The Kobo Libra Colour, or, In Praise of Increasingly Necessary Devices

Around four years ago, I bought a Kindle Oasis, refurbished, with ads, using store credit, and I still felt the need to write a blog post furiously justifying it. It’s darkly comic reading that post now, since while I was trying to get comfortable with being further entrenched in the Amazon ecosystem, I actually said that Amazon was one of the more benign of the tech giants!

But I was talking in terms of being consumer-friendly. And it more or less stands; you’ll have a hard time beating Amazon strictly in terms of convenience or cost. You just have to be willing to ignore all the shady stuff that they do to guarantee that convenience and undercut their competition.

That Kindle Oasis is still perfectly fine, and I still like it quite a bit. More than Amazon does, apparently, since they’ve discontinued the model. I still have enough unread books in my Kindle library, and it’s so straightforward to check out library books using Libby and read them on the device, that I could go for at least the rest of the year without having to buy anything else from Amazon.

But a Kindle, no matter how well it’s designed or how much it seems to be tailored to the reader, exists primarily to sell more Kindle books. So along with canceling my Prime account, it seemed like a good opportunity to make a clean break and upgrade my ebook reader to be free of Amazon completely.

I chose the Kobo Libra Colour (“colour” because Kobo is a Canadian company).

Prerequisites

Before I get into my initial impressions of it, here’s what went into the decision, so you can see whether your priorities are the same as mine:

• No Amazon: Duh, since that was the motivation for the whole thing. But that meant that I needed a reliable and convenient way to get eBooks onto the device, like the Kobo book store.
• eInk display: Obviously there was the option to pump the brakes on conspicuous gadget consumption and just read books on an iPad mini. The two things that have convinced me a dedicated eInk reader is worth the cost are battery life and weight. eInk displays require so little power that the battery life is usually measured in weeks instead of days. And because they don’t require as big a battery, they can be much lighter and easier to hold for hours at a time. The only thing that causes any fatigue is constantly having to justify owning a separate device just for reading books you don’t actually own.
• Page-turning buttons: These are a must, since I spend most of the time reading with the device in one hand, and often while lying on my side. Using a reader like the Paperwhite that has narrower bezels and requires tapping or swiping on the screen to turn pages, I was always inadvertently flipping the page or highlighting passages.
• Integrated store: It’s ironic that I’m dropping the Oasis because the store is too deeply and unavoidably integrated with the reading experience, because that convenience was one of the most appealing things about the Kindle for me initially. It just feels futuristic to be reading along, see an author mention a different book, and being able to hop out to the store to buy or wishlist that book to add to the to-read list.
• No Android: There’s something appealing about the form factor of the Boox Palma, which seems like the perfect size to guarantee you’ve always got a book on you, but all of the Boox devices run Android. I don’t want to have Android on a dedicated e-reader, since it lowers potential battery life; introduces distractions to focused, uninterrupted reading; and because I absolutely hate Android.
• No Subscriptions: I don’t use Kindle Unlimited, and I’m actually opposed to it on principle. I regret going all in on Apple Music, since it’s meant giving up even the illusion of owning albums, and instead choosing to pay in perpetuity to be able to play someone else’s copies. I don’t want the same for books. So the idea that I wouldn’t be able to access Kindle Unlimited, or that Kobo’s similar Kobo Plus doesn’t have as big a selection or the same exclusives, doesn’t matter to me.
• Stylus Is Unnecessary: A lot of e-ink devices, including the Kobo Libra Colour, now support a stylus for writing notes and highlighting passages. I’ve always had a weird thing where writing in a book, or even using a highlighter, has felt like sacrilege and disrespect, so I’m not in the habit of doing it in digital books either. (You can still highlight and attach type-written notes to passages without a stylus).
• Notebooks Are Unnecessary: There’s also a trend of stylus-heavy e-ink devices that serve as both a notebook and an e-reader, including stuff like the Remarkable and the Kindle Scribe. Since I’ve got an iPad as well, I’d rather use it as my digital notebook, since I’d rather be a maximalist instead of trying to have a limited, dedicated device. The Libra Colour has a dedicated page for notebooks, but it’s a feature I’ll never use.¹Advertising for the Libra Colour, while trying to sell the idea of notebooks on an e-reader, mentions the use case of organizing notes for your book club. That kind of appeals to me, since I like the idea of being 1) in a book club, and 2) organized. But it appeals in the same way that every time we buy fancy cheese, I wonder if I want to become a Fancy Cheese Guy, and get into making charcuterie boards at home, and I quickly go back to accepting that I’m just not that kind of person.
• Upgrade: Since the Oasis still works fine, any device I got to replace it would have to be a clear upgrade instead of just a lateral move.

Positives

I’ve used it for a few days now, finishing one book I’d initially gotten on Kindle and reading a second book in its entirety. I really like it! It’s already accomplished what I wanted it for, which was getting rid of some of the friction that had built up around reading for fun, and helping me get back into it.

The Design
It’s made with recycled²and “ocean bound,” which I imagine is doing a lot of work to make it sound more eco-friendly plastic, but I think it feels solid and not at all cheap.

The Kindle Oasis design is better in most ways — it’s all metal and feels more “premium,” it’s noticeably lighter, the bulk of it is thinner, and the screen is flush with the rest of the device. But none of that applies most of the time I’m using it. The Oasis loses almost all of its advantages when it goes into its carrying case, which makes it feel heavier than the Libra Colour. Plus with the case’s cover folded back, the Oasis becomes thicker and loses its grip hump. The Oasis feels too fragile and scratch-prone not to keep it in its case most of the time. I’m not nearly as nervous about letting the Libra Colour go naked.

It feels pretty good to hold, as well. It’s got a subtle taper so the weight is all concentrated on the side with the grip. That side also curves up to serve as a resting place for your thumb as it rests on the page turn button. Plus the back has an interesting design to improve the grip.

Home Screen and Sleep Screen
All of the concessions you have to make to Kindle seem small and perfectly tolerable until you get the chance to go without them. The Kobo’s sleep screen somehow doesn’t have an ad for some shitty dark fantasy erotica novel; it’s got the cover of the book I’m currently reading. Being able to see the cover of the book you’ve chosen to read… what a time to be alive!

The Kindle’s home screen has a search bar, a shopping cart icon, a single row of books from your library (sorted by most recently opened), and then four scrolling pages of suggestions for books to buy, plus an ad to subscribe to Kindle Unlimited. The Kindle’s Library screen shows you your library along with some simple sort and filter options.

Kobo’s home screen has my most recently-opened books, a preview of my library with thumbnails of the most recently-added books, an algorithmically-generated section with a few thumbnails³For me, it automatically chose the theme of Anthony Horowitz, and I thought it was charmingly inept that it included a book by Ira Levin in it, until I saw that I was the one being charmingly inept since Horowitz had written the foreword., plus two sections for browsing the public library and seeing which library books I have on hold.

I’m not under any illusion that Kobo has no interest in selling me books and is practically embarrassed to even have a book store on its device. But it keeps all of that in its place, and it hasn’t allowed (yet?) any project managers to sneak upsell opportunities into my home page.

Overdrive Integration
I mentioned two opportunities on my home page to interact with library books (via Overdrive), and that integration exists throughout the device. Searching for a book anywhere gives a page with the option to buy (if it’s available in the kobo store) and the option to check it out from the library or place a hold.

You can check out books to read on the Kindle using the Libby app, and it’s fine. But it’s a multi-step process that requires opening an iPhone app; as far as I’m aware, there’s no way to do it on the Kindle. And it’s definitely not so well-integrated into the device that’s it’s put on an equal level as buying books.

Color (or Colour) and Other Upgrades
The color on the device — which uses the same screen and same tech as the Kindle Colorsoft — is a bit muted and faded, but I think that’s perfectly appropriate for a display that’s trying to emulate paper.

For me, the color is a novelty, definitely not a necessity. If I’m reading a comic book, I’m going to be using an iPad instead of a 7″ e-Ink screen. I want the color for book covers and the occasional spot color or color drawing. The covers are just fun; book cover design is an art from that’s been around forever, and getting to see all of the art and design on display makes it a lot more fun to browse for new books to read.

Jason Snell’s review of the Libra Colour and the Colorsoft concludes that color e-Ink is still not worth it, since the matrix used to generate colors from black and white e-Ink will invariably make the display a bit dimmer and give it less contrast. I agree that the effect is there and that it’s noticeable, but I totally think it’s worth it for the splashes of color. Even if you do plan to read nothing but black-and-white text and only see color in the covers.

The texture has the side effect of making the Libra Colour look a bit like newsprint, which furthers the feel of Magic Paper that makes e-Ink so appealing in the first place. A display that stays on even when the power is turned off still feels like a combination of the physical and digital.

In short: if you don’t see the muted colors of a book cover or spot color on an e-Ink device and immediately think, “Neat!” then I’d recommend not bothering to pay extra for it. Just stick with a black-and-white one.

Quality of Life Stuff
One extremely useful feature is that you can swipe your finger on the left edge of the screen to raise and lower the screen brightness. The Libra Colour does not have an auto brightness setting like the Kindle Oasis does, but I leave that turned off anyway, since I tend to dislike the brightness it chooses.

Another setting you can change without having to go to a menu: you can pinch or spread your fingers on the screen to change the font size. A loupe will appear with a preview of the new font size. I don’t think this one works as well, because I don’t think pinching or swiping ever feels good on an e-Ink screen, but it’s a convenient addition. It’s made me realize how often I would go to the menu on the Kindle just to change the brightness or the font size.

Cables
A minor upgrade that is going to make a big difference for me: the Libra Colour uses USB-C. I think the Kindle Oasis may be the last device I use that still requires a micro USB⁴Or is it mini USB? It’s reliably whichever one I don’t have with me. cable.⁵Also I just remembered the Teenage Engineering OP-1 still uses an odd flavor of USB, which happens to be the opposite of the one the Kindle uses.

Integrations
The Libra Colour also gives more options for getting stuff onto and off of the device. You can hook up your Google Drive or Dropbox account to copy files to the device, copy them directly by connecting a USB cable, and sync saved web pages with your Pocket account.

Not Quite As Positives

Pricey
It’s odd that both Kobo and Amazon seem to be phasing out their devices with page-turning buttons. Kobo’s Libra Colour seems to be the cheapest reader with buttons that hasn’t been discontinued, and that still seems high. (Although it’s still cheaper than the Colorsoft and the Boox Go Color 7, its main competitors).

Ghosting
The Libra Colour’s display does have more noticeable ghosting than I’ve seen in black-and-white e-Ink displays. Most often this means that you’ll bring up a dialog box, or you’ll scroll through a list, and the contents of the UI will still be lightly visible over your book thumbnails. This is a standard side effect of e-Ink screens, and it’s probably just more noticeable when it appears over a section of color. It doesn’t affect the actual reading experience, as far as I’ve seen so far.

I have changed the settings to refresh the screen every 5 pages instead of the default, which is after every chapter. The default setting seems way too optimistic.

Polish and Typography
It’s nitpicking, but it felt as if the Kindle had a more refined UI and better options for fonts. I don’t know if it’s true or if I’m just easily suggestible, but Amazon claimed their proprietary “Bookerly” font was designed specifically for e-Ink displays, and I’d swear that it’s perfect for reading. All of the options available on the Kobo device feel like being left to pick through the defaults.

Also, the screen flow is just clunky enough to make it feel less than polished. While I love that Overdrive is integrated everywhere, I don’t love that choosing to place a hold on a book or check it out will result in a series of dialog boxes that take you completely out of whatever you’d previously been doing.

Losing X-Ray
The “X-Ray” feature is another Kindle exclusive that Amazon made a good bit of press about. It functions like looking up words or terms in the dictionary or Wikipedia, but within the context of the book. I rarely used it, but when I did, it was invaluable — when a character was reintroduced in a book but I’d forgotten who exactly they were, or when I was reading science fiction and had difficulty sorting out the names of all the various planets or creatures.

Kobo iOS App
The Kobo app for the iPhone and iPad doesn’t feel as close to the Kobo reader experience as the Kindle app does with the devices. It’s nice to have progress synced across multiple devices, for when you want to read a chapter or so on your phone when you run into down time without your dedicated e-reader available. The Kobo app does sync your progress across devices, even though it seems a little slow to do so. But the app feels somewhat barebones compared to the e-reader.

Plus it’s a jarring experience opening the app and being hit with a barrage of ads that are somehow even more aggressive than the Kindle app’s. It’s especially weird since you’re not allowed to buy any of the things the Kobo app is trying to sell you. Neither Amazon nor Kobo want to pay Apple a percentage for selling you book licenses, so neither app lets you buy books.

Tips on Moving Your Library

Amazon’s been making it more and more appealing for a lot of us to make a break from their services, in particular with the extremely consumer-hostile move of removing the ability to download the books you’ve bought to a computer outside of the Kindle apps. Fortunately, enough people on the internet were able to raise the alarm and make about 10,000 tutorials on how to download books before the cut-off. (If you haven’t at this point, I’m afraid the option was removed on February 26.⁶Sorry, folks, the moose out front should’ve told ya!)

Once you’ve got the files downloaded, you need to install a plugin for the Calibre app that will remove DRM so you can add the books to your local library.

That process was relatively painless, but I hadn’t seen any specific information on how to send the books to the Kobo. Technically, the Kobo supports books in the EPUB format, but it results in a Project Gutenberg-like bare-bones file with minimal formatting. At least for me on the Libra Colour, that meant I was unable to do any of the basics like changing line width or fonts.

What worked for me was installing the Kobo KePub Plugins by Joel Goguen. Once that was installed in Calibre, the option to export as KEPUB became available. After that, all of my imported books behaved as if they were native on the Libra Colour.

There’s another tool called Kepubify, but I haven’t tried it myself.

Conclusion

I guess technically I’m still in the honeymoon phase with the Kobo Libra Colour, and it’s too early to give a complete review. But really, the appeal of a dedicated e-reader is that it makes it easy to read and stays out of your way, and by that measure, it’s already a success.

At this point, I don’t even feel like it’s a conspicuous extravagance to have a dedicated e-reader. They last for years, without the typical planned obsolescence of phones and tablets. And it just feels like a celebration of reading. It’s that little bit of luxury that encourages me to do more of something that I used to love, and I should be doing more of. It’s nice to be reminded how great it feels to always be in the middle of a good book.

• 1
  Advertising for the Libra Colour, while trying to sell the idea of notebooks on an e-reader, mentions the use case of organizing notes for your book club. That kind of appeals to me, since I like the idea of being 1) in a book club, and 2) organized. But it appeals in the same way that every time we buy fancy cheese, I wonder if I want to become a Fancy Cheese Guy, and get into making charcuterie boards at home, and I quickly go back to accepting that I’m just not that kind of person.
• 2
  and “ocean bound,” which I imagine is doing a lot of work to make it sound more eco-friendly
• 3
  For me, it automatically chose the theme of Anthony Horowitz, and I thought it was charmingly inept that it included a book by Ira Levin in it, until I saw that I was the one being charmingly inept since Horowitz had written the foreword.
• 4
  Or is it mini USB? It’s reliably whichever one I don’t have with me.
• 5
  Also I just remembered the Teenage Engineering OP-1 still uses an odd flavor of USB, which happens to be the opposite of the one the Kindle uses.
• 6
  Sorry, folks, the moose out front should’ve told ya!