Kobo Libra Colour drops to $229.99 after recent price increase
The color e-reader is back at its former price at Kobo, Best Buy and Target, according to The Verge.
By James Whitfield · Staff Writer
3 min read
Kobo’s Libra Colour e-reader is selling for $229.99 at Kobo, Best Buy and Target after a recent increase took its list price to $259.99, The Verge reported Wednesday. The discount matters for shoppers comparing color e-readers, because it puts Kobo’s device below Amazon’s $249.99 Kindle Colorsoft while restoring the Libra Colour to its earlier price.
The Verge’s Sheena Vasani reported that Kobo, Best Buy and Target are each offering the device at $30 off as part of broader sales. The Verge described the sale price as effectively wiping out the recent price hike.
The Libra Colour is a waterproof e-reader with a seven-inch color display, physical page-turn buttons and support for Kobo’s optional Stylus 2, according to The Verge. Vasani has called it her preferred alternative to Amazon’s Kindle for readers who are not tied closely to Amazon’s ecosystem.
How it compares with Kindle Colorsoft
The Verge said the Libra Colour covers many of the same basic features as Amazon’s Kindle Colorsoft, including a sharp color screen suited to book covers, comics and highlights. Vasani wrote that the Kindle’s color display is slightly more vibrant, while the Kobo model adds other advantages.
Those advantages include EPUB support and compatibility with a wider set of file formats, according to The Verge. The Libra Colour also has 32GB of storage, which The Verge said is twice the capacity of the Colorsoft.
The Kobo model’s physical buttons give readers another way to turn pages beyond tapping the screen. Vasani wrote that she finds those buttons more natural for reading than relying only on touch controls.
Stylus support and note-taking
The Libra Colour can work with Kobo’s Stylus 2, which is sold separately, according to The Verge. With the stylus, users can mark up ebooks, write handwritten notes, use built-in notebook templates and convert handwriting into typed text.
The Verge said the device is more practical for quick notes than using a phone. Vasani also cautioned that its size makes it less suitable as a full-time digital notebook than larger devices such as the Kobo Elipsa 2E or Amazon’s Kindle Scribe.
The e-reader also supports Instapaper, which The Verge said lets users save web articles for offline reading. Other features cited by The Verge include waterproofing for beach or poolside use and adjustable warm lighting for reading at night.
At $229.99, the Libra Colour is listed at $20 less than the Kindle Colorsoft’s $249.99 price cited by The Verge. The sale gives Kobo a sharper price point for readers who want color e-ink, broader file support and buttons without paying the newly raised list price.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.