Is the Sage Discontinued?

[Apollyon202]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

According tot he fact that Kobo has no Libra 2 for sale, I'd say 100% of the Libra 2 were sold.

You're not quite getting it, are you?

[DNSB]

One clue might be that the Sage does not seem to have had the same number of hardware revisions as the Libra 2.

[Apollyon202]

Originally Posted by DNSB

One clue might be that the Sage does not seem to have had the same number of hardware revisions as the Libra 2.

Yes, good point there.
Also, model releases have become less frequent. While the Aura One was still available, the Forma came out. 3 years later, you could still buy a Forma 8 GB when the Sage was released. Kinda the same with 7 inch devices. Every 2-3 years Kobo released something cool. Now here we are, 5 years passed without anything cool. That's if we don't count the Elipsa 2E, but that's not quite an ereader...

6 inch models not only have different revisions, but constantly get new iterations. The smaller the device, the more affordable and best-selling it is. I wouldn't even be surprised if they released an even smaller Kobo than the Mini.
Which other brands have an 8 inch model available? Pocketbook maybe. But when the Forma was released 8 years ago, there was none. So there's hope.

[MGlitch]

Tbf we haven’t seen anything massive in eink across the board. Unless you count color which has a limited scope of usefulness especially in fiction, and while I don’t want to stir up the argument over how good the color is it’s certainly not breathtaking.

There’s a limit to how lightweight the device can be and how crisp the screen can be and how big of an improvement is really needed and how much it’ll cost in development to achieve.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

Tbf we haven’t seen anything massive in eink across the board. Unless you count color which has a limited scope of usefulness especially in fiction, and while I don’t want to stir up the argument over how good the color is it’s certainly not breathtaking.

There’s a limit to how lightweight the device can be and how crisp the screen can be and how big of an improvement is really needed and how much it’ll cost in development to achieve.

I would not mind this if older b/w models were still available. But Kobo has discontinued both the Sage and the Libra 2 without offering any replacement. This I do mind.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I would not mind this if older b/w models were still available. But Kobo has discontinued both the Sage and the Libra 2 without offering any replacement. This I do mind.

I’m not a fan myself but it’s also the march of progress. The Libra was replaced with a color version. The Sage who knows we may never get a straight answer from Kobo though it’s apparently sold out in Canada and Australia if viewing from the US is actually accurate. India doesn’t even give an out of stock or purchase button so there’s something going on.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Apollyon202

...
The smaller the device, the more affordable and best-selling it is. ...

I tended to agree and think the same thing, but for dedicated ereaders, I wonder.

Looking at the US Kindle:

Kindle Paperwhite, 10K+ sold in past month, 21.4K reviews
Kindle basic, 10K+ sold in past month, 18.8K reviews

Looks like they were both released in 2024

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

I’m not a fan myself but it’s also the march of progress.

How is it progress to have less choice?
Also the differences between all the Carta versions can be swamped by cost/quality of the layers on top, especially the front layer.
Voyage, PW3 & Oasis 1 are likely the same eink panel generation, but the Voyage is far better. The PW4 is noticeably worse than PW3 or PW5.

Software / ebook management is far better on the Kobo than later Kindles, which is worse on PW3 now than original PW3 UI.

The Kaledio color eink is poorer for mono text (maybe 99.9%
of all reflowable novels) and much poorer than Colour illustrated books on a Nxtpaper tablet.The Gallery Color is far too slow for ebooks.

There has been tiny incremental changes to eink in 10 years. Mainstream choice is poorer, Kindle is worse than ever for SW/DRM/Exclusive etc.

[enuddleyarbl]

It's not even a latest technology issue for me. It's lack of existence at all. I'd be entirely happy with an updated Sage with a better battery that's user replaceable.
But, for some reason, Kobo has decided they don't want to provide ANY product in that market niche (not even an older, less desirable product).

I'm going to copy my 6 month old post in another thread since it's relevant:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...9&postcount=51

"According to this:

https://deepmarketinsights.com/blog/...-reader-market

The top manufacturers of e-readers are:

1. Amazon
2. Rakuten Kobo
3. Barnes & Noble
4. PocketBook International
5. Onyx International
6. Sony Corporation
7. Xiaomi Corporation
8. Hanvon Technology
9. Tolino Alliance
10. Bookeen

As I said before, Amazon is right out and Kobo hasn't sold an 8-inch e-reader in the US since around April of 2025.

Barnes & Noble has their 7.8" 2023 NOOK GlowLight 4 Plus:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/noo...roductInfoTabs
It has a Carta HD panel. Isn't that panel 3 generations old (released in 2014)?

PocketBook has their 7.8" 2023 InkPad 4:
https://pocketbook.ch/en-ch/catalog/...rs/inkpad-4-ch
It has a Carta 1200 panel (released in 2021).

Onyx: I can't find any 8-inch e-reader.

Sony: My cursory search says Sony got out of the e-reader market back in 2014. So, I don't know how that article says they're the 6th largest manufacturer.

Xiaomi: Hard to find any information. Looks like they might be focusing on phone-sized readers. But, I'm not sure if any real e-readers are available outside of China.

Hanvon: China market? No 8-inch e-reader?

Tolino has their 8" 2022 Epos 3 with a Carta 1200 panel.

Bookeen: Bankrupt? Acquired by Vivlio in 2022? No 8-inch e-readers?

So, from the top 10 manufacturers, no 8" e-readers released after 2023? None with the newest (Carta 1300) panel (which was released in 2023)."

[JSWolf]

That article is incorrect. Sony no longer make Readers. Bookeen is no long in business.

[Quoth]

Nook is either only USA or North America only now?
Sony exited well over 10 years ago?

Tolino is Rakuten/Kobo for the German market. I don't think the 8" Tolino is available.

Forget Xiaomi for ordinary ereaders

Hanvon not exporting & maybe dead.


Pocketbook & Onyx Boox seem to be the only two viable alternatives to Kobo. Kindle & Nook are for their book sales, though Kindle is international. Kindle crippled without an Amazon reg.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Nook is either only USA or North America only now?

Nook is USA only. At one time, they were in UK and going to be in Canada but their UK business was sold off and the purchasers ended up selling it to Kobo. Canada never did get Nook access.

[enuddleyarbl]

For some reason, it only just occurred to me that Kobo should sell refurbished e-readers. In theory, here they are:

https://us.kobobooks.com/collections...ished-ereaders

But, surprise, surprise, not only are their no refurbished Sages available, there are no refurbished e-readers of ANY kind available. Of course, I haven't been following that page, so I don't know if they periodically become available when someone returns something for repair. But, anyone in the 8-inch e-reader market has NO Kobo choice at all (and darn near none from anyone else).

I hate to say it, but I might have to buy an Apple iPad Mini to use as an e-reader when the new OLED version supposedly comes out in September-ish/October-ish. And, that's crazy-talk.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by Quoth

How is it progress to have less choice?
Also the differences between all the Carta versions can be swamped by cost/quality of the layers on top, especially the front layer.
Voyage, PW3 & Oasis 1 are likely the same eink panel generation, but the Voyage is far better. The PW4 is noticeably worse than PW3 or PW5.
.

It isn’t and I didn’t claim it was. Lack of certain products is the cost of progress which we’ve seen throughout history as companies introduce new products replacing old ones sometimes multiple.

Lack of choice in product features also comes from this which with Kobo we’ve seen with the lack of BW only devices in the same size category as the Libra even though ostensibly Kobo could offer the Libra 2 and Libra Color at the same time.

Progress in this sense does not necessarily translate to a better state for all consumers. Just that a technology has been introduced and a company has chosen to use it and abandon the previous technology.

Which could be why we’re not seeing a new Sage, the cost of color eink at that size might not be worth it to Kobo and they want to push color in general. The Elipsa isn’t really aiming at ereaders and the only other BW device Kobo has is the entry level Clara which probably exists to push people towards the Clara color given the 20$ US price difference.

[maddz]

Originally Posted by enuddleyarbl

For some reason, it only just occurred to me that Kobo should sell refurbished e-readers. In theory, here they are:

https://us.kobobooks.com/collections...ished-ereaders

But, surprise, surprise, not only are their no refurbished Sages available, there are no refurbished e-readers of ANY kind available. Of course, I haven't been following that page, so I don't know if they periodically become available when someone returns something for repair. But, anyone in the 8-inch e-reader market has NO Kobo choice at all (and darn near none from anyone else).

I hate to say it, but I might have to buy an Apple iPad Mini to use as an e-reader when the new OLED version supposedly comes out in September-ish/October-ish. And, that's crazy-talk.

There's a refurbished Sage on the UK store at £209 as noted upthread. If it wasn't for the battery issues on the Sage (not good, I understand) I might have given it a go. However, I managed to find a 32GB Forma on Ebay.co.uk and snapped that up, so at least I now have a back-up reader.

Mind you, buying on Ebay has its risks. That Forma I got had not been factory-reset and came with a bunch of Kobo Plus books onboard (nothing I was interested in - cosy mysteries and police procedurals mostly). The battery seems fine to me.

The other place I've seen Kobos for sale are the second hand tech resellers: in the UK, Computer Exchange or Cash Converters often have ereaders.