Kobo Clara Colour on sale for €138.51: the color reader that challenges the Kindle Paperwhite

Kobo Clara Colour

The Kobo Clara Colour stands out immediately from the classic black-and-white eReader because it offers a 6-inch anti-glare color E Ink Kaleido 3 display, a choice that makes it more suitable for comics, manga, illustrated PDFs, and content with graphics or images. At €138.51, the price is interesting for those looking for a compact, lightweight, and more flexible reader, with the added benefit of a dark mode, support for audiobooks, and a waterproof structure in white.

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The comparison with the Kindle Paperwhite is useful because it clearly clarifies the positioning of the two products: the Paperwhite offers a larger 6.8-inch screen and sharper text rendering, as it uses a black-and-white E Ink Carta 1300 panel at 300 ppi, while the Clara Colour favors color and compactness, with a diagonal of 6 inches and a lower color definition of 150 ppi. However, the black-and-white definition remains the same as the Kindle, at 300 ppi. Essentially, the Kobo Clara Colour makes more sense for those who want a more versatile reader, capable of better handling illustrated books, technical content, and visual materials without switching to a tablet. Additionally, the Kobo Clara is lighter than the Kindle Paperwhite, weighing 166g compared to the 215g of the Paperwhite.

Another point in favor of Kobo is its open ecosystem, supporting widely used formats like EPUB, PDF, MOBI, CBZ, CBR, HTML, TXT, and RTF, along with integration with OverDrive/Libby and Pocket. This makes it more convenient for those who want to carry ebooks, documents, and saved articles with greater freedom compared to the proprietary formats of other systems, although for DRM-protected books authorization via Adobe ID may be required.

The presence of a front light with color temperature adjustment is also very useful, helping to read better both during the day and in the evening, along with the dark mode and support for audiobooks. This way, the reader does not limit itself to just traditional ebooks but also covers listening and reading in different conditions. The Paperwhite has the same light adjustment but only for black and white.

The software aspect is another strong point, as Kobo integrates with OverDrive/Libby for digital libraries and Pocket for articles to save and read later. Compared to Kindle, which remains more tied to proprietary formats, the Clara Colour focuses on a more open and less constrained usage, making it a smarter choice for those wanting a versatile reader, freer in formats, and more suitable for cross-use.