Kobo has announced a minor new addition to its e-reader range with a white version of the Kobo Clara Colour, the firm’s cheapest colour screen device.
It has a 6-inch E Ink display that uses the same Kaleido 3 technology as the Kindle Colorsoft, which has a similar design with touchscreen and no page turn buttons. The big difference is the price, as Amazon charges at least £239.99 for its Colorsoft, whereas the Kobo Clara Colour costs £149.99.
That makes the device, either in the new white or existing black, a great choice if you fancy an e-reader but either want to avoid Amazon, or simply want the best bang for your buck. With a colour screen, book covers stand out more in your library or in the Kobo store, plus illustrations in books and in graphic novels and comic books are far better represented.
The Clara Colour has Kobo’s ComfortLight Pro frontlight that reduces blue light automatically at night, full water resistance, claimed “weeks of battery life” depending on your usage and 16GB of storage you’ll be hard-pressed to fill with small e-book download files. That’s mainly there to tune into audiobooks, which you can download and listen to via Bluetooth headphones.
Kobos’ main advantage over Kindles in the UK is the ability to connect to OverDrive, the free service that lets you check our e-books for free. All you need is a local library card, and you can sign in when connected to Wi-Fi on the Kobo and browse available loans to place on hold or check out straight away.
It’s a great system – OverDrive owns the popular Libby e-book library app – and it’s only available on Kobos in the UK. Kindles support OverDrive in the US, but not on these shores.
That makes the £149.99 Kobo Clara Colour a great e-reader pick, getting you a colour screen and OverDrive integration for less than the cost of the cheapest black and white screen £159.99 Kindle Paperwhite, let alone the cheapest £239.99 Colorsoft.
“Since we launched our colour eReaders, Kobo Libra Colour and Kobo Clara Colour, in 2024, we have been overwhelmed with how positively they have been received by booklovers around the world,” said Michael Tamblyn, CEO, Rakuten Kobo.
“Our most popular feature request since launch has been ‘Clara Colour, but make it white!’ and we are happy to be able to meet that demand. At Kobo, we just focus on one thing: delighting readers. Every part of the eReader experience plays a part. We’re proud to be adding Kobo Clara Colour in white to that offering.”
Kobos have also long supported integration with the read later app Pocket, but this has gone away as Pocket has shut down. Not to be perturbed, Kobo has already set up compatibility with Instapaper, a similar read later app. Pushed out as a free software update, you can sign into Instapaper on your Kobo, which will then download and display any of the online articles you save via a browser extension on your smartphone or laptop.
You’ll be able to buy the new white Kobo Clara Colour from September 23 in the UK. The black version is available now.