Although e-book readers, e-readers, have been with us for a long time, all the big manufacturers have remained faithful to black and white electronic ink screens. Neither amazon neither Barnes & Noble have launched devices with color screens, but that changes in the case of Rakuten Kobo starting next April 30, the date on which two new models will go on sale: Clara Color and Libra Color.
Color e-readers are not new, but they are usually among the most expensive devices of this type for the reader, something that will not happen in the case of Kobo. The Libra Color model will have a price in Spain of 229.99 euros and the Clara Color of 159.99 euros. Both devices are very similar to their predecessors, the Kobo Libra 2 and the Kobo Clara 2Ebut with color screens instead of black and white.
If we compare them with the Amazon Kindle by price, the Clara Color comes out 10 euros cheaper than the Kindle Paperwhite16 GB and 6.8-inch screen, and the Libra Color for 20 euros less than the Kindle Oasis 8 GB and 7 inches.
The Clara has a screen 6 inches with 1,448 x 1,072 pixel resolution and the Libra 7 inches with 1,264 x 1,680 pixels. The latter also has physical buttons to turn pages and is compatible with Kobo pen to draw and write by hand.
Both e-readers are waterproof and include compatibility with Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetootha USB-C port and the same dual-core processor at 2GHz. They also have a front light with an adjustable color temperature to make the screen more comfortable on the eyes. Regarding its storage capacity, it is 16 GB in the case of the Clara Color model and 32GB in Libra Color.
Both models use electronic ink technology Kaleido 3 which promises 4,096 colors and more saturated than those of the previous generation Kaleido Plus. The sharpness of the color images is 150 PPIwhile black and white content, both on Kaleido 3 in general and on the new Kobos in particular, offers 300 PPI.
These improvements attempt to address the major problems with color e-readers while maintaining the Excellent battery life and eye-straining screens and that are the basis of the success that e-book readers maintain despite the ubiquity of smartphones and tablets.