Rakuten Kobo is launching its first color e-readers, Kobo Libra Colour and Kobo Clara Colour. Both products feature E Ink's latest Kaleido color screen technology, with subtle pastel tones that drop the resolution from 300ppi grayscale to 150ppi when browsing color content.
At the moment, it appears that they are only a minor upgrade to Kobo's existing e-readers. But that's not a bad thing, the seven-inch Kobo Libra 2 is one of the more well-made e-readers outside of the Amazon ecosystem, and it features the Kindle Paperwhite's IPX8 waterproof design and adds extra features like physical page-turning buttons, lockscreen ads, and more storage.
The $219.99 Kobo Libra Colour retains all of these features, but is now also compatible with the Kobo Stylus 2, just like the Kobo Elipsa 2E. It's $2 more expensive than the Kobo Libra 2, though, and you'll have to buy the stylus separately for $69.99.
The Kobo Clara Colour at $149.99 is slightly different compared to the Kobo Clara 2E at $139.99. It offers the same six-inch display and IPX8 waterproof design, but now comes with 16GB of storage as well as an improved processor.
Kobo has also launched an upgraded monochrome Kobo Clara BW with the same upgraded storage and processor for $129.99.
All devices are available for pre-order starting today and will ship on April 30.
The Kobo Libra Colour is equipped with a physical page turning button and is compatible with the Kobo Stylus 2 for taking notes. The Kobo Clara Colour is similar to the Clara 2E, but with added colors, an improved processor, and increased storage.