Amazon has a bit of a hold on the e-reader industry.
Why color e-ink?
For most devices, buying the color version has always seemed like a no-brainer.
For e-readers, upgrading to color isnt so clear cut.
Youre not losing out on information by going for black-and-white, except maybe on the cover.
The first is pretty cut and dry.
The second is notes.
(The Clara Colour does not work with a stylus, but still has color highlighting.)
Well, the downside is that the inclusion of color e-ink here causes standard black-and-white content to look worse.
How does color e-ink work, and what are its problems?
Chief among these are contrast and the rainbow effect.
Whether thats an issue to you depends on what you want out of these devices.
For others, the content being displayed with physical pigment rather than LEDs is enough.
Regardless, theres no escaping the rainbow effect.
What are the Kobo Libra Colours specs?
Its also comfortable in the hands.
It can also be difficult to convert Kindle files for use on non-Amazon e-readers.
The question, then, is if color itself is worth it.
Still, the Paperwhites display is comparable in size and resolution.
Starting with what Ive been reading lately, I preferredDuneon the Kindle.
My fiance and I disagree on this, but it all comes down to the rainbow effect for me.
In certain lighting conditions, reading plain text on the Libra Colour almost feels like reading on graph paper.
Its possible, but distracting enough to be night and day next to a purely black-and-white e-reader.
Onto something that actually takes advantage of the color, I read a number of comics across both devices.
Im of two minds here.
First, I was impressed by the image quality.
Its pretty special, tooshort of real paper, theres nothing else like it.
The most obvious is in how vivid its colors are.
Granted, Kindles also have this issue, but they dont market themselves as comics readers.
Notably, the rainbow effect was maybe more noticeable in these titles than in plain text.
In negative space, it can bloom into full-on rainbows rather than small glitters.
Overall, the Kobos comics superiority doesnt keep up when it comes to manga and other similar content.
Dont get an e-reader for PDFs.
The Clara Colour does not work with a stylus, but it can still highlight in color.
And thanks to the color e-ink, youll be able to better appreciate any of the articles art.
Theres Google Drive and Dropbox integration as well, which are features also missing on the Kindle.
Is a color e-reader worth it yet?
The Kobo Libra Colour costs $220 while the Clara Colour costs $150.
For comparison, the current Amazon Kindle Paperwhite starts at $150.
