Kobo Clara Colour: Thumbs Up for E-Reader with Color Screen

Ever since the first e-readers were launched in the late 1990s, they have looked pretty much the same. They were thin, small devices with black-and-white text screens.

But now something is happening. We’ve previously seen e-readers with significantly larger screens, and now color screens are also starting to break through seriously. The Canadian e-book giant Kobo has, for example, just launched two new e-readers with color screens: Libra Colour and Clara Colour.

Clara is the smaller sibling in the family. While Libra has a seven-inch screen, Clara has the classic e-reader format of six inches. This makes it admirably light and compact. It’s the size of a paperback book, but only 9 millimeters thick. Weighing 170 grams, it becomes the perfect travel companion – both on the beach and in the forest. Clara Colour is also waterproof according to the IPX8 standard.

Feels like Paper

Like most other e-readers, Clara Colour uses e-ink. This is a technology that makes the screen feel like regular paper. It is unsurpassably sharp, and you can see the text from all angles – just like a paper book.

Unlike regular screens, e-ink does not emit light, so you can also read in bright sunlight. If you prefer to read in the dark, the screen has built-in lighting that means you don’t need to turn on a lamp. For night readers, Clara Colour also has a function that allows you to reduce harmful blue light.

E-ink is an extremely energy-efficient technology, which means you don’t need to charge your e-reader often. If you read for half an hour a day, Clara Colour should last 42 days on a single charge. The condition is that you run it without Wi-Fi and Bluetooth – and at 30 percent brightness.

Colorful Menus

The most striking feature of Clara Colour is, of course, the color screen. When you’re just reading plain text, it doesn’t matter, but the colors make illustrations, diagrams, and drawings more fun and clearer. This is especially welcome for children’s books and comics.

The color screen is also a big plus when it comes to book covers and menus. However, it is important to remember that e-ink does not provide the same image quality as regular tablets or mobiles. Not even close. In other words, they are not particularly suitable for high-quality photo books.

Like other Kobo models, Clara Colour has a smooth interface that you control with the touch screen. The only button is used for turning on and off. The lack of buttons is a big minus, in my opinion. Physical page-turn buttons, which can be found on the Kobo Libra Colour, for instance, are a more convenient solution.

With the touch screen, you can customize the text to your needs. If you have poor eyesight, for example, you can change the font and enlarge the text. You can also add bookmarks, make notes, and use the built-in dictionary, which is available in Swedish among other languages. Clara Colour also has a Wikipedia link that allows you to highlight a name or term – and open a Wikipedia entry directly.

There is also a smart connection to Pocket, which is a standalone service for saving articles. If you come across an interesting text on your computer, mobile, or tablet, you can save it to Pocket and automatically open it on your e-reader.

Borrow for Free

The easiest way to get books for Clara Colour is to use Kobo’s built-in online store. This allows you to quickly buy books without any complicated transfers. You can also choose the subscription service Kobo Plus, which was recently launched in Sweden. For 129 SEK per month, you can read freely among Kobo’s 1.5 million e-books.

If you add an additional 30 SEK per month, you also get access to 150,000 audiobooks. Clara Colour supports Bluetooth so you can listen to audiobooks with your wireless headphones.

Most titles in Kobo’s online store are, of course, in English, but there are also books in other languages.

Using the online store is entirely optional. Kobo has chosen an open solution that allows you to read e-books in the standard EPUB format. Yes, Kobo’s e-readers can even handle copy-protected files, allowing you to borrow books from many libraries via your computer or the built-in Overdrive service.

Like many other Kobo devices, Clara Colour feels a bit plastic, but this becomes easier to accept if you know the explanation: the case is made from recycled plastic.