And on the side of the thicker bezel, close to the indicator light, is the USB-C port. The charging indicator light – which also blinks when the device is being powered on – is now lower down the thicker bezel, sitting almost in a corner.
USC-B charging finally comes to Kobo (Image credit: TechRadar) It’s also marginally heavier than the Libra H2O, weighing 215g compared to 192g. It’s hardly noticeable, but that means the Libra 2 has its own sleepcover range. Speaking of bezels, the other three are oh-so-slightly bigger… by a millimeter or so. Even the little recess between the two page-turn buttons on the Libra H2O is gone, instead giving the Libra 2 a slightly cleaner look despite the plastic chassis. In the Libra H2O, there was a crease clearly visible on the thicker bezel, which is no longer there on the Libra 2. That design, though, has undergone a slight refinement. Out of the seven ereaders in its current catalog, four have the page-turn buttons that make single-hand use so easy – clearly Kobo means for that design to stay and we’re all for it. The Kobo Libra 2 lets you read horizontally (landscape orientation) or vertically (portrait orientation) (Image credit: TechRadar) Design and displayĪmazon might have been the one to pioneer the asymmetric design now shared by several ereaders, but Kobo seems to have embraced it completely.
There’s no word yet on Kobo Plus availability in the US or UK, but it has been available in Canada since 2019 and The Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal since 2020. The Libra 2 (and the Sage with it) also brings Kobo Plus, an ebook/audiobook subscription service to Australia and New Zealand for AU$13.99 / NZ$14.99 / CA$9.99. And it’s cheaper than the 32GB Paperwhite Signature Edition, but for $189 / £179 / AU$289, you are getting wireless charging on the premium Paperwhite model.
That price is quite competitive, costing just a tenner more than the Kobo Libra H2O (with its 8GB storage capacity, lack of Bluetooth and outdated Micro-B socket), but a lot cheaper than the 8GB Amazon Kindle Oasis’ $249.99 / £229.99 / AU$399 price tag.Įven compared to the 2021 Kindle Paperwhite – which has 8GB of storage in the base model, a 6.8-inch screen, no page-turn buttons and costing $139.99 / £129.99 / AU$239 – the Libra 2 offers more value for money. Kobo announced the global launch of the Libra 2 on Octofor a price of $179.99 / £159.99 / AU$279.99 and it’s available to buy directly from the Kobo Store online or at major retailers worldwide. All we need now from Kobo is an ereader with a color display.Īudiobook support finally comes to Kobo ereaders (Image credit: TechRadar) Price and availability Take all these individual ingredients, stir them into a single device and you’ve got the winning recipe for the best bang-for-buck ereader yet.
The difference in responsiveness between the older Libra and the new is minuscule, but if you’ve been using any other older Kobo, the Libra 2 is definitely worth the upgrade just in terms of performance.Īll the other Kobo perks are onboard, of course – a much wider file format support compared to the Kindles, a more streamlined user interface and, importantly, baked-in OverDrive, Pocket and Dropbox support. The thicker bezel has a cleaner look as the crease (found between the page-turn buttons and the screen) on the Libra H2O has been removed, and the new device is just a smidge bigger.ĭespite the millimeter difference in size, the screen is still the same 7 inches of the Libra H2O, but is a touch more responsive because of the latest E Ink Carta technology. There are some minor design changes to the Libra 2 as compared to its predecessor, but nothing to write home about.