![]() ![]() The overall experience is a little closer to what you’d expect from a non-E Ink touchscreen. The same goes for navigating the Kobo store and highlighting passages. Flipping pages with both the physical buttons and touch gestures is just a little smoother. This came as a pleasant surprise to me, because I always found the original Libra’s screen to already be pretty fast. The screen’s speed boost is noticeable next to the first Libra. Poolside and bathtub reading shouldn’t present any issues at all. You can submerge it in up to two meters of water before running into any issues. The good news is that, despite not having any covering on the screen, the Libra 2 has an IPX8 waterproof rating. This won’t be a problem if you’re a pristine reader, but I suspect most people want to use their e-reader in a wide variety of circumstances - some of which are, yes, messy. Crumbs, sand, and other debris are much more likely to end up stuck between the screen and the bezels. This choice, coupled with the screen’s slight depression, saves the front of the Libra 2 from the worst of the Kindle’s glaring fingerprint issues. There’s no plastic covering the screen at all, actually. Kobo has chosen to stick with the same front design as the first Libra, with the touchscreen inset slightly - the exact opposite of the Kindle’s full-flush front, where the seams between the screen and the bezels are imperceptible. The Libra 2 sports a 7-inch E Ink Carta 1200 touchscreen, a significant step up in terms of speed over its predecessor. ![]() ![]() Kobo Libra H2O (left) vs Kobo Libra 2 (right). We only include products that have been independently selected by Input’s editorial team. Input may receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article. It’s this kind of design decision that sets the Libra 2 apart from the rest of the e-reader market. Rather than fumbling around for a hand-hold (as I found to often be a struggle with the Paperwhite), Kobo has given us the perfect place to hold our electronic books one-handed. This hardware quirk is demonstrative of the Libra 2’s greatest gift to readers. The first thing you’ll notice with the Libra 2 is its asymmetry: the right-side bezel extends outward a few inches to house the device’s physical page-turn buttons. The hardware is streamlined, yes, but not to the point where all that’s left is a screen. The Libra 2 - the H2O has been dropped from its name - looks nothing like its cousin the Kindle Paperwhite. The Libra 2 is just as refreshing, now with adjustments to bring Kobo’s best into the new decade. (Books can’t be protected by DRM for this method to work, however.Kobo’s Libra H2O helped me fall in love with e-readers again after Amazon’s monopolistic practices left an acrid taste in the back of my throat.Īfter feeling cornered by Kindles for years, the Libra was a spring of the purest digital water. Windows will recognize your Libra 2 as a USB drive, into which you can copy books and other compatible formats like PDFs and even Microsoft Word files onto. In addition to downloading borrowed books from OverDrive and purchased titles from the Kobo store, you can of course plug the device into a PC to transfer files. Instead, your two options are the cover of the book you’re currently reading, or a blank screen and a bit of text that says “Sleeping.” You have to do a little work on your own to add your own custom screensavers. If I’m not careful, I can lose whole hours while reading.Ĭuriously, Kobo doesn’t offer screensavers for Libra 2 while it’s in standby mode, like Kindles do. The only missing option? A native ability to make the time always visible, as on Kindles. Kobo makes book-related settings visible as soon as you tap the center of the screen-a second tap usually gets you to where you want. Within books, navigating is straightforward and intuitive. For example, Amazon wasn’t the first to introduce waterproofing and warm lighting with its Kindles. Kobo is a longtime veteran of the e-reader wars-for over a decade, the company has steadily produced affordable models that have pushed the envelope on features. Supported formats: EPUB, EPUB3, FlePub, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF, CBZ, CBR, Kobo Audiobooks.Front light: Yes (plus adjustable brightness and color temperature).Display: 7-inch, 300 ppi E Ink touchscreen.Kobo Libra 2 (2021): Specs, features, price In fact, after months of using the Libra 2, it’s often my first suggestion to folks seeking an e-reader with physical buttons-even people already deeply invested in the Kindle ecosystem. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |