Ever since some obscure ereader from China showed up with a new Carta 1300 screen, people have been clamouring for ereaders to come out with the new “upgraded” screen technology that’s supposed to be faster and have better contrast.
Well, once again, I hate to break the news to you, but there’s no contrast improvement whatsoever between the new Carta 1300 screens and the previous Carta 1200 screens.
Now that I’ve got the Kobo Clara BW in front of me, I can say with certainty that it doesn’t look better than the Carta 1200 screen on the Clara 2E. If anything, I’d say the Carta 1200 has slightly better contrast, as the white background color appears a few degrees lighter, whereas the background on the Carta 1300 screen has a slightly yellower tone to it. But, honestly, they look so similar I can’t definitively say one looks better than the other. Nobody would notice a difference if you didn’t tell them there was one.
Now, visually, there is no improvement worth noting, but I will say the Clara BW is a bit faster than the Clara 2E. They say these new Carta 1300 screens are supposed to be faster, and I can’t say if it’s the screen that’s faster or if it’s something else, but the Clara BW is definitely a bit zippier when opening menus and navigating the interface. Page turns are about the same, but the Clara BW is milliseconds faster.
So, visually there is absolutely no way the Carta 1300 screen on the Clara BW looks better than the Carta 1200 screen on the Clara 2E. In fact, I can barely tell a difference between the older Carta HD screen on the original Clara HD.
E Ink does these marginal upgrades every few years where you literally can’t tell a difference unless you’re told there’s a difference and then you really have to study hard and look for it. Oh yeah, the blacks are slightly darker if you compare two generations side-by-side with identical lighting conditions, but the differences are always very minor.
If you’re thinking about getting a new ereader because it has an “upgraded” E Ink Carta 1300 screen, I would say that’s not something you should care about unless you’re coming from a really old model with poor contrast. The 10-year-old Kindle Voyage with a regular Carta screen somehow still looks better than these newer screens. Yes, it refreshes slower and the frontlight isn’t as good as newer devices, but the E Ink screen itself has never looked better.
I have to agree. I just received my Kobo Clara BW and side-by-side next to my Libra 2, the Libra has better contrast and the screen is much brighter on the same setting. The Clara two has a warmer front light and the Clara BW has a cooler front light, both front lights are evenly lit just a slightly different tone. I feel the Libra 2 is easier on the eyes. Not sure if I’m keeping the Clara BW, I still have the front plastic on it. I also think it’s a bit too small now that I got used to the Libra 2. I purchased it because I expected a much better experience but it turned out to be not as good. So yes, Carta 1300 is overrated and not worth it. Carta 1200 is better.
Here are some pics….
https://imgur.com/a/dfndYrf
* the Libra 2 has a warmer front light
I want to buy the Libra 2 but I thought that eink carta 1300 is worth it and I have thought about waiting for them to release Libra 2 BW. Is it worth waiting or not? because in that case I’ll buy the Libra 2 right now. Thank you
Please compare both with no front light on ( Brightness 0%).
I had a Voyage, my Oasis 2 equaled it for sharpness/contrast, I sold the Voyage with no regrets at all. Too small, and the very, very blue screen was tough on my eyes. The Oasis 2 has a slightly warmer cast to it that was far more comfortable.
My Sage beats both. But you have to look closely to see differences.
That said, recently I took several of my readers, my Sony PRS-T2, my Kobo Aura HD, my Kindle Oasis 2, and my Sage and put them all next to each other in a room with only ambient lighting. At a casual glance, you could see the Sony screen was a tiny bit darker, and the others, you wouldn’t see much of a difference.
A *close* look and you would see the blacker blacks and sharper contrast on the Sage, however! And that makes a difference for me, because I’m near-sighted and hold my reader fairly close to my face.
But realistically, it is the front lighting + e-ink that makes the screens pop or not. Without that, only very close inspection will show the differences of an entire DECADE of e-ink development if all else is equal! Differences might possibly be more discernable in sunlight, but I rarely read outdoors, so I didn’t test that, but that comes under the heading of adding front lighting.
My Oasis 2 certainly had considerably worse contrast than my Voyage. But I guess there are variations between individual units.
My 2019 oasis has worse contrast too. Not enough though to put it down though, at the end the warm light meant more to me.
I saw a review of the iReader Smart x3 with the new screens and the reviewer literally couldn’t believe the difference in quality both visually and speed wise. Perhaps Kobo has implemented the tech differently?
Which review? If it’s badereader then keep in mind that they’re known to steal or make up content, use AI, refuse to respond to customers’ emails with questions on shipping or refunds, use someone else’s personal information or likeness as the author, etc. so they need to be taken with a massive pitcher of salt.
If anything I think Kobo has worse quality control or people are playing around with their photos to make one device better or worse than the other.
I think I recall reading the performance of the Carta 1300 being measured based on the HD version and that relative to the 1200 would only be 7% faster with 5% better contrast.
I’d love to see a video comparison between the Kindle 11 and the Clara BW as the MediaTek MT113 is present on both instead of Kobo continuing to recycle the CPU from several years ago. The new Kobo also uses eMMC instead of a microSD card for which should make for a more interesting comparison.
Anyway, I’ll wait for a video as more people than expected have been playing with photos.
Thank you, this was very helpful!
Personally I’d upgrade for the snappier performance that the more efficient CPU and eMMC storage provide over the 2E, then there’s the official readily available parts which will extend the life of the device considering how slowly Eink is improving.
Well if there is really no actual visible improvement since the past 10 years, we could say that the black and white e-ink screens reached their peak technological level and from here there is nowhere to go just to the coloured ones.
Hello. I have a 10-year-old 6-inch ereader and I want to upgrade it to a 7-inch one with buttons. My question is whether to wait for the Libra 2 BW to be released or whether to buy the current Libra 2. What would you do? Thank you so much.
I’d get a Libra 2 if I were you, but they’re all sold out in the US now and you can’t buy one if you wanted to. I don’t know, maybe they still have some in other countries. There’s no indication there’s going to be a Libra BW, and there’s no sign of one on the FCC website either like when the other new Kobos showed up. Maybe next year, but it certainly doesn’t look like there’s going to be a Libra BW this year.
I got lucky and ordered an extra Libra 2 as a backup since it has the best screen, and there’s no guarantee that these new models will be any better, probably worse. You just have to keep checking on Amazon, I snatched one up over the weekend for $169. Keep in mind, however that the Amazon Seller “Blue Proton” return process is a PITA. Make sure that the item is fulfilled by Amazon. Sometimes blue proton fulfills their orders through Amazon, other times they ship them themselves, so be mindful of that.
Otherwise, if you have a bad screen or an any other issue, you’re gonna have to pay for return shipping, wait a week until they receive it, have them look it over, and then process your refund, which could take anywhere between 2-3 weeks. And that’s if they don’t charge you a restocking fee which they might. It’s massively inconvenient and their customer service is terrible answering emails.
I also discovered another annoying thing is when it’s shipped by Blue Proton they make you sign for the package, even it’s being delivered by the post office. I have a locked mailbox and still had to make a special trip to the post office to sign for it, and it’s not like these Kobos are super expensive.
Hello Nathan, question. Do you have a video comparison between the Sage and the Libra 2? I’m unable to find it for some reason.
Sorry, I never got around to doing one. I was pretty burnt out on reviews back then because three new devices came out in the same week with the Sage, the Libra 2, and the Kindle Paperwhite.
Ok thanks
I just received the Clara BW. I too am very disappointed in the screen. Compared to my Libra 2 the text is no darker and the background is not as white or bright. The BW is decidedly inferior. Page turns are somewhat faster but that’s about it. I plan on returning it.
I returned the Clara BW also. Very disappointed. The lighting was uneven, darker on the top versus brighter on the bottom. Also, the Libra 2 was better and text just popped out, and the tone was much easier on the eyes, a nice even warm glow whereas the Clara BW Was either bright white and the comfort setting would make it pinker instead of warmer. What I did like about the Clara was that it was significantly faster as far as page turns. But that’s no justification to keep it for an inferior screen.
I have a Ireader X 3 smart and the only one improve why I bougth this device is because his bigger size and form factor. Is only 0,3″ more than the usual 10.3″, but Is far more comfortable reading on this device, specially pdf
Any chance you could post a pic of the Clara BW next to your Voyage?
I’ll be posting a bunch of videos of the new Kobos this week and next so I’ll have a side-by-side at some point.