What do you think of when you hear the word “e-reader”? If it is a Kindle, you aren’t alone.
But there is more to the e-reader market than Kindle. That may have been brought home to some of the earlier adopters of Amazon’s devices in recent weeks, when they found out that the company would no longer support Kindles released before 2012, which means those devices would no longer be able to browse, buy or borrow books directly. Thanks for being a “loyal Kindle user” but your device is effectively useless, unless you have enough tech know-how to implement a workaround.
So you might be looking for an alternative to Amazon. That is where Kobo comes in. The Canadian-founded company is now part of Japanese conglomerate Rakuten – often described as the Amazon of Japan – and offers a range of e-readers and accompanying services, such as digital book subscriptions.
That range includes the Kobo Libra Colour, a hybrid e-reader and digital notebook that not only takes on Amazon’s Kindle Scribe but, as the name suggests, adds a splash of colour into the mix.
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Why would you need colour when most ebooks are in black and white? For most people, it isn’t an issue and a black-and-white e-reader will do the job. Then there are those who want the full book experience, but in digital form; the colour cover or the odd graphic inside. And then you have those who want to read graphic novels, which have a lot of colour. You could go for a tablet, but the benefits of e-ink – long battery, less fatigue on the eyes, more paper-like experience – aren’t there.
So a colour e-reader might be what you need. The Libra Colour is compact yet useful, giving you a seven-inch e-ink display that displays a reasonable amount of colour. It won’t rival your smartphone screen, but that’s not what we are aiming for here. It does a reasonable job of reproducing colour without hurting your eyes.
The hardware itself is nice to use. It is not too heavy at just under 200g, so you can comfortably hold it one-handed. There are physical buttons to turn the pages but you can also tap or swipe the screen. The device itself can be used in any orientation, and the controls adapt, although not all content will work as well if you decide you’d prefer to hold it sideways.
The Libra Colour has 32GB of storage on board, which can hold about 24,000 ebooks, 150 audio books or a mix of the two. You are unlikely to run out of space.
It has accessories, from covers to a stylus and even a Bluetooth remote control. You no longer have to even touch the screen to change the page. The stylus will be needed if you want to use the Kobo e-reader as a notebook, but more on that later.
One of the key attractions of the Kindle was how easy it made it to get books. However, it also locked you in to the Kindle Store, unless you were willing and able to use a tech workaround.
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Kobo doesn’t take the same view. It supports the Epub standard, alongside PDF, FlePub, Mobi and others, so you have options on where your books come from. That includes your local library through BorrowBox, although that one may require access to a computer to transfer the books.
You can go the Kindle-style route and buy books from Kobo’s own store, which is installed on the reader itself. Set up a payment method and a wifi connection, and you can buy and download the books directly on the device. It even has a subscription service, Kobo Plus, that offers you a selection of ebooks and audiobooks for a monthly fee, similar to Kindle Unlimited.
The reader also integrates with Google Drive, which is a handy workaround for getting documents and books you already own on to your Kobo device. Amazon has ‘send to kindle’, Kobo has decided to support Google Drive. Drop the files you want into the designated folder in your Google Drive and you can download it to your Kobo in a matter of seconds. There is an extra step, in that you need to not only sync your device but select the files you want to download. It isn’t as automatic, but if you share an account with other family members, it keeps unsuitable reading material out of their library. Overall, it was a fairly seamless process.
The notebook feature won’t be essential for everyone, but it was a nice add. If you have a stylus – Kobo sells its own – you can take notes on the Libra, from reminders and to do lists to ideas for your own novels. You have two options: a basic notebook that accepts your scribbles, or a more advanced one that converts your writing into text, adds space for drawings, equations and diagrams and so on.
The basic notebook has a rake of templates to choose from, including ruled pages, to-do lists, dots, guitar tabs, calligraphy, meal planners, music sheets, storyboards and more. You can access the notebooks through Kobo.com too, giving you cloud access as long as you can sign in on a web browser.
As an added bonus, you can annotate books, also in colour.
Good
More flexibility than e-readers that are locked into a specific ecosystem, Kobo’s Libra Colour provides some additional features at a reasonable price. It has decent battery life too, depending on how much you use it, and will outlast any app on your phone.
Bad
Storage is limited to 32GB and can’t be expanded. If you reach its limits, you will have to delete books or audiobooks to make room. It will take a while though, so no need to panic just because your collection hits the hundreds.
Everything else
If you liked the convenience of the Kindle store, the Kobo Store is a good substitute. You can also sign up for subscription services that include certain ebooks and audiobooks, too. All you need is a set of Bluetooth earbuds or speaker to connect to the e-reader and you are good to go.
There are plenty of accessories, from the covers to the Bluetooth remote and the Kobo Stylus that turns your reader into a notebook.
Verdict
A more flexible, user-friendly way to access your ebook library.
eu.kobobooks.com
