Rakuten Kobo launches its first color e-readers, Kobo Libra Color and Kobo Clara Color. Both feature E Ink’s latest Kaleido color screen technology, which features subtle, pastel tones and grayscale resolution down from 300ppi to 150ppi when you’re viewing color content.
I’ll be testing both e-readers soon, but so far they look like minor upgrades to Kobo’s existing e-readers. However, this is not a bad thing! The 7-inch Kobo Libra 2 is my favorite e-reader outside of the Amazon ecosystem, offering the Kindle Paperwhite’s IPX8 waterproof design but with added features like physical page-turn buttons, no lock-screen ads, and more storage.
The $219.99 Kobo Libra Color retains all of these features, but is now also compatible with the Kobo Stylus 2, just like the Kobo Elipsa 2E. However, it’s $30 more expensive than the Kobo Libra 2, and you have to buy the stylus separately, which costs $69.99.
The $149.99 Kobo Clara Color is slightly different from its closest sibling, the $139.99 Kobo Clara 2E. It offers the same 6-inch display and IPX8 water-resistant design, but now comes with 16GB of storage and an improved processor. Hopefully so; the Kobo Clara 2E’s sluggish performance is one of my main complaints.
Kobo is also launching an upgraded black and white Kobo Clara BW with the same storage and processor upgrades for $129.99.
All devices are available for pre-order starting today and will ship on April 30th.