Libra Kobo Libra H2O - first reviews

[mrkapqa]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

That seems a fair assumption. Why would you want to turn the lighting off in that circumstance?

thanks, i just want to make sure that i won't be bothered by any sort of bluelight if i don't choose to do so.

tried the kindle voyage and also the new kindle basic and it seemed to me there was no way for the user to shutoff the frontlight/bluelight and it was very uncomfortable for me to read under the blanket, therefore i gave them away/returned them.

i prefer to add my own little ledlamp at night and avoid the blueligzht altogether.
(still it is led, so probably bluelight added, but not so invasive as with a e-reader that with internal lighting seems like a tablet or smartphone and disturbs my sleep).

[mrkapqa]

during daytime, if i put the kindle to 0%, it seemed the backlighting is off, but at night, even though at 0%, it was still lit to some degree, and uncomfortable (to me).
maybe there is an option to shut off the backlight also on the kindle (maybe oasis?) but i didnÄt find one - therefore i still prefer older ereader withouth this lighting like the sony readers (my favorite is the prs-950 which is also 7'inch but sadly won't power anymore).

[HolyAura]

Most of Kobos current ereader allow you to change the light color to orange with is much more comfortable for the eyes than blue light.

[mathil]

Originally Posted by mrkapqa

during daytime, if i put the kindle to 0%, it seemed the backlighting is off, but at night, even though at 0%, it was still lit to some degree, and uncomfortable (to me).
maybe there is an option to shut off the backlight also on the kindle (maybe oasis?) but i didnÄt find one - therefore i still prefer older ereader withouth this lighting like the sony readers (my favorite is the prs-950 which is also 7'inch but sadly won't power anymore).

When you set the frontlight to 0% on Kobos the leds will be completely turned off. The screen doesn't emit any light whatsoever on its own (like the old ereaders you've mentioned above), so you won't have any problems using your reading lamp.

[NiLuJe]

Note that the Kindle not turning the frontlight off at 0% is device-specific, and was "fixed" on some/all newer models (where "newer" is something along the line of PW3+ or PW4+ or something, IIRC).

In Kobo-land, 0 has always meant 0.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

Note that the Kindle not turning the frontlight off at 0% is device-specific, and was "fixed" on some/all newer models (where "newer" is something along the line of PW3+ or PW4+ or something, IIRC).

In Kobo-land, 0 has always meant 0.

I believe KOA2 is when 0 meant 0.

I know for sure 0 is 0 on PW4 and KT4. I checked them out in a dark closet.

PW3 still emitted some light at zero. More of glow in the dark and not actually enough to read on.

PW2 was relatively bright at 0. Equivalent to like 4-5 on the PW3, iirc.

[trekk]

On my devices (KOA 6", KOA 7" and KOA2 7") the frontlight is completely turned off at 0%. PW2 and PW3 still emit light at 0.

[Waiting4somethin]

Originally Posted by HolyAura

The touchscreen does not work underwater, but the buttons do work.

On the h20 the touchscreen would not work either, it would malfunction, responding erratically to the water, where the effect was to skip the pages without any prompting.

But I suppose you must mean that the touchsceen somehow resistant to interference or that it can be turned off like on the second kindle oasis.

I just want to read in the rain, or otherwise not worry about drying after being dropped in water.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by mrkapqa

i prefer to add my own little ledlamp at night and avoid the blueligzht altogether.
(still it is led, so probably bluelight added, but not so invasive as with a e-reader that with internal lighting seems like a tablet or smartphone and disturbs my sleep).

Have you tried an adjustable colour temperature ereader turned way down low? I don't understand the logic of adding your own LED lamp when you could use minimal internal lighting set toward the orange end of the spectrum. It's nothing like staring at a bright phone screen.

[mrkapqa]

Originally Posted by meeera

Have you tried an adjustable colour temperature ereader turned way down low? I don't understand the logic of adding your own LED lamp when you could use minimal internal lighting set toward the orange end of the spectrum. It's nothing like staring at a bright phone screen.

have not tried yet those with the warm light function if i remember correctly.

i am hoping to get my hands on a pocketbook inkpad 3 soon so i can check out myself this functionality.

thanks for the answers, they were really helpful.
glad to here that the newer kindle (oasis and paperwhite 4?) are able to shutoff the frontlight completely; i used the kindle voyage and that was very painful to read when compared to the kindle keyboard for example. also the flush glass front was not helpful, besides aesthetics, inmy opinion.
the kindle dx (i got both models, dx I and dx graphite, luckily on ebay) was also quite nice; they are not so easy to get in europe (as are the sony readers, which is a pity).

[JJ Johnson]

Just got my Libra H20 a couple hours ago. It's my first eReader and my immediate impression is of how small it is. I'm glad I didn't opt for the Kobo Clara with a 6" screen.

The second thing I noticed is that the two page turn buttons feel different. The bottom one (oriented with buttons on the right) feels good, has a noticeable click, while the top one is mushy, doesn't depress as much and feels like it may fail at some point.

I loaded a few ePub books onto it and immediately see big differences in formatting - some are fine, some not so great. I'm hoping I don't end up having to fiddle with formatting books and forever farting around with CSS to get them to be acceptable. Really don't want to go down that rabbit hole.

[Quoth]

Buttons are identical to each other on mine.
Either exchange it, or pop the back off with thumbnail or guitar puck starting at the fat edge diagonally opposite to the power button. It's not glued or sealed. The visible buttons are just plastic inserts sitting on top of the two "tact" type switches on the PCB.

The epub format IMO gives the SAME layout/format as other ePub ereaders or apps, or the epub2 converted to KF8/AZW on a Kindle (either by upload of epub2 to KDP to publish, not email to device, or local conversion and USB transfer by Calibre).
The kepub format seems to mess up if all sizes are not in "em", it may do "pt" sizes etc differently to the same file loaded as an epub.

Edit:
I have the same FW on a Kobo Touch -c, Original Aura H2O and the recent Libra. All do the format / layout the same with an actual epub2 file.

[NewToKoboLibra]

I recently bought a new Kobo Libra H2O from a reseller at an incredibly low price. So my opinions could be a bit biased towards the Kobo. I currently own a Kindle Paperwhite (7th gen) which doesn't have a warm light setting. I will be comparing these two.

Kobo pros:
1. The Kobo is a lighter device for its size, easier to hold.
2. Warm light is objectively nicer to look at in the dark.
3. Epub support is great if you rely on free ebooks (Internet Archive etc.) or rent from libraries.

Kobo cons:
1. Screen contrast is slightly less than Kindle. This is especially evident when rendering webpages or pages with pictures. White areas of the page appear more grainy compared to the Kindle. This is probably to make battery last longer (fewer refreshes). If you're reading just text, this is not bothersome.
2. Lighting is a bit dim near the page-turn-buttons bezel. Color tint is not too uniform (more pleasant with warm lights though).
3. Wireless sync is finicky - I couldn't send ebooks with my mobile app. USB connectivity is unreliable - I had to disconnect and reconnect it multiple times for my laptop to detect the Kobo.

Final words:
I got the Kobo for about the same price as I'd get by reselling my Kindle. The epub support, bigger screen and warm lighting was a no-brainer for me to upgrade. I can probably live with the other inconveniences.

[NewToKoboLibra]

Originally Posted by JJ Johnson

Just got my Libra H20 a couple hours ago. It's my first eReader and my immediate impression is of how small it is. I'm glad I didn't opt for the Kobo Clara with a 6" screen.

The second thing I noticed is that the two page turn buttons feel different. The bottom one (oriented with buttons on the right) feels good, has a noticeable click, while the top one is mushy, doesn't depress as much and feels like it may fail at some point.

I loaded a few ePub books onto it and immediately see big differences in formatting - some are fine, some not so great. I'm hoping I don't end up having to fiddle with formatting books and forever farting around with CSS to get them to be acceptable. Really don't want to go down that rabbit hole.

In today's age, 6" is honestly too small (despite 4:3 aspect ratio) when most flagship phones are larger than 6". When I bought my first 6" Kindle, it didn't seem too small as most phones used to be less than 5" at that time. 7" is probably the bare minimum today, anything larger would be a bit inconvenient to hold.

[swimon126]

Originally Posted by NewToKoboLibra

In today's age, 6" is honestly too small (despite 4:3 aspect ratio) when most flagship phones are larger than 6". When I bought my first 6" Kindle, it didn't seem too small as most phones used to be less than 5" at that time. 7" is probably the bare minimum today, anything larger would be a bit inconvenient to hold.

I wonder if I would feel like this later on. I'm on my first ereader (Kindle 6") and it feels like the perfect size for me (I mostly read fiction).
In terms of phones, I have small hands so even my current phone at 5.8" is too big. Wouldn't mind going back to a 5" phone. I might be an outlier though.