Kobo Clara Colour

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We’re now at the very beginning of the next evolution of digital e-Readers, where users love them so much but wish they could do just a little bit more. Blame smartphones, which have evolved so far past their original intended use that we sometimes forget that not every device has to be able to do everything all the time.

The industry has decided the next phase of e-Readers should have the ability to take (and export) notes and, increasingly, display color text and images. Given the low-power nature of e-Readers this upgrade isn’t as easy as it sounds, and adding color to E Ink displays means an entirely new technology, with all the stumbles and growing pains that come with it.

While there’s no shortage of third-party companies trying to fill this void, most of the e-Reader buzz still revolves around two, Amazon and Kobo, and both have already started to implement note-taking on their higher-end models (with suitably higher-end prices). Once again, Kobo beat Amazon to the punch by releasing color updates to their most popular readers with the Kobo Libra Colour and Kobo Clara Colour, the latter being the focus of this review.

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But color shouldn’t be a hard sell. Color is pretty, and of course some content just looks better when it’s displayed as intended. There’s no question a world with color is a better world. Make no mistake; these are easily the most affordable color e-Readers on the market. But is color E Ink ready for primetime?

Note: In deference to the Queen’s English (and for SEO accuracy) I’ll be referring to the Kobo Clara Colour by its rightful name, though in every other instance the standard spelling for “color” will be used.

TLDR

The Kobo Clara Colour is marketed as both an update to the great Kobo Clara 2E and as one of the first e-Readers to have a color screen. As such, this is an excellent digital reading device that’s super comfortable to use, extremely compatible with most formats, and comes in at a reasonable price. Those expecting the Colour in the name to be a game-changer, however, may want to temper their expectations.

If you really don’t care about color and just want a stellar e-reading experience, maybe opt for the freshly updated Kobo Clara BW instead. It’s essentially the same exact reader as the Clara Colour, minus the color (and minus about 20 bucks from the price).

Design: Chunky, Comfortable

The Clara Colour looks much like every other e-Reader out there, and I don’t mind one bit. A rectangular slab (available in black or white) measuring 4.4″ x 6.2″ x 0.36″ and weighing just 6.1oz. While I’m sure some may not care for its chunky bezels, they’re easy to grab onto and keep your fingers from accidentally touching the screen. Speaking of which, the Clara Colour is an entirely touch-based affair, with only a single USB-C charge/transfer port on the bottom and a circular physical power/standby button on the back.

The body is made of recycled plastic and the textured backing feels super comfortable for those longer reading sessions. It’s also certified for IPX8 waterproofing (great for splashes and drips, but not longer soaks). Inside is a standard 16GB of memory to store a large number of books and audiobooks, and a 1500 mAh battery should keep you going for days between charges (I was able to get a full week before I was even tempted to recharge it).

The Screen: Colourful

The Clara Colour sports a standard sized 6” screen, but less standard is the tech powering it, a Kaleido 3 color E Ink display outputting a solid 1448 x 1072 resolution. One big change is that black & white content will output 300 PPI while color outputs at just 150 PPI (I’ll explain more on this below). Like many Kobos, the screen itself is recessed slightly, not flush with the bezels, which some claim reduces glare but I’m not entirely convinced. Many users seem to love the recessed screens, however, so they’ll be pleased with this one.

The Clara Colour sports retains the same great backlighting array of previous models and looks awesome in darker areas when you need a lighting boost. Kobo’s trademarked ComfortLight Pro, which basically means Blue Light filtering, which can be adjusted manually or programmed to kick in at certain times. Dark Mode is available, which looks great, but for whatever reason Kobo hides the feature in the settings – something so useful should be easily accessible.

One caveat: Because the new Kobo Colour readers utilize Kaleido 3 E Ink rather than traditional E Ink Carta 1300 black & white content may look slightly darker. Some users have reported that contrast levels are less bright than traditional E Ink screens, which can make them look slightly darker. This is true, but the differences will be almost negligible for most.

The Kobo Experience

If you’ve used an e-Reader over the past decade you’ll be right at home. Kobos offer every major feature and function to make digital reading the most enjoyable experience possible, including forward/back, long-press for definitions, taking notes, and Google/Wiki searches, bookmarking, chapter jumps, etc. One feature I found surprisingly missing was the ability to reorient the screen to landscape mode, which was disappointing.

The reading experience remains as delightful as ever, especially if you’re just reading text. I was shocked at how fast the performance was here, easily the quickest and most responsive I’ve ever experienced on an e-Reader. For text, anyway. Image-heavy PDFs are sluggish and aren’t a great fit for any E Ink device, this one included.

Kobo Store, Compatibility, and Audiobooks

You won’t be lacking for content using the Clara Colour. Apart from buying direct from the Kobo storefront you can also subscribe to their sizable Kobo Plus subscription service or connect using OverDrive to easily download books while supporting your local library without ever setting foot in one (though you definitely should). Import articles using Pocket, too. Sadly, the Clara Colour doesn’t support importing content from Dropbox or Google Drive like some other Kobos can.

As always, Kobo readers enjoy best-in-class compatibility, much better than Amazon’s ecosystem. Practically every digital file format you could ever want is here and ready for all your sideloading needs including EPUB, EPUB3, FlePub, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF, CBZ, and CBR. You can also add fonts, resize fonts, realign fonts, tweak fonts… so many font options!

As always, sideloading your own content is easy, and most compatibility issues can be alleviated with freely available software like Calibre and websites that get it done quickly. You can even use the (still) hidden web browser to browse and download free books from the Project Gutenberg website directly.

There’s also full support for Kobo audiobooks only, meaning if you want to listen you’ll have to buy from their store or subscribe to their proprietary audiobook service. This means if you’re coming from Amazon’s Audible service you’re out of luck, though Kobo’s version offers a lot to choose from. You’ll need a Bluetooth headset or speaker to listen, but the performance is fast and responsive and quite enjoyable.

Is Colour Worth the Color?

The biggest question you probably have about the new Colour Kobos is whether the addition of color is worth the upgrade. The honest truth is: probably not, especially if you’re not interested in taking colorized notes or reading comic books and manga. Text naturally lends itself better to black & white because it’s mostly fonts on backgrounds. Things get trickier with images because some lend themselves better to being rendered in monochrome and some don’t.

The limitations of the Kaleido 3 technology means color content shifts from razor-sharp 300 PPI to less sharp 150 PPI, a huge tradeoff your eyes can actually see and feel. And with a limited palette of just 4096 colors you’re never getting the smoother gradients or saturation you’d find on standard displays. At best, this means color images look considerably washed out and faded, like how paper newspapers render them.

That said…like I said, color looks prettier than black & white, and even faded colors can still brighten the experience in subtle ways. Seeing the covers of my book library colorized was a nice surprise, and there’s no question having some coloring in comics and graphic novels adds to the overall enjoyment of reading them. Comics and picture books with simpler coloring can look particularly good on this screen.

While color content on the Libra Colour is never spectacular, it’s never awful. We’re still in the early days of color E INK and while the tech still has a way to go, it should only get better as it becomes more adopted and refined. One piece of advice: if you really want the best color experience, turn off the Blue light filter (i.e. Natural light) as it severely degrades color quality.

Conclusion:

The Kobo Clara Colour is an excellent entry-level e-Reader that’s the perfect size and price for most users, but does very little to differentiate itself from the pack (apart from one notable addition). Still, it’s an ideal choice for those who consume digital content, and the compatibility can’t be beat. Should you buy it exclusively for the promise of having color on the screen? Honestly, I wouldn’t, but a splash of color can make your content more interesting to look at.