Kobo is having a sale on the Libra 2 e-reader. This is available on their website, and the savings are around $20 off the regular price of $229 and can be yours today for $209.99. Meanwhile, in the United States, the street price of the Libra 2 is $189 and can be bought for $169.99. The company is also offering free shipping too, so that is added savings.
The Rakuten Kobo Libra 2 features a 7-inch E INK Carta 1200 display with a resolution of 1264×1680 with 300 PPI. What exactly is this new e-paper technology? E Ink Carta 1200 delivers a 20% increase in response time over E Ink Carta 1000 and an improvement in the contrast ratio of 15%. E Ink Carta 1200 modules consist of a TFT (thin film transistor), Ink layer and Protective Sheet. The touchscreen is actually incorporated into the module stack. Traditionally, the capacitive touch technology is placed on the display module. This one is built into it, which helps reduce costs. There are physical page turn buttons to turn the pages of your favourite ebook quickly.
The e-reader screen is partially flush with the bezel; there is a small incline and a slight dip. The screen is protected by a glass substrate, which protects the e-paper display. I have often found that there usually are problems with using glass that covers e-paper. I have noticed that with bright overhead light, you will get reflections on the screen and under direct sun.
Underneath the hood is a 1 GHZ single-core processor, 512MB of RAM and 32 GB of internal storage. It has USB-C to charge the device and has a respectable 1,500 mAH battery. You can connect to the Kobo Bookstore and Overdrive and access Pocket via WIFI. It has Bluetooth 5.1 to connect up a pair of headphones to listen to audiobooks. This device is waterproof with an IPX8 rating so that it can be submerged in freshwater for up to 60 minutes and a depth of 2 meters.
Kobo is one of the best brands out there for sideloaded content. You don’t need to buy or download directly from their bookstore exclusively. They support The Kobo Libra 2 supports 12 fonts and 50 different font sizes. You can sideload your ebooks or buy them from Kobo. It supports EPUB, EPUB3, PDF, FlePUB, MOBI, CBR and CBZ. When you open a sideloaded book, you get all the options in an ordinary book, such as adjusting the font type, font size, line spacing and weight. There is also a series of advanced options to customize your reading experience further, giving you a nice before-and-after view before you save the changes. Kobo is also one of the few brands that support the sideloading of fonts, so you aren’t stuck with the defaults.
The Kobo Bookstore has millions of free and paid titles; the company operates their self-publishing platform, Kobo Writing Life, which is also included in the bookstore. Kobo is the global number two player, behind Amazon and Kindle, so they are doing everything right. The publisher dictates their selection and prices, so there is little to no price difference between buying from Amazon or Kobo.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
