At a look
Knowledgeable’s Ranking
Execs
- Light-weight
- Waterproof
- Audiobook help
- No adverts
- OverDrive integration
Cons
- Sluggish efficiency
- Show not flush
- eBooks can’t sync with audiobooks
Our Verdict
The Kobo Clara 2E is a well-priced eReader that trumps the Kindle Paperwhite with library borrowing and no adverts.
Worth When Reviewed
$129.99
Greatest Costs At present: Kobo Clara 2E
Amazon has such a stranglehold on the eReader market that different manufacturers are sometimes missed.
Of all challengers, Kobo is doing the very best job of preventing towards the Kindle’s monopoly in the marketplace. Kobo’s not precisely a minnow although, as a Canadian firm acquired by Japanese big Rakuten.
The Kobo Clara 2E, launched in September 2022, is without doubt one of the finest eReaders Kobo has ever made, with a balanced mixture of specs, value, and options that make it simply nearly as good as the newest Kindle Paperwhite.
It has higher software program design than a Kindle and integration with OverDrive, a service for borrowing eBooks out of your native library. When you don’t fancy lining Jeff Bezos’s pockets, the Clara 2E might be the eReader you can purchase.
Design
The Clara 2E follows the basic eReader design of ‘portrait touchscreen slab with bezels’. Bezels have been banished from smartphones however make sense on an eReader because it provides you materials to really maintain onto.
Kobo is pleased with the very fact the Clara 2E is constructed from ocean-bound and recycled plastic – I presume the ‘E’ stands for ‘eco-conscious’ as that’s a time period plastered over the product’s advertising supplies.
Henry Burrell / Foundry
It’s an extremely light-weight gadget, which is strictly what you need from one thing you’ll be holding as much as your face lots to learn on. The back and front are constructed from exhausting plastic, with the previous a darkish gray and the latter a lovely navy blue hue that’s embossed with a wavy sample to assist with grip. It additionally means the again doesn’t get coated in fingerprints.
There’s a USB-C port for charging off-centre on the underside subsequent to some hard-to-read authorized textual content, and an influence button on the highest left as you look in the back of the gadget. I like this positioning because it doesn’t get by accident pressed, not like the bottom-edge energy button on a number of Kindle fashions.
General it measures 112.05 x 159.02 x 8.66 mm and weighs a dainty 171g, which is about the identical as many smartphones however feels lighter as the burden is healthier distributed within the flatter design.
Henry Burrell / Foundry
Show
A very powerful a part of an eReader is the show, and although the Clara 2E’s isn’t essentially the most premium in the marketplace, it’s a first rate one which I didn’t thoughts studying for hours at a time on.
It’s a 6in HD e-ink display screen with a decision of 1448 x 1072 and 300 pixels per inch. 6in is considerably a candy spot for eReader shows, and on this portrait orientation is akin to a compact paperback web page in dimension. It makes use of an e-ink Carta 1200 display screen, a model of the e-ink expertise that improves response time and distinction.
You faucet the touchscreen to vary pages in addition to navigate throughout the software program to browse, choose, and purchase books. Most different Kobos have web page flip buttons however the Clara 2E is touch-only.
Henry Burrell / Foundry
It’s a disgrace the display screen isn’t flushed, and as an alternative sits recessed into the physique. It’s not terrible, however the Kindle Paperwhite is flush now which feels extra premium. Mud tends to assemble within the ridge on the Clara 2E, however not an excessive amount of.
You additionally get Kobo’s ComfortLight Professional tech in-built, which mechanically adjusts brightness and color temperature relying on the lighting circumstances. It claims to cut back blue mild to cut back eye pressure, and I felt it helped significantly when studying in low mild or at midnight.
Until you desire a bigger show, this one is excellent regardless of being on an eReader that’s comparatively reasonably priced.
Studying expertise
So, it’s an honest display screen, however what’s it truly wish to learn on?
The entire level of e-ink expertise that’s utilized in all eReaders is that it doesn’t emit mild from vivid pixels like a TV or smartphone, making the expertise as near a bodily paper e-book as attainable.
With the backlight fully off the Clara 2E’s display screen has a greyish hue ordinary to eReaders, with black textual content overlayed. I most popular to learn with the backlight on always to whiten the web page barely, however it doesn’t must be wherever close to 100%.
Henry Burrell / Foundry
All eReaders work by loading the subsequent web page with out refreshing the show on each flip to save lots of power. This implies there are the very faintest traces of the final web page whenever you transfer on to the subsequent – that is very exhausting to see on the Clara 2E, and I by no means seen it except I went wanting. You’ll get this on even the most costly eReaders, too.
The {hardware} does what it ought to do and stays out of the best way to allow you to get misplaced in your studying. I ploughed by a novel very quickly on the 2E, which is exemplary for brief or lengthy studying periods.
Kobo has extra customisation than Kindle on the subject of font sizes and spacing. You possibly can decide from a protracted listing of fonts together with one which helps folks with dyslexia, and there are sliders to regulate font dimension, line spacing, and margin dimension. A complicated setting even enables you to regulate the burden and sharpness of the chosen font to verify the web page appears precisely as you’d prefer it.
There’s additionally a darkish mode that makes the background black and textual content white for the final word night time time studying set-up.
Specs & efficiency
The Clara 2E’s one weak level is its efficiency. It has a 1GHz CPU powering it, and it typically struggles. Fortunately this isn’t noticeable when studying books, with web page turns coming immediately. However in comparison with the Kindle Paperwhite, transferring across the software program menus is a contact slower, and tapping on menus and icons often means a brief wait. The identical goes when typing out e-book titles to look the Kobo retailer.
Henry Burrell / Foundry
This isn’t a deal breaker, however I did get a bit of aggravated on the sluggishness typically when tapping an icon would take a second or two to react.
Fortunately that’s made up for with a beneficiant 16GB of storage. Kobo says this is sufficient to get 12,000 books onto the gadget – greater than sufficient, to say the least.
The Clara 2E can be IPX8 waterproof, which suggests it might spend as much as an hour in two metres of water and survive, technically. Don’t check it, however it means you’re protected to learn within the tub or by the pool.
Software program & options
The Clara 2E downloads from the Kobo Retailer in Kobo’s personal eBook file format. However it will possibly additionally show different well-liked eBook file varieties: EPUB, EPUB3, FlePub, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF, CBZ, and CBR. These final two are comedian e-book codecs, however the 6in show is a bit of small to learn most comics comfortably.
The one file format you’ll be able to’t learn in is Amazon’s, so you probably have Kindle books already you gained’t be capable of sync them with a Kobo. All of the others you’ll be able to sideload onto the Clara utilizing a cable and dragging them throughout from a pc.
Kobo Plus is Kobo’s subscription studying service much like Kindle Limitless. For a month-to-month charge you’ll be able to learn as a lot as you need from an enormous collection of books, similar to you may pay for and watch no matter you need on Netflix.
The issue is, Kobo Plus is just obtainable in Canada, Belgium, and the Netherlands. I haven’t been in a position to check it.
Fortunately, the Clara 2E comes with OverDrive integration. OverDrive is a service that hyperlinks as much as your library card and allows you to borrow eBooks digitally.
Henry Burrell / Foundry
I’ve discovered it wonderful – there are a restricted variety of borrows per e-book per library, so that you’ll nonetheless get placed on a waitlist to take a look at a title if it’s well-liked, however it’s a good way to learn books with out shopping for them. I used it whereas reviewing the Clara, and it labored very properly.
The service is country-dependent, and also you’ll should test in case your native library participates, however I discovered it an ideal purpose to stay with Kobo over Kindle. It’s free.
Additionally free is integration with Pocket, the app that allows you to save articles to learn later. You put in the Pocket extension in your internet browser, and click on save to save lots of to Pocket if you wish to learn an article later.
Pocket can be a smartphone app, however when accessed through the Kobo, you’ll be able to learn issues distraction-free. One other win over Kindle.
Audiobooks are additionally supported on the Clara 2E so you’ll be able to obtain and pay attention with Bluetooth headphones – there’s no headphone jack.
A draw back once more in comparison with Kindle is there is no such thing as a sync function between eBooks and audiobooks. Kindles supper WhisperSync tech so you’ll be able to learn a Kindle e-book after which decide up the place you left off within the Audible audiobook model and vice versa.
Battery life
Kobo says the Clara 2E can final for weeks on a cost, however it is dependent upon utilization – significantly how a lot you utilize the backlight or Wi-Fi.
With brightness round 50% and continually linked to Wi-Fi when at dwelling, the Clara lasted me about two weeks earlier than I wanted to cost it. It should last more in the event you flip Wi-Fi off whenever you don’t want it.
There’s a USB-A to USB-C cable within the field however no charging brick.
Henry Burrell / Foundry
Worth & availability
The Kobo Clara 2E prices $129.99/£129.99/$149.99 and is available for purchase direct from Kobo.
Unsurprisingly, you’ll be able to’t simply purchase Kobos from Amazon.
Its pricing places it in competitors with the Kindle Paperwhite, which is $139.99/£129.99/€139.99 – however that is with lock display screen adverts and half the Clara’s storage at 8GB.
If you would like a Paperwhite with 16GB storage and no adverts – just like the Clara – then it’s going to value you $169.99/£159.99/€169.99.
I believe the Clara 2E is a greater purchase for the value due to the worth I get from OverDrive, however in order for you a flush show and audiobooks that sync with eBooks then the Kindle is the one for you.
Verdict
The Kobo Clara 2E is a wonderful eReader that’s properly priced contemplating it has 16GB storage, an computerized backlight, and is absolutely waterproof. It’s nice to see it’s constructed from recycled plastic, and it’s a light-weight, fingerprint-free design.
If you would like an eReader that isn’t from Amazon, that is the one to go for.
Nevertheless, it’s a disgrace the Kobo Plus subscription service isn’t obtainable globally, and you’ll’t sync audiobooks with eBooks like you’ll be able to on Kindles.
However for almost all of individuals looking out for an eReader, the Clara 2E is superb worth and an excellent selection.
Specs
- 6in e-ink show with 300ppi
- Backlight
- 16GB storage
- IPX6 waterproof
- WiFi 802.11 ac/b/g/n (twin band)
- Bluetooth
- USB-C
- 12 totally different fonts and over 50 font types
- 112.05 x 159.02 x 8.66 mm
- 171g