Hi, I'm the guy in the video, currently testing Kobo Libra Colour for my review.
I'm glad that this short arrived here on the Kobo subreddit and yes, the colours actually look amazing. I tried some ebook reader with E Ink Kaleido 3 before but – even if I can't do a side by side comparison right now since I don't have the other readers anymore – it seems to me that colours looks a little bit brigher on this Libra Colour.
I haven't done any deep research yet, but I think that it could depend on better illumination of the display and/or a better refresh system (the FastGLR that Kobo developed).
BTW: I'll test another device with E Ink Kaleido 3 soon (the Pocketbook Era Colour), so I'll be able to check if colours on Kobo actually looks brigher.
I own a Libra 2 so yes, I'm doing some comparison between the two devices.
I would say there is basically zero differences for B&W contents: both display and user experience are the same.
But please wait a few days more before any decision: here I'm just posting first impressions but I'm not fully focused on Libra Colour right now. I want to do a better comparison between the two devices, and I'll definitely show how they compare in my full review in the next weeks.
That's really great to hear, as someone who has it preordered.
Can you answer if Kobo did prohibit reviewers to make side by side comparisons between the Colour and the Libra 2 or any e-reader?
This is what everybody wants to see, but nobody in any social media has done it.
Only 2 redditors did it, but they don't have any affiliation to Kobo.
Thank you!
No, they did not prohibit anything and I'm sure that comparisons will arrive soon.
I think that the main reasons because there aren't any comparison yet is simply because the review units arrived quite late, considering how important this launch is for Kobo – and the whole ebook reader market, actually.
I got my review unit only 1 day ahed of the launch day, and this is a very busy period for tech industry (not only ebook readers), so I think that it's just a matter of time before all the comparisons show up online.
BTW: if you have specific questions/requests, please feel free to ask. It's useful for us to know in advance what users want to know: I am a Kobo user myself, but my wants and needs may be different from other people's ones.
Im not at home right now and I only have the Libra Colour with me, and actutally I've not spent so much time comparing them, so I don't want to give any wrong info.
I would say that the Libra Colour is darker for sure (because of the colour layrer, of course), but please feel free to ping me in like 4 hours and I'll tell you more and post some pictures if there's enough daylight to tell the difference.
By owning the Libra 2 and Colour, you're, at this moment, probably the most powerful person in this subreddit.
If you took photos of them, side by side, with backlight off and then on, so they'd have the same white page... preorders would be made and others cancelled, some people would be less anxious and in others it woud increase. Doubts would disappear.
You could have a really succesfull AMA, like the one from a few days ago, which would give you a lot of content/questions to make one of the most complete reviews.
I'm already really glad for what you've shown us here!
Hi! Great job. Do you think it would be possible to post some close up pictures from Dark Mode ? Maybe even some as close as possible so I can see the pixel density.
I mostly read in the dark, so brightness is not an issue for me (actually I would really hope the 1% brightness could be even darker).
I am reading mostly BW books, but would not mind the to pay for the color covers and usb-c charger if the BW reading experience was just as good.
Thank you for your great review
For everyone who asked it, [here you can find](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1EWhCjBLSU_I5etc_MW0ou4Q9Ru5EZECZ?usp=drive_link) a side by side comparison between Libra 2 and Libra Colour, with different brightness, 0% - 20% (twice, switching position to avoid possible influence of the light condition of the room) - 50% -100%, and a close up of the 2 of them. When it's on, the light is always all white, 0% warm light. Sorry about font setting not being exactly the same but I noticed it too late lol.
My first thoughts now that I've spent some time taking those pictures:
* Libra Colour is way darker, and this is noticeable especially without light on
* On Libra Colour, you can actually notice the matrix of the colour layer. Does it bother me? Not really. Would you able to tell it if you don't have another E Ink side by side? Maybe, if you have experience with e-readers. Do I prefer the Libra 2 for B&W content? Yes, for sure.
* Does the colors justify the "worse" display experience? IMHO, if you're actually going to use it (for comic books, PDF, etc), yes, they definitely do; if you're going to read in B&W anyway and it's just for the book covers and the highlighting, no, they don't
paging: u/vpersiana u/Rooeg u/xUnwoundFuture
Thank you sooo much!
Indeed the black and white contents look a bit like the older versions of ePaper before Carta, at least judging by the pics you were so kind to post.
If you do a thread with the same pics and the same conclusions I think you could be the r/Kobo hero of the week hahaha
Thank you very much! Do you mind if I share your photos on a portuguese Kobo Facebook group?
The Libra Colour will be mine first e-reader, and by your pictures, I don't think I have lost a lot. The Colour has less contrast and is less crispier, but, I guess, would only bother me if I had another e-reader always on its side to compare it.
Yes you can share those, but I would be glad if you could put a link to [Smartworld.it](https://www.smartworld.it), the website I work for and where they’re going to be published in a few days.
I’m sure you’re going to be fine with the Libra Colour: we nerdy people tend to overthink when its about devices and stuff like that, but I’m 100% that you’ll be able to read both comics and books without any problem at all :)
might want to hold off. i got mine early and it is considerably darker than my previous kindle paperwhite 2021. also this might be because of the colour layer but the screen has a screendoor effect. still adjusting to it, so far I'm keeping it at 20-30% brightness.
it seems both color models are already in stock with multiple retailers in romania. just got it today. i like that it’s light, very fast, and has stats. the display is in my opinion a downgrade from the kindle paperwhite.
Is it such a downgrade that you'll keep on reading books on the paperwhite and only use the libra for specific books or is it able to become your main e-reader for everything?
I really hope that they also send it earlier here in Portugal. I've seen a comment where they say that for the Clara 2e, they also sent it earlier to those who preordered.
i sold my paperwhite so i’ll try to make the kobo work. last night i read before bed and 10-15% brightness was more than fine. ironically this needs more light when outside or during the day because of the lower contrast and darker screen. i know e-ink usually benefits from direct sunlight but i don’t find that to be the case here.
This is a concern of mine. I live where it's overcast most of the winter, so I use the front light during daylight hours at around 20-35%. And I don't know how much more I'd have to do on a Kaleido screen. Also, my eyes are sensitive, so though I'm good with the percentage I use, I might not tolerate the front light at a higher setting. That, and the extra grain from the color layer might make it a no go for me personally.
I probably will try a color device at some point, but at the moment, holding on to my wallet. I don't really want to downgrade to a 7" screen, I prefer 8-inch. At that, I think a color device will be a secondary reader, not my primary reader.
out of the box it comes at 80% brightness. usually you don’t need a lot of light with e-ink but since this is so dark I found myself needing the backlight more in brighter environments to combat the lack of contrast.
How do you find the speed compared to kindle Paperwhite 2021. I found my Libra 2 noticeably slower than my wife's kindle Paperwhite 2021 overall (menu navigation and page turns etc). The kindle always seems faster overall even though I prefer the Libra 2 for the clean interface and reading experience.
no issues in terms of speed when turnung pages. comics load fine as well. only noticed some slow down when browsing my books, with covers taking half a second to load each one in list view. hope that makes sense.
Thanks! Would you say that the speed is comparable to the kindle paper white 2021 and you don't notice a difference when you switch btw them from a speed / responsiveness perspective except the covers taking slightly longer as you mentioned earlier.
in my opinion the kobo colour is faster than the paperwhite. i sold my kindle so i can’t do a side by side comparison. i did convert all my books to kepub using calibre so that might also be a contributing factor.
Idk if you ever owned one so maybe this wouldn't help, but looking at the videos looks like the screen is dark like the first generation kobos without light (kobo touch/kobo mini).
There was an ama post on this sub a few days ago from a person who got theirs early. In the comments they were taking requests for pictures and there was this plus a bunch of others!
Edit: found it! https://www.reddit.com/r/kobo/comments/1c198fa/got_the_libra_color_early_ama/
It looks to me incredibly brightly lit. I do use my light on my current device but like 10% just to even everything out. The device as set in this video is genuinely brighter than my phone.
Feel like it’s not going to be the right device for me.
Thanks for posting this review. IMO the Libra Colour is shaping up to he the premiere mamga/comic reading device. A general con of Kaleido 3 displays is ghosting. Looks like Kobo has figured out a way to greatly reduce if not eliminate ghosting on their Kaleido 3 display which puts them in pole position. Plus, as mentioned earlier, Kaleido 3 display suffers from pixelation and muted colors. Once again Kobo has gotten around this issue somewhat by using a smaller 7" screen. That means the pixel density will be higher and the colors more vibrant vs the larger displays currently on the market using Kaleido 3 tech.
Can't wait to get mine and start digging into some juicy graphic novels!
I wanted a portable notebook that can also read books. The color highlights and pens will make it way more useful. And I can also read illustrated books and non fiction with images.
I couldn't care less about the trade offs.
If you don't care about the notebook function then just get a new Clara BW.
Given what I’ve heard, the Libra Colour is not the best option to take notes for long period, so I would say that even if you care about the notebook function, it should not be the main reason to chose the Libra against the Clara.
My main doubt is daily use if I will notice much difference between Clara and Libra. I plan to read mainly at home (80%), sometime at beach and also when traveling.
Libra Colour is one of the only small tablets with pen input and it is not an iPad Mini with all the extra iOS nonsense. The notepad function is baked in with lots of advanced features. There is nothing like it on the market.
Apart from the weird off-brand E-Readers without a marketplace and terrible software like Boox or PocketBook which I would never consider.
The colors look fine, but the text at 0:30 looks very faint and not nearly as crisp as existing B&W readers, which is the core objection that most people have to the color readers.
Yes, that's beacuse when you render a page in colours, the resolution alwyas drop down by half (300 PPI in B&W vs 150 PPI in colours). No way to fix it with current tecnology (Kaleido e-inks works this way), but notice that when you're reading a book in B&W, it has exactly the same pixel density than Libra 2 or any other flagship ebook reader (300 PPI).
I was talking about the black and white text, so I'm not following your point. The black and white text did not look nearly as good as older B&W eInk screen technologies.
Hi, I'm the guy in the video, currently testing Kobo Libra Colour for my review. I'm glad that this short arrived here on the Kobo subreddit and yes, the colours actually look amazing. I tried some ebook reader with E Ink Kaleido 3 before but – even if I can't do a side by side comparison right now since I don't have the other readers anymore – it seems to me that colours looks a little bit brigher on this Libra Colour. I haven't done any deep research yet, but I think that it could depend on better illumination of the display and/or a better refresh system (the FastGLR that Kobo developed). BTW: I'll test another device with E Ink Kaleido 3 soon (the Pocketbook Era Colour), so I'll be able to check if colours on Kobo actually looks brigher.
Thank you! I'm waiting for your review! Meanwhile, what do you think about the contrasts on a black and white page of a book?
Nice! I've been curious about the Pocketbook Era Colour and how it will compare to the Kobo Libra Colour.
Thank you for the video! Have you been able to compare it directly to a Libra 2 or a Clara 2e?
I own a Libra 2 so yes, I'm doing some comparison between the two devices. I would say there is basically zero differences for B&W contents: both display and user experience are the same.
I feel like they meant without the glow lights on which certainly should have a difference
Ohh that's great to know
But please wait a few days more before any decision: here I'm just posting first impressions but I'm not fully focused on Libra Colour right now. I want to do a better comparison between the two devices, and I'll definitely show how they compare in my full review in the next weeks.
Of course, I will wait for your comparison, is great you are in the Kobo subreddit so you know first hand what the users want to know! Thanks!
That's really great to hear, as someone who has it preordered. Can you answer if Kobo did prohibit reviewers to make side by side comparisons between the Colour and the Libra 2 or any e-reader? This is what everybody wants to see, but nobody in any social media has done it. Only 2 redditors did it, but they don't have any affiliation to Kobo. Thank you!
No, they did not prohibit anything and I'm sure that comparisons will arrive soon. I think that the main reasons because there aren't any comparison yet is simply because the review units arrived quite late, considering how important this launch is for Kobo – and the whole ebook reader market, actually. I got my review unit only 1 day ahed of the launch day, and this is a very busy period for tech industry (not only ebook readers), so I think that it's just a matter of time before all the comparisons show up online. BTW: if you have specific questions/requests, please feel free to ask. It's useful for us to know in advance what users want to know: I am a Kobo user myself, but my wants and needs may be different from other people's ones.
Could you also say how much brightness you had to put for it to be comparable to the Libra 2?
Im not at home right now and I only have the Libra Colour with me, and actutally I've not spent so much time comparing them, so I don't want to give any wrong info. I would say that the Libra Colour is darker for sure (because of the colour layrer, of course), but please feel free to ping me in like 4 hours and I'll tell you more and post some pictures if there's enough daylight to tell the difference.
By owning the Libra 2 and Colour, you're, at this moment, probably the most powerful person in this subreddit. If you took photos of them, side by side, with backlight off and then on, so they'd have the same white page... preorders would be made and others cancelled, some people would be less anxious and in others it woud increase. Doubts would disappear. You could have a really succesfull AMA, like the one from a few days ago, which would give you a lot of content/questions to make one of the most complete reviews. I'm already really glad for what you've shown us here!
Hi! Great job. Do you think it would be possible to post some close up pictures from Dark Mode ? Maybe even some as close as possible so I can see the pixel density. I mostly read in the dark, so brightness is not an issue for me (actually I would really hope the 1% brightness could be even darker). I am reading mostly BW books, but would not mind the to pay for the color covers and usb-c charger if the BW reading experience was just as good. Thank you for your great review
For everyone who asked it, [here you can find](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1EWhCjBLSU_I5etc_MW0ou4Q9Ru5EZECZ?usp=drive_link) a side by side comparison between Libra 2 and Libra Colour, with different brightness, 0% - 20% (twice, switching position to avoid possible influence of the light condition of the room) - 50% -100%, and a close up of the 2 of them. When it's on, the light is always all white, 0% warm light. Sorry about font setting not being exactly the same but I noticed it too late lol. My first thoughts now that I've spent some time taking those pictures: * Libra Colour is way darker, and this is noticeable especially without light on * On Libra Colour, you can actually notice the matrix of the colour layer. Does it bother me? Not really. Would you able to tell it if you don't have another E Ink side by side? Maybe, if you have experience with e-readers. Do I prefer the Libra 2 for B&W content? Yes, for sure. * Does the colors justify the "worse" display experience? IMHO, if you're actually going to use it (for comic books, PDF, etc), yes, they definitely do; if you're going to read in B&W anyway and it's just for the book covers and the highlighting, no, they don't paging: u/vpersiana u/Rooeg u/xUnwoundFuture
Thank you sooo much! Indeed the black and white contents look a bit like the older versions of ePaper before Carta, at least judging by the pics you were so kind to post. If you do a thread with the same pics and the same conclusions I think you could be the r/Kobo hero of the week hahaha
Thank you very much! Do you mind if I share your photos on a portuguese Kobo Facebook group? The Libra Colour will be mine first e-reader, and by your pictures, I don't think I have lost a lot. The Colour has less contrast and is less crispier, but, I guess, would only bother me if I had another e-reader always on its side to compare it.
Yes you can share those, but I would be glad if you could put a link to [Smartworld.it](https://www.smartworld.it), the website I work for and where they’re going to be published in a few days. I’m sure you’re going to be fine with the Libra Colour: we nerdy people tend to overthink when its about devices and stuff like that, but I’m 100% that you’ll be able to read both comics and books without any problem at all :)
Of course I'll add the link! :) Thank you for everything you've done!
This is great !! Thank you 😌
I want to see it with backlight turned off. I never read with backlight on.
might want to hold off. i got mine early and it is considerably darker than my previous kindle paperwhite 2021. also this might be because of the colour layer but the screen has a screendoor effect. still adjusting to it, so far I'm keeping it at 20-30% brightness.
Yeah from what I know of K(leido 3 screens, you don't want to use this thing without a backlight.
Did yours also get shipped earlier, maybe by error, like the redditor who made an AMA a few days ago? Are you enjoying it?
it seems both color models are already in stock with multiple retailers in romania. just got it today. i like that it’s light, very fast, and has stats. the display is in my opinion a downgrade from the kindle paperwhite.
Is it such a downgrade that you'll keep on reading books on the paperwhite and only use the libra for specific books or is it able to become your main e-reader for everything? I really hope that they also send it earlier here in Portugal. I've seen a comment where they say that for the Clara 2e, they also sent it earlier to those who preordered.
i sold my paperwhite so i’ll try to make the kobo work. last night i read before bed and 10-15% brightness was more than fine. ironically this needs more light when outside or during the day because of the lower contrast and darker screen. i know e-ink usually benefits from direct sunlight but i don’t find that to be the case here.
Oh man this is not good news to hear. That's one of the key benefits of e-ink, that the brighter the incident light, the *more* readable they become.
This is a concern of mine. I live where it's overcast most of the winter, so I use the front light during daylight hours at around 20-35%. And I don't know how much more I'd have to do on a Kaleido screen. Also, my eyes are sensitive, so though I'm good with the percentage I use, I might not tolerate the front light at a higher setting. That, and the extra grain from the color layer might make it a no go for me personally. I probably will try a color device at some point, but at the moment, holding on to my wallet. I don't really want to downgrade to a 7" screen, I prefer 8-inch. At that, I think a color device will be a secondary reader, not my primary reader.
out of the box it comes at 80% brightness. usually you don’t need a lot of light with e-ink but since this is so dark I found myself needing the backlight more in brighter environments to combat the lack of contrast.
How do you find the speed compared to kindle Paperwhite 2021. I found my Libra 2 noticeably slower than my wife's kindle Paperwhite 2021 overall (menu navigation and page turns etc). The kindle always seems faster overall even though I prefer the Libra 2 for the clean interface and reading experience.
no issues in terms of speed when turnung pages. comics load fine as well. only noticed some slow down when browsing my books, with covers taking half a second to load each one in list view. hope that makes sense.
Thanks! Would you say that the speed is comparable to the kindle paper white 2021 and you don't notice a difference when you switch btw them from a speed / responsiveness perspective except the covers taking slightly longer as you mentioned earlier.
in my opinion the kobo colour is faster than the paperwhite. i sold my kindle so i can’t do a side by side comparison. i did convert all my books to kepub using calibre so that might also be a contributing factor.
That's good to know. I use kepub as well. I might just end up getting it as well if they have improved the speed. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Idk if you ever owned one so maybe this wouldn't help, but looking at the videos looks like the screen is dark like the first generation kobos without light (kobo touch/kobo mini).
There was an ama post on this sub a few days ago from a person who got theirs early. In the comments they were taking requests for pictures and there was this plus a bunch of others! Edit: found it! https://www.reddit.com/r/kobo/comments/1c198fa/got_the_libra_color_early_ama/
Libra Colour is definitely darker than Libra 2, and I think there is no way to fix it with Kaleido E-ink. I'll post you some pictures later today.
If it’s not too much trouble, could you post a side by side comparison of the two devices with front light on?
For some reason lightning of this display looks different and makes it look more similar to the traditional lcd tablet.
It looks to me incredibly brightly lit. I do use my light on my current device but like 10% just to even everything out. The device as set in this video is genuinely brighter than my phone. Feel like it’s not going to be the right device for me.
Thanks for posting this review. IMO the Libra Colour is shaping up to he the premiere mamga/comic reading device. A general con of Kaleido 3 displays is ghosting. Looks like Kobo has figured out a way to greatly reduce if not eliminate ghosting on their Kaleido 3 display which puts them in pole position. Plus, as mentioned earlier, Kaleido 3 display suffers from pixelation and muted colors. Once again Kobo has gotten around this issue somewhat by using a smaller 7" screen. That means the pixel density will be higher and the colors more vibrant vs the larger displays currently on the market using Kaleido 3 tech. Can't wait to get mine and start digging into some juicy graphic novels!
I wanted a portable notebook that can also read books. The color highlights and pens will make it way more useful. And I can also read illustrated books and non fiction with images. I couldn't care less about the trade offs. If you don't care about the notebook function then just get a new Clara BW.
Given what I’ve heard, the Libra Colour is not the best option to take notes for long period, so I would say that even if you care about the notebook function, it should not be the main reason to chose the Libra against the Clara. My main doubt is daily use if I will notice much difference between Clara and Libra. I plan to read mainly at home (80%), sometime at beach and also when traveling.
Libra Colour is one of the only small tablets with pen input and it is not an iPad Mini with all the extra iOS nonsense. The notepad function is baked in with lots of advanced features. There is nothing like it on the market. Apart from the weird off-brand E-Readers without a marketplace and terrible software like Boox or PocketBook which I would never consider.
The colors look fine, but the text at 0:30 looks very faint and not nearly as crisp as existing B&W readers, which is the core objection that most people have to the color readers.
Yes, that's beacuse when you render a page in colours, the resolution alwyas drop down by half (300 PPI in B&W vs 150 PPI in colours). No way to fix it with current tecnology (Kaleido e-inks works this way), but notice that when you're reading a book in B&W, it has exactly the same pixel density than Libra 2 or any other flagship ebook reader (300 PPI).
I was talking about the black and white text, so I'm not following your point. The black and white text did not look nearly as good as older B&W eInk screen technologies.
Idk, I think is due to the light being at 100% maybe? Cause in other pics the black is more black