Amazon has revealed its first-ever colour e-reader in the form of the Kindle Colorsoft – but how does it compare to one of the best e-readers around, the Kobo Libra Colour?
While both e-readers have 7-inch colour E Ink screens, there are plenty of differences between the two, from overall footprint to additional features like wireless charging and stylus support, all of which could sway your vote one way or the other.
We’ve spent plenty of time reading with the Kobo Libra Colour, though we’re yet to go hands-on with the Kindle Colorsoft. We’ll be publishing a full in-depth comparison once we’ve reviewed the new e-reader, but in the meantime, here’s how the Kindle Colorsoft and Kobo Libra Colour match up on paper.
Pricing & availability
The Amazon Kindle Colorsoft isn’t exactly an entry-level product with a £269/$269 RRP. It’s available to pre-order right now ahead of release on 31 October 2024.
The Kobo Libra Colour, on the other hand, is a little more affordable with its £199/$219 price tag. And, as it was released earlier this year, it’s readily available at a plethora of retailers right now.
The Amazon Kindle Colorsoft is more compact
Both the Kindle Colorsoft and Libra Colour have 7-inch colour E Ink screens, though the size of the overall chassis varies greatly among the two. The Amazon Kindle Colorsoft retains the same overall design as the regular Kindle, with uniform bezels around three of the edges and a thicker part at the bottom.
The Kobo Libra Colour, on the other hand, has a large area to the right of the display designed for holding the e-reader. It also houses two buttons to switch pages when reading without having to swipe on the screen.
It’s a handy addition, but it means that the Libra Colour is quite a bit wider than the competing Kindle, measuring 144.6mm wide compared to the Kindle’s 127.6mm. It’s also a smidge thicker at 8.3mm against the Kindle’s 7.8mm.
However, the Kobo e-reader is the lighter of the two at 199.5g compared to the Kindle’s 219g, so there’s much more to it than simply being the larger of the two.
The Kobo Libra Colour plays nicely with third-party services
One of the main reasons to opt for a Kobo e-reader, in general, is its willingness to work with third-party services to improve the overall experience on offer. That means that, in addition to the Kobo Store, you can get access to OverDrive and Libby to borrow eBooks from your local library.
There’s also Pocket support, allowing you to access articles you’ve saved on your mobile or desktop, along with both Google Drive and Dropbox support. The latter allows you to download eBooks (Kobo supports 15 file formats) as well as sync your notes to the cloud – but more on that in a bit.
Ironically, it doesn’t offer support for Kindle books, so if you have already invested in Kindle Store offerings, this isn’t the e-reader for you.
The Kindle Colorsoft, on the other hand, is a rather locked-down system. Like every other Kindle in Amazon’s collection, it doesn’t offer support for any kind of third-party services aside from the Amazon-owned Audible, and without third-party cloud support, getting your own eBook files onto the e-reader can be a bit of a pain.
The Kobo Libra Colour is compatible with the Kobo Stylus
If the temptation of using third-party services with your e-reader wasn’t enough to push you towards the Kobo Libra Colour, this might.
The Kobo Libra Colour works well with the Kobo Stylus 2, turning the e-reader into something resembling an E Ink tablet. The inclusion of stylus support allows you to not only annotate books that you’re reading, either with notes or highlights, but you can take full-blown apps from a dedicated app.
These notes can then be synced with the cloud via either Google Drive or Dropbox for access on other devices.
It doesn’t come in the box, unfortunately, but it does represent a handy feature for those who want more than a device for just reading books.
The competing Kindle Colorsoft doesn’t offer any kind of stylus support – that’s where the (even more expensive) Kindle Scribe comes into play.
The Amazon Kindle Colorsoft has better battery life
Neither the Kindle Colorsoft nor Libra Colour struggle when it comes to battery life, with both offering literally weeks of use before needing a top-up – as is the case with most e-readers – though Amazon’s new colour e-reader should last a little longer.
According to Amazon, the Kindle Colorsoft should be good for around 8 weeks of use, while Kobo claims that the Libra Colour can last up to 40 days. That’s a little over five and a half weeks of use.
Of course, your milage may vary – these tests are based on 30 minutes of reading per day, with elements like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi disabled – but it gives you a good idea of the potential longevity on offer.
The Amazon Kindle Colorsoft has wireless charging
With the better battery life of the two e-readers, the Kindle Colorsoft won’t need to be charged all that often – but that hasn’t stopped Amazon from improving the way that the e-reader regains charge. You can still charge it up via the integrated USB-C port, but you’ve also got the option of charging it wirelessly. That’s a first for Amazon’s Kindle collection.
It essentially means that you can throw the e-reader onto a wireless charging port when not in use to top it up without faffing around with cables. It’s a nicer approach to charging, though you will need to buy the Made for Amazon Wireless Charging Dock as it doesn’t use standard Qi wireless charging like smartphones.
The Kobo Libra Colour, on the other hand, offers the same wired charging as most e-readers, with no wireless charging capabilities.
Early Verdict
While it’s hard to deliver a definitive verdict without spending time with the Kindle Colorsoft, it does seem that Amazon’s new e-reader might have the upper hand here with premium features like wireless charging not often found on e-readers.
That said, the Kobo Libra Colour has a lot going for it, including support for third-party services and a wide range of ebook file types, as well as optional stylus support. It’s also the cheaper of the two, by a not-insignificant margin.
