Kobo Libra Colour Review

A review of the Kobo Libra Colour ereader with a 7" color E Ink screen.
Libra Colour at Amazon: amzn.to/4dxjtCa (affiliate link)
More info: blog.the-ebook...
Libra 2 comparison with regular E Ink screen: blog.the-ebook...

[@DunetsNM]

Awesome and dense review, with the actual device in the center of the screen for 100% of the video (unlike some other popular "reviews" where I was subjected to see the face of the narrator instead of the actual device for pretty much whole video)

[@TheeBookReader]

Thanks! I don't like watching people talk when I'm looking for reviews, and I hate the goofy open-mouth thumbnails that are all over KZbin these days so I refuse to do either and I'm probably getting killed in search results for it but that's how it goes...

[@JET7C0]

Oh man, I hate that and so I totally agree with you on this and this video sold me on getting one, after doing research. I was kind of an "early adopter" of the eReader, as I got one way back in like 2009 (16 years ago now!) and color was a dream back then, plus there were long refresh and page turn times. I still loved it until it (or more, probably I) broke it, lol. As an aside - I also hate history videos or whatever that the person doesn't just narrate, but keeps switching to them plus a microphone to just look at their face, talking (just show some static pictures of the topic in question, man 😂).

[@dennislubbers4614]

I got this ereader and love it. Compared it with my b&w Libra and the text was less contrasty. Which I find a good thing. Nice and soft. Reading much more since I have this Libra Colour.

[@Senshi00]

I see a lot of people complaining about the darker screen. But I prefer it much more over the Libra 2 and reading at night is much more pleasant than before.

[@bperez9066]

Best review Ive seen so far thanks

[@Vimes.]

Great that Kobo felt the technology was ready to release mainstream colour ereaders, hopefully they will do well. Personally, I feel that the result isn't quite there yet for my reading needs. Muted pastel colours and, to a point, bw reading compromises, compared to a traditional bw ereader, means that I will be waiting for the next gen before considering a colour reading device. We might have considered a colour reading device, no need for note taking, for cookery books etc......However due to the above limitations and it seems too small for that type of content, we will continue to wait it out. Good review.

[@Jpeglism]

The wait for color to become "perfect" or "really good" is gonna be really long, I feel like it's more like if you want color and notetaking, you get this one regardless of other things.

[@Vimes.]

@@Jpeglism Absolutely, just be prepared for the limitations the technology currently imposes. Do not think that the Libra Colour will produce the same sharpness and clarity of the Libra 2 if you primarily read B/W. With that in mind I sourced a Libra 2 for myself and I'm very happy.

[@seanrobsob8883]

That constant refresh is not good. Staying BW untill it improves. Excellent review

[@Tom-vn4uu]

Is constant refresh bad? I set up my reader to refresh every 1 page.

[@adaml.5355]

It refreshes every chapter like every other e-reader. It is just a regular BW screen under there. The color capability requires more refreshes.

[@operation2096]

I purchased one a few weeks ago and feel completely scammed. It is completely useless and the OS is full of bugs. Very slow response time and getting books transferred on is plain annoying

[@meganheartswell]

I don't have issues with mine. I do wish the color of the white screen was crisper but you don't notice after a while. The colours are not super bold which was disappointing. I was going to wait for gen 2 but it was cheap and I really wanted it.

[@meganheartswell]

​@@Tom-vn4uuit's not bad. I think it uses a little bit more power and makes the unit a little slower as it has to totally wipe the background each page. I usually set it to each chapter. But if some books have super long chapters I'll decrease it to 10 pages or so to get less ghosting

[@Tiffs-bookshelf]

I got mine today. I like it so far but it is hard to read on the text doesn’t seem super clear… I’m waiting on the stylus and then I’m going to see how I feel. I am in deep with the Amazon ecosystem with ebooks and audible. I’m not sure how it works here. But I bought a few ebooks on sale and if I end up returning, I can at least read those on my iPad.

[@MrAusdrifter]

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the next best time is today. Don't let Amazon lock you in like Apple does to their users.

[@Tiffs-bookshelf]

@@MrAusdrifterI returned it. The front light causes migraines for me. Kindles are better and even the iPad is better. So I’ll stick with those products 🤷‍♀️. If they change their lighting system to something similar to kindles, I’d consider the change

[@mmstick]

Try increasing the font weight

[@VorkKnightOfGood]

Sticking with my Sage until a colour Kobo 8" reader comes out.

[@slikedragon]

Same. Also note that he's got the brightness turned up to 100% to get the colors to pop this much, which is far brighter than you'd normally read at. I'm thinking I'd still like to see color screens come along just a little bit further before I invest in one. It's getting close, though.

[@davidw2744]

I'm returning mine, the screen is just too dark outdoors. The frontlight can't mitigate the lower contrast if you can't even see that it is on (the reader is fine indoors though). Too bad, I thought the page turn buttons were much improved and liked that the edge on the right was softer and not so pointy. I find it funny that Nate is reading Naked Sun, I just reread that last week! I like the Clara BW though, and I hope that a Libra BW releases down the road.

[@salazar1554]

How can an e-ink screen be too dark outdoors, am I missing something, is the reason you need the frontlight because you're using the backlight in broad daylight. Is the screen just so shiny that glare gets involved. I really don't get how that's a thing. One of the main benefits of e-ink is that you can read well in sunny daylight.

[@Nexxuxx]

​@@salazar1554 I just got my Libra Colour, no issue like this commenter described. Still works like all other e-ink displays I use. Turn the backlight off outdoors and it's still visible.

[@barbeldetermann9387]

I've had the Libra Colour and returned it because the black and white text was just too fuzzy! It seemed somehow like a 3D screen... you can also see the tiny squares like on grid paper...the frontlight is also very uneven, I couldn't get over that! And when you read against the sun with sunglasses on you cannot see a thing!! When the sun shines directly on the screen it's perfect, of course, like every other EInk Screen. I've switched to the Boox Go Color 7 (white version) and I love it! Its screen is so much better! You can darken the black text so you can easily read like on the Boox Page (have that as well).

[@ioandragulescu6063]

problem is the BW Libra 2 is not available anymore ... so color it is. If they resupply the stocks I'll be a bit pissed I guess. Or maybe not? a, who knows ....

[@caspercocomonkey2176]

Sticking to my old samsung s2 tab for casual comic book reading 😅

[@justanothernobody7142]

It's a shame they have discontinued the Kobo Libra 2 for this. From what I've seen most customer reviews are saying the clarity isn't as good and that the screen isn't as bright so you need the backlight on nearly all the time. The Kobo Libra 2 seemed like a really popular product so it makes little sense that they would abandon it in favour of a lesser product. In my country all stores have it listed as discontinued now and the colour has bad reviews and low ratings across the board.

[@ioandragulescu6063]

same ... I just had to get a color one to replace my ancient BN simple touch and no 2's to be found. Oh well .... maybe they stocked a ton of color screens and they wanted to get rid of them :)

[@kattz753]

I got a good deal on the original Elipsa last year. It came with the pen and cover. I thought that I wouldn't be able to use the pen on this e-reader but both pens are compatible with all pen-enabled Kobos! That makes it a lot easier to add this to my collection. (And, skip the original Elipsa even if it looks like a good deal. Yes, it will be updated for years but the thing has been a total pain in the butt. Just get any other pen enabled Kobo.)

[@khamisa.5384]

Thanks alot, Can you please compare Boox tab ultra C pro vs. Bigme inknote X

[@redavatar]

They REALLY need to make the buttons jump to the next part of the screen in landscape mode - it's ridiculous that they have no option for this.

[@mmstick]

What setting controls the display of book covers with color? On Home, My Books, and Discover, I see only grayscale covers. Yet the colors work fine when opening the books.

[@mmstick]

Solution found: Sign out of Kobo account. Log back in.

[@justonefyx]

How does it do on reading image heavy PDFs? I just got the Kindle Paperwhite and if I open a PDF with lots of images, it takes about a minute just to turn the page.

[@TheeBookReader]

Kobos aren't any better for PDFs than Kindles, but it's not normal for PDFs to be that slow so maybe there's a problem with it or it's too big. Onyx's ereaders have the best PDF software, in my opinion.

[@mishafran]

Thank you!

[@MissCurlyFriez]

i have the first version of clara. so I don't need this, right? RIGHT?

[@VisivisiV]

Hope they realize that not everyone cares enough about colour to accept the Kaleido filter tradeoff by the time they release the next Sage. Elsewise they'll sadly have lost my business.

[@ArimasArtadi]

is the browser in kobo stil experimental ?

[@samuelriffon9558]

Just got mine a couples of days ago from a Kindle paperwhite since in Canada Kobo can let you borrow library e books and not kindle and i must say from switching to one another yes the screen has a little more grain to it but that's about it there's way more feature available. The only drawback is the battery draining quicker but honestly it was already SO much on paperwhite that it can last at least a week whit full on brightness i read 1 book a week so im a couple hours at at time on it with 70% brighness and its perfect! Since i read comics and manga the choice was easy colors are really nice and if it was a normal tablet you would charge it every day. Go get it its awesome even more in Canada where Kindle lacks audiobooks and overdrive.

[@OrangePie-nw5ix]

Can you actually insert a memory card to this one ? Or any kobos?

[@anshevel]

Thanks for the review! It was interesting to see the cover of one's of Isaak Asimov books, made me think the auther of the video might have a russian background 😊 (then i opened wiki and found out that Asimov left Russia when he was 3 y.o. and never spoke russian 😬. I've kind of always thought that he was writing in russian. What a live and learn case!).

[@michaelchan4236]

KOBO libra color build was too cheap. I got to say I enjoyed the interface and the usability of it. The thing is, my kobo was protected by a sleepcover and was tucked in nicely in my work bag. When I driving to work, I accidently did a E brake and my work bag dropped from the seat to the flooring area. To my horror, the device was gone and not repairable. I owned it for 16 days.

[@gwenc1371]

Color E-Ink just isn't there yet imo. Too many serious drawbacks for an only okay result. Even on manga you're left with the same problems as with novels, since the Moire effect is prominent and 90% of content is BW outside of a few splash pages here and there. I think a future iteration of ACeP is when it's going to really come into it's own. Slower refreshes are not a huge deal once you get its B&W performance up to a reasonable point.

[@adrianTNT]

8:31 latency seems OK, it is not as responsive as Apple Pencil 2, no ? Does anyone know ? Thanks.

[@chase4773]

I would imagine it is not as responsive as an Apple Pencil 2.

[@IaconDawnshire]

I'd pro get this just for manga / comics

[@epsileth]

I would too, but a non - note version needs to be released.

[@innerspaced]

Don’t bother. Comics are unreadable on the small screen. You end up pinching up the screen to see dialogue. Waste of money.

[@IaconDawnshire]

@@innerspaced oof

[@MatherfuckingKing]

But it's a perfect size for mangas

[@Serreree]

I enjoy reading manga on my libra colour.

[@pavlinakoba9313]

Can you connect to the Kindle / amazon account to purchase books?

[@TheeBookReader]

No, Kobos don't support Kindle books. Check my Boox Go Color 7 review. It can install the Kindle app since it runs Android.

[@albertogiraldezsanchez414]

Hello, I would like to ask your opinion about using this device for medical ebooks with surgical pictures and similar. Would this model be a good option? Thanks

[@ledarcc123]

You're talking about pdfs and textbooks? Sorry to break it for you but e-readers are not meant for this, you should buy a tablet.

[@VisivisiV]

You probably want a larger screen device

[@不當搞笑男]

Nice❤ video

[@sczullkjengker8380]

Is this only for reading?

[@gutenbird]

No

[@ahmettanriverdi5238]

That screen flashing maked me sick 😖

[@breezyplace]

When I turn my book off, there is a label that says sleeping and gives me the stats of the battery life can I remove that label from the front screen so that I can see the full book cover in the resting mode

[@zil6470]

👍

[@extragooey813]

360p video quality only?

[@rfitzpatrick723]

You were just too early on the video. Sometimes takes KZbin time to allow for higher video quality.

[@marcus94719]

Is the screen too small to take notes?

[@KarenGonzalez-hz3mc]

I’m interested in this too, I haven’t found any reviews to know the dimensions of the screen itself. Trying to figure out if it’s too small to write notes. Does anyone have the dimensions of the screen itself? Thanks!