I decided to put together a comparison video showing the two new color Kobo ereaders side-by-side to give an idea of how the screen sizes compare, and to show the different features between them.
The Kobo Libra Colour has a 7-inch display (measured diagonally from corner to corner) and the Clara Colour has a 6-inch screen. Both use Kaleido 3 screens from E Ink with 300 ppi for black and white and 150 ppi for color.
I was expecting the two screens to look identical since both use the exact same screen technology made by the same company and both have indented screens without an extra flush layer, but there actually is a small difference in color and text darkness between them.
It’s particularly noticeable when comparing the text balloons with the same comic on both devices. Text is darker on the Libra Colour’s screen. Even when zooming in on the Clara and matching the size, text looks a little darker on the Libra’s screen. Some colors appear a bit darker as well. It’s not a stark difference, but it is noticeable when you have both color Kobos next to each other.
I don’t know why that is exactly, but, like I’ve said before, E Ink screens are weirdly inconsistent. Maybe there’s a slight difference in the frontlight or touchscreen layers between the two models, or maybe the global color settings that Kobo has configured aren’t an exact match. Who knows. All I know is the screen looks slightly better on the Libra Colour in some instances.
Hardware Differences
7-inch screen on the Libra; 6-inch screen on the Clara.
The Libra adds page turn buttons.
The Libra adds a rotation sensor to automatically switch screen orientation.
The Libra adds support for using a stylus (but one is not included).
The Clara has 16GB of storage and the Libra has 32GB.
The Clara has some added texture on the front casing, whereas the Libra has a smooth plastic finish on the front (both have similar texture on the back).
The screen is more recessed on the Clara like devices that used to have infrared touchscreens (but it doesn’t have an IR touchscreen so I don’t know why they did that).
The Libra has a 2050mAh battery and the Clara has a 1500mAh batttery, yet somehow Kobo gives a slight edge to the Clara with their overall battery life estimates (42 days vs 40 for the Libra).
Weight: Clara 174 grams; Libra 199 grams.
Dimensions: Clara (112 x 160 x 9.2 mm); Libra (144.6 x 161 x 8.3 mm).
Software Differences
The Libra Colour adds support for using Kobo’s stylus so it has Kobo’s full Notebook app from the larger and more expensive Kobo Elipsa, but Notebooks are only available if the device detects a stylus.
Stylus support also adds the ability to write directly on ebooks with the Libra Colour; that’s not an option on any Clara models.
The Clara Colour has a very basic Sketch Pad app in Beta Features in lieu of the Notebook app. You can use your finger to write.
The Kobo Libra adds support for transferring files using Dropbox and Google Drive. That’s not an officially-supported feature on the Clara, but last I checked it was possible to easily add Dropbox support to Kobos that don’t officailly support it—not sure about Google Drive, though.
Libra Colour vs Clara Colour Video Comparison
The Kobo Clara Colour sells for $149.99 and the Kobo Libra Colour sells for $219.99 so there’s a pretty big price difference between the two.
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