Kobo’s latest e-reader is much better value than any Kindle

I’ve made no secret of my preference for Kobo e-readers over Amazon Kindles, and my time with the latest Kobo has not changed that. In fact, it has only solidified my belief that you should seriously consider ditching Kindle for your digital reading needs.

Kobo, owned by Japanese firm Rakuten, makes well-priced e-readers with practically identical e-book selection to the Kindle Store with often identical pricing. They also, crucially, offer virtual e-book loans linked to your local library card, something you can’t do on a Kindle in the UK.

Though the Kobo Clara Colour was released in April 2024, I did not get my hands on one at the time, instead reviewing the pricier £209.99 Kobo Libra Colour with its superior screen and asymmetrical design with page turn buttons.

But Kobo has just launched a new white version of the Clara Colour, so I’ve been reading extensively on it to see if its £149.99 price point is a fair one given its features and the competition.

Not only do I believe that it’s the best value Kobo, giving you a sharp colour screen in a pocketable size, it is much better value than the cheapest colour screen Kindle, the £239 Kindle Colorsoft.

... my time with the latest Kobo ... has only solidified my belief that you should seriously consider ditching Kindle

The Clara Colour ditches the Libra’s page turn buttons for a compact, touchscreen-only design similar to the Kindle Colorsoft and Kindle Paperwhite. The Paperwhite retails from £159 with a black and white screen, with that price even making you suffer the ugly lockscreen ads Amazon makes you pay extra upfront to live without.

Kobo pushes no such ads on you, with the Clara Colour offering a colour screen for £10 less than the Paperwhite.

To be fair, the Kindle Paperwhite and Colorsoft’s screens are flush with their casing, as opposed to the Clara Colour’s which is recessed in matte plastic casing that makes it feel more like the cheapest £94.99 Kindle.

But the addition of a colour screen at this price is wonderful to have. Even if you mainly read text-only books like I do, seeing book covers in your library or in the Kobo Store in colour not only looks great but helps you find titles quicker, your eye drawn to them like it is at your local Waterstones.

If you read books with illustrations and maps or often get graphic novels and comic books on your e-reader, the upgrade to colour from black and white is incredible to see. With a 6-inch E Ink Kaleido 3 display, it’s smaller than the 7-inch Kindle Colorsoft, which is a downside as comics are rendered smaller and harder to read.

One thing to note about these colour E Ink screens is they don’t render black text on a white screen as sharp and clean as on black and white e-readers. The screens contain a grainier grid of pixels necessary to illuminate in colour, and the result is, when compared, a slightly washed out look (see below image for comparison with the Kobo Clara Colour on the left and the latest black and white Kindle Paperwhite on the right).

But in my reading of several novels and non-fiction books in my few weeks with the Clara, it has proven a perfect pocket partner. I charged it when it arrived and it’s still going on the same charge a month later.

Connecting to Wi-Fi lets you for browe the Kobo Store or OverDrive, the global system for e-book library loans. Via the Kobo itself (or the Libby app for iPhone and Android) you can browse titles and reserve them or borrow them immediately if they are available.

My local library did not have everything I searched for, but it’s a great way to borrow books completely free and read them on an e-reader, all supported natively. Kindles simply can’t do this in the UK, even though they can in the US. It’s a major reason to go Kobo on these shores.

I also tested a light blue SleepCover that Kobo sent along with the review sample which protects the device and auto wakes and sleeps the screen. It makes everything heavier though, and I prefer reading the Clara without a case. If you do too, the white casing doesn't show fingerprints and probably will hide scratches well, and while the recessed screen doesn’t look as premium as a flush one, it could help prevent scratches.

Also it’s a small thing, but the power/wake/sleep button on the Kobo is on the back at the top, an infinitely better position than on the Kindle, where it’s at the bottom and often far too easily pressed.

The frontlight on the Kobo is a mixed bag, though. It is not as uniformly bright across the whole screen as the latest Kindle Paperwhite or the Colorsoft, but it lights up the screen in any lighting condition to a decent degree. There’s no auto-brightness function, but there is a natural light function that strips out blue light when its dimmer to save your eyes from straining. But I found this very wobbly, often changing the levels constantly, so I turned it off.

I also love you can slide your finger or thumb up and down the left side of the screen in any book to change the brightness.

The fact Kobo has released a white version of the Clara Colour in September 2025 after first releasing a black model in April 2024 suggests it’s still a sensible time to invest in the e-reader if you like the sound of it. While i have no insider information, it’s unlikely the firm would put this new version out if a sizable Clara upgrade was just around the corner.

Although the Kindle Paperwhite is about the same price and has a flush screen and better looking frontlight, I prefer everything else about the Kobo Clara Colour. The smaller size, solid performance, addition of colour in the display, better power button placement and OverDrive and integration make it much better value - and even more so when compared to the Kindle Colorsoft, which costs £90 more.

Where Amazon locks down its Kindles and takes away user-friendly features, Kobo appears to be much more attuned to its customers' needs

Amazon also recently decided to take away the ability to plug a Kindle into a computer to download your purchased e-books to your PC. You can still do this on a Kobo, and even move them between your devices.

Meanwhile, Kobo used to support Pocket, the read-later service that lets you save webpages and articles on your phone, tablet or computer to read later, which is a great thing to use an e-reader for. Unfortunately Pocket was recently shut down, but within mere weeks, Kobo pushed out a software update to support Instapaper, a direct Pocket competitor.

Where Amazon locks down its Kindles and takes away user-friendly features, Kobo appears to be much more attuned to its customers' needs, fixing issues when they arise.

Not only is the Kobo Clara Colour a great value e-reader, it is made by a company that appears to value its customers, which isn’t something I would currently say about Amazon when it comes to the Kindle. This latest Kobo is not perfect, but it’s a well-priced product I have no hesitation in recommending.