provides us shade choices. They usually’re glorious choices at that.

Kobo Libra Color

Of Kobo’s two new shade e-readers, the Libra is the bigger possibility with its 7-inch show and is the one Kobo system to supply shade E ink plus stylus assist.