[McGonigle]

I got one yesterday. Not because I felt I wanted one but because my old, trusty KA1 now takes ages to charge and seems reluctant to charge fully, while expending the charge very quickly.

I was really reluctant because there are several things with current ereaders that personally I am not keen on.

Ideally, I’d want an 8” display but the Sage is developed to be used in conjunction with a
power cover so I was not convinced it was a good option in terms of charge, weight and price.

The Elipsa is ultimately just too big and expensive for me especially if you want an original cover. And I just do not need any writing or note taking capabilities.

I dearly wanted a flush bezel because indents collect dust and dirt very quickly, and indented screens are difficult to get clean, imo.

I could personally do without physical buttons, tapping or swiping on the old KA1 worked perfectly for me.

I do like the Kobo gui and the glowlight, and rocking a KA1 all these years seems to be an indication of overall build quality.

Kindle? I have never owned one so I may be wrong but it seems to me like they might be in the category of too much a point of sale devices. The reviews of the new coloursoft do not seem encouaging either; 50% are 1 and 2 star reviews.

I’ve owned some Android or Linux powered devices outside of the Kobo/Amazon sphere but am no longer so keen on these other brands. Some are quite expensive and have been succeeded by far too many new devices (Onyx) some less so. I might be biased here and I clearly am ignorant on these latest offerings. As stated above, I really like the Kobo gui.

I’ll admit right away I could not find my unicorn, my ideal device. I had to compromise. I can’t claim it was best compromise, but the device I bought was the Kobo Libra Colour. It was on a Black week discount here in my country, and I’ll get a cheap cover from Amazon tomorrow.

Perhaps I should just mention why price is a parameter for me. You see, any battery powered device you use daily, will last you 7 or 8 years. After that period of time, until now at least, you had to throw it away and replace it. So I look for the basic functionality and less gimmicks or cost increasing functionality. I see no reason to pay more than necessary for a device which, after that number of years I can either replace, or in this case refurbish with a new battery. I’m the same with phones, I just get the cheapest, decent phone I can get, knowing they’ll only last until the Security patches cease.

So what do I like and what do I not like with my Libra Colour?

Overall it seems like a very nice device, light and well built.

The screen seems softer and easier on the eyes than on my KA1.

Actually, the colour screen is handy when books contain images in colour. Headers in colour, when present, look nice too. The power off image in colour looks quite appealing too. Graphs and illustrations in colour will also be easier to read.

I can’t read comics easily because the screen is too small and the speach bubbles and the text is too tiny for my eyes. The colours do look attractive to me though. Double-tap will insta-zoom, but it isn’t optimal.

The small screen has me swiping, tapping or clicking buttons to advance the page all the time. A larger screen with more text would mean less swiping, tapping and clicking.

I sometimes accidentally hit the page turn buttons just holding the device.

Now, here comes the weird part, and I suspect this might be general, and not just a Kobo related thing.

I’m left handed, and due to the bezels being different in size I like holding the device with the larger bezel, the one with the Kobo logo, in my left hand.

When I power on the device, the homescreen is upside down and it takes a flip of the device to flip the homescreen so it is no longer upside down. Clearly, the software developers did not think about people holding the device any other way than with the logo bezel in their right hand.

If you’re right handed and hold the device with the bezel containing the logo in your right hand,and you can’t possibly imagine why this is an issue for me, just try switching it to the other side. Awkward. Right?

It is early days yet and overall, I like this device. If my dream ereader gets available, I might switch, but the most important thing for me is to keep reading.

If you made it this far; congrats and thanks for reading.