These color e-readers can do everything a regular e-reader can do, but they let you see your book covers and illustrations in their full glory and add colorful highlights to the pages of your latest read. Some even let you write colorful notes on the pages or in the digital notebook built inside them. It’s a really fun experience, especially if you’re a book-illustrator type of person (I aspire to be that kind of person, but I usually lose enthusiasm halfway through a good book) or like graphic novels.
I’ve tried several color e-readers and e-paper devices in my testing, and as I’ve compared overall features and value, I’ve found myself repeatedly impressed by the value of Kobo’s color e-reader. Whether it’s the larger Kobo Libra Color, our favorite all-around e-reader that can also serve as a digital notebook, or the affordable Kobo Clara Color, you can’t go wrong with Kobo’s colorful devices.
How do color e-readers work?
Photograph: Nena Farrell
At a casual glance, most color e-readers look quite similar. You’ll typically see 150 pixels-per-inch resolution for color and 300 pixels-per-inch resolution for black-and-white, which is what we see for both the Kobo and the Kindle’s color devices.
Kobo’s two color e-readers, the Kobo Libra Color and Kobo Clara Color, use E Ink Kaleido 3 technology to power their color screens. This technology has 16 levels of grayscale and 4,096 colors, allowing it to easily render the colors of your favorite books. You’ll see higher resolution for black-and-white technology, as color e-readers still use the mainstay; Lower-resolution colors are essentially a top-layer effect. So even if the colors are lower resolution, you shouldn’t notice lower resolution overall.
Colors are a bit more muted than what you see on a smartphone or tablet, though Kobo’s devices feel a bit brighter and more saturated than the Kindle ColorSoft—or the Aura Ink Digital Frame, which also uses e-ink technology. Kobo’s devices also use ComfortLight Pro to reduce the amount of blue light visible on displays.
Best color e-readers
Kobo’s devices are my favorite color e-readers, not only thanks to the technology that powers them, but also thanks to the prices. Compared to the Kindle ColorSoft, which ranges from $250 to $280 depending on the model you choose (including the children’s version, but at least that comes with a cover), you’re saving money by choosing a Kobo Color device, with the Clara Color starting at $160 and the Libra Color starting at $230, and you’ll get the same if not more capabilities.
For example, the Clara Color will cost you the same as the Kindle Paperwhite, but it comes with the color screen that you usually have to pay a lot more for. It’s smaller, however, with only a 6-inch screen instead of the 7-inch screen you get on the Colorsoft or Paperwhite, but it’s a comfortable size for reading or carrying in a bag or coat with large pockets.
The Libra Color, meanwhile, is cheaper than the ColorSoft, but comes with a page-turner button, something we wanted to see on the Kindle ColorSoft. It can also be upgraded to a digital notebook, which would run it up to $300 for the extra stylus, but would still be cheaper than the $400 Kindle Scribe. Overall, it’s an impressive money saver for the same features, if not additional features.
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