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I’m an avid reader who likes to scribble across the pages of my books with a coloured highlighter and a Muji 0.38 gel pen. Despite owning over 1000 physical books, I do find myself loving the ease of an e-reader.
I’ve got a Kobo Clara Colour and a Kindle Paperwhite, but I’d be lying if I said the Kindle Scribe hadn’t caught my eye. Especially since it came out with a Colorsoft edition. The pen allows for handwriting in a way I’ve grown fond of with physical books, but the £569 price tag makes it more than a little daunting.
Kobo, which I would argue is the Kindle’s biggest rival, has a device that effortlessly holds itself up to the Scribe Colorsoft, and at £239.99, it’s better than half price and over £300 cheaper. This is with the same 32GB of memory the Kindle offers.
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The Kobo Libra Colour came out long before the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft and has built up a loyal fanbase. It’s actually the ereader of choice with a number of my teammates, although I’d not had the chance to try it yet myself.
The screen is 7 inches, making it smaller than the Scribe’s 11-inch behemoth, which is often cited as a more pleasant screen size for holding up when relaxing. This is about the same size as the Kindle Paperwhite, although there is a 10.3” screen available with the Kobo Elipsa 2E (£349.99), although it is black and white.
Kobo Libra Colour
£239.99AmazonBuy Now on Amazon
The Kobo Libra Colour rivals the Scribe Colorsoft for hundreds of pounds less. It’s waterproof, ergonomically designed and can carry up to 24,000 eBooks
The Kobo Libra Colour has buttons that allow the reader to either use it as a touch screen or flick between pages with the page turn option. For those using the Kobo SleepCover Case, £34.99, which doubles up as a stand, there’s the option to prop it up and read almost hands-free with the Kobo Remote, £24.99.
The Kobo Remote is an ergonomically designed remote designed to worth via Bluetooth with Kobo devices. I’ve personally tried this page turner, and it’s been a game-changer. It makes reading out and about or even snuggled up in bed so much easier. I can turn the page from under the covers.
It is worth noting that the Kobo Stylus 2 doesn’t automatically come with the Kobo Libra Colour, it retails at £69.99 and requires a single A battery to operate. There is a way to get it for less when purchasing the eReader by selecting ‘Colour Name: Black with Stylus’. This bumps the price up to £279.99, giving a £30 saving on the cost of the Stylus.
View 3 ImagesHandwriting functionality is available with the stylus (Image: Kobo)
The add-ons available to the Kobo eReader might seem daunting at first due to added costs, but when buying the Kobo Libra Colour with Stylus, SleepCover and Remote together, it comes to a total of £339.97. This is still £229.03 cheaper than getting the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft.
For those of us who like reading in the bath or by the pool, they can rest assured that the Kobo Libra Colour is waterproof. It has an IPX8 rating, which means it’s waterproof for up to 60 minutes in up to 2 meters of water.
In a move that rivals Kindle’s integration with Goodreads, Kobo has partnered with StoryGraph to auto-sync current reads and mark them as ‘read’ when they’ve been finished on the ereader. Unlike the Goodreads synchronisation with Kindle, reading progress percentages are also supported. This gives readers more time to focus on enjoying books and less on tracking them.
View 3 ImagesThe SleepCover lets the ereader stand up hands-free(Image: Kobo)
Kobo is also compatible with Libby, which allows readers to access their local libraries’ online catalogues and read completely for free. It is limited to one library card per Kobo device, which is worth noting for those who hold multiple. The downside to Libby is that there can be long wait times and a limited selection of books.
There is an online library subscription available from Kobo called Kobo Plus. For those who just want eBooks or just audiobooks, it’s £8.99 a month, but to combine both is just £11.99 – cheaper than subscribing to both Kindle Unlimited and Audible.