Rakuten Kobo updated its iPad app a few months ago and floated under the radar for most users. If you have an Apple Pencil, you can use it to write notes in your book while you read. Writing notes in your book can be helpful depending on your reading content. For example, if you’re reading non-fiction content—like a cookbook or reference book—you can jot notes on the page using your Apple Pencil. Any edits you make will appear on the Kobo Elipsa or Kobo Sage e-notes.
One of the advantages of editing ebooks or PDF files on the Apple iPad is that you can draw in full colour. An expansive colour palette is available, helpful in grading school papers or making edits in a school or business environment. Kobo has never developed a colour e-reader or e-note, so any colours you use on the iPad will not appear on their E INK devices, but they will have different shades of grey.
Many people do not have a Kobo e-reader and use their iPad or smartphone to buy audiobooks or ebooks and read them on a full-colour screen. Apple iPad users have gained far more functionality beyond simply highlighting and using the keyboard to make text-based notes; now you have full drawing capabilities.
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.