On May 20th Kobo announced the upcoming release of a new ebook reader and notepad with a 10.3-inch E Ink screen called the Kobo Elipsa.
They’ve been accepting pre-orders for it on the Kobo website since it was revealed, and now the Kobo Elipsa Pack is also available to pre-order from Walmart.
The Kobo Elipsa pack sells for $399 USD, and it comes with a cover and a stylus pen. However, there’s currently a coupon code (PERKOPOLIS) that takes an extra $40 off when ordering from Kobo directly, so that makes a hard case for getting it from Walmart instead.
Walmart also shows a later shipping date than Kobo. On the Walmart website it says that it will ship on Wednesday, June 30th, whereas the Kobo website says it will be available June 24th.
It’s good to see that Walmart is going to sell the Elipsa now too. Hopefully Kobo can get Walmart to have these in stores at some point because this is the type of product that really needs to be on display for people to try out. It’s hard to appreciate how nice these large 10.3-inch E Ink screens look without seeing them in person; they are much nicer than an LCD screen for reading text (in my opinion).
It will be interesting to see how the Kobo Elipsa stacks up to similar devices like the Remarkable 2 and Onyx Note Air. I’m a bit skeptical about the battery-powered “Kobo Stylus” and the fact that Kobo’s software has never been great for PDFs, but I ordered an Elipsa to review so we’ll find out soon enough.
Kobo Elipsa Pack – Walmart
I would hope that they would offer it here in Walmart Mexico. Just have to wait and dream. It does look like a compelling product for the note taking.
I’d like to see how “dark mode” works. Did they finally make it one touch to activate it or do you have to go thru the whole devmodeon and menus to make it work. And if it is one touch like Kindle has – will they finally, finally allow all of their devices to turn on dark mode that way?
This help article shows dark mode in the regular reading settings menu, but it also specifically states it’s for the Elipsa only so it doesn’t look like they plan on adding it to other models anytime soon.
Thanks, Nathan. I guess I will continue to always keep my Clara in dark mode and my Libra in normal light mode. I just wish they would make it easier thru settings like Amazon has done.
Hello- enjoying reading the site as always. I haven’t dug much into this brand, but is there a way for it to pull in your Kindle collection? I was really hoping Amazon would have updated the Oasis- I find that even though the battery life isn’t as good as my Paperwhite, it is much more efficient for me to read on a bigger screen- less page turns etc.
I really hope Amazon follows suit and comes up with something of this sort. I found using the 10″ tablet was not a good substitute.
Does the Kobo offer other benefits as well vs a Kindle?- thanks in advance
The only non-Kindle ereaders that support Kindle books are ones that run Android and can install the Kindle app, like Onyx and Likebooks. With Kobo you’d have to remove the DRM from your Kindle ebooks and convert them to ePub or Kepub for Kobos. Some of the other benefits with Kobos are more layout options for things like margins and line-spacing, and Kobos support OverDrive directly for library ebooks so you don’t have to use a second device to borrow ebooks.