New Kobo coming? Which?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Claude_C

It's fun to have the opinion of someone who actually owns a colour ereader.

I went for a walk with my dog, thought about it, fight with my demons, and decided to cancel my order. Until next time I'm tempted. Maybe by an Oasis Colour.

Very doubtful if Amazon ever releases another Oasis. It's been 5 years since the previous one.

[leaston]

I'm disappointed in the new offerings from Kobo and hope they release something more useful...to me anyway

I'd love a replacement for my Forma and I'm spoiled with the 8" screen. Nothing smaller will work because I read Manga as well as novels.

A colour screen seems pointless to me. I don't care about being able to see the book covers in colour and it's not a big enough screen to read comics. I would never annotate on an ereader and the stylus/pen is a ridiculous price. So, colour is utterly useless on a reader this size.

Come on Kobo, bring out a new Elipsa with a colour screen and I'll buy immediately. Until that day comes, I'm going to stick to a tablet for Comics and rethink my need for the 8" reader. Hey ho.

[Aleron Ives]

Onyx has released Kaleido 3 devices in the 7.8" and 10.3" form factors, so it's certainly possible Kobo will follow suit -- if the Clara and Libra Colour sell well enough.

[leaston]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

Onyx has released Kaleido 3 devices in the 7.8" and 10.3" form factors, so it's certainly possible Kobo will follow suit -- if the Clara and Libra Colour sell well enough.

That would be good.

I did wonder if these colour releases were limited initially to determine how well they will sell. They definitely missed a trick with comic readers like me though, although I suppose that's more a niche use for these anyway.

Having looked at Onyx, I decided not to take the plunge due to the price and poor battery life. I could buy a new 7" ereader and 10" Android tablet for a similar amount of money as their 10" colour ereader.

[HLS]

There are two new ones in color, but I’m going to wait until they have an elipsa in color getting some small seems to be a waste of money

[Haesslich]

Originally Posted by leaston

That would be good.

I did wonder if these colour releases were limited initially to determine how well they will sell. They definitely missed a trick with comic readers like me though, although I suppose that's more a niche use for these anyway.

Having looked at Onyx, I decided not to take the plunge due to the price and poor battery life. I could buy a new 7" ereader and 10" Android tablet for a similar amount of money as their 10" colour ereader.

As far as I'm concerned, the best part about the Kobo release is that they've set a price ceiling for everyone else releasing color e-readers. The next cheapest is like $80 more, than the Libra Colour, IIRC. It's not the most full featured reader, but the Clara Colour is one of the cheapest. If they can make it sell well, then eInk might actually be incentivized to produce better and more color technology eInk displays, which will get the market as a whole going.

[Aleron Ives]

Originally Posted by leaston

Having looked at Onyx, I decided not to take the plunge due to the price and poor battery life.

Onyx has some of the best battery life in the e-paper market on their greyscale devices, though. The Note Air 3 is great in that regard. The Note Air 3C has terrible battery life because of the BSR GPU that cleans up the Kaleido ghosting.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

The problem with this is that in summer I often use my Libra with the light at 70-90%, to get the screen look whitish. In those conditions a color ereader would not look like I want even with the brightness at 100% - the screen would still be too dark. Note this is not outdoors or in direct sunlight, just indoors, under a window, on a sunny day (but not with sunlight falling on the screen).

But couldn't you make the background white and the text black on a color Kobo?

[chrisridd]

Originally Posted by Haesslich

As far as I'm concerned, the best part about the Kobo release is that they've set a price ceiling for everyone else releasing color e-readers. The next cheapest is like $80 more, than the Libra Colour, IIRC. It's not the most full featured reader, but the Clara Colour is one of the cheapest. If they can make it sell well, then eInk might actually be incentivized to produce better and more color technology eInk displays, which will get the market as a whole going.

Do we know if the current pre-order prices will be the final RRP?

[Haesslich]

Originally Posted by chrisridd

Do we know if the current pre-order prices will be the final RRP?

Yes. Kobo doesn't tend to reduce prices at all, and their preorder prices are their retail prices. The Libra 2 spent several years at the same price, until last year when the price went up $10 with inflation. So the Clara Colour is definitely the cheapest retail Kaleido 3 reader to date.

[leaston]

Originally Posted by Haesslich

As far as I'm concerned, the best part about the Kobo release is that they've set a price ceiling for everyone else releasing color e-readers. The next cheapest is like $80 more, than the Libra Colour, IIRC. It's not the most full featured reader, but the Clara Colour is one of the cheapest. If they can make it sell well, then eInk might actually be incentivized to produce better and more color technology eInk displays, which will get the market as a whole going.

This would be the ideal scenario, yes. I was surprised at the price of the new colour Kobo models and if the 7" reader was big enough I'd be pre-ordering immediately.

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

Onyx has some of the best battery life in the e-paper market on their greyscale devices, though. The Note Air 3 is great in that regard. The Note Air 3C has terrible battery life because of the BSR GPU that cleans up the Kaleido ghosting.

I confess I haven't looked at the Onyx greyscale devices, just the colour.

I'm being the kind of stubborn that comes with age with my ereader requirements now that Kobo have brought colour into the mix as a serious contender I want a minimum 10" colour screen, world class battery life, no ghosting issues, excellent file format compatibility, fast CPU, cheap stylus (looking at you, Kobo!!), comprehensive note taking, much better PDF handling and one or two other features that probably won't happen before I reach retirement age

[Aleron Ives]

If you're willing to give up the colour requirement, the Note Air 3 (or a used Note Air 2) would meet your other requirements. Kobo has among the worst note-taking experiences available, since its performance is extremely slow and laggy and uses an active pen. Onyx Boox and Ratta's Supernote are both in a separate league compared to Kobo in the writing department. Remarkable is also better, but its reader software is highly lacking, and its software updates are pitiful.

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by leaston

That would be good.

I did wonder if these colour releases were limited initially to determine how well they will sell. They definitely missed a trick with comic readers like me though, although I suppose that's more a niche use for these anyway.

Having looked at Onyx, I decided not to take the plunge due to the price and poor battery life. I could buy a new 7" ereader and 10" Android tablet for a similar amount of money as their 10" colour ereader.

Pretty much all the 7.8" and large screen e-ink readers are niche use. I don't blame Kobo for starting out with the more commonly sold sizes. They are getting a boatload of attention and that's good. Would they be getting the same amount of attention for a larger, less portable, and last but not least, MORE EXPENSIVE option?

It's been what, 7+ years since Kobo introduced a 7.8" screen size option? Has Amazon followed suit? NOPE. And it's probably because they don't feel they'd get enough sales to be worth it. Right now, it's looking like Amazon has made a similar decision in regards to not continuing the Oasis line. (I hope I'm wrong, but not looking good on that front.)

I think if these color models sell well for Kobo, we will see other models in larger screen sizes. I hope not to the exclusion of BW models though.

[leaston]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

If you're willing to give up the colour requirement, the Note Air 3 (or a used Note Air 2) would meet your other requirements. Kobo has among the worst note-taking experiences available, since its performance is extremely slow and laggy and uses an active pen. Onyx Boox and Ratta's Supernote are both in a separate league compared to Kobo in the writing department. Remarkable is also better, but its reader software is highly lacking, and its software updates are pitiful.

I was watching a YT video the other day showing comics being read on the new colour Kobo and that sold me on the idea of a colour ereader, albeit with a bigger screen. Kobo have dangled a huge carrot with these.

I'm trying to avoid the eye strain that comes with reading on a tablet and a 10" colour reader would do everything I need right now, apart from decent PDF handling.

[leaston]

Originally Posted by graycyn

Pretty much all the 7.8" and large screen e-ink readers are niche use. I don't blame Kobo for starting out with the more commonly sold sizes. They are getting a boatload of attention and that's good. Would they be getting the same amount of attention for a larger, less portable, and last but not least, MORE EXPENSIVE option?

It's been what, 7+ years since Kobo introduced a 7.8" screen size option? Has Amazon followed suit? NOPE. And it's probably because they don't feel they'd get enough sales to be worth it. Right now, it's looking like Amazon has made a similar decision in regards to not continuing the Oasis line. (I hope I'm wrong, but not looking good on that front.)

I think if these color models sell well for Kobo, we will see other models in larger screen sizes. I hope not to the exclusion of BW models though.

Yes, it is telling that Amazon have jumped from 7" readers to the 10" Scribe with nothing new between. That Kobo haven't released a new 8" model does suggest lower sales and less interest at that size.

Having had a long rethink of what to do, I will replace my ailing Forma with a 7" B/W reader and continue with an Android tablet for everything except novels for now. I'll keep my fingers crossed for a 10" colour reader at some point though