Over the past few years, just about every ereader company has jumped on the eNote bandwagon after seeing how successful the Remarkable Paper Tablet was, but it appears that few people are interested in buying Kobo’s eNotes, especially their first gen model.
The Kobo Elipsa was released in June of 2021, and then Kobo released the second gen model, the Elipsa 2E, in April of 2023. It’s been over two years since the first gen Elipsa was replaced by the second gen version, and yet Kobo is still trying to get rid of the 1st gen model.
That’s right. Kobo is still selling the 1st gen Elipsa from their website. They’ve dropped the price a few times, and now they’re trying to sell it without a cover or a stylus (yeah, it makes a lot of sense to sell an eNote without a stylus).
They’ve dropped the price from $399 (which included a case and a stylus) down to $269 without a case and a stylus. Once you account for Kobo’s ridiculously overpriced pen that sells for $70, it no longer seems like a bargain, and once you add another $50 for the case, the total is only $10 less than the newer Elipsa 2E, which includes a stylus (but not a case). That doesn’t seem like a very good deal for an eNote with an outdated lower resolution screen and no warm frontlight—no wonder Kobo is having trouble getting rid of it.
There’s also the fact that the newer Kobo Elipsa 2E sometimes goes on sale for $349, like it is right now at Amazon, so that just makes the first gen version look like an even worse deal.
I can see why Kobo hasn’t released an upgraded version of the Elipsa with a 300 ppi E Ink screen when they haven’t even been able to get rid of their first gen units 4 years after it was released and two years after it was replaced by a newer version.
I doubt the second gen Elipsa is selling much better than the first version considering it was already outdated when it was released. A lot of newer eNotes have 300 ppi E Ink screens, whereas the Elipsa 2E is still using an older 227 ppi screen.
Kobo’s ereaders have a good reputation and a lot of people really like them, but you just don’t hear the same kind of positive reaction about Kobo’s eNotes. Their notetaking software doesn’t get much attention, and they haven’t done much to improve it over the past 4 years.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see Kobo discontinue the Elipsa line entirely, but at this rate it’ll probably take them another 5 years to get rid of the ones they still have.
I would have purchased it if they waited for Amazon’s alleged agreement with E ink on 300 dpi screens to expire and implemented a 300 dpi screen.
Truth is the needle only moves on the 6 to 7 inch size, at low to mid-range prices.
The larger 10 inch devices run up against a real challenge when they compete, for customer dollars, with the Swiss Army Knives like Boox tablets. A dedicated reader unit at 400 dollars is a big pill to swallow for many readers
No wonder. The size to is too large and heavy to be portable and very few people are note takers. The majority just want to read.
These huge E-Ink screens are really pricey. If kobo would put a huge discount on the Elipsa series, probably they would lose money on every single device. Not to mention the 1 year warranty.
Maybe it is worth more to keep the prices up and sell less devices – at least for now. Just guessing here.
I had Kobo Elipsa 2E, and thought it was a quality device, but reluctantly sent it back. The portrait mode was uncomfortably large for me, and Kobo’s implementation of landscape mode is bad. (To get the ereader into landscape mode, you have to reduce the font size to something that is too small for my liking.) Sadly, although I gave Kobo a chance, I have given up on them as they do too many stupid things. I haven’t purchased anything from Monopoly-zon in over ten years, but my next ereader will likely be a Kindle.
I love my Kobo Elipse 2e! I don’t use the note taking capability – I just read on it. It is far more portable than my iPad and I love the larger screen. If they ever decide to offer a color version I would buy it. I have several Kobo ereaders, and I love the flexibility. I take my Forma on the go (it fits nicely in my purse). The downside with the Sage is the battery life – but I have loved ever version of. kobo that I have bought,