As a long-time Kindle user I decided to scratch my color itch by getting one of the new Colour Kobos. There are quite a few open box deals right now so I got both the Clara and the Libra, and will be returning one of those.
First thing I want to mention is that those things are
fast! I am also quite impressed with the Kobo UI. In many regards it feels much more intuitive than the Kindle UI. Being able to change the brightness just by sliding on the left edge (although I wish we could do the same with the light color, on the right side perhaps), the fine tuning of font size, the auto-rotation to landscape (on the Libra) and the integration to Pocket are all very useful features. I do miss Send To Kindle, although there seem to be some decent alternatives. Coming from the Oasis however, the buttons on the Libra feel really hard and loud - not so great for reading in bed next to the wife.
I have both an Oasis and a Voyage and use both regularly so I'm quite open to either form factor, however so far it does look like the Libra is the better choice, even factoring in the price. At least with the two units I have, the Libra has noticeable better contrast than the Clara in color (not as noticeable in b/w). Color is also just more enjoyable on a bigger screen.
One thing I did notice is that on both devices the front light produces a color gradient, from yellowish to whitish: the Clara is whiter at the bottom, and the Libra is whiter on the right-hand side; this is obviously related to the positioning of the LEDs. Is that something I should expect on all devices? I'm just wondering if that might be the reason why those were open box deals.
Overall I think Kobo really did a great job with those devices. I played a bit with the Boox Tab Mini C when it came out and the ghosting was unbearable. On the Kobos the ghosting is much more under control. I might become a Kobo convert!
