Kobo announced the Kobo Clara 2e a couple of weeks ago and it has been available as pre-order from their own website and their retail partners. This week, it is now finally available for purchase in North America, Europe and Australia. Kobo is selling it directly if you want to order it directly through them, but Chapters Indigo, Walmart, Amazon are shipping it right away.
The Kobo Clara 2e is one of the most environmentally friendly e-reader in the world. The overall body is made of 85% recycled plastic, in addition to being 10% ocean. plastic. In keeping with this theme, it is waterproof, so you will be able to use it while lounging by the pool or reading in the bathtub. It is rated iPX8, so it should be good for up to 60 minutes completely submerged in fresh water. If you spill things on it, like coffee or tea, simply run it under the tap to give it a good cleaning.
Obviously, the main draw is reading digital content, such as books, graphic novels and manga. It has a sunken screen and bezel design, which makes the text look razer sharp. This is because you are consuming media on exposed e-paper and there is nothing between your eyes and the E INK screen. Many e-readers on the market have a flush screen and bezel design, with a layer of glass. Glass tends to reflect overhead light or sunlight. You can use the Clara 2e day, or night and get a solid reading experience. It has a 300 PPI display and is running the latest E INK Carta 1200 display panel, which increases performance by 25%
Do you like audiobooks? It is the fastest growing segment in digital publishing for the past five years. In the first eight months of 2022, digital audiobook sales were up 3.8% and generated $400.6 million in revenue in the US. The Clara 2e now has Bluetooth, unlocking a new audiobook section in the Kobo Store. Users can access the Bluetooth pairing system in the settings menu and use wireless headphones or earbuds to listen. Audiobooks are still pretty expensive; however, it is a nice feature to be able to use your ebook reader to listen.
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.
