Kobo Clara 2E review

Finest Costs At this time: Kobo Clara 2E

Amazon has such a stranglehold on the eReader market that different manufacturers are sometimes missed.

Of all challengers, Kobo is doing one of the best job of preventing in opposition to the Kindle’s monopoly in the marketplace. Kobo’s not precisely a minnow although, as a Canadian firm acquired by Japanese big Rakuten.

The Kobo Clara 2E, launched in September 2022, is likely one of the greatest eReaders Kobo has ever made, with a balanced mixture of specs, worth, and options that make it simply nearly as good as the newest Kindle Paperwhite.

It has higher software program design than a Kindle and integration with OverDrive, a service for borrowing eBooks out of your native library. When you don’t fancy lining Jeff Bezos’s pockets, the Clara 2E might be the eReader you should purchase.

Design

The Clara 2E follows the basic eReader design of ‘portrait touchscreen slab with bezels’. Bezels have been banished from smartphones however make sense on an eReader because it provides you materials to really maintain onto.

Kobo is happy with the very fact the Clara 2E is made out of ocean-bound and recycled plastic – I presume the ‘E’ stands for ‘eco-conscious’ as that’s a time period plastered over the product’s advertising and marketing supplies.

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It’s an extremely light-weight gadget, which is strictly what you need from one thing you’ll be holding as much as your face lots to learn on. The back and front are made out of laborious plastic, with the previous a darkish gray and the latter a lovely navy blue hue that’s embossed with a wavy sample to assist with grip. It additionally means the again doesn’t get lined in fingerprints.

There’s a USB-C port for charging off-centre on the underside subsequent to some hard-to-read authorized textual content, and an influence button on the highest left as you look behind the gadget. I like this positioning because it doesn’t get by accident pressed, not like the bottom-edge energy button on a number of Kindle fashions.

General it measures 112.05 x 159.02 x 8.66 mm and weighs a dainty 171g, which is about the identical as many smartphones however feels lighter as the burden is healthier distributed within the flatter design.

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Show

A very powerful a part of an eReader is the show, and although the Clara 2E’s just isn’t essentially the most premium in the marketplace, it’s a first rate one which I didn’t thoughts studying for hours at a time on.

It’s a 6in HD e-ink display with a decision of 1448 x 1072 and 300 pixels per inch. 6in is considerably a candy spot for eReader shows, and on this portrait orientation is akin to a compact paperback web page in dimension. It makes use of an e-ink Carta 1200 display, a model of the e-ink expertise that improves response time and distinction.  

You faucet the touchscreen to alter pages in addition to navigate throughout the software program to browse, choose, and purchase books. Most different Kobos have web page flip buttons however the Clara 2E is touch-only.

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It’s a disgrace the display just isn’t flushed, and as an alternative sits recessed into the physique. It’s not terrible, however the Kindle Paperwhite is flush now which feels extra premium. Mud tends to collect within the ridge on the Clara 2E, however not an excessive amount of.

You additionally get Kobo’s ComfortLight Professional tech in-built, which robotically adjusts brightness and color temperature relying on the lighting circumstances. It claims to cut back blue gentle to cut back eye pressure, and I felt it helped significantly when studying in low gentle or at midnight.

Until you need a bigger show, this one is excellent regardless of being on an eReader that’s comparatively reasonably priced.

Studying expertise

So, it’s an honest display, however what’s it truly prefer to learn on?

The entire level of e-ink expertise that’s utilized in all eReaders is that it doesn’t emit gentle from brilliant pixels like a TV or smartphone, making the expertise as near a bodily paper guide as attainable.

With the backlight fully off the Clara 2E’s display has a greyish hue normal to eReaders, with black textual content overlayed. I most popular to learn with the backlight on always to whiten the web page barely, but it surely doesn’t have to be wherever close to 100%.

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All eReaders work by loading the following web page with out refreshing the show on each flip to avoid wasting power. This implies there are the very faintest traces of the final web page once you transfer on to the following – that is very laborious to see on the Clara 2E, and I by no means observed it except I went trying. You’ll get this on even the most costly eReaders, too.

The {hardware} does what it ought to do and stays out of the way in which to allow you to get misplaced in your studying. I ploughed by means of a novel very quickly on the 2E, which is exemplary for brief or lengthy studying periods.

Kobo has extra customisation than Kindle in the case of font sizes and spacing. You possibly can decide from an extended listing of fonts together with one which helps individuals with dyslexia, and there are sliders to regulate font dimension, line spacing, and margin dimension. A complicated setting even permits you to regulate the burden and sharpness of the chosen font to ensure the web page appears to be like precisely as you’d prefer it.

There’s additionally a darkish mode that makes the background black and textual content white for the last word evening time studying set-up.

Specs & efficiency

The Clara 2E’s one weak level is its efficiency. It has a 1GHz CPU powering it, and it generally struggles. Fortunately this isn’t noticeable when studying books, with web page turns coming immediately. However in comparison with the Kindle Paperwhite, transferring across the software program menus is a contact slower, and tapping on menus and icons often means a brief wait. The identical goes when typing out guide titles to go looking the Kobo retailer.

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This isn’t a deal breaker, however I did get a bit aggravated on the sluggishness generally when tapping an icon would take a second or two to react.

Fortunately that’s made up for with a beneficiant 16GB of storage. Kobo says this is sufficient to get 12,000 books onto the gadget – greater than sufficient, to say the least.

The Clara 2E can also be IPX8 waterproof, which implies it might spend as much as an hour in two metres of water and survive, technically. Don’t check it, but it surely means you’re secure to learn within the tub or by the pool.

Software program & options

The Clara 2E downloads from the Kobo Retailer in Kobo’s personal eBook file format. However it may possibly additionally show different standard eBook file varieties: EPUB, EPUB3, FlePub, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF, CBZ, and CBR. These final two are comedian guide codecs, however the 6in show is a bit small to learn most comics comfortably.

The one file format you’ll be able to’t learn in is Amazon’s, so when you’ve got Kindle books already you gained’t be capable to sync them with a Kobo. All of the others you’ll be able to sideload onto the Clara utilizing a cable and dragging them throughout from a pc.

Kobo Plus is Kobo’s subscription studying service just like Kindle Limitless. For a month-to-month price you’ll be able to learn as a lot as you need from an enormous number of books, similar to you would possibly pay for and watch no matter you need on Netflix.

The issue is, Kobo Plus is simply out there in Canada, Belgium, and the Netherlands. I haven’t been in a position to check it.

Fortunately, the Clara 2E comes with OverDrive integration. OverDrive is a service that hyperlinks as much as your library card and allows you to borrow eBooks digitally.

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I’ve discovered it glorious – there are a restricted variety of borrows per guide per library, so that you’ll nonetheless get placed on a waitlist to take a look at a title if it’s standard, but it surely’s an effective way to learn books with out shopping for them. I used it whereas reviewing the Clara, and it labored very effectively.

The service is country-dependent, and also you’ll should verify in case your native library participates, however I discovered it a terrific motive to stay with Kobo over Kindle. It’s free.

Additionally free is integration with Pocket, the app that permits you to save articles to learn later. You put in the Pocket extension in your net browser, and click on save to avoid wasting to Pocket if you wish to learn an article later.

Pocket can also be a smartphone app, however when accessed by way of the Kobo, you’ll be able to learn issues distraction-free. One other win over Kindle.

Audiobooks are additionally supported on the Clara 2E so you’ll be able to obtain and pay attention with Bluetooth headphones – there’s no headphone jack.

A draw back once more in comparison with Kindle is there isn’t a sync function between eBooks and audiobooks. Kindles supper WhisperSync tech so you’ll be able to learn a Kindle guide after which decide up the place you left off within the Audible audiobook model and vice versa.

Battery life

Kobo says the Clara 2E can final for weeks on a cost, but it surely depends upon utilization – notably how a lot you utilize the backlight or Wi-Fi.

With brightness round 50% and always linked to Wi-Fi when at house, the Clara lasted me about two weeks earlier than I wanted to cost it. It would last more should you flip Wi-Fi off once you don’t want it.

There’s a USB-A to USB-C cable within the field however no charging brick.

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Value & availability

The Kobo Clara 2E prices $129.99/£129.99/$149.99 and is that can be purchased direct from Kobo.

Unsurprisingly, you’ll be able to’t simply purchase Kobos from Amazon.

Its pricing places it in competitors with the Kindle Paperwhite, which is $139.99/£129.99/€139.99 – however that is with lock display adverts and half the Clara’s storage at 8GB.

In order for you a Paperwhite with 16GB storage and no adverts – just like the Clara – then it should price you $169.99/£159.99/€169.99.

I believe the Clara 2E is a greater purchase for the worth due to the worth I get from OverDrive, however if you need a flush show and audiobooks that sync with eBooks then the Kindle is the one for you.

Verdict

The Kobo Clara 2E is a superb eReader that’s effectively priced contemplating it has 16GB storage, an computerized backlight, and is absolutely waterproof. It’s nice to see it’s made out of recycled plastic, and it’s a light-weight, fingerprint-free design.

In order for you an eReader that isn’t from Amazon, that is the one to go for.

Nonetheless, it’s a disgrace the Kobo Plus subscription service just isn’t out there globally, and you’ll’t sync audiobooks with eBooks like you’ll be able to on Kindles.

However for almost all of individuals looking out for an eReader, the Clara 2E is superb worth and an outstanding selection.

Specs

• 6in e-ink show with 300ppi
• Backlight
• 16GB storage
• IPX6 waterproof
• WiFi 802.11 ac/b/g/n (twin band)
• Bluetooth
• USB-C
• 12 totally different fonts and over 50 font kinds
• 112.05 x 159.02 x 8.66 mm
• 171g