Verdict
As an alternative to Amazon ’s Kindle range and a first - multiplication mainstream color tocopherol - lecturer , the Kobo LIbra Colour is a winner in just about every area . The software package is tamp with features you ’ll want to use and the people of color screenland makes more type of message accessible .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The Kobo Libra Colour has plain off a new wave of due east - readers with color displays , and I am already sell .
The colour display here is n’t like the one on an iPad orAndroid pad . It ’s still the same eastward Ink tech discover on theKindle PaperwhiteorKindle Oasis , just with the added benefit of , well , colour .
Should you buy the Kobo Libra Colour just for the screen ? No , I do n’t think you should . But as a viable , more open choice to Amazon ’s Kindle colossus , it is sure as shooting deserving considering . Here ’s why .
Screen
The Kobo Libra Colour endure out from the various Kindle competition thanks to its colour vitamin E Ink presentation . This is more of a welcome add-on rather than a immense individual reason to update , at least for the majority of Bible I read , but it is the natural stone’s throw ahead that I am indisputable will be commonplace in a few yr .
The Libra Colour already seems more forward-looking as a gadget than even the very best Kindles on the market only because of this change .
The colour showing is notable in a few regard . It make read in writing novels and children ’s Quran – or passably much anything with colourful representative – a far more accomplished experience . You do n’t get that burst of colour usual with high - endOLEDpanels . or else the quiet colours have more in vulgar with genuine print paper . It await good , and plenty of tablet are upright for reading if punchy colours and mellow resolutions are of import .
Colour has been added to the homescreen , giving more pop to book covers both in your library and the Kobo shop . Book covers are also shown in full colour when the Libra Colour is put to sleep . These are all pocket-sized changes , but now the tech is out and able-bodied to accomplish this it seems odd going back to the monochromic Kindle Paperwhite .
Kobo has get hold some other great use for colour , too . Pair the Libra Colour with the £ 70/$70 Kobo Stylus 2 and you could foreground passage in books , continue them distinct with various colour .
This stylus also can be used to take eminence inside books and in the dedicated notebook section of the package . It ’s an expensive accoutrement and makes the overall parcel very pricey , yet it is a nice improver for those who want to tot some additional functionality .
Influx of coloring apart , this is a very good 7 - in E Ink display . Resolution flip between 300PPI when register anything black and white and 150PPI when colour is introduced , both sharp enough to have textual matter await crisp . There ’s a igniter for nighttime recital and this can be warm up too , make it easier on the eyes in darker suite .
Design
If the addition of colour feel like the future of due east - readers , the design Kobo has used feels distinctly last - gen . In fact , very little has changed over the previous Libra . This is n’t really a electronegative , but do n’t expect any design tucket or high - closing metallic element materials like the Kindle Oasis .
For a gimmick that‘s meant to be thrown in a bag and pulled out in various locations , the Libra Colour archives its destination . It ’s built out of charge card – a lot of which Kobo says is recycled and ocean - bound , a huge positive – with a textured back that aids grip .
The display is shunted to the side , with the added space housing two very firm page - turn buttons . As someone who laments Amazon ’s insistence on prepare all of its new devices rival only , the tactility of the button here is very welcome . I do n’t think I have used the screen once for flipping through a book and I doubt I ever would . The two button are very stiff though , and expect some force to press .
Like any good e - reader , the Libra Colour is waterproof . It has anIPX8rating , meaning it can be left in around 2 meter of water for an 60 minutes . In real terms , it means it ’ll be delicately used , and by chance dropped , in the bath or swim consortium .
There are a few design alternative Kobo has made that I wish Amazon would nab for future Kindles . The office of the mightiness button is flush on the back and deflect any accidental presses , while theUSB - Cposition on the side easily allows for charge and reading at the same time .
Features
Kobo has a uncomplicated approach to software . There are a lot of feature here , both for recitation and elsewhere , but everything is easy approachable and position out vigorously . There also is n’t an consuming desire to force you into buy books from a single rootage , a real issue with the whole Kindle ecosystem .
you’re able to , of course , get book from the well - stocked Kobo memory but there ’s proper EPUB support and OverDrive integrating . OverDrive lets you take over books from your local library for gratuitous and it lick very well if you ’ve catch a library card .
There ’s also Pocket support for keep open articles from online source , another elbow room of getting more mental object on the twist . Kobo ’s open approach is so much more welcoming than Amazon ’s walled - off alternative .
Of course , Amazon ’s control over the diligence does have some benefit . The Kobo store is n’t laid out well and unless you research specifically for a title , I recover it arduous to obtain something fresh . There ’s also no support for Audible audiobooks , mean you ’ll have to use Kobo ’s audiobook stock or support to its monthly Plus inspection and repair . purchasing audiobooks at full price is expensive , with something like Shogun costing upwards of £ 30 .
Bluetooth is onboard for connecting up headphones or talker for audio output signal , and there ’s threefold - band Wi - Fi . There ’s no cellular choice , so a Wi - Fi connecter is always required for online Robert William Service .
The 32 GB of onboard storage is more than enough for huge Good Book collections and plenty of audiobooks while the dual - pith chipset stool for a debauched and fluid experience .
shelling spirit is hard to pass judgment on east - readers . While a phone or tablet is judged on whether it can make it through the daytime , these devices can last weeks – more if you ’re only reading on a short string journey each morning . The 2050mAh battery seems able and the addition of colour does n’t descend with Brobdingnagian endurance drawbacks .
I charged the twist up when I unboxed it and a hebdomad later , and after take one al-Qur’an , it ’s down to 70 % . By my math , this should think a good few weeks between charges and around three to four books . charge is done via USB - C and a cable is included in the box .
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Should you buy it?
With a wide ambit of format documentation , OverDrive , Pocket and Kobo ’s fund there are loading of agency to rule poppycock to read on the Libra Colour .
Amazon still has the best ebook and audiobook stores , and if you simply need an affordable lector without a colour display just get theKindle ( 2022 ) .
Final Thoughts
The young technical school does have a price insurance premium though , with the £ 199/$220 Leontyne Price well more thanKindle Paperwhite – our current weft for thebest e - proofreader .
There ’s more to the Libra than just a nice screen door , though . The plan is canonical but well thought out , plus it feels very durable and contains recycled plastics . I would n’t have an egress chucking this in my purse without any protection . The software package is backpack with features too , and it does n’t experience overwhelmed by adverts or too many recommendation .
For anyone tired of Amazon ’s tight control of the Kindle ecosystem , the Kobo Libra Colour is a suitable alternative that should give the shopping giant plenteousness to imagine about for future Kindle models .
Trusted Score
How we test
We prove every atomic number 99 - reader we critique exhaustively . We utilise the twist over the review period . We ’ll always evidence you what we find and we never , ever , swallow money to review a product .
FAQs
You get a USB - C charging cable television in the box seat , but no plug .
you may get this in either black or white .
