Three new Kobo ereaders from Rakuten, including the first two with color displays from the brand, are available. Along with the $130 monochrome Clara BW, the company unveiled the $220 Kobo Libra Color and $150 Clara Color on Wednesday. They launch on April 30 and are available for preorder as of right now.
With its seven-inch E Ink Kaleido 3 display, which boasts 4,096 colors, 16 grayscale levels, and 30% more color saturation than E Ink’s previous generation of technology, the Kobo Libra Colour should offer a substantial upgrade over its predecessor. The only new ereader from Kobo that supports ebook annotations and highlighting with a stylus is the Libra Colour. To enjoy it, though, you’ll need to purchase the $70 Kobo Stylus 2, which is also compatible with the Elipsa 2E.
The device has a curved, “ergonomic” design with page-turn buttons. It supports portrait and landscape reading and has 32GB of storage (good for around 24,000 ebooks or 150 audiobooks). Rakuten says its battery can last up to 40 days on a single charge, but that’s for reading for 30 minutes daily with the front light at 30 percent brightness and the wireless turned off. (Expect less if you read more than that or turn the brightness higher with wireless radios on.)
Meanwhile, the six-inch Kobo Clara Colour and Clara BW forgo the Libra Colour’s page-turn buttons and stylus support in favor of more accessible pricing. The Clara BW differs from the last-gen Clara 2 with a faster processor, more storage (16GB) and the latest E Ink Carta 1300 display tech.
Rakuten says the Clara Colour and Clara BW can last up to 53 days on a charge, but that’s with half an hour of reading per day, the brightness set at a mere 10 percent and WiFi / Bluetooth off.
All three devices have ComfortLightPro for automatic blue-light adjustment. They have an IPX8 water resistance rating, making them suitable for poolside or bathtime reading. The ereaders use recycled and ocean-bound plastics in their build materials, and Rakuten has partnered with iFixit for self-repairs.
You can buy separate covers (made from recycled materials) with built-in stands for all three new devices. The Libra Colour has a standard $30 SleepCover and a $40 NoteBook SleepCover with a magnetic stylus slot. The Clara Colour and Clara BW have $30 SleepCovers and a cheaper $20 Basic SleepCover.
You can preorder the new ereaders from Rakuten Kobo starting today. The Kobo Libra Colour costs $220, the Clara Colour is priced at $150 and the monochrome Clara BW runs $130. All three devices arrive on April 30.
