By Jasmine Ong
I’ve been a reader almost my whole life. When I was a little girl, I would always remember this little tradition in the household where I would get a new book whenever I fell sick, with a little get well soon message from my parents or my older sister.
However, as I got older, the tradition was no more and I turned to saving my own money to grow my own library.
Having loved the feel of holding a book in my hand, it was no surprise then that I was a part of a group of readers who were resistant to the rise of e-readers, but this self-righteous notion took a turn when I was gifted my first eReader.
Rather than leaving it in a corner to gather dust, I decided to give it a try, and was amazed at how much easier it had made reading. Not only was I able to bring more than one book out now, I was also able to read in the dark — an iffy situation for people like me that find it hard to put a good book down when it’s time to sleep.
While I enjoyed the use of my kindle, I still gravitated towards bringing a physical copy of my book out with me instead of the device. That, of course, was a typical habit of mine until I was introduced to the world of Kobo, when they released the Color series.
From the get-go, I knew I preferred a larger screen so it wasn’t difficult to make the decision for it to become my first Kobo eReader. While I’ve had nothing but glowing reviews for the device, I was curious about how its sister, the Kobo Clara Color, would perform in daily use.
Needless to say, when we were presented with an opportunity to give it a try early this year, I leapt at the chance to do so.
At first glance, it’s obvious to see that the huge difference between the two eReaders, was the size. The Kobo Clara Color could easily fit in the palm of your hand with a 6-inch display, while the Kobo Libra Color was slightly larger with a 7-inch display.
I was initially drawn to the Kobo Libra Color because of the page turn buttons which made it much easier to navigate through the book than the traditional touchscreen function. After using the Kobo Clara Color, I still felt like the buttons were a bonus for an eReader, especially if you have fat fingers like mine that tend to accidentally touch the screen.
However, when it came to reading with one hand, the Kobo Clara Color won hands down because it just fits perfectly for single-handed reading wherever I am.
When it comes to the colour display, both devices use the E Ink Kaleido 3 display, which offers you a soothing colour palette where you can see your book covers come to life. It is also glare-free, which makes an ideal e-reader to take on-the-go.
Although there was some debate online about the issue of the colours bleeding onto the pages of the Kobo Clara Color, I have not seen this happen first-hand during my use of the eReader. In fact, on the rare occasion where I might see slight impressions of the words from the previous page, it did not affect the reading experience, as it went away after I turned to the next page.
Both are also waterproof and come with the ComfortLight Pro which allows you to read in the night or in dark places as it automatically reduces blue light throughout the day to help with screen glare and eyestrain. There’s even a Natural Light feature that adjusts the brightness of the display according to the environment you are in!
While most features are similar between the Kobo Color Clara and the Kobo Libra Color, a stark difference is the inability to annotate or write on the Kobo Clara.
If you’re someone who likes to write notes on your ebook or add comments, the Kobo Color Clara might not be for you as it is not compatible with the Kobo Stylus. You can, however, still highlight your favourite quotes within the chapter, but that is the extent of the book annotation features.
One of the greatest pulls for the Kobo ereaders, whether it is the Kobo Clara Color or Kobo Libra Color, is the device’s ability to borrow books from the National Library — which is such a cost-saving aspect especially when ebooks can get a little pricey.
This is made possible because of the built-in OverDrive feature in Kobo eReaders. All you’ll need to do is log in with your myLibrary ID through the OverDrive integration.
And if there is another reason why I specifically advocate for Kobo eReaders, it is because of its long-lasting battery life.
Even though I don’t usually need to charge my Kobo Libra Color until after 3 weeks or so, the Kobo Clara Color impressed a little more as I was able to sustain its battery life for at least 1 month (with at least an hour or so usage daily); which was such a far cry from the charging frequencies of the Kindle.
Ultimately, if I had to really choose between a Kobo Libra Color or a Kobo Clara Color, I would still go with the eReader that has a larger display.
However, for its affordable price tag and ease of obtaining books to read the Kobo Clara Color makes for a perfect eReader for anyone who is looking for a reliable device to feed your reading habits on-the-go.
