Quote:
Originally Posted by MGlitch
I’ve just received and set up my Libra 2. I’ve applied the same patches as nearly as I can, there’s one patch dealing with the margins which I tweak further than the default but I’ve done my best to guesstimate the same tweak for the Libra 2 (the Sage and Forma used the same part of the patch so they’re the same as each other).
Initial thoughts
The Libra 2 has darker blacks. This will be very nice if you’re reading comics, or books with maps or illustrations. I’m not sure just why this is the case because the Sage’s screen size is more appropriate for comics and graphics. I tested this both with the front light off entirely and at my general setting of 10%.
The front light isn’t as bright as the Sage at the same setting, but this is pretty standard for Kobo one line of devices will have different brightness levels for the same settings. It’s also by no means a show stopper as the brightness level is sufficient to read in current ambient light and should it prove too low in darker environments it has plenty of more levels for me to increase it. For point of reference it’s at 10% in a well lit room during the day, I’ll test it out in a dark environment tonight in so much as I can living in a major city, but as mentioned I don’t foresee this being an issue.
Playing around with font size, line spacing, and margins to get them on par with the Sage settings I find I lose about six lines of text per screen. This of course will vary a little between users depending on the font they use and the settings they use, but it should be a small variance since they’d of course use similar settings on either device.
I find the Sage and Libra 2 feel similar in weight with the Libra 2 being a bit lighter and the Libra 2 could potentially feel nicer for long term reading, and for those with smaller hands than mine.
The buttons on the Libra 2 are in my opinion better than the Sage and Forma in that they are the best parts of each. Closer together like the Forma but clicky and a bit nicer to press like the Sage.
I’m not sure why Kobo went with a matte finish for the Libra 2 and a glossy finish for the Sage. I’m also honestly torn on which I prefer myself. The matte is nice because it doesn’t reflect ambient light as sharply, but also is more prone to showing oil from your fingertips. Where as the glossy flips those issues. I will say that both are better than the rubbery substance the Forma uses which will break down faster (though arguably not faster than the life of the device) and depending on the environment it’s stored in separating from the device.
I could go on about the specific dimensions of each device but I feel like that’s fairly moot aside from how they feel in your hands. For example the Libra 2 is thicker but shorter and less wide than the Sage or Forma. But unless you’ve got a very small grip the thickness isn’t sufficiently different to be a factor. Height and width maybe but if you can hold something with the height and width of a hardcover book but with the weight of the Sage or Forma you won’t have an issue. And that’s not something anyone else can tell you anyway.
I’ll make the Libra 2 my daily reader for awhile to get more of a feel for it. But, unsurprisingly, right now I’d say it’s between the Sage and the Libra 2 unless you absolutely need an 8 inch reader with longer battery life. The Forma only shines in the weight department IMO, since even prior to a firmware update which helped the Sage with battery life it lasted more than long enough for me to have ample opportunities to charge it before it was 0%.
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I have no needs for patches at the moment, I'd be unsure about installing anything like that as I'm not familiar, maybe something I need to look into. I know Calibre has a lot of plugins.
I'd mostly be reading just before bed, by lamp light (which in itself is quite bright, it's LED). As I've no experience with front lights that bothers me a bit, because I'd be wondering "if only I'd picked the other device".
Weight won't be an issue as I lean my device on a pillow-pad thing so don't need to hold it
Buttons may be an issue, I'm looking to get a case for it (Ali Express have some beautiful designs, so whilst not official Kobo cases, I like them).
So the Sage screen is more like an iPad and the Libra 2 maybe like the old original Kindle devices which were recessed under the outer plastic?
I thought I'd have a huge pros/cons list between the Sage and Libra 2 but I just don't. It's more of a "ooh, Sage is shiny and bigger" kinda thing. I keep wondering if I'll be okay without the Dropbox feature on the Libra 2, but I don't need it as there are other ways to transfer (Calibre direct to Libra 2 at least is the easiest I know).
The size difference is only 15mm width and 20mm height. I actually drew out the dimensions on graph paper and when you hold them up to the light, it's really minimal.