Rakuten Kobo Reviews

As a self-publishing author of books I also illustrate, I am very pleased with the Kobo eReaders for both their pleasure in reading text and their presentation of my color images. They (I own both the Klara and Libra Colour models) are the most enjoyable reading devices for color illustrated eBooks. I recommend them above all other devices, both eReaders ad tablets.
I am experimenting in using the Libra and Kobo Stylus as part of my editing & quality assurance process, replacing other tablets and apps I have used for the last decade. Initial indications are the Kobo will do the job better!
S.K. Randolph

Date of experience: April 25, 2024

Personally, the Clara size is the most comfortable to hold, I have a Libra and after a short while (15 - 30 minutes) it feels awkward to me. The Clara Colour I was surprised how much what seems like a small change over my Clara 2E, (the colour for covers), made to my enjoyment. The reading experience "in book" remains excellent. I keep the 2E in the living room for daytime reading. and the Colour in the bedroom for bedtime and insomnia nights. It manages battery usage better than other eReaders I've ever had and the menu system is the most intuitive.

Date of experience: May 10, 2024

I absolutely fell in love with this color e-reader!!! Now I just need to get the accessories so keep it safe forever!!! I don’t know what I was doing before this!!!

Date of experience: May 09, 2024

In general the experience is good, but sometimes some passages can’t be marked without a reason. You can’t search a word in the dictionary if that word is part of a marked phrase, in kindle you can do this.
The color is nice though lacks a little more saturation.
You can’t continue marking a passage through one page to the next, again this can be donde with any kindle.

Date of experience: May 06, 2024

Terrible customer service. It's not possible to chat with a real person, they're only giving automatic reply's. My Libra 2 isn't working anymore after 2 years and 2 months. It's a software issue, a lot of other people online have the same issue so it's not my fault. But all they can do is give a discount of 10 euro's for a new one. Ridiculous.

Date of experience: June 04, 2024

The information on the web site (and as supplied by the help desk) about how to do a hard reset on a Kobo Clara 2e was wrong. I reported this in a help desk email which was not acknowledged. Also, given that the Kobo Clara 2e was not long out of warranty, the offer of a discount only on dated rather than new devices came across as somewhat insulting. This also was reported in a help desk email, again which was not acknowledged.

Date of experience: May 04, 2024

Much better than my old Paperwhite. I was tired of being stuck in Amazon's walled garden and I love the freedom this device has from it's direct integration with Overdrive or it's ability to customize with Koreader

Date of experience: May 06, 2024

Kobo Libra Colour - Black + Kobo Libra Colour Notebook SleepCover - Black.

Delivered promptly, good build and quality.

Very good screen making reading a pleasurable experience.

Date of experience: May 08, 2024

Great build quality and screen is very nice, I love the size for portability and I've been tearing through books since getting it!

Date of experience: May 08, 2024

My first time ordering from kobo and will also be my last; customer service is the worst I’ve ever experienced .. I had to fight just to get a returns label and then fight again to get a refund both times I had to threaten with trading standards to actually get some kind of response. I should point out both returns label and refund were received in the end it just took a long while to get there; not helped by the fact that there only seems to be one way of communicating (no phone number etc.)

Date of experience: May 07, 2024

Kobo eBook readers have much more cleaner, clearer and nicer user interface than Kindle readers.
The Clara Color model enable you to see book covers on color which is great. Although comparing to Clara 2E model the color feature come at cost of slightly reduced contrast/clarity of black/white text.

Date of experience: May 01, 2024

Lost my 8 yr old Clara HD and replaced with a BW. I love the feel and screen clarity and an on/off button that is on the back rather than the rim so it doesn’t get pressed accidentally. But it still has a browser in ‘beta’ after many years. I would like to access Google or Apple Drive to be able to download some of my book files wirelessly.

Date of experience: May 04, 2024

I got lucky finding out this product was on pre-order when I started looking to buy an e-reader! I'm an online college student, and eventually found that typical screens were uncomfortable to read digital textbooks on. I wanted a smaller screen than my iPad, a fair price, and something that still would allow me to upload my textbooks and even connect to my local library. I still can't believe such a product exists! The fact I can annotate with the Kobo stylus too is major! Thank you Kobo team for providing so much at a great price!

Date of experience: April 29, 2024

Great little ereader that’s very competitive with the Kindle. Controls are very intuitive and features like Pocket and OverDrive integration are super handy. My one complaint is that I have multiple library cards, but the OverDrive integration only allows signing in with one library card at a time. This means if I have a book checked out on each library card, I have to log out and log back in to switch between books. If this gets fixed, the Kobo is an easy 5 star recommendation!

Date of experience: April 29, 2024

I only bought this to read my library books. I have a accounts with five library systems. Reviews said Kobo can manage this but it turns out that advice was outdated because it required logging into Overdrive to change settings. You can no longer do that since it’s been discontinued and Kobo does not support Libby. I read my own books and then we read books together as a family so to read books from different library systems I have to log out and log back in to read or download any book. It’s a complete nightmare and just not accessible Kobo does not work seamlessly with Libby unlike my Kindle. I really wanted this to work and not give more money to Amazon. If they fix this I will update my review.

Date of experience: May 03, 2024

The reader I finally bought has worked very well thus far and has given me the expected experience. Also, my reader-return experience was great. The first reader I purchased was too small, so I got a larger one. That one is the one I described as great.

Date of experience: May 03, 2024

The kobo libra colour is beautiful! But coming from kindle, transferring books was a pain, the screen had very significant burn in and the the opening and flipping of pages was uncomfortably slow. I couldn't get past those downfalls and had to return :( I think its easier to love the kobo if it's your first ereader!

Date of experience: May 03, 2024

I am so happy with my Kobo e-reader. I am a reader that has always preferred physical books, but the Kobo is so easy to use that I am now a convert. I purchased it specifically for reading in bed, as I needed something that was lightweight so that it was easy for my older wrists and hands to hold, and also something that is low light so that it does not bother my husband who goes to sleep earlier than I do.

Date of experience: April 28, 2024

Great product, quick delivery time. This is my third kobo device, and I wouldn't go with anyone else!

Date of experience: May 08, 2024

The Ereader fails in the basics. It cannot play spoken material such as that in Mindfullness: Finding Peace in a Frantic World by Mark Williams and Danny Penman. It you what that , then buy a less expensive and more colourful Android tablet . You will get the sound full colour and, used exclusively to read books, the battery life will not be much less than that of the Libra Colour.

Date of experience: April 29, 2024