Kobo Clara Colour Review: Enjoy Reading Your eBooks in Full Color!

I’ve always had a soft spot for Kobo readers and ebooks. They’re the biggest true competitor to Amazon, and while they’re often underrated here in the USA, they make phenomenal hardware that often rivals or beats their Kindle competitors. So I was beyond excited to test out the Kobo Clara Colour, and it has blown me away!

The Kobo Clara Colour is exactly what the name implies —  a color-screened ebook reader. It uses a 6″ color eInk screen from Kaleido that lets you enjoy comics in full color and highlight your books in color as well.

It’s everything you enjoy about having a color screen like a phone or tablet but with the gentler feel of eInk on your eyes. I had an original Kindle, and while I don’t have it anymore to compare it, just from memory, it’s astounding how far eInk has come!

Roku Remote and Kindle Paperwhite next to the Kobo Clara Colour for size comparison.

Size-wise, the Kobo Clara Colour is just almost exactly the same size as a Kindle Paperwhite. It’s not going to be pocketable in skinny jeans, but it can easily slide into almost any bag, and a generous jacket pocket or cargo pants can easily hold it.

Kobo also sent us the SleepCover, and the whole package remains quite sleek and comfortable in your hands.

The SleepCover has an origami shape that allows you to prop the device up for hands-free reading, but its real trick is what’s in the name. It lets you sleep/wake the Clara just by lifting or closing the cover, and the speed at which the Clara Colour wakes is seriously impressive.

It’s a 2-second delay at most, but it feels nearly instantaneous. Sleep appears to happen just as quickly. This makes it super easy to whip out the Clara, read, and close it back up even when you just have a minute or two (like while standing in line at a store). Granted, my Kindle Paperwhite is a few years old, but it’s not nearly as fast at waking! The Clara is notably swifter.

Now, onto the good stuff, the actual reading experience when using the Kobo Clara Colour.

In order to really get a feel for the color screen, I downloaded a color graphic novel. This allowed me to see both the color experience and how the screen handled generating graphics.

On all metrics, the Kobo Clara Colour works phenomenally well. Page turns are quick and clear, and the colors and graphics both pop. It’s also easy to play with the brightness to get the visual experience dialed into how you like it.

It’s been a while since I’ve played in Kobo‘s ecosystem, and it’s a strong competitor to Amazon’s Kindle. Spot checks of prices showed they’re comparable to Amazon, though Amazon appeared to undercut them by a few cents here and there.

Kobo also has a competitor to Kindle Unlimited in the form of Kobo Plus, which is cheaper than Kindle Unlimited at only $7.99 (although it is the same price, at $9.99, if you do the combo audiobook/ebook subscription).

I didn’t spend significant time on Kobo Plus, but I did stumble on one potential dealbreaker if you’re tied to Kindle Unlimted. Amazon locks down some of their Kindle Unlimited titles to exclusivity contracts, so you might find that some titles don’t transfer over to the Kobo store.

I spent some time poking around, and of the active books in my Kindle Unlimited library, only one of the 10 borrowed titles was on both Kobo Plus and Kindle Unlimited.

However, if you haven’t previously been a Kindle Unlimited member, you probably won’t miss out—this is solely a dealbreaker if you’re looking to shift from one store to the other.

Note that the Kobo Clara Colour can handle any ePub formatted ebooks, so you can easily tie it into your local library system. And if your local library doesn’t have a great catalog, many municipalities offer the chance to pay for access to their libraries. So there are more options than just Kobo’s store!

Overall, I really like the Kobo Clara Colour. The hardware is a home run. It’s speedy, the screen is lovely, and the colors come through nicely. I really love how comfortable it is to hold when you’re just kicked back on the couch, but it’s also small enough to easily come along on the go. If you’re not already tied into an ebook marketplace, this is head and shoulders above Kindle in terms of hardware quality.

At $149.99 it’s also shockingly affordable for a color eInk device!

However, is it worth pursuing a switch if you’re tied into Kindle? That’s where it’s a lot harder. If you read a ton of comics or books with graphs/photos that come in color, that might make the change worthwhile. But if you’ve invested significant time and money into a Kindle library, there’s no savings from switching to Kobo. So, it comes down to how important the hardware is for your ebook experience.

Even if you think you’re sure about your Kindle loyalty, it’s worth checking out the Kobo Clara Colour- it might just surprise you!

The Kobo Clara Colour retails for $149.99; it is available directly from the manufacturer.

Source: Manufacturer provided review sample

What I Liked: The color screen is crisp and customizable; It has an incredibly speedy response time for waking and interacting; It offers excellent battery life; It feels great to hold for long periods

What Needs Improvement: The Kobo store may not be enough to lure away someone tied to the Amazon ecosystem