Kobo Libra H2O Current Review: A Convincing Kindle Alternative

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Amazon dominates the mountain of lights with its matches, but an old enemy refuses to give up the fight. That's Rakuten, who just launched the Kobo Libra H2O ($ 169), an electronic reader whose selling price is halfway between the Kindle Paperwhite ($ 129) and the Kindle Oasis ($ 249).

I have been testing it for a few days now and have found it as an interesting alternative to the Kindle. Not only is the integration of local library books much better than that of a Kindle, but its interface is also cleaner.

Design: different does not mean better

The design of the Kobo Libra H2O stands out, and not the best way. Just like a paperback, the button side of the electronic reader bends, almost like it was distorted during shipping.

Plus, when I spend over $ 150 on e-readers, I hope it will be metal and not plastic.

The Libra H2O offers physical buttons for page switching and interface navigation, which Amazon limits to the super expensive Oasis. Unfortunately, the Balance buttons are steeper on the half which is more in the center of the electronic reader, while the Oasis buttons do not have such a problem.

Curiously, the buttons are mapped in the opposite scheme of what I was expecting, with the top button (it shifts no matter how you hold it) back one page and the bottom button forward. To resolve this problem, you can tap the Gear icon on the menu bar to view the playback settings, and then tap Inverted.

The H2O Scale measures 0.2 to 0.31 inches thick and weighs 6.8 ounces. Its overall dimensions are similar to those of the Kindle Paperwhite (0.32 inches thick, 6.4 ounces) and the Kindle Oasis (0.13 to 0.33 inches thick, 6.6 ounces).

Durability

According to Rakuten, its HZO protection gives the Kobo Libra H2O water resistance in accordance with the IPX8 classification, with a range of up to 60 minutes in 2 meters of water. This corresponds to the Amazon IPX Index for the Kindle Paperwhite and the Kindle Oasis, and we will test it in one of our dunk tanks as we continue to update. this opinion.

Although water resistance is an interesting feature, it has become a standard, as proposed by Amazon in Paperwhite, which costs $ 40 less than the Libra H2O.

Display

The Carta E Ink screen of the Kobo Libra H20 is accurate and offers as much benefit as what you expect at this price. When creating Jia Tolentino's Trick Mirror (Random House LLC, 2019), I found that the publisher's default font was crisp and clear, which made it easier to read text paragraphs slightly more academic than what I was ready for now.

At 300dpi, the Libra H2O is as sharp as the Oasis and the Paperwhite, and its 7-inch size is as large as that of the Oasis and larger than that of the 6-inch screen inches of Paperwhite. Oh, and there is even the setting of the display heat offered by the Oasis. Kobo openly claims that this technology aims to "ensure you do not stay awake at night," which Amazon does not claim for the Oasis.

For the most part, the backlight of the Libra H2O is identical to that of both Kindle, so the entire screen is illuminated. The only place that is lacking is the quarter of an inch of space located on the side of the screen, next to the buttons, where the lighting is slightly lower.

The Kobo Libra H2O reminds me how good a Kindle interface could be if it focused solely on the book.

I want the Libra H2O to have automatic backlight adjustment, so I do not have to change this setting when I start reading. Amazon limits this feature to the Oasis at $ 249.

The color contrast of the Libra H2O – which is certainly not as important as the rendering of the text – is also a bit lower than I expected at this price. While browsing the Kobo Online Store, the book covers looked a little less clear in the form of thumbnails than on the Kindle I've seen in the past.

Reading experience and interface

The interface of the Kobo Libra H2O reminds me of the old Apple motto: it works. When I search for a book (or a digital reader), I just want the book itself not to be thrown into a social ecosystem.

I do not want to constantly refer to Amazon, but the Kobo Libra H2O reminds me how good a Kindle interface could be if it focused only on the book. Opening of Mat Johnson's Loving Day (Spiegel & Grau, 2015) on the Libra H2O I was pleasantly surprised not to be asked about the integration of Goodreads, nor to get the metadata about the Author, the cruel on which Amazon sits on it.

And while I was reading Loving Day, I also noticed that Kobo was not showing you other people's highlights, a feature I'd like Amazon to disable by default (yes, you can disable it yourself, but nobody wants to fiddle with the parameters section of an electronic reader).

Better yet, Kobo does not pollute your home screen with advertisements, as usually does Amazon. The Kobo's home screen also feels more relaxed and inviting, with a smaller, more minimalist menu bar at the top.

The Kobo and Kindle interfaces have many similarities, however, when you tap the top right corner of a page to add a bookmark (although Amazon requires you to press a second time to confirm).

Kobo's also added a new "scrubber" mode to browse the entire book. Previously, it allowed you to preview or jump directly to the other pages of the chapter where you are. This change brings the system back to parity with the page preview page navigation, although the Kindle also offers a 3 by 3 grid view, so you can see a bunch of pages at a time.

Content: Kobo eBooks and Libraries

The Kobo e-book library represents a serious allocation of more than 5 million titles. Amazon does not publish its total number of ebooks, but Marshall Honorof, publisher of Tom's Guide, sets the total at around 4 million. However, Amazon claims "more than 1 million digital titles that you will not find anywhere else" in its Exclusive section, so I will look for something important or more important than the popular Kobo that Amazon lacks.

Although Kobo also sells audiobooks, the Libra H2O does not support this format. The files it supports range from books (PUB, EPUB3, PDF, and MOBI) to images (JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, and TIFF), text (TXT, HTML, XHTML, and RTF), and comic books ( CBZ and CBR).

More importantly – especially for those who do not have unlimited funds for the purchase of books – Kobo really facilitates "borrowing" ebooks from your local library. Simply connect your library card to the Overdrive platform and connect to Overdrive on the Libra H2O. That's it! your public library is now a source column on your home screen. The most difficult part of this whole process was simply crossing the street in front of our office to open an account.

This process is much simpler – and easier – than on a Kindle, where you need to log in to your library's website, find the book there, and send it to your device.

Battery life, storage: tied with Amazon

Rakuten and Kobo believe the H2O Balance will last weeks on a single charge, but it does not say how much. I will make sure to know how many days (with one hour of reading, with a varied use of the backlight, per day), the final version of this notice is paid.

The Kobo Libra H2O contains 8GB of storage, enough capacity for "up to 6,000 eBooks". The Paperwhite and Oasis also come with 8GB, but offer the option to pay $ 30 more to quadruple your storage space to 32GB.

Outlook: an optimistic reading

The Kobo Libra H2O seems to be the best electronic reader for those who do not eat, breathe and live in the Amazon ecosystem. Not only does it have the basics – a high-resolution screen for a nice and light interface – it also simplifies the process of borrowing books from libraries.

I still need to spend more time with her before I can give a final grade and a decision if it's something I would recommend you to buy. I will update this review with test notes on battery life, water resistance and other elements of the experience when I will provide a final score.

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