Key Takeaways
- Kobo Libra Colour eReader features a color E Ink screen, differentiating it from Amazon’s Kindles.
- The device offers waterproof capabilities, 32GB storage, and a basic design with comfortable dimensions.
- Kobo Libra Colour integrates Overdrive, Dropbox, and Google Drive, making it easy to access books without incurring costs.
Its color E Ink screen isn’t the most important feature of the Rakuten Kobo Libra Colour, despite being in the name. But it also isn’t a waste. I wouldn’t want to give up color gracing the front of the Libra line of eReaders. More importantly, the Libra Colour follows in the footsteps of the Libra 2 and continues to differentiate itself from Amazon’s Kindles in meaningful ways.
Kobo Libra Colour
The Kobo Libra Colour shines as a color eReader with its easy-to-use interface, excellent repairability, and ergonomic design. It also packs the latest display tech in the color E Ink space.
- Comfortable to hold with ergonomic design
- Page-turn buttons work well
- Color screen didn’t compromise the reading experience
- Native Overdrive, Google Drive, and Dropbox access
- Kobo Plus reading service is lacking
- Color display adds cost over previous Libra 2
- Battery life was decent, but not great
Price and Availability
The Kobo Libra Colour eReader retails for $219.99 and is available now. The previous Kobo Libra 2 has been discontinued—as well as several other models to narrow and simply the company’s line of reading devices. If you like the idea of color, but don’t want to spend more than $200, the Kobo Clara Colour retails for $150.
A Basic Design Does Not Mean Basic Experience
People dedicated to reading daily shouldn’t blink an eye at the Kobo Libra Colour’s $220 price tag. It has the same ethos as the Libra 2 eReader which I loved. Its color screen really does make it more enjoyable to browse books and makes it possible to take notes.
But anyone thinking that a new color screen is going to suddenly make reading a daily habit, it’s not. It doesn’t fundamentally change anything about the reading experience. (Look at the Boox Palma for something different.)
The Libra Colour uses an E Ink Kaleido 3 display with FastGLR and Dark Mode. It features a 1,264 x 1,680 resolution. Its black and white content has a 300 pixels per inch (PPI) density, while the color content has 150PPI. It’s waterproof, submergible for up to 60 minutes, with an IPX8 rating. It comes with 32GB of storage and it weighs a mere 199.5 grams (0.43lbs).
As impressive, or interesting as these specs are, however, the fundamental reason I’ve been so enamored with the Libra line of eReaders over the last couple of years is its basic design. I think a 7-inch screen makes a huge difference over a 6-inch one. The extra space helps keep a comfortable amount of words on the screen without making the device too big for most sling bags, purses, or hip bags. That’s still true for the Libra Colour.
Instead of going tall and narrow, the Libra Colour goes wider. One side of the device extends out for one-handed holding and two physical buttons. I find this design extremely comfortable and versatile.
Naturally, without thinking, I held the Libra Colour in my right hand, with the page-forward button under my right thumb. The curvature of the side lip provides just enough leverage to keep it from slipping. But the perfectly centered buttons make the Libra Colour feel the same if you were to use it with your left hand.
Even better, it can be used with the buttons at the bottom if you need a little more length for sentences. I didn’t find an orientation that didn’t work. I read at least one whole day with the buttons pointing in each direction, not out of necessity, but because it worked the best for how I was seated at the time.
Unlike the Libra 2, I didn’t notice any creaking with the back plastic piece on the Libra Colour. It’s hard to tell if that was a manufacturing issue or a random one-off annoyance, but I’m happy to report there was no squeaking under my fingers while holding the eReader.
Do You Need Color E Ink?
The Libra Colour highlights its new color screen in its name, but after the novelty wears off, all the other aspects of the device are more important for daily use. For those unfamiliar, the Kaleido 3 E Ink display can seem a little muted and colors tend to look more pastel than bold. Color images look familiar, but not like they would on an iPad or mobile phone.
So why a color display if it’s not amazing? It does make browsing books in the Kobo store and your library easier and nicer. Sometimes monochrome images are just harder to decipher than color ones. Books with images benefit too.
A color display also makes highlighting text and drawing notes more practical (or possible). You can’t really highlight words without color. That’s possible here when using the Kobo Stylus 2.
Unfortunately, I never did find myself wanting to take notes or highlight passages. I’ve never been into that and, Personally, I wouldn’t use an eReader as my main device for taking notes. I need them in too many other places to put notes and tasks on the Libra Colour. Some book formats don’t allow marking them up too, so it’s not a universal capability.
You can read comics on the Libra Colour, but its 7-inch size is a little small for that use. There are bigger color E Ink tablets that are much better suited for that purpose—both from Rakuten and Boox.
I liked having the color display, but its presence on this portable device is highly niche, rather than critical.
Reading Is Easy, but Getting Books Is Less So
The savior of the Libra Colour is its Overdrive, Dropbox, and Google Drive integration. The availability of the Kobo store to buy ebooks is great, just like the Kindle store, but buying every single book you read gets expensive.
With the option to borrow books from your local library through Overdrive, you won’t be financially penalized for reading more and taking chances on books you’re unsure about. Overdrive integration is even built-in to the Kobo store so if you browse for books that way, you can still initiate an Overdrive borrow from that menu.
For people uninterested in going the library route, there’s Rakuten’s unlimited service Kobo Plus. For $7.99 a month (or $9.99 with audiobook access) you can read as many of the 1.5 million books as you care to. I’ve tried this in the past and used it again with this eReader and found the results to be the same: uninspired.
The company needs to offer Kobo Plus for its devices, but it also needs more noteworthy titles included in the service. You won’t find nearly any mainstream, popular titles available. That’s not to say there aren’t good books to read, but it’s more about browsing and trying than searching for the ones you already know you want to read.
As for Google Drive, its integration is simple, easy, and quick. I wish native Google Doc files were supported though. It’s easy enough to convert files within Google Drive on a computer, but it’s another step.
Kindle Vs. Kobo
Boox is a worthy contender in the eReader space, but for people who primarily want to load up books and sit and read them, a Kobo or Kindle device is the better bet.
I’ll keep this comparison short with a single distinction. If you want access to Kindle’s ebook store (or the Kindle Unlimited service), you should buy a Kindle device. If you want the more advanced eReader for a decent price, so you should buy the Kobo Libra Colour.
Kindle’s Paperwhite Signature Edition for $189.99 can’t match a lot of the features (hardware and software) of the Libra Colour, which means you’re stuck going to the $339 Scribe’s 10.2-inch screen size—even though you still don’t get page-turn buttons or a color display. The Libra Colour is more tailored to opinionated readers.
Should You Buy the Rakuten Kobo Libra Colour?
The Rakuten Kobo Libra Colour is a fantastic eReader because it gets all the basics right. The physical buttons are well-placed. Its dimensions are compact, yet sizeable. It’s waterproof and has enough software features built-in to keep it useful long into the future by syncing your own content to it. It’s a good device to read a novel on.
As for its color screen, I wouldn’t buy this device solely for that aspect, but it also doesn’t deter me for any real reason. Now that it’s included in a Libra eReader, I would be hard-pressed to get one without a color screen. I found it to only enhance certain areas of reading, the occasional times I truly noticed it.
It’s not perfect, but it’s a worthy alternative to a Kindle eReader for people who have become frustrated by the design choices Amazon has made over the years.
Kobo Libra Colour
The Kobo Libra Colour shines as a color eReader with its easy-to-use interface, excellent repairability, and ergonomic design. It also packs the latest display tech in the color E Ink space.
