The Kobo Libra Colour and Clara Colour are great color e-readers are held back by lock in

The issue with most e-readers is that they’re not likely meant for studying books. They’re meant to promote you books. Amazon, which has the most important market share within the US, is very notable for doing this, however Barnes & Noble is responsible of the identical factor. Kobo is probably the least offensive about this — it’s bought Pocket and Overdrive integration! However oftentimes, when I discovered myself completely enamored with Kobo’s attractive new coloration e-readers, I’d abruptly get slapped with the reminder: this factor is right here to promote me books.

Which is a disgrace as a result of Kobo’s new Libra Color and Clara Color are the closest we’ve gotten to an ideal e-reader recently. Each the $219.99 Libra Color and $149.99 Clara Color are ridiculously mild, however with a sturdiness that makes them really feel comfy and never flimsy. Each embody Kaleido 3 shows, which suggests e book covers are rendered in precise coloration. Each flip pages and navigate shops a lot faster than the $249.99 Boox Web page (the larger, slower sibling of the Palma) — spectacular, given the truth that the Kaleido 3 show is a bit slower than a extra conventional monochromatic E Ink show discovered within the Web page.

I did discover myself liking the dearer Libra as a result of I want asymmetrical e-readers with devoted buttons to ones that perform extra like conventional tablets. That it additionally has stylus help for note-taking is a plus. But, both one is an enthralling and enjoyable-to-use e-reader, and during the last couple of months, I repeatedly discovered myself reaching for the Libra over the Boox — which, till now, has been my main e-reader. I identical to the texture of studying on it extra. Certain, Boox provides me each studying app obtainable (it’s an E Ink Android pill), however the Libra doesn’t have any of the bizarre little hiccups typical of Android on E Ink.

Each Kobo e-readers additionally help highlighting textual content in coloration, and their touchscreens really feel a lot snappier and extra responsive than the Boox Web page. These spotlight colours aren’t significantly vibrant, although. The Kaleido 3 show present in each will get you coloration, however the coloration is akin to what you see in a newspaper left within the solar for a number of days. Plus, that coloration comes at the price of each making the black-and-white studying expertise rather less crisp. It’s nonetheless infinitely higher than earlier coloration E Ink applied sciences, which regularly gave the entire show a inexperienced forged.

My actual problem with these gadgets isn’t the colour shows. It’s the lock-in.

Kobo’s e-readers really feel constructed extra for getting books than studying them. They’re tied to the Kobo bookstore, which is powered by Rakuten, a Japanese retailer that’s usually known as the “Japanese Amazon” or the “Japanese Barnes & Noble” when individuals need to rapidly summarize the corporate. Rakuten is superb at shifting books, and Kobo’s built-in bookstore is comparable. It doesn’t have fairly the identical library as Amazon; Amazon has extra self-published books and carries extra area of interest content material from boutique publishers. But, Kobo’s bookstore has an honest unfold. If it’s a remotely standard e book, you’ll discover it on the Kobo.

In contrast to different non-Android e-readers, Kobo e-readers even have a extra conventional library inbuilt by way of Overdrive. When you’ve bought a library card from a library that works with Overdrive you possibly can borrow ebooks. Sadly, that is if you begin to run into Kobo’s bookselling enterprise butting heads with its e-reader enterprise. To borrow books, you both have to make use of your cellphone to search out them on an app like Libby, or you need to use the Uncover tab, then select the Overdrive tab, and hope you possibly can browse for the e book you need. Or you need to seek for the e book on Kobo’s retailer, and if you discover the e book, you need to faucet the Extra Choices button subsequent to the a lot bigger Purchase Now and Wishlist buttons after which really faucet the Borrow From Overdrive button to see if the e book is borrowable out of your library. It’s depressing, and after I requested a usually very intelligent good friend to attempt to borrow a e book, she couldn’t even determine how.

You can also’t have a couple of library card energetic on the Kobo at a time. As an alternative, if you end a e book and need to learn one other one which’s tied to a distinct library card, you need to sign off and log in with the opposite card. I needed to change repeatedly between my New York Public Library and Jersey Metropolis Public Library playing cards and was left deeply aggravated. I don’t have to do that after I use the Libby app on my Web page or iPad.

You run into the identical problem utilizing the built-in “experimental” internet browser Kobo has. I can navigate to web sites simply superb, and if I need to try to learn a e book over the online, I can theoretically do this. No app crucial. Solely the browser is painfully underdeveloped. It will be good if I might scroll or paginate utilizing the Libra’s built-in buttons as I can with the EinkBro browser on Android e-readers.

Getting ebooks from different shops onto the system can be a problem. You must plug the e-reader into your laptop and drag and drop information (although Calibre, the e-book administration app, does make it a scootch simpler). However that downside isn’t distinctive to Kobo. Amazon and Barnes & Noble additionally insist you sideload books. However after years of the Boox ecosystem (and the iPad), it feels bizarre that these techniques all insist you stick so intently to their bookstores. It’s a level of lock-in that appears absurd, and with Kobo’s ecosystem, it feels extra absurd as a result of in so many different respects it actually looks like the corporate is attempting to do e-readers proper.

The Kobo Libra Color and Koko Clara Color are quick and practically good for getting out of your means if you simply need to learn a e book. Their coloration shows aren’t as sharp as an iPad Mini’s LED one — or perhaps a monochrome E Ink show — however the coloration provides a welcome zest to the expertise that black and white can’t. The truth that they even supply issues like an internet browser and Overdrive and Pocket help could be very welcome when in comparison with what Amazon is doing. However the lock-in, man. The lock-in may be the norm within the e-reader world, however it shouldn’t be.