Here’s a video showing how the two new Kobo Clara ereaders compare to each other, and some of the differences are surprising. Both devices share the same design and both have 6″ screens, but the Clara Colour has a color E Ink screen and the Clara BW has a traditional black and white E Ink screen.
I’ve compared a number of ereaders with color E Ink screens to ereaders with regular black and white screens over the years, but they’re usually different models and different brands, so I was looking forward to comparing two devices that are virtually identical except for the screens.
There’s one hardware difference other than the screens. The Clara Colour has a dual-core 2.0 GHz processor and the Clara BW has a single core 1.0 GHz processor. There is not a noticeable performance boost with the dual-core CPU. In fact, the Clara BW seems a bit quicker to turn pages, probably because the new Carta 1300 screen is supposed to be faster, but overall performance is very, very similar between the two.
Aside from the screens, the two devices are literally identical from a design standpoint—they’re the exact same size, the same weight, and they both have the same exact casing material front and back.
I think it’s a good idea to offer a color model and a black and white model, unlike what Kobo did with the larger Libra Colour by only offering a color version and seemingly discontinuing the Libra 2.
I wonder if part of the reason Kobo did it this way was part of an experiment to see which model sells better, and to help judge the market for color ereaders going forward. There’s only a $20 price difference between the color version and the BW model, and the Clara Colour is a lot cheaper than other color ereaders so more people might be willing to take a chance on it.
Features
Outside of the screen and CPU, all the other main specs are the same and you can find those listed on the product pages so I won’t repeat them here.
The software features are identical as well so there’s no need to go into that either. The Clara Colour does not support using a stylus like the larger Libra Colour so there aren’t any notebooks or writing features that take advantage of the color screen.
Frontlights
First off, I was surprised by how different the frontlights are on the two new Kobo Claras. The Clara Colour has a much warmer light at the default setting, and the warm light is a lot stronger overall, especially at higher levels. The Clara BW’s warm light doesn’t get nearly as orange.
I wonder if that’s an intentional design decision on Kobo’s part, or if it’s just a common variance you can expect with frontlights.
The Screens
It’s the same story as it always is with color E Ink. Regular BW screens are able to reflect more light without the added color filter layer over the screen, so the background appears whiter and the screen is clearer overall without the color grid layer, which you can see if you look closely.
Without the frontlight cranked up, the screen on the Clara Colour looks a lot darker than the screen on the Clara BW. With the frontlight turned up the screens look similar, but with a much warmer tint on the Clara Colour because of the warmer frontlight tone.
The warmer tint isn’t unpleasant, and it kind of looks more paperlike, but having the frontlight cranked up all the time is certainly going to affect battery life.
Advice
If you only plan on reading regular ebooks, you’re better off getting the BW model because there really isn’t any advantage to having a color screen unless you really want multicolored highlights and color covers.
Color E Ink has some drawbacks, and that’s why it hasn’t replaced regular BW E Ink screens, but if you plan on reading stuff like comics and kids books the color screen is clearly an upgrade over a greyscale screen for that type of content. Just don’t expect color E Ink to look as good as LCD screens.
Kobo Clara Colour vs Clara BW Video
As mentioned, there’s only a $20 price difference between the two models. The Kobo Clara Colour sells for $149.99 and the Kobo Clara BW sells for $129.99.
Related Review: Libra Colour vs Clara Colour Comparison
Very useful. Thx for comparison.