Not sure if anyone has written this. I assume you tranferred your books with Calibre. The thing is Kobo can't organise your books into series when they're not imported YET. So you first have to send them to your kobo and wait until it says they're imported, then you reconnect the kobo to calibre and click on the "device" button side arrow and then press "update cached metadata on your device"
Yes! That took me a lot of trial and error to figure that out because I never could find a in depth answer on it! I’m going to pin this so others with this confusion can find it quickly☺️
I wanted to give a little update since this upload: I did end up trying out the kobo again and fully switched over to the kobo. I did the math and realized that most months I wasn't even reading enough KU books to equal the monthly subscription fee(most KU books are around 4.99 if you bought it, I highly recommend checking to see if you read enough KU books per month. I thought I did). Since then I have just started buying those books when I can't find them on the kobo. I also found the perfect screen settings/font to use that has minimized the headaches I was previously experiencing. I also have been utilizing my local library so much more with the overdrive feature that's directly on the kobo. Overall I am really glad I just decided to make the full switch out of the amazon ecosystem. I hope this helps anyone that's on the fence about making the full switch or is still trying to figure out which one is best for them!
@@jonahlim5977 I just messed with the brightness and warm tone along with the boldness of the font until it felt comparable to when I read on my kindle. The brightness I had at usually 25% and then for the warmth I kept it about 1/3 of the way up during the day. At night I used the dark background on with the brightness at about 2% then the warmth all the way up. For some reason with the color filter I had a very hard time finding the perfect balance where I wasn't getting headaches.
@@AmbersBookNook thank you amber! I’ve watched your video twice now and really appreciate how you feel about the product! I’m still on the fence about purchasing it tho😬
@@AmbersBookNook I really enjoy physical books. So I'm more so on the fence of e readers in general. I mainly want an e reader for reading while traveling or being outside the home in general. Any advice?
I think even if Amazon does come out with a similar ereader color is the future and will drive up price points. Overall I think the Amazon ecosystem has done a number on people and sucked them into a vortex of complacency and doing whatever is easy. I am trying to make a conscious move away from that and while I will prob miss the ease of Kindle and the send to features, I have been proactive in downloading Calibre and downloading my Kindle books and stripping them of the DRM the Amazon ecosystem imposes. I too read some KU Indie authors but purchase my books and can send those over to be "Kobofied".
I completely agree, i do hope in the future that those indie authors that are on Amazon are more accessible on other platforms to make it a little easier! That is awesome that you have started to make that switch! I need to stop being lazy and just do it also, I’m realizing that I might not use KU enough to make the 10.99 a month cheaper than if I was actually just buying the books so I think I’m going to just make the switch
I love the Kindle ecosystem and dont see my self moving loving my scribe and they are saying next year amazon will have a color ereader out for those who need color for the type of books they may read for me im happy with the scribe 64GB and will use that till it no longer gets updates someday
@@carlosbarross yes, using the software Calibre makes it really easy. I put a link to a video I watched that shows you step by step how to do it in my description for this video. It takes most formats but the one I did for all my books was epub
@@jameshjacksonjr I agree! The kindle ecosystem just makes everything so convenient! I hope they make something like the scribe but around a 7-8” display just to make it a little easier to take on the go and I hope they add annotating directly on the page
Very very comprehensive review and not unpleasant delivery. I’m 67 and recently disabled so am pursuing reading over TV. You covered everything I needed and very organized, insightful, and smooth. I have to go with this Kobu for the notes. I can write on the text and highlight as well, but you may have led me back to reading more, which can always be a good thing. Thank you!
Thank you for this. This is probably the most in-depth and honest review I’ve watched so far about the Kobo Libra Colour. Especially on night reading and dimming the screen, battery, etc. All the others just focus on how great the annotations are. This will definitely make me hold off for kindle to get their annotating and color game together.
Thank you for watching!! I’m glad that it was helpful☺️ I’m hoping that the leaks about the AcEP e ink display being more like the B&W eink displays end up being true, supposedly the color filter is what causes that look I was talking about with the kaleido 3 screens and the AcEP isn’t supposed to have it! I have my fingers crossed that it’s true🫣
Same here!!! Thank you for the review - I was on the fence, but I will wait for a new Kindle… perhaps, I just get a new skin for my Oasis to feel the “upgrade”, lol
I purchased a kobo libra color to use strictly for annotating books and note taking.. I’m not switching I’ll be keeping kindle readers and using both eco systems for different purposes.. I love all the annotation features and just didn’t want to wait a year for kindles version so I’m excited to play around with my new kobo color when it arrives.. thanks for the in depth review :) I like to see different users perspectives!
That’s what I was considering doing too(mainly reading library books on the kobo) I haven’t returned it yet because my UPS was closed when I went to drop it off so I’m still on the fence on whether or not I’m actually going to drop it off, I did download the Kobo Books app on my iPad though(you can annotate right on the pages like the libra color) so I think I might do that until kindle comes out with one of their own! Thank you for watching! I hope you enjoy your kobo☺️
So I wanted to give an update on this ( I will be doing a follow up video at some point) I did send the Libra Colour back but recently decided to buy it again as I really missed the annotation feature on it. Overall if you really like to annotate your books I think this device is a perfect option. I initially thought about how much I used KU but then realized that most months I wasn’t reading enough books on it that equated to the $11.99 so now I just buy the books on there if I can’t find them on Libby or kobo! Hopefully this helps anyone who is trying to figure out what they want
If you are intrested Good ereader anouced an ereader with enhanced Gallery 3 screen. You can watch the revies if you want. There is rumor that Amazon will have in couple of months an ereader with probably same eink screen.
@@gyulalaszlotako8552thank you for telling me about that, I will definitely have to look into it! Since I got the kobo again I’ve been debating on whether I want to keep it or not. It freezes on me almost everytime I’m reading and then won’t turn back on without hard resetting it
@@AmbersBookNook this is concerning. Have you contacted tech support and gotten any insight on why it’s freezing? I am really considering purchasing the Kobo Libra Colour. I’ve watched videos and read reviews, I appreciate your honest opinions. I won’t be eager to buy a color version from Amazon if the high price predictions are true.
@@smccrary5849 I haven’t messaged them yet, I think it might be on some of the side loaded books. I haven’t experienced it with any of the books I’ve purchased from kobos site or from my books I’ve gotten on overdrive
I wouldn't get too attached to the Amazon ecosystem, they have banned and will ban people for futile reasons, and if that happens you lose all of your digital contents. I am going to be switching from Kindle to Kobo, I'm tech savvy and I don't have issues using Calibre to manage my books, I find it half the fun. I have yet to choose which model I'm going to be going for, I'm of course thinking of the device you reviewed and I found it a pretty exhaustive review. I'm glad to see a review where the device wasn't sent for free or anything like that, just a honest review. I also appreciate the lack of background music, helps a lot with people that get overwhelmed by noise, like me.
Thank you for watching! I actually ended up keeping the kobo and have since fully made the switch. I have gotten used to the screen now and have found the best balance with the backlighting for my eyes. I’m glad I ended up sticking with it as it’s made me utilize my local library with overdrive a lot more. I hope you end up enjoying whatever model kobo you pick!!
@@AmbersBookNook I'm glad that you figured the right screen settings out! If you can please put a pinned comment in the comment section telling people you didn't switch and why, I feel like it's really important!
Kindle punishes Canadians by not offering Libby support or audio books. Kobo is the only logical choice for Canadians, especially those who belong to libraries. Thank you for an honest and very helpful review.
Yes! I actually decided to order the Libra color again and have made the full switch over to kobo, I’m going to start using my library a lot more. I did the math and realized that I wasn’t even reading enough to add up the subscription price of KU most months so now I don’t really feel any pull towards kindle
I believe that the Libby service is blocked by Kindle in Canada. Same for the audio books. In the Settings menu in the Kindles that Amazon ship to Canada there is not even a Bluetooth selection in the menu. Without either Bluetooth or a headphone jack it is impossible to receive any audio from the Kindle. Blocking Bluetooth goes to show how far Amazon has gone to cripple the Canadian Kindle experience. I most certainly cannot understand their business model, but it has driven Canadian clients away from Kindle to Kobo.
@@camrodger8638 I never understood why they do that, I actually ended up keeping the kobo like a week after I uploaded this video and have fully made the switch because I liked the overdrive feature directly on the kobo so much. I'm honestly really glad to be getting completely out of the kindle ecosystem.
Thank you for this review! I’ve had a Kindle paperwhite for about a year now and I absolutely love it, but I was intrigued by the Kobo. I’ve realized that I don’t really have a need for color. It would be nice for the highlighter to be in color, but it’s not a super necessity for me. I mostly read on KU, so that was also a major factor in deciding against switching. Sure, I could always purchase the book and transfer it to Kobo, but that kind of defeats the purpose of the money savings that I get by using KU. While the Overdrive integration is great in theory, I have multiple cards on Libby and I’ve heard Kobo only lets you do 1 library card at a time. The total cost was also a pretty big factor against it. I don’t plan on getting rid of my Kindle, so spending $300+ total on a new device just to have it as a backup didn’t really make sense to me when I thought about it more. This video just solidified my thoughts and made me feel better about my choice. I did still download my books and keep them on my computer as a backup in case Amazon ever goes nuts and locks my account.
Yeah I would say for your purpose it would definitely be a waste, the color was really cool to me at first but honestly kinda felt like too much changing the colors and I felt like I wasted a lot of time messing with the colors. and I had issues with it freezing a lot for me while I was reading and I would have to restart it. The overdrive feature does only let you use 1 card at a time
Two things: "You CAN manually add series to your kobo in Calibre. Plug in your kobo Switch to device view, so you see the database from the kobo, not your library. Select all the books in a series, preferably in order. You can use ctrl-click to select multiples that aren't next to each other. Yes, on this screen you won't be able to see series info. You'll have to know it. Use the tiny drop down next to your "Kobo Utilities" button in the upper right. Now you'll have an option like "Manage Series" near the top. Click it. It should bring up a screen showing the books you selected. Select the correct series from the drop down. Set the start book to 1. Reorder the books to the correct display/read order. Once done it should load to your kobo." And the other is NickelSeries: Integrated EPUB/KEPUB series metadata support for calibre.
Ooo thank you so much for this! I never did look into it further so that’s super helpful☺️ I’m going to pin this so hopefully it helps out someone who’s looking to do that!
Thank you for this! Love how in depth this review is 😁 some others just show the annotations but you’ve shown some extra features that I think would definitely make it a worthwhile purchase
@@AmbersBookNook thank you! I can also totally understand why you love the kindle still (I do too) and if I do decide to get get the kobo it would be for different kind of reading (non-fiction and learning) and would still use both ☺️ lots to think about 😌 maybe as a reward for if I can ever finish to read all my physical TBR books haha 🫠
Thank you for watching! I hope you enjoy it when you get it☺️ yeah, I feel like the material kept it pretty light for its size and plus with a case you never even notice it
Ok this has been super helpful. I have a 10th gen kindle and really want the warm light….Ive been debating which to get and I think for my purposes a kindle is probably best right now. Bummer because I’d definitely like to spend my money somewhere other than Amazon, but I will continue to support local bookstores when I buy actual books. Thank you for taking the time to do this!
@@sistergoldenhair0727 the kindle basic and 10th gen Paperwhite doesn’t have warm light. I had the 10th gen Paperwhite and upgraded to the 11th gen Paperwhite so I could have that feature
Hi there - thank you so much for going over great features Kobo has over the Kindle. I'd been on the fence and also wanted a device with this form factor & buttons.
trust me, this is such a nice device. I also did not know that you can use "Pocket" for internet articles you want to read. So many little things that the Kobo Libra Colour has over the Kindle.
This for school would be AMAZING! I'm really trying to wait for the kindle color since I already have a paperwhite BUT I think I'm going to pull the plug.
Ive thought about getting it again because I’ve heard that the ACeP screen is going to be more saturated and is supposed to not have that screen door/darker screen(idk if that is actually going to be the case) but that is going to come with a 40-60% higher price tag than normal e ink displays which idk if I really want to pay that much, also idk if it will have the annotation features or if it will just be like the scribe is now, and I did the math and wasn’t reading enough books on KU to even equal the cost of KU monthly so I decided to cancel my subscription(this was the biggest reason I decided to stick with kindle) so if any of those are how you feel I think it would be worth going with the kobo!
One downside to the Libra Colour not mentioned often is that all handwritten stylus notes taken are lost if you ever switch devices or reset this device. For me, the notes I take are important to me and I don't want to lose them.
Were you taking the notes on something that was sideloaded on the device? I sold my first kobo libra Colour and just recently got another one to compare to the kindle Colorsoft. Once I signed in to my account my previous notebooks were back on my new device and all the notes I wrote on the books I had gotten from overdrive were still saved in kobos cloud system. The only things I couldn’t recover were the annotations I had put in my sideloaded books
@@AmbersBookNook As I understand from what Kobo says in their help docs, all stylus annotations are local to that device only, and are lost when the device is reset or you move to a new Kobo device. Non-transferable notes.
I decided to just make my iPad mini into my ereader by putting a paper like screen protector on it and honestly it feels a lot like the kobo but I can have StoryGraph and Libby on there too and I’ve been using the kobo books app which has the annotating feature directly on the page just like the libra color but you can select more colors for the pen than the libra color, I’m enjoying it so much. If you have an iPad or android tablet I would definitely recommend downloading the kobo books app and testing that out
Thank you! Honestly I think it depends on what overall you are looking for with an ereader. If you love kindle unlimited and the ease of being able to get those books without extra steps or if you aren’t going to really use color other than the covers I would say no. If you read a lot of manga/graphic novels/books with color or you love to annotate right on the pages I would say yes! There is a lot of talk about the new ACeP screen coming out by the end of next year which are supposed to not have that color filter that causes the screen to be darker naturally but it is supposedly going to be more expensive so if it’s something you don’t think will bug you I think the kobo is an amazing option! Also if you borrow a lot of library books the overdrive feature is awesome on the kobo too (I personally kind of miss the kobo after returning it)
As a kobo libra user (h20), I am kinda upset there is no kobo libra 3 black and white. I like the idea of having color, esp for annotations, which I do a lot. But the reality is that a black and white screen is better for just regular reading. I don't read comics. Color would be really nice if it had zero downsides. But with the background being darker, so making it harder to read without a light. And the filter making everything slightly fuzzier, I'm not convinced. I much rather have that new carta 1300 eink screen. Then again, I do really like the idea of having a color e-ink screen, eps for annotations. And it would make all the book covers look better. Moreover, with my kobo libra h20, I basically always use the backlight because I always read in the dark. Even with physical books I have a special book light and stand because I just like reading in a dark room.
I agree, I was really hoping for a black and white eink that still had the annotating directly on the screen feature, I found after a little bit of time using it I wasn’t changing the color I was using anyway so it wasn’t a huge plus. I did really love seeing my book covers in color but with them being more dull and something I was only seeing if I switched books it again wasn’t a huge bonus. I think I’ll wait for the colored eink displays to get a little more advanced where they can have a more crisp and brighter look before i am using a colored ereader full time.
Yeah you can read your kindle books you just have to load them on with a program on your computer, it has to be kindle books you have purchased personally though so you couldn’t transfer Kindle Unlimited books over
Great video! I've been wondering... when you download books or PDFs from your Drive or Dropbox, can you also find them in the home screen and use the annotation and highlight features? Sorry if it is a dumb question hahaha this is going to be my first ereader
It’s not a dumb question! When you upload it onto either of those you just go to that tab and click on the file and then it will automatically download it and will show up in your library/Home Screen with all your other books, I only got 2 books on mine through google drive and both of them let me annotate and highlight, I believe(I’m not positive so before making a final choice I would look more into it) that as long as it’s PDF they will all let you highlight/annotate them
I have about 300 kindle books.. would transferring the books from kindle to kobo be a quick process once I learn how to do it or is it super time consuming? I really want to switch from kindle to get away from bezos and the fact that kindle just doesn’t care about their users or the experience, let alone authors.
It would be a little time consuming at first, I would definitely look into if there’s a better way to transfer a lot of books, maybe you can by plugging the kindle into your computer. I’m not sure if that is possible though, I just followed the video that’s linked in the description but even then it wasn’t too terrible in my opinion( I transferred about 100 books) once you import them into calibre though it goes so quick, all you have to do is highlight them all(click on the top book and then scroll to the end of the list and while holding down the shift key click on the last book and it will highlight everything in between) then you can mass convert every file to epub
I use the Kindle app on my android tablet exclusively. The Kindle devices are much slower in my experience and color annotating is good on the app. It sounds like the Kobo experience is like the Kindle device experience (ie, klunky). Do you know if you can download the Kobo software to a tablet and avoid getting yet another device? Reading with Kindle on my tablet is very comfortable (brightness is not an issue), and I have both Libby and Hoopla apps for my local library -- all in one place. Would love the Kobo stylus capabilities but not sure that $300+ price tag is justifiable.
Kobo does have an app very much like the Kindle app that you can get on android and Apple devices called Kobo Books and in the app you can annotate directly on the pages just like if you had the libra color, I found it to be a nice app I just get headaches easily staring at screens so it wasn’t ideal for me. The library books seem to auto show up in it for me although I have only borrowed 2 books but you can buy books directly in the app too which I thought was nice
Thank you!! Yes you can, I just used the remote page turner that I had for my kindle and it worked perfect! The one that I was comparing it to was the 11th gen Paperwhite with the 6.8 inch screen
It honestly depends, if you read a lot of KU then the kindle is the way to go. If you love to annotate or you don’t really read KU books I would recommend going for the kobo. I still prefer the kobo UI, the screen is a little grainier but if you aren’t comparing them side by side it’s not really noticeable and for the price I still think the kindle is overpriced for what you get
@@AmbersBookNook thanks for the response 💕 I am afraid to lose the kindle unlimited subscription (2$) as it’s much cheaper for me in India than the Kobo plus (8$) .. I believe I can’t use the kindle app with this one?
@ oh yeah plus kindle unlimited has a ton more titles available through their subscription than kobo does. Yeah kobo is a whole other ecosystem that does not work with amazon, they do have a kobo books app that is just like the kindle app though
The circle won’t show up, instead a bracket will be on the side and when you click on it you can select “revert settings” which will then put the font back to how you add it with the circle appearing again. When you go into the annotation tab it will still show up also
@@AmbersBookNook thank you so much I appreciate your response ☺️ I’ve never had an ereader but this one really catches my attention. I meant to say font size but I’m guessing it will be the same?.. Also, are you able to annotate borrowed books from Libby? Thanks 😅 I have so many questions. Even if it’s a no, I’m still highly considering this ereader.
I'm currently selling my old oasis because I have started using the kobo app on my ipad pro to read since I can annotate better on it. I'm thinking of getting the Libra color so my eyes don't strain so much (assuming it's better for eyes than my ipad at night, I know you said you got headaches so I'm a little wary) do the annotations sync well across the ereader and app on phone or ipad?
I started using the kobo app on my iPad as well since sending back the kobo(the paperlike screen protectors make it better) I do think the kobo was less straining especially at night but I think the normal b&w e ink is still the best imo. I honestly did not check on the annotations syncing over when I had the kobo because I wasn’t using my iPad to read at the time, I wish it was something I paid attention to😕 I have been looking into the boox e readers since they have some that have the b&w e ink displays with a stylus and it runs android so you could get the kobo app and use the annotation feature!
Yeah, color eink still in its early stages Amazon is like Apple never the first to use a given technology, but once it’s perfected then they’ll jump in
Unfortunately I did end up getting rid of it after 2 months of using it so I didn’t use it for very long. The main reason I got rid of it though was just me being lazy and not wanting to side load the books that I could only find places other than kobos store/libby(a lot of what I read is from indie authors) and I didn’t like when I would side load a book the page numbers don’t stay consistent when changing fonts like when you buy a book on kindle. I use story graph to track my reading and I like to see how many pages I read per day so it was something that just bothered me after a while. My reasons are both small reasons that I feel like won’t bother most people though! Overall I thought the device was nice and if you don’t read a lot Of kindle unlimited books I think it’s a great option!
@@AmbersBookNook thank you amber for your insight! I don’t own an ereader yet and I’ve been considering it for a while. I don’t plan on reading books from a lot of indie authors so I don’t think that will be a big issue. Is there another ereader you would recommend?
@@jonahlim5977 no problem! I’ve only used kindles up until I got the kobo libra Colour so I don’t have any others one I could really recommend. I do hear a lot of good things about kobos non-colored ereaders like the Libra 2 if you want page turn buttons or their clara if you want something smaller and easier to carry around with you. Kobo is also a really good route if you utilize your local library for ebooks because you can browse the library books right on the device. I do know that with nooks you are locked into buying from Barnes & noble only and you cannot download your books that you have purchased if you ever decided to switch to a different company’s ereader so I wouldn’t recommend going that route.
@@jonahlim5977 I haven’t personally used one so I couldn’t give a definite answer but I’ve watched a lot of videos on them and people say that the black & white screens are a lot crisper and don’t have the “screen door effect” from the color filter. Based on using the kindle along side the Libra Colour I noticed that difference and it kind of bugged me but I got used to it. I think if you’ve never used an ereader before you won’t really notice it. If you don’t read any graphic novels/manga and you don’t plan on really annotating I think for a price point I would recommend the black & white ereader though as they are quite a bit cheaper
I downloaded a program on my computer called Calibre which I linked a video that I watched on how to do it in my description, it was super helpful but honestly getting my kindle books onto my kobo was really easy just a little time consuming, the only kindle books you won’t be able to get on it are Kindle Unlimited books but as long as you have purchased the books it’s pretty easy to do it!
My issue with over drive was just that a lot of the books I read are indie authors so they aren’t available for the library and a lot of the indie authors I read are self published through Amazon, I really love the overdrive feature I just can’t utilize it for a lot of my books
This was exactly the review i needed to make my decision on this e-reader. I also love the KU library and dont think the extra features of this Kobo are worth it for me. Also hoping Amazon comes out with a black and white kindle with similar annotating abilities!! Thank you for making this video 🥰
The big problem with Kobo plus is that most of their "million books" are analysis of other books or reading cards... Not actual books. Only a few times they actually had a book that I wanted. Most of the time you are like yay my book! And its a review of the book...
Not sure if anyone has written this. I assume you tranferred your books with Calibre. The thing is Kobo can't organise your books into series when they're not imported YET. So you first have to send them to your kobo and wait until it says they're imported, then you reconnect the kobo to calibre and click on the "device" button side arrow and then press "update cached metadata on your device"
Yes! That took me a lot of trial and error to figure that out because I never could find a in depth answer on it! I’m going to pin this so others with this confusion can find it quickly☺️
I wanted to give a little update since this upload: I did end up trying out the kobo again and fully switched over to the kobo. I did the math and realized that most months I wasn't even reading enough KU books to equal the monthly subscription fee(most KU books are around 4.99 if you bought it, I highly recommend checking to see if you read enough KU books per month. I thought I did). Since then I have just started buying those books when I can't find them on the kobo. I also found the perfect screen settings/font to use that has minimized the headaches I was previously experiencing. I also have been utilizing my local library so much more with the overdrive feature that's directly on the kobo. Overall I am really glad I just decided to make the full switch out of the amazon ecosystem. I hope this helps anyone that's on the fence about making the full switch or is still trying to figure out which one is best for them!
What are the setting that you found?
@@jonahlim5977 I just messed with the brightness and warm tone along with the boldness of the font until it felt comparable to when I read on my kindle. The brightness I had at usually 25% and then for the warmth I kept it about 1/3 of the way up during the day. At night I used the dark background on with the brightness at about 2% then the warmth all the way up. For some reason with the color filter I had a very hard time finding the perfect balance where I wasn't getting headaches.
@@AmbersBookNook thank you amber! I’ve watched your video twice now and really appreciate how you feel about the product! I’m still on the fence about purchasing it tho😬
@@jonahlim5977 it’s such a hard decision! What has you on the fence with it?
@@AmbersBookNook I really enjoy physical books. So I'm more so on the fence of e readers in general. I mainly want an e reader for reading while traveling or being outside the home in general.
Any advice?
I think even if Amazon does come out with a similar ereader color is the future and will drive up price points. Overall I think the Amazon ecosystem has done a number on people and sucked them into a vortex of complacency and doing whatever is easy. I am trying to make a conscious move away from that and while I will prob miss the ease of Kindle and the send to features, I have been proactive in downloading Calibre and downloading my Kindle books and stripping them of the DRM the Amazon ecosystem imposes. I too read some KU Indie authors but purchase my books and can send those over to be "Kobofied".
I completely agree, i do hope in the future that those indie authors that are on Amazon are more accessible on other platforms to make it a little easier! That is awesome that you have started to make that switch! I need to stop being lazy and just do it also, I’m realizing that I might not use KU enough to make the 10.99 a month cheaper than if I was actually just buying the books so I think I’m going to just make the switch
Can we download outside books and send them to kobo? What formats does it accept?
I love the Kindle ecosystem and dont see my self moving loving my scribe and they are saying next year amazon will have a color ereader out for those who need color for the type of books they may read for me im happy with the scribe 64GB and will use that till it no longer gets updates someday
@@carlosbarross yes, using the software Calibre makes it really easy. I put a link to a video I watched that shows you step by step how to do it in my description for this video. It takes most formats but the one I did for all my books was epub
@@jameshjacksonjr I agree! The kindle ecosystem just makes everything so convenient! I hope they make something like the scribe but around a 7-8” display just to make it a little easier to take on the go and I hope they add annotating directly on the page
Very very comprehensive review and not unpleasant delivery. I’m 67 and recently disabled so am pursuing reading over TV. You covered everything I needed and very organized, insightful, and smooth. I have to go with this Kobu for the notes. I can write on the text and highlight as well, but you may have led me back to reading more, which can always be a good thing. Thank you!
Thank you so much! I’m so glad that it was helpful! I hope you enjoy it when you get it☺️
Thank you for this. This is probably the most in-depth and honest review I’ve watched so far about the Kobo Libra Colour. Especially on night reading and dimming the screen, battery, etc. All the others just focus on how great the annotations are. This will definitely make me hold off for kindle to get their annotating and color game together.
Thank you for watching!! I’m glad that it was helpful☺️ I’m hoping that the leaks about the AcEP e ink display being more like the B&W eink displays end up being true, supposedly the color filter is what causes that look I was talking about with the kaleido 3 screens and the AcEP isn’t supposed to have it! I have my fingers crossed that it’s true🫣
Same here!!! Thank you for the review - I was on the fence, but I will wait for a new Kindle… perhaps, I just get a new skin for my Oasis to feel the “upgrade”, lol
@@HolographicCoaching thank you for watching!! I feel that😂 I always change out my stickers when I want something new lol
I purchased a kobo libra color to use strictly for annotating books and note taking.. I’m not switching I’ll be keeping kindle readers and using both eco systems for different purposes.. I love all the annotation features and just didn’t want to wait a year for kindles version so I’m excited to play around with my new kobo color when it arrives.. thanks for the in depth review :) I like to see different users perspectives!
That’s what I was considering doing too(mainly reading library books on the kobo) I haven’t returned it yet because my UPS was closed when I went to drop it off so I’m still on the fence on whether or not I’m actually going to drop it off, I did download the Kobo Books app on my iPad though(you can annotate right on the pages like the libra color) so I think I might do that until kindle comes out with one of their own! Thank you for watching! I hope you enjoy your kobo☺️
So I wanted to give an update on this ( I will be doing a follow up video at some point) I did send the Libra Colour back but recently decided to buy it again as I really missed the annotation feature on it. Overall if you really like to annotate your books I think this device is a perfect option. I initially thought about how much I used KU but then realized that most months I wasn’t reading enough books on it that equated to the $11.99 so now I just buy the books on there if I can’t find them on Libby or kobo! Hopefully this helps anyone who is trying to figure out what they want
If you are intrested Good ereader anouced an ereader with enhanced Gallery 3 screen. You can watch the revies if you want. There is rumor that Amazon will have in couple of months an ereader with probably same eink screen.
@@gyulalaszlotako8552thank you for telling me about that, I will definitely have to look into it! Since I got the kobo again I’ve been debating on whether I want to keep it or not. It freezes on me almost everytime I’m reading and then won’t turn back on without hard resetting it
@@AmbersBookNook this is concerning. Have you contacted tech support and gotten any insight on why it’s freezing? I am really considering purchasing the Kobo Libra Colour. I’ve watched videos and read reviews, I appreciate your honest opinions. I won’t be eager to buy a color version from Amazon if the high price predictions are true.
@@smccrary5849 I haven’t messaged them yet, I think it might be on some of the side loaded books. I haven’t experienced it with any of the books I’ve purchased from kobos site or from my books I’ve gotten on overdrive
Weird... loved my from the time i opened the box...
I wouldn't get too attached to the Amazon ecosystem, they have banned and will ban people for futile reasons, and if that happens you lose all of your digital contents. I am going to be switching from Kindle to Kobo, I'm tech savvy and I don't have issues using Calibre to manage my books, I find it half the fun. I have yet to choose which model I'm going to be going for, I'm of course thinking of the device you reviewed and I found it a pretty exhaustive review. I'm glad to see a review where the device wasn't sent for free or anything like that, just a honest review. I also appreciate the lack of background music, helps a lot with people that get overwhelmed by noise, like me.
Thank you for watching! I actually ended up keeping the kobo and have since fully made the switch. I have gotten used to the screen now and have found the best balance with the backlighting for my eyes. I’m glad I ended up sticking with it as it’s made me utilize my local library with overdrive a lot more. I hope you end up enjoying whatever model kobo you pick!!
@@AmbersBookNook I'm glad that you figured the right screen settings out! If you can please put a pinned comment in the comment section telling people you didn't switch and why, I feel like it's really important!
Kindle punishes Canadians by not offering Libby support or audio books. Kobo is the only logical choice for Canadians, especially those who belong to libraries. Thank you for an honest and very helpful review.
Yes! I actually decided to order the Libra color again and have made the full switch over to kobo, I’m going to start using my library a lot more. I did the math and realized that I wasn’t even reading enough to add up the subscription price of KU most months so now I don’t really feel any pull towards kindle
Libby USA allows us to send library books to Kindle in seconds. I wonder why they haven't done that for Canada :'(
I believe that the Libby service is blocked by Kindle in Canada. Same for the audio books. In the Settings menu in the Kindles that Amazon ship to Canada there is not even a Bluetooth selection in the menu. Without either Bluetooth or a headphone jack it is impossible to receive any audio from the Kindle. Blocking Bluetooth goes to show how far Amazon has gone to cripple the Canadian Kindle experience. I most certainly cannot understand their business model, but it has driven Canadian clients away from Kindle to Kobo.
@@camrodger8638 I never understood why they do that, I actually ended up keeping the kobo like a week after I uploaded this video and have fully made the switch because I liked the overdrive feature directly on the kobo so much. I'm honestly really glad to be getting completely out of the kindle ecosystem.
Thank you for this review! I’ve had a Kindle paperwhite for about a year now and I absolutely love it, but I was intrigued by the Kobo. I’ve realized that I don’t really have a need for color. It would be nice for the highlighter to be in color, but it’s not a super necessity for me. I mostly read on KU, so that was also a major factor in deciding against switching. Sure, I could always purchase the book and transfer it to Kobo, but that kind of defeats the purpose of the money savings that I get by using KU. While the Overdrive integration is great in theory, I have multiple cards on Libby and I’ve heard Kobo only lets you do 1 library card at a time. The total cost was also a pretty big factor against it. I don’t plan on getting rid of my Kindle, so spending $300+ total on a new device just to have it as a backup didn’t really make sense to me when I thought about it more. This video just solidified my thoughts and made me feel better about my choice.
I did still download my books and keep them on my computer as a backup in case Amazon ever goes nuts and locks my account.
Yeah I would say for your purpose it would definitely be a waste, the color was really cool to me at first but honestly kinda felt like too much changing the colors and I felt like I wasted a lot of time messing with the colors. and I had issues with it freezing a lot for me while I was reading and I would have to restart it. The overdrive feature does only let you use 1 card at a time
Two things:
"You CAN manually add series to your kobo in Calibre.
Plug in your kobo
Switch to device view, so you see the database from the kobo, not your library.
Select all the books in a series, preferably in order. You can use ctrl-click to select multiples that aren't next to each other. Yes, on this screen you won't be able to see series info. You'll have to know it.
Use the tiny drop down next to your "Kobo Utilities" button in the upper right. Now you'll have an option like "Manage Series" near the top. Click it. It should bring up a screen showing the books you selected.
Select the correct series from the drop down. Set the start book to 1. Reorder the books to the correct display/read order.
Once done it should load to your kobo."
And the other is NickelSeries: Integrated EPUB/KEPUB series metadata support for calibre.
Ooo thank you so much for this! I never did look into it further so that’s super helpful☺️ I’m going to pin this so hopefully it helps out someone who’s looking to do that!
Wow. Will try. Is there a video for this? Thanks.
@@gutenbirdNo video, but the steps are super simple and all listed above. 🙂
Thank you for this! Love how in depth this review is 😁 some others just show the annotations but you’ve shown some extra features that I think would definitely make it a worthwhile purchase
Yayy I’m so glad it was helpful! I hope you love it if you end up purchasing it!!😄
@@AmbersBookNook thank you! I can also totally understand why you love the kindle still (I do too) and if I do decide to get get the kobo it would be for different kind of reading (non-fiction and learning) and would still use both ☺️ lots to think about 😌 maybe as a reward for if I can ever finish to read all my physical TBR books haha 🫠
Awesome. Thank you for the review. I ordered one. It's recycled plastic, but I wouldn't mind
Thank you for watching! I hope you enjoy it when you get it☺️ yeah, I feel like the material kept it pretty light for its size and plus with a case you never even notice it
Ok this has been super helpful. I have a 10th gen kindle and really want the warm light….Ive been debating which to get and I think for my purposes a kindle is probably best right now. Bummer because I’d definitely like to spend my money somewhere other than Amazon, but I will continue to support local bookstores when I buy actual books. Thank you for taking the time to do this!
Yeah I was in the same boat, I really wanted to make the switch from Amazon but the KU catalog has me🥹 of course☺️ I’m glad it was helpful!!
kindle has warmlight. I have them on my paperwhite and scribe
@@sistergoldenhair0727 yes, in the newer gens. Mine is an old gen so no warm light. I’m hoping to replace it in prime sales in july.
@@sistergoldenhair0727 the kindle basic and 10th gen Paperwhite doesn’t have warm light. I had the 10th gen Paperwhite and upgraded to the 11th gen Paperwhite so I could have that feature
This was so so useful and in-depth, thank you so much!
I’m glad that it was helpful!! Thank you for watching!☺️
Hi there - thank you so much for going over great features Kobo has over the Kindle. I'd been on the fence and also wanted a device with this form factor & buttons.
Thank you for watching!! If you end up getting one I hope you enjoy it☺️
trust me, this is such a nice device. I also did not know that you can use "Pocket" for internet articles you want to read. So many little things that the Kobo Libra Colour has over the Kindle.
This for school would be AMAZING! I'm really trying to wait for the kindle color since I already have a paperwhite BUT I think I'm going to pull the plug.
Ive thought about getting it again because I’ve heard that the ACeP screen is going to be more saturated and is supposed to not have that screen door/darker screen(idk if that is actually going to be the case) but that is going to come with a 40-60% higher price tag than normal e ink displays which idk if I really want to pay that much, also idk if it will have the annotation features or if it will just be like the scribe is now, and I did the math and wasn’t reading enough books on KU to even equal the cost of KU monthly so I decided to cancel my subscription(this was the biggest reason I decided to stick with kindle) so if any of those are how you feel I think it would be worth going with the kobo!
Excellent video! Thanks for your honest & thorough review. 🙂
Thank you!☺️ and thank you so much for watching💕
One downside to the Libra Colour not mentioned often is that all handwritten stylus notes taken are lost if you ever switch devices or reset this device. For me, the notes I take are important to me and I don't want to lose them.
Were you taking the notes on something that was sideloaded on the device? I sold my first kobo libra Colour and just recently got another one to compare to the kindle Colorsoft. Once I signed in to my account my previous notebooks were back on my new device and all the notes I wrote on the books I had gotten from overdrive were still saved in kobos cloud system. The only things I couldn’t recover were the annotations I had put in my sideloaded books
@@AmbersBookNook As I understand from what Kobo says in their help docs, all stylus annotations are local to that device only, and are lost when the device is reset or you move to a new Kobo device. Non-transferable notes.
I’ve been considering this exact device so this was incredibly helpful!!
I’m so glad it was helpful!😄
I want this, but I don’t need this 😭. I already have a kindle scribe and an oasis 😅
I decided to just make my iPad mini into my ereader by putting a paper like screen protector on it and honestly it feels a lot like the kobo but I can have StoryGraph and Libby on there too and I’ve been using the kobo books app which has the annotating feature directly on the page just like the libra color but you can select more colors for the pen than the libra color, I’m enjoying it so much. If you have an iPad or android tablet I would definitely recommend downloading the kobo books app and testing that out
A very detailed and amazing review...A quick question though...Should I get it ?
Thank you! Honestly I think it depends on what overall you are looking for with an ereader. If you love kindle unlimited and the ease of being able to get those books without extra steps or if you aren’t going to really use color other than the covers I would say no. If you read a lot of manga/graphic novels/books with color or you love to annotate right on the pages I would say yes! There is a lot of talk about the new ACeP screen coming out by the end of next year which are supposed to not have that color filter that causes the screen to be darker naturally but it is supposedly going to be more expensive so if it’s something you don’t think will bug you I think the kobo is an amazing option! Also if you borrow a lot of library books the overdrive feature is awesome on the kobo too (I personally kind of miss the kobo after returning it)
As a kobo libra user (h20), I am kinda upset there is no kobo libra 3 black and white. I like the idea of having color, esp for annotations, which I do a lot. But the reality is that a black and white screen is better for just regular reading. I don't read comics. Color would be really nice if it had zero downsides. But with the background being darker, so making it harder to read without a light. And the filter making everything slightly fuzzier, I'm not convinced. I much rather have that new carta 1300 eink screen.
Then again, I do really like the idea of having a color e-ink screen, eps for annotations. And it would make all the book covers look better. Moreover, with my kobo libra h20, I basically always use the backlight because I always read in the dark. Even with physical books I have a special book light and stand because I just like reading in a dark room.
I agree, I was really hoping for a black and white eink that still had the annotating directly on the screen feature, I found after a little bit of time using it I wasn’t changing the color I was using anyway so it wasn’t a huge plus. I did really love seeing my book covers in color but with them being more dull and something I was only seeing if I switched books it again wasn’t a huge bonus. I think I’ll wait for the colored eink displays to get a little more advanced where they can have a more crisp and brighter look before i am using a colored ereader full time.
Thanks for this! Really useful, since I was thinking of buying one 💪🏻
Of course, I’m glad that I could help!!😁
Are you able to rekindle Books on it? I think I’ve heard you can’t or you can’t but it’s very difficult in my opinion to get that line.
Yeah you can read your kindle books you just have to load them on with a program on your computer, it has to be kindle books you have purchased personally though so you couldn’t transfer Kindle Unlimited books over
Great video! I've been wondering... when you download books or PDFs from your Drive or Dropbox, can you also find them in the home screen and use the annotation and highlight features? Sorry if it is a dumb question hahaha this is going to be my first ereader
It’s not a dumb question! When you upload it onto either of those you just go to that tab and click on the file and then it will automatically download it and will show up in your library/Home Screen with all your other books, I only got 2 books on mine through google drive and both of them let me annotate and highlight, I believe(I’m not positive so before making a final choice I would look more into it) that as long as it’s PDF they will all let you highlight/annotate them
@AmbersBookNook can we annotate our own epub files too? Transfered to it?
@@Kevincooper220 yes, I transferred all of my kindle books over after converting to epub and was able to annotate on all of them
I have about 300 kindle books.. would transferring the books from kindle to kobo be a quick process once I learn how to do it or is it super time consuming? I really want to switch from kindle to get away from bezos and the fact that kindle just doesn’t care about their users or the experience, let alone authors.
It would be a little time consuming at first, I would definitely look into if there’s a better way to transfer a lot of books, maybe you can by plugging the kindle into your computer. I’m not sure if that is possible though, I just followed the video that’s linked in the description but even then it wasn’t too terrible in my opinion( I transferred about 100 books) once you import them into calibre though it goes so quick, all you have to do is highlight them all(click on the top book and then scroll to the end of the list and while holding down the shift key click on the last book and it will highlight everything in between) then you can mass convert every file to epub
I use the Kindle app on my android tablet exclusively. The Kindle devices are much slower in my experience and color annotating is good on the app. It sounds like the Kobo experience is like the Kindle device experience (ie, klunky). Do you know if you can download the Kobo software to a tablet and avoid getting yet another device? Reading with Kindle on my tablet is very comfortable (brightness is not an issue), and I have both Libby and Hoopla apps for my local library -- all in one place. Would love the Kobo stylus capabilities but not sure that $300+ price tag is justifiable.
Kobo does have an app very much like the Kindle app that you can get on android and Apple devices called Kobo Books and in the app you can annotate directly on the pages just like if you had the libra color, I found it to be a nice app I just get headaches easily staring at screens so it wasn’t ideal for me. The library books seem to auto show up in it for me although I have only borrowed 2 books but you can buy books directly in the app too which I thought was nice
Great video! Can you get a remote page turner (clicker) that works for the Kobo Libra Colour? Which Kindle version did you show? Thanks!
Thank you!! Yes you can, I just used the remote page turner that I had for my kindle and it worked perfect! The one that I was comparing it to was the 11th gen Paperwhite with the 6.8 inch screen
Can you tell me where you bought it from or the brand? The remote page turner? I would like to buy one. Thanks!
@@troygroff4512 I got mine off Amazon and it’s called SK SYUKUYU RF Remote Control Page Turner For Kindle IPad
@AmbersBookNook Thank You! 🙏🏻
Now that Kindle Colorsoft is out do you suggest to get that or Kobo color?
It honestly depends, if you read a lot of KU then the kindle is the way to go. If you love to annotate or you don’t really read KU books I would recommend going for the kobo. I still prefer the kobo UI, the screen is a little grainier but if you aren’t comparing them side by side it’s not really noticeable and for the price I still think the kindle is overpriced for what you get
@@AmbersBookNook thanks for the response 💕 I am afraid to lose the kindle unlimited subscription (2$) as it’s much cheaper for me in India than the Kobo plus (8$) .. I believe I can’t use the kindle app with this one?
@ oh yeah plus kindle unlimited has a ton more titles available through their subscription than kobo does. Yeah kobo is a whole other ecosystem that does not work with amazon, they do have a kobo books app that is just like the kindle app though
What happens to the annotations if you decide to change font? Like if you circled a word, does the size of the circle adjust also?
The circle won’t show up, instead a bracket will be on the side and when you click on it you can select “revert settings” which will then put the font back to how you add it with the circle appearing again. When you go into the annotation tab it will still show up also
@@AmbersBookNook thank you so much I appreciate your response ☺️ I’ve never had an ereader but this one really catches my attention.
I meant to say font size but I’m guessing it will be the same?.. Also, are you able to annotate borrowed books from Libby? Thanks 😅 I have so many questions. Even if it’s a no, I’m still highly considering this ereader.
@@nat4465 no problem! I hope it helped you decide on one and if you get it I hope you enjoy it!☺️
I'm currently selling my old oasis because I have started using the kobo app on my ipad pro to read since I can annotate better on it. I'm thinking of getting the Libra color so my eyes don't strain so much (assuming it's better for eyes than my ipad at night, I know you said you got headaches so I'm a little wary) do the annotations sync well across the ereader and app on phone or ipad?
I started using the kobo app on my iPad as well since sending back the kobo(the paperlike screen protectors make it better) I do think the kobo was less straining especially at night but I think the normal b&w e ink is still the best imo. I honestly did not check on the annotations syncing over when I had the kobo because I wasn’t using my iPad to read at the time, I wish it was something I paid attention to😕 I have been looking into the boox e readers since they have some that have the b&w e ink displays with a stylus and it runs android so you could get the kobo app and use the annotation feature!
Yeah, color eink still in its early stages Amazon is like Apple never the first to use a given technology, but once it’s perfected then they’ll jump in
hello! i really enjoy your videos! keep up the good work!
Thank you so much, I really appreciate it!☺️
Would you consider doing a long term review?
Unfortunately I did end up getting rid of it after 2 months of using it so I didn’t use it for very long. The main reason I got rid of it though was just me being lazy and not wanting to side load the books that I could only find places other than kobos store/libby(a lot of what I read is from indie authors) and I didn’t like when I would side load a book the page numbers don’t stay consistent when changing fonts like when you buy a book on kindle. I use story graph to track my reading and I like to see how many pages I read per day so it was something that just bothered me after a while. My reasons are both small reasons that I feel like won’t bother most people though! Overall I thought the device was nice and if you don’t read a lot
Of kindle unlimited books I think it’s a great option!
@@AmbersBookNook thank you amber for your insight! I don’t own an ereader yet and I’ve been considering it for a while. I don’t plan on reading books from a lot of indie authors so I don’t think that will be a big issue. Is there another ereader you would recommend?
@@jonahlim5977 no problem! I’ve only used kindles up until I got the kobo libra Colour so I don’t have any others one I could really recommend. I do hear a lot of good things about kobos non-colored ereaders like the Libra 2 if you want page turn buttons or their clara if you want something smaller and easier to carry around with you. Kobo is also a really good route if you utilize your local library for ebooks because you can browse the library books right on the device. I do know that with nooks you are locked into buying from Barnes & noble only and you cannot download your books that you have purchased if you ever decided to switch to a different company’s ereader so I wouldn’t recommend going that route.
@@AmbersBookNook would you recommend a non-colored kobo over the color version?
@@jonahlim5977 I haven’t personally used one so I couldn’t give a definite answer but I’ve watched a lot of videos on them and people say that the black & white screens are a lot crisper and don’t have the “screen door effect” from the color filter. Based on using the kindle along side the Libra Colour I noticed that difference and it kind of bugged me but I got used to it. I think if you’ve never used an ereader before you won’t really notice it. If you don’t read any graphic novels/manga and you don’t plan on really annotating I think for a price point I would recommend the black & white ereader though as they are quite a bit cheaper
How did you transfer your Kindle books?
I downloaded a program on my computer called Calibre which I linked a video that I watched on how to do it in my description, it was super helpful but honestly getting my kindle books onto my kobo was really easy just a little time consuming, the only kindle books you won’t be able to get on it are Kindle Unlimited books but as long as you have purchased the books it’s pretty easy to do it!
i wonder if the headaches are from eink and color mixed in?? because your eyes cant handle color on eink so your brain thinks its an iPad.
I’ve wondered that too, it got better the more I read on it but if I tried another ereader I noticed it again
Yes but OVER DRIVE IS NATIVE!!! That’s why I bought it! All the books I want for FREE!
My issue with over drive was just that a lot of the books I read are indie authors so they aren’t available for the library and a lot of the indie authors I read are self published through Amazon, I really love the overdrive feature I just can’t utilize it for a lot of my books
@@AmbersBookNook understandable
This was exactly the review i needed to make my decision on this e-reader. I also love the KU library and dont think the extra features of this Kobo are worth it for me. Also hoping Amazon comes out with a black and white kindle with similar annotating abilities!! Thank you for making this video 🥰
I’m glad it was helpful, thank you for watching!!☺️
They should have a white pen too 🤔
I agree! I would of bought that so quick
The big problem with Kobo plus is that most of their "million books" are analysis of other books or reading cards... Not actual books. Only a few times they actually had a book that I wanted. Most of the time you are like yay my book! And its a review of the book...
Yeah I noticed that too which I thought was odd! I’m hoping in the future they get more books on there
I like to read in landscape mode.
I found that way to be really nice too, I loved the ease of switching between the viewing mode also