I admit that I didn’t love the Kobo Clara Color when I first got it. It seemed like a run-of-the-mill e-reader with an uninspiring design and cheap build. But the more I used it, the more I liked the Clara Color. I was impressed by the compact, lightweight form factor and the clear, e-ink display.
It’s not the best e-reader I’ve ever used, but it will be the one I’ll carry with me on my trips to the beach and on my summer vacations. And while I’m still not convinced to spend more money on a color screen, the Clara Color does enough to make it very appealing.
Kobo Clara Color
With its 6-inch Kaleido 3 display, the Kobo Clara Colour adds affordable colour to Kobo’s e-reader lineup. It also features Bluetooth connectivity for audiobooks and Overdrive integration, so you can connect to your local library for additional content. And thanks to the E ink display, battery life is excellent from the 1,500mAh cell.
- Reproduce clear text
- Lightweight
- Great battery life
- No 3.5mm headphone jack
- Colors may fade.
Price and availability
The Kobo Clara Color will be available through Kobo for $150 starting April 30. The device will come with 16GB of internal storage and will come in one color: black. Kobo also offers additional accessories, like the SleepCover that we were sent to test. It costs $30 and does a great job of acting as a case and stand for the Clara Color.
Design and presentation
Cheap but not bad
At first glance, the Kobo Clara Colour doesn’t look like much. Kobo hasn’t taken too many risks with its design, giving it the look of a classic e-reader. Like the larger Kobo Elipsa 2E, it’s made from recycled plastic, including ocean-bound plastic, furthering Kobo’s eco-friendly approach. And while the plastic body may not feel premium in the hand, it’s sturdy enough that I don’t feel like a single drop would break it.
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Another advantage of the plastic design is its weight. The Clara Colour weighs just 174 grams, making it ideal for everyday carry. I found myself slipping it into my back pocket without a worry. You’ll find a single power button on the back of the Kobo e-reader, with just a USB-C charging port on the bottom of the device — you won’t find any expandable storage on the Clara.
Some Rakuten branding gives the plastic back some texture, which makes it easier to hold the tablet with one hand. It’s also IPX8-rated, so splashing it on the beach or taking it out in the rain shouldn’t be a concern.
The star of the show is the Clara Colour’s 6-inch Kaleido 3 display, which has a resolution of 1448 x 1072. As with other colour e-readers, there’s a quality drop-off between black-and-white content and colour images, 300 ppi for black-and-white versus 150 ppi for colour. It’s important to put any discussion of colour on the Kobo in context – it’s the cheapest colour E ink display on the market, adding versatility to the Clara Colour that you’d normally pay a lot for.
However, colors aren’t the most saturated or accurate. I found that turning off the backlight and using Clara Color in natural light improved colors, as the ComfortLight Pro backlighting system tended to wash them out.
However, poor color reproduction is a limitation of all e-readers, not a quality flaw of the Kobo. It’s unfair to compare the color reproduction of the Clara Color to devices with OLED and LCD screens. However, the Clara Color brings comics and manga to life that you wouldn’t get in black and white.
Regardless, don’t let the dull colors stop you from enjoying a great reading experience. Text looks stunning on the 6-inch screen, and the Clara Color’s light weight makes it the perfect companion for long reading sessions in bed or navigating between chapters on the train.
And when you take the Clara Colour outdoors, it comes alive as natural sunlight shines off the screen. With the backlight turned off, you can appreciate how crisp the text on the Clara Colour is. At its core, Kobo’s e-reader is an experience worth the price.
Software, Features, and Battery Life
Simple but effective
The sleek software is at your fingertips when you need it, and nearly invisible when you don’t, and Kobo has done a good job of giving the Clara Color a clean, intuitive program. The controls are simple, with on-screen sliders for adjusting brightness and color temperature. The interface is straightforward, with a basic e-reader skin that gives you access to your library and prompts you to explore the Kobo store. Navigation is smooth and responsive, and I enjoyed the helpful tools Kobo provides while reading.
The color display is useful if you want to highlight text in a book. The four colors allow you to group and organize your highlights, giving you flexibility. When you’re not familiar with a word, you can press and hold for a full definition, with options to look up the word on Wikipedia or Google with a single touch.
All of this works well and enhances the reading experience. It may seem simple at first, but as the great Montgomery Scott once said, “The more you think about plumbing, the easier it is to clog the drain.” When you’re using an e-reader, less is better than more.
Unlike other e-readers I’ve reviewed, the Clara Color has access to the Kobo Store — Rakuten’s e-book outlet. It’s fun to buy new titles right on the device or browse the website and have them sent to my Clara Color. For $8 a month ($10 that adds audiobooks), you can get Kobo Plus, which makes select titles available for download at no extra cost.
I’ve had a hard time finding Kobo Plus titles other than what Rakuten recommends, but with a little searching, you can find some relatively new and interesting releases.
While the Clara Color doesn’t have speakers or a headphone jack, it can play audiobooks via Bluetooth. The books sounded great, and my wireless earbuds paired in seconds. I would have loved a headphone jack for ease of use, but it’s still nice to have the extra versatility to listen to audiobooks on the go.
Kobo includes Overdrive built in. If you’re not familiar with Overdrive, it’s the parent company of Libby. This program gives you access to ebooks and audiobooks from your participating local library. You can also access thousands of additional titles using your library card number in minutes. It’s a great way to get extra reading material without spending hundreds of dollars on content.
Additionally, Pocket integration allows users to sync saved articles directly to their Clara Color device. While Pocket doesn’t make it easy to find articles, downloading them to your Kobo couldn’t be more seamless—just save an article, sync it, and Kobo will do the rest.
Kobo claims the Clara Colour can last over 40 days on a single charge, and while I’ve seen that number go that far, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity limit you to around 30 days. That’s still plenty for an e-reader, and Kobo does an excellent job of getting the most out of the Clara Colour’s 2,000mAh battery. There’s no standby drain, either, so you won’t be surprised if the battery runs out after a few days of not using the Clara Colour.
a race
What else is there?
It’s hard not to recommend the Kobo Clara Black and White at $100. It offers many of the Clara Color’s features for those who don’t need a color screen. If you’re not a fan of manga, comics, or graphic novels, the basic Kobo Clara saves you money while still providing a great reading experience.
It’s hard to mention e-readers without mentioning the Kindle. Amazon’s basic Kindle starts at $100 and gets you into the Amazon ecosystem. Kindle Unlimited is similar to the Kobo Plus, with a monthly fee that gives you access to additional titles. If you’re more familiar with Amazon, the Kindle might be worth considering, but I like the extra features you get with the Clara Color.
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Should you buy it?
Kobo has done a great job with the Clara Color. It’s not the most exciting design, and I’d recommend thinking carefully about whether you need to spend more money on a color screen, but the overall reading experience is definitely enjoyable. If you’ve never used a Kobo before, now’s a great time to try something different and see how great the Clara Color is.
Kobo Clara Color
If you absolutely need color on your e-reader for reading manga or other content, the Kobo Clara Colour offers the most cost-effective solution. Its Kaleido 3 display is great in sunlight, and you’ll enjoy the simple software setup that still offers plenty of functionality. Overall, the Kobo Clara Colour is a solid e-reader at a good price.
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