Multi-hued e-reader brings more colour, but less clarity

Comparing the Libra Colour to the $320 Libra 2, it’s also obvious the new model has inferior contrast; the text is essentially black on the Libra 2, but it’s grey on the Colour. These two issues combined mean that when the screen is displaying nothing but type or monochrome images, it looks good on the Libra Colour but much nicer on the less expensive Libra 2.

The colour screen’s advantage, besides nicer covers and the fact that you can mark passages with four different highlighters instead of just one, is that it makes new kinds of material suitable for your e-reader. Things like storybooks, comic strips, magazines, cookbooks and travel guides are significantly more effective in colour than in black and white.

You could even load up on visual encyclopedias or digital versions of coffee table books, though big full-page layouts obviously aren’t as impressive when they’re barely 10 centimetres across.

Something else I noticed was that any time a colour element is on-screen, the device’s resolution seems significantly reduced. For full-screen images, this is fine, but on a page with a blend of images and words, you end up with slightly less sharp text. Once again, in a direct comparison, you get cleaner (but monochrome) images on a black-and-white device.

Your own personal library or a public one

Screen aside, the Libra Colour is an upgraded version of the Libra 2, which is a fantastic e-reader.

Both products are waterproof and have backlights with adjustable brightness and colour – so you can read in any environment and limit blue light before bed – and are simple to use, with both touchscreens and page-turn buttons. However, the Libra Colour also includes the stylus compatibility of the $460 Libra Sage.

With a sold-separately stylus, you can write directly onto your books to mark them up, handwrite notes to accompany your highlighted passages, or start your own notebooks from scratch.

For each notebook, you can choose from a range of templates (lined, dotted, margins and so on) or make an “advanced” notebook that converts your handwriting to typed text and formats, such as a word processor, so you can send documents back and forth to your PC.

As a notebook, the Libra Colour feels a little small, but the ability to switch pen and highlighter colours makes for much more attractive planning or revising.

The one thing that most separates Kobos from Kindles is their ability to source books from more places, and this remains true for the Libra Colour.

You can buy e-books directly from the on-device store or sign up to Kobo Plus for $14 per month to gain access to a catalogue of more than a million books.

If you have a PDF or unprotected e-book file you want to read, you can plug the Kobo into your PC and transfer it over or sync it via the cloud with Dropbox or Google Drive. For protected files you bought from a bookstore, you can transfer them using Adobe Editions. To send online articles to your Kobo, you can use Pocket.

The best part, though, is Overdrive, which lets you connect to public libraries. All you have to do is sign up for a borrowing card at a library that uses Overdrive, then plug your card number into the Kobo. Now, you can search, browse, borrow and read your library’s e-books for free directly through the device.

If something you want is already on loan, you can place a hold on it, and it will download once the current borrower’s time is up.

The Libra Colour also supports audiobooks you’ve bought through Kobo – if you connect some Bluetooth headphones.

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So, would I recommend the new Libra Colour over the existing Libra 2?

If you do a lot of marking up, note-taking or PDF reading on your Kobo, or you’d prefer digital magazines and comics on an e-reader versus a phone or tablet, the benefit of colour is undeniable, and the device may be for you.

However, for novels and anything else you don’t mind having in monochrome, I’d stick with the black-and-white models until the colour screens catch up in clarity.

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