When you think ofthe top e-readers on the market, Kobo often comes up as a company known for selling e-readers and e-books through Rakuten. Released in 2018, the Kobo Clara HD is one of its most popular compact e-readers. The Kobo Clara 2E, the successor to this lightweight e-reader, was introduced in September 2022. While the follow-up offers plenty of similarities, many people will appreciate a few welcome changes.
The Clara 2E is completely waterproof and made with over 85% recycled plastic, including 10% ocean-bound plastic (abandoned plastic that would likely end up in the oceans). It offers a high-quality touchscreen display that doesn’t reflect light, making it easy to read even in direct sunlight. Along with Wi-Fi, there’s also Bluetooth for listening to audiobooks via a headset or speaker. If you prefer reading at night, you’ll love the auto-adjusting brightness, color temperature functions, and the dark mode.
Despite a few hiccups, like random screen flashing and slightly sluggish performance when navigating the UI and Kobo store, the reading experience is efficient and enjoyable. Plus, the device offers excellent battery life, is lightweight and portable, has crisp text that shows well in any lighting, and looks amazing with or without a cover. This is an e-reader anyone can enjoy.
Kobo Clara 2E
The Kobo Clara 2E isn’t a perfect 10, but it has what it takes to be your only e-reader, thanks to its user-friendly interface and useful reading features. In addition, it can compete with the Kindle thanks to its great build quality, elegant design, high-quality display, and competitive pricing, not to mention a quality store through Rakuten.
Price and availability
The Kobo Clara 2E is available for $140 on both the Kobo official website and Amazon. If you’d also like a SleepCover, it will cost you an extra $30. The case is also eco-conscious in that it is constructed of 97% recycled plastic, including 10% ocean-bound plastic, and has an inner microfiber lining made of 40% recycled plastic bottle fiber.
While the Clara 2E is only available in one variation, the SleepCover comes in three colors: coral reef orange, sea glass green, and black. It features a built-in stand that enables hands-free reading and can wake and put your device to sleep automatically.
Design, hardware, and what’s in the box
The Kobo Clara 2E comes neatly packaged in a small box with a quick-start guide and a USB-A to USB-C cable. Once unpacked, you’ll notice that the front of the e-reader looks almost identical to the Clara HD: all black with a large chin featuring the name “Kobo.”
Once you flip it around, you’ll see the beautiful deep ocean blue color on the back cover with an eye-catching wavy design. This is a welcome change from the black cover and dotted design on the back of the Clara HD.
The newest Kobo e-reader is all about sustainability and features ocean-bound recycled plastic, so the blue, wavy back cover makes even more sense. The textured waves also make the device easier to grip, and because of its small size, you can comfortably hold it in one hand like a smartphone. Its slim build also means that it can easily fit into a pocket in your backpack, suitcase, or purse.
Like the Clara HD, the 6-inch screen isn’t flush; it’s sunken in, which means that dust and debris may collect in the corners over time. It’s important to note that the overall dimensions of the Clara 2E compared to the Clara HD are slightly different.
The latter is 110-by-159.6-by-8.35 mm, while the newest device is 112.05-by-159.02-by-8.66 mm. This is most obvious when you try to put a Clara HD cover on this e-reader; it will be an incredibly snug fit after some extra effort to get it on.
Looking around the perimeter of the device, you’ll see that there is just one port: a USB-C port on the bottom for charging. The power button has been relocated from the bottom to the back of the e-reader, making it more convenient and visually appealing. There aren’t any built-in speakers, so you’ll have to connect a Bluetooth headset or speaker if you want to listen to audiobooks.
The Kobo Clara 2E has 16 GB of storage, compared to the 8 GB on the Kobo Clara HD. This is enough space for up to 12,000 e-books or around 75 Kobo audiobooks.
With its improved HD E Ink Carta 1200 touchscreen display with 300ppi resolution, the Clara 2E can compete with the best e-readers in the legibility department, like the Kindle Paperwhite. There’s no denying how sharp the font looks when reading.
However, we did notice some ghosting issues when taking notes or highlighting text while reading — what’s displayed on the screen faintly carries over to the next page. Ghosting on e-readers can be frustrating, though you’re able to tweak the refresh settings to dial things in.
Under Reading settings, you’re able to lower the page refresh rate so that the device completely refreshes the page more often. The highest refresh rate is per chapter, which can take some time if the chapter has a lot of pages. On the other end of the spectrum, the lowest refresh rate is one page. Just keep in mind that the lower the refresh rate, the more battery power it will consume, with the screen flashing black each time to completely clear it and alleviate any ghosting.
There’s also the impressive ComfortLight PRO feature, which can be set to automatically change the screen’s brightness and color temperature based on the time of day. This can also be done manually if you’d prefer, although the auto mode is quite effective. This reduces blue light eyestrain, which is especially important when reading in low-light environments and can help you fall asleep more easily.
The new native dark mode option is another useful feature for reading at night, but this setting only applies to books and saved articles (via Pocket); it does not affect the rest of the UI. Once enabled, the dark mode inverts the colors, giving you white text on a black background.
Coupled with ComfortLight PRO, it’s a great combo for bedtime reading. However, the page refresh is a bit distracting in lower light environments, as the brief, bright white flash is extremely noticeable. If you don’t plan on making highlights or taking notes, it would be best to increase the refresh rate when reading in a dark room.
The device runs its own dedicated Kobo firmware, which features an extremely user-friendly UI. you’re able to also easily check for and install updates with two taps on the status bar. The Home screen offers an overview of the books you’re currently reading, while My Books allows you to browse your library, and Discover helps you pick your next read. The software is consistently updated, ensuring that the device is always up-to-date with the latest features and bug fixes.
There’s also OverDrive andPocket appintegration, configurable font sizes, and support for various file types. EPUB, PDF, MOBI, and Kobo Audiobooks are among the file types supported. With OverDrive, you can browse and borrow digital library content, like books and audiobooks from your local library. The service is free; all you need is a library card.
Using a cable and a computer, you’re able to easily sideload unprotected content like e-books and comic books in 15 file formats. DRM-protected content can also be sideloaded, but it takes a little more work and Adobe Digital Editions to do so. Unfortunately, there’s no support for AZW files, so you won’t be able to sideload Kindle content without converting it.
All the device’s built-in features are designed to make everyday use easier and more convenient for the user. For instance, your reading progress, bookmarks, and notes are synced automatically, so you can access them on any Kobo app or device.
However, one downside is that there’s no native landscape mode, so you can only hold the device one way. Although some users have reported being able to access landscape mode by editing a configuration file and enabling developer mode, this is not officially supported.
Performance
The e-reader has a responsive touchscreen and quick page turns when reading. However, it’s a bit sluggish when navigating the UI, such as when browsing the Kobo store, your library (especially if you have a lot of books), or using the web browser. This is to be expected with the 1GHz CPU and only 512MB of RAM. While this is pretty standard for e-readers, a bump up to 1GB of RAM would help make the UI navigation experience snappier.
While it is common for E Ink devices to flash to black and back to white once when refreshing pages, there are random times when the screen will do this repeatedly (usually three to five times). This is most common when waking the device, or occasionally when navigating the UI.
The one-time flashing is definitely something you get used to after regular use, but random flashing that lasts a few seconds can be frustrating. Luckily, this didn’t happen too often during testing, and setting the refresh rate under Reader Settings to a lower number also seemed to help. It’s also worth noting that the extra flashing could be caused by pulse-width modulation (PWM), a way to control the brightness of displays. It might be more noticeable some more than others, so your mileage may vary.
Battery life and charging
Depending on the settings and usage, the Clara 2E’s battery can last up to a month on a single charge. Plus, adjusting the screen brightness and turning off functions like Wi-Fi when not in use can help increase battery life.
We fully charged the device upon arrival and used it daily for one to two hours with the brightness set to 30%. During this time, the Wi-Fi remained on, the Bluetooth remained off, and the page refresh rate was set to five pages. The battery had not been exhausted even after a few weeks, though it came close, with roughly 18% of battery life remaining.
We’ve estimated that it would last around another week with similar usage. Sure, this shows that the Clara 2E lives up to the “one month on a single charge” claim, but many users will use it for much longer each day and with a higher brightness level. Since the battery didn’t completely discharge during our testing, we charged it from 18% to get a sense of how long it would take to fill. Using a 30-watt charger, it took about 85 minutes to recharge to full. That’s pretty decent, especially considering how long the battery lasts for light to average readers.
Competition
The Clara 2E’s biggest competition is the latestKindle Paperwhitee-reader from Amazon. It isn’t made from recycled materials but is waterproof. It also has a slightly larger screen at 6.8-inches as opposed to the Kobo Clara 2E’s 6-inch screen. Both devices are glare-free and have the same sharp 300ppi display, and crisp, easy-to-read text. They also share the same blue light reduction features.
The Clara 2E has a few additional customizable accessibility options like extra fonts and font styles. It also has sliders for changing font weight, line spacing, and margins as needed. you’re able to also change these things on the Paperwhite, but you’re limited by presets. Kobo devices are much more open in this regard.
The Clara 2E offers a storage capacity of 16 GB, while the Paperwhite gives you the option of 8 GB or 16 GB. Unlike the Clara 2E, the Paperwhite comes with lock-screen ads; but you can pay to have the removed. To get a Paperwhite that is the same price as theClara 2E (currently $140 USD), you’d have to settle for just 8 GB of storage and lock-screen ads. So, the Clara 2E is a better deal if you don’t mind a slightly smaller screen.
The Kobo Nia is a fantastic alternative if you’re not into audiobooks and don’t mind sacrificing storage space and processing power. It is $30 USD cheaper than the Clara 2E and only comes with 8 GB of storage. It doesn’t support Kobo audiobooks either, as there aren’t any built-in speakers or Bluetooth support. It also isn’t waterproof or made out of recycled materials.
Similarly, the Kobo Nit features a 6-inch glare-free display, although it’s not as high-quality as the Clara 2E’s display — it’s an E Ink touchscreen with 212ppi, so it won’t be as sharp. The processor is also slower at just 900 MHz compared to the 1 GHz on the Kobo Clara 2E. Luckily, it features Kobo’s ComfortLight technology. Although not the same as ComfortLight PRO, which specifically tackles blue light exposure, it’s still great for automatically adjusting the screen’s brightness.
Should you buy it?
While the Clara 2E has a few shortcomings, there are workarounds for most, making them far from dealbreakers. Though there aren’t built-in speakers, you can easily pair a headset orportable speakervia Bluetooth. Also, changing the page refresh rate helps with ghosting and random screen flashing. Lastly, it can be hard to find what you’re looking for in the Kobo store because of its slow user interface. Still, you can browse the website on another device and then sync the content to your e-reader.
The pros definitely outweigh the cons of this compact and highly capable device, especially considering it’s just $140. It boasts ample storage space, one of the best E Ink displays on the market, and impressive eye protection features. You’re getting a lot of bang for your buck, especially when compared to the alternatives. To put the icing on the cake, it’s waterproof and the first Kobo e-reader constructed entirely of recycled and ocean-bound materials. This makes it ideal for those who want an eco-friendly e-reader that is lightweight and provides a comfortable reading experience.
Shopping on Rakuten’s e-book store without leaving the device is an added bonus. You can shop for e-books and audiobooks without switching to another device unless you want to. The Kobo Clara 2E’s UI puts everything you need at your fingertips. So, if you’re looking for a viable alternative to similar options, you should definitely check out this affordable e-reader.
