Kobo Libra Color - The Review

[@steverolfeca]

Thank you for another excellent tour and review. As a long-time Kindle user, I only bought the Libra Colour because Amazon doesn’t support Libby in Canada. I have been surprised by how much better the Kobo UI and hardware is. Kobo’s Kaleido is brighter and better than the Boox NA3C I returned last year, and the battery life is much better as well. The magnetic pen storage is excellent with the new notebook case, the power and page buttons are excellent, and the active stylus rarely needs charging. I’m not an artist, so the lack of pen tilt isn’t a big shortcoming to me. My Paperwhite Signature and Scribe are now languishing in a drawer, and I am waiting desperately for an equally improved Ellpsa v3, which could be my magic bullet in a 10” e-ink tablet.

[@petermoore9504]

"The Vorkosigan Saga" the best science fiction series ever.

[@jeffreymoss]

I got really tired of reading novels that I didn't end up liking, so I decided just to read Nebula award winning books. Once I'm done with those, I'll start on the nominees that didn't win. That should keep me busy with good books for quite a while.

[@petermoore9504]

@@jeffreymoss I've read thousands of sci-fi books The Vorkosigan Saga is at the top of my favorites. The Warriors Apprentice is the best place to start if you like Falling Free. Cheers

[@denismalinovskiy3914]

Thanks for your thorough review! I didn't quite catch why you compared B&W Kobo with color BigMe device instead of comparing Kobos together. I believe it would be better to compare 2 devices with the same UI.

[@jeffreymoss]

Yeah, I can see that. My thought process was that the Libra Color used a Kaleido 3 screen and the Bigme also uses the Kaleido 3 screen, so the Bigme could act as a proxy in a sense. That allowed me to compare three devices that were more of less the same size. In theory, this should be fine as the screens themselves are from Eink and are not expected to differ (although, as we saw, front lighting can vary, and that comes from Eink as well).

[@gwenc1371]

The grain effect is very different depending on how close you hold your device when reading, if you hold it close up then it's much more notable than if you read at arm's length where it's fine. Also, the Moire effect should be touched on for anyone interested in manga: rainbow banding is VERY visible, particularly anywhere where there is a crosshatching effect. And it's not particularly pleasant on the eyes, I'd honestly rate it as a far bigger problem than the grain if you read greyscale/BW content like manga.

[@gsogymrat]

Very comprehensive. If this was a Kindle I would buy it immediately to replace my Kindle Oasis.

[@NorseLax07]

As a long time Kindle user, I was hesitant to make the switch. Honestly I like it so much better than any kindle device I’ve owned.

[@loveycricut]

Same. I'd love a high end kindle in the Oasis size. My oasis is rather old and has a diminishing battery

[@ElJeffrito]

Have you tried advanced Beta settings (using devmodeon trick) and adjusting "I ink trottle percentage?" I wonder if this will result in better contrast similar to the "dark color enhancement" setting on the boox tab mini C you describe in your color screen comparison video. Excellent videos!

[@jeffreymoss]

I have not tried that, I should look into that option.

[@denismalinovskiy3914]

As I understand, one of the problems with adding WACOM layer is that it'll make color screen less sharp looking, so there might be a reason to use the charged stylus.

[@jeffreymoss]

That could be.

[@lenasophie5455]

Great video!! Do you think the darker background when the light is turned off reduces the ability to read well? I feel like a good contrast is really helpful and easier on the eyes so I’m worried that this would be a big setback from my current Kobo Clara 2e 🤔

[@jeffreymoss]

It really depends on your lighting situation. For example, outdoors during the daytime, you'd never need the front lighting. Indoors, it will depend on how close to the light source you are. Close enough, you won't need front lighting there either. But most indoor situations, at least in my experience, don't have great light. In those cases, you would need some front lighting, but probably can live with half power or thereabouts. Hope that helps.

[@lenasophie5455]

Thank you for your response! Definitely helped 😊 I think I’ll check it out in person in store before purchasing it, just to be safe 😅

[@robintree3306]

Hello Jeffrey , Thanks for the video. Is the Bigme monitor review complete?

[@jeffreymoss]

Yep. I did two videos, one for the monitor, and one for the all-in-one PC. Here they are: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i2PCpoenmdF_nqM kzbin.info/www/bejne/rWPGgqJvfKiljK8

[@claudiameier666]

i have the libra color. i like the fact you can write on it. ido have a kinle scribe and its great but its much larger. i didput a cut to fit page of paperwhite to improve the writing experience abit. i just have to figure out how to get my kindlebooks transferred to it.

[@jeffreymoss]

Head over to the Kobo subreddit. I seem to recall a number of posts there talking about how to transfer kindle books to Kobo, and I think there might even be an easy way as well. It's not my area of expertise, but that was the impression I got as I scanned the channel.

[@michael-mvtd]

Thanks for an excellent and credible review! I use the 1st gen. Kobo Libra H2O and love the Overdrive integration you praised. Can you explain why Overdrive interfaces with only one library whereas Libby can support multiple libraries simultaneously? (I use Libby on my cell.) Primarily, I'm a reader & less note taker but am tempted/intrigued by the KLC even though I have few complaints re my gen.1 device.

[@jeffreymoss]

That's an interesting question, I'm not sure. I assumed that they assumed that each person would belong to one library system based on where they lived and that was enough. But since Libby has that feature, that does seem like an odd limitation.

[@michael-mvtd]

@@jeffreymoss I use two libraries myself but lots of people use more than this. For instance, students might access at least their university and public libraries. I wish there were a means to influence Kobo and/or Overdrive. Edit: I checked the Overdrive help section and that app *does* allow for multiple libraries so I guess the issue is with Kobo's implementation of Overdrive with their software.

[@DonnaTellaMeWhatToDo]

Video is way too long with too much talking in my opinion. Won't be back.

[@h.a.6060]

Thank you so much for this video. I got so many information out of it before deciding to make the purchase.

[@theladyfuria]

great video as always, jeffrey! love your detailed input in these reviews. i don`t own an ereader/eink yet but do you think that a first user of these devices need a frontlight? i am between kobo and supernote. i love the idea behind these companies, their customer service and sustainability of devices. i thought boox wouldve been perfect but i heard bad rumours about them.

[@jeffreymoss]

There are varying opinions about whether front lighting is needed or not, but I personally prefer devices with that feature, especially for reading. But a good test to try out is to take a book and read a paragraph in any area you would want to read with your eink device. If the lighting is sufficient to read in those situations, then you may not need front lighting. But if you experience some strain trying to read the text, or if you intend to read in dark environments (e.g. outdoors at night, in bed with minimal to no lighting) then front lighting is a must.

[@em4me-Dan]

🙋‍♂Hi Jeffrey! So well explained, you clearly deserve more "Subscribers". Always extremely pleased with your content.👍 Kudos from NYC.🗽

[@blueskies1014]

Great video! I especially love the battery comparison, which is incredibly useful.

[@fkunzee]

thank you for your careful and thoughtful review sorry for typos i am recovering from a stroke

[@jeffreymoss]

May you have a speedy recovery.

[@LecturasEreaders]

Im on a crossroad about buy a New device. You ser, I used to have a nova air c, but I sold it to buy a tab ultra, most because of productivity, and cause this and ultra C arent on my country. So, now I have this tab ultra, I miss the Colour of the nova air c, and, when kobo libra Colour came out, I started to think in purchase one, but, when I think about the ecosystem of boox (cause I love they versality), I can make a decisión. So, my options now are to keep the ultra, and buy a libra Colour mostly as a ereader (I use to read cómic and manga), or sell the tab ultra and get a tab mini c... What do you think? Your comparison table of features make me think about it hardly!

[@jeffreymoss]

Well, if productivity is still a need, I think a 10" screen remains an important consideration. Certainly, notetaking benefits from the larger canvas, but also for other activities as well. If you just want the color mainly for reading, then the Libra Color would be a good choice. But if the focus is mostly on reading overall, with just a little bit of productivity, then I see a good case for the Tab Mini C. It's best as an eReader, but certainly can take notes well (albeit on a smaller screen), and is good for reading articles via apps, etc. Hope that helps.

[@LecturasEreaders]

@@jeffreymoss Thanks for respond. you´ll see, im a teacher and a writer, so, productivity still a need as you said. Then, i think that im going to save some money to can buy a Libra Colour as soon as posible. I enjoy a lot your videos, go on with the good job!

[@dltq]

Thanks for the indepth review. I have had my KLC for about 5 days now, and overall I am very happy with it. I am not focusing on the note-taking at all, but I really like to be able to annotate and highlight my ebooks in colour. Are there other products out there that may compete with this? Sure! But I am not suffering from buyer's remorse yet, and I also know that in a few years the low resolution on colour (150 ppi) that this device has will look very dated. That's fine in my book, I am happy to be on this Kobo wagon for now, and then we will see what my next upgrade will be in 4-5 years. For context: My former ebook reader was the PocketBook Touch Lux 4 which has been very faithful, but very slow when it comes to adding notes/highlights.

[@jeffreymoss]

Yeah, it's exciting to see new products come out, but these devices can last five years and still be relevant. Enjoy!

[@jenniferdubay3769]

Do you think Boox is going to come out with a entry level color reader with note taking? Maybe a notes version of the tab mini C? Where would the Tab Mini C rank amongst your color e-reader collection?

[@jeffreymoss]

The Tab Mini C is a notetaking device, so do you mean a 7" device, as opposed to the Mini C which is 7.8"? If so, I'm not sure. It may be that Eink does not sell wacom screens below 7.8". Bigme released a 7" device that didn't use wacom as well, so that might be the case. I used to use the Tab Mini C as my go-to eReader, but now I use the Bigme S6 Color+ Lite. The latter does not blow the Boox away, but I do prefer it overall. I'm guessing there will be a follow-up to the Mini C soon, so maybe I'll have a new favorite then.

This is a great review, thank you so much!! You mentioned the screen is darker (than BW e-ink), and the front light really hurts battery life. My question is: for the use case of reading in dark mode, indoors, at night, does it work well with minimal front light (say ~25%) ? I ask as someone coming from LCD/LED tablets, who has never used e-ink.

[@jeffreymoss]

I usually don't use dark mode, but because of your question I set that on and then put front lighting on at 10-15%. It seemed illuminated well enough to me.

@@jeffreymoss Thank you !!