For several years, electronic readers have changed little. If Kindle is often considered the king of e-readers, Kobo has not said its last word and has just unveiled its new e-readers equipped with new power that could well change the situation.
E-readers, with their low-power digital screen and aim to resemble a sheet of paper, are widespread. But unless your Kindle is damaged, there’s no reason to change it, unless…
Although Amazon and its Kindles are the best known, other brands such as Rakuten Kobo, marketed at Fnac in France, are also important players in this market.
Kobo has just unveiled two new e-reader models that could be a game-changer: the Kobo Clara Color and the Kobo Libra Color. Both of these devices look similar to their black-and-white predecessors, the Kobo Libra 2 and Kobo Clara 2E, but with one major difference: color screens instead of black and white screens.
Attractive technical characteristics
The Kobo Clara Color has a 6-inch screen, while the Kobo Libra Color has a 7-inch screen.
The Libra Color also has physical buttons for turning pages and supports the Kobo Pen for drawing and handwriting. Both e-readers are waterproof and include Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth compatibility, a USB-C port, and the same dual-core ARM processor.
They also both feature front lighting with adjustable color temperature to make the screen easier on the eyes.
Both digital books use E Ink’s Kaleido 3 screen technology, which promises 4,096 colors and more saturated colors than the previous generation Kaleido Plus.
The resolution of color images has also improved, from 100 PPI to 150 PPI. The best e-readers have a resolution of over 300 PPI, for comparison.
Attractive prices that could overshadow Amazon
The Kobo Clara Color is offered at the same price as Amazon’s black and white Kindle Paperwhite, i.e. 159.99 euros (available at Fnac for pre-order). The Kobo Libra Color, for its part, is offered at 229.99 euros (available from Fnac for pre-order).
With these new models, Kobo is trying to solve the main problems with color e-readers while maintaining the exceptional battery life and easy-on-the-eye displays.
Note that there are alternatives, often Chinese, under Android, without the Fnac or Amazon ecosystem, but with a much more open OS (often Android).