Kobo Libra 2 | eReader | 7” Glare Free Touchscreen | Waterproof | Adjustable Brightness and Color Temperature | Blue Light Reduction | eBooks | WiFi | 32GB of Storage | Carta E Ink Technology | Black

I ordered this Kobo after the Kindles latest changes to the user interface. I really couldnt stand the changes in the Kindle software. This is a great replacement for the Kindle. There are not pages and pages of ads on the home page. Navigation is simple and intuitive. The screen is crisp and high resolution. The comfort light is warm. Its light and fits in my hand comfortably. (The metal of the Kindle Oasis always kind of cut into my palm when I held it without the case.) Im not missing my Kindles at all!

You can download books for free from overdrive. Sign up is free and instant, you can even sign up for libraries in other states then download books for free. If you know your way with computers you can convert your overdrive books to epub and save them forever. Otherwise you can use google to search and download almost any ebook you can imagine for free. I have hundreds of books on my Kobo and didnt spend a dime. Fully compatible with Linux too (calibre) PS: Make sure to get the cover that puts the screen to sleep when you close it.

Best reader, great battery life even with wifi on, has buttons as well as the touch screen for turning pages, comfortlight pro easy on the eyes, 32gb storage, worth it!

The good: I love this device. The book is easy to hold, love the fact that therere no ads, power button is in a good spot, love the lighting, its easy on the eyes, love that I can turn the page by clicking a button. I was able to get the books I had on Calibre that are in epub format loaded on to this device. I was able to sync books that were free from the Kobo store. These are the books I have been reading. The bad: There were no instructions that came with the device. It was trial and error and pushing a bunch of buttons and a long time spent trying to get Calibre and kobo dot com to all sync up since there were no instructions and I am no tech genius. I got this device for 2 reasons. 1. I wanted to not give any more money to Amazon than I needed to (even though I purchased it on here, but I was thinking books, etc). I also like the fact that it had imbedded overdrive so I could check out books, no ads, a button to turn pages instead of swiping, it came with a charger, and this ereader uses epub format so I could download books from other sources. 2. I love reading and have a millions books and am running out of places to store them so I am donating a bunch. I wanted to use overdrive and utilize my library instead of buying books. The problem is that even though I have been on overdrive on my laptop and borrowed books, I cant get the books onto the device. It doesnt sync to overdrive when I am on overdrive, or through the Kobo dot come website. The overdrive on the reader goes in an endless loop, having me input my library card information and pin number over and over again. I have tried signing in with the other options on there including google, using my phone number and the endless loop continues. I called customer support, which was less than helpful, the person was half asleep. I looked on the user guide for my device, also not helpful. If I cant use it for the purpose I spent all this money on, and cant get the support I need to get this dang thing to work, than it is a gigantic paperweight once I have read the few books I have on there and that is why it got 1 star. So I am going to return it and buy the kindle I was trying to avoid buying.

This is the first eReader that Ive had in many years. I love the kobo libra 2 eReader! I love how easy it is to use and I feel that it has good battery life. I love the buttons on it which is why I picked this over a kindle paperwhite. The kindle oasis has buttons but was a little too pricey for me. So far, I havent run into any problems using the kobo libra 2.

UPDATE: Im increasing my rating from 4 to 5 stars after using for months. With software updates, the device has been very stable and a pure joy to read on. ORIGINAL REVIEW: Overall, I think the Libra 2 is a fantastic ebook e-reader, and I recommend it. There are a few things that knock off 1 star from a perfect rating, though. Hardware - The good things: - The screen is amazing. The text is very crisp and dark and the front light is very even (at least on my unit). - The warm light is very pleasing for evening/night reading and works very well. (The evenness of the lighting was ever-so-slightly not perfect with the addition of the highest setting of warm light, but not enough to be distracting). - The rounded corners of the grip side make holding it in one hand fairly comfortable. - The weight of the device is light enough that it can be held one-handed (without a case) in comfort for a while. - The battery provided me 20 hours of reading using very generous front-lighting (probably over 70% most times) (with Wi-Fi turned off). The battery reached 10% at that point and popped up a low battery message. Im not sure how this compares to other e-readers since manufacturers like to advertise in weeks instead of hours, but using their convention of 30 minutes per day, this would be about 6 weeks of reading between charges. - Its available in white, which is what I got, because it is very good at concealing fingerprints. - The power buttons location is well placed. It never gets accidentally pressed and is easy to feel for without looking, and it has a definite click to know that its been pressed. - The USB-C port is obviously nice to have (vs. micro USB). (Note: The included cable is a USB Type-A to USB Type-C cable, and no charger is included. So you will still need a charging brick with a Type-A port to use with this, and will need a Type-A port (or adapter) on your computer if you connect it to one.) Hardware - The not-so-good things: - The plastic case has a cheap feeling to the touch. It is not as nice as the more rubbery touch of the Kindle Paperwhite, for example. My unit even makes a slight creaking noise when squeezed gently near the corners. The embedded texture on the back helps make it feel a bit less cheap and does help to provide more grip when using without a case, but it still isnt pleasurable to the touch. Its just plastic. if you use a case while holding it, this wont be an issue. - The page turn buttons, whether by design or not, have an uneven pressure to them. If pressed toward the inside, it requires much more force to get it to click. If pressed toward the outside, only a light force is required. - When turning the front light completely off, the screen background is grayer (less white, less contrast) than other e-readers Ive seen (e.g. Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle Oasis). (But with almost any amount of front light, the contrast is outstanding.) Hardware - One other thing: - The screen is slightly recessed. I personally prefer this to flush-screen e-readers. It doesnt have as premium a look, but it makes it very obvious to feel if the touchscreen is being contacted or not and prevent accidental touches. Software - The good things (common to all Kobo e-readers): - The interface is very well organized, clean, and simple to use. - The front light brightness can be adjusted with just a simple swipe up or down along the left edge of the screen, without first dropping down any menu and then having to close that menu. - The header can optionally show remaining pages in the chapter, which I find to be more useful than an estimate of how much more time is left, which can easily be miscalculated. - A subtle book progress bar is optionally displayed along the bottom of the screen. I really like this and prefer it to seeing a percentage. It provides a similar feeling to reading a physical book, where you can just tell how far you are in it, but without having to take any more screen space than necessary. - Kobos concept of pages: I really like the way Kobo software determines how many pages are in a book. It readjusts this number automatically based on the font size, margin settings, etc., so when it displays the number of pages left in a chapter, for example, you know that there are exactly that many page turns left for the settings you have selected for that book. I find this to be much more useful than Kindles way of showing pages, which is to correspond to the published physical book when possible. - Built-in Overdrive. Its nice to be able to check out and return books from the library right from the device. - Built in Pocket App support. I have not used this feature, but its nice to know I can read supported web articles on the Kobo if I want. - epub format support: Ive found that some of the classic literature is available in epub (but not Kindle) format, so I can borrow from the library without having to use any conversion software as I would on a Kindle. - Installing additional fonts is simple. Just connect to a computer, create a fonts folder, and drag the fonts into it. Software - The not-so-good things: - There are still some bugs (which will hopefully be fixed). My initial experience was not great. But all the bugs I found and list here were encountered during setup and configuration. I have not had any issue at all during reading sessions, which is what is most important. - Upon first powering up and connecting to Wi-Fi, after the device did an immediate software update and appeared to be finished with it, it became EXTREMELY laggy. It would take maybe 30 seconds to respond to actions. Rebooting resolved it. - The device has rebooted spontaneously while searching the Overdrive catalog and locked up completely a couple times (once while in sleep mode and once while changing a setting). - After connecting to Wi-Fi successfully, the device prompted me again for the password the next time I connected and again a third time. Only after that did it finally save the connection settings as it should. - When an Overdrive library book is returned, Kobos automatically download a preview copy from their store as a placeholder (supposedly to store annotations, bookmarks, etc, but also Im sure as a convenient way to purchase the book). Thats a bit annoying, and these can easily be removed after being downloaded, but one time it downloaded preview copies alongside their corresponding three library books I had checked out (that I had NOT returned and were NOT expired) and it erased all my progress in them. I have not tested any of the audiobook or bluetooth features. For me, I like the device so much that the issues I listed are easily acceptable. The bottom line is that it is very enjoyable to read on the Kobo Libra 2.

Excellent device! I picked this device over the Kindles for a number of reasons: their better integration of outside services like Overdrive and Pocket, wider support for a variety of formats (PDFs, which are common for manga) and its one-handed design. Its exceeded my expectations through and through and has been helpful for winding down at night. The weeks of battery life on the page got me nearly a month; after one month of reading nearly every evening for about an hour i was left with ~14% left! Crazy good. My only complaint is that Ive noticed highlighting/annotating tends to be wonkier on certain book formats not brought in from the Kobo Store. It could be because these formats are not optimized for the device but its not a huge deal. The Kindle line of devices are far cheaper, but this is packed full of great features that you cant get from Amazon without some extra workarounds. If you want out of the Amazonian Ecosystem, this is the way.

First off, lets say that this is a great ereader that I actually liked it better than Kindle Oasis 10th generation. Some people criticized its plastic shell, but I actually liked it. I think the plastics made it lightweight, easy to hold, and not metal-cold in winter. Battery was good, letters were sharp, and I enjoyed reading at night with this device in hand. But I returned it. Reason 1: Lack of synchronization. Although Kobo Libra 2, as a standalone ereader, is great, it does not sync well with the PC app. I did not test whether it syncs with an iPad Kobo app, but google tells me that it only syncs with books purchased from kobo website. Kindle, google play book, apple books, all beats Kobo in this essential function. Reason 2: lack of accessories. Along with Kobo Libra 2, I bought a Kobo origami case. The case was great, worked as intended, but it added a significant weight to the device, made it not very pleasant with the floppy back. I returned it. I prefer a sleeve case, a pouch, so when I read it can be held in my hands, and when I dont read it can be protected. Amazon is filled with pouch/sleeve cases for Kindle/paperwhite/oasis, and all kinds of ipads. None fit the kobo snugly. They were too big, too small, or too rectangular, etc.

Very easily used. Good font size adjustments. The nighttime features for viewing are very good. Works well on airplanes with the lights out. Connects easily to the internet. The Power switch is poor design and does not work well. Reader hangs and does not start. Very slow to startup to get to reading menu.

This is my second Kobo device and Im very pleased: The screen quality is magnificent and the battery life is out of this world. I love that this device doesnt restrict me to one bookstore and that I can side-load e-books that I already own or use it to read e-books that Ive made, myself. Would I prefer a slightly larger screen (like my previous Kobo)? Yes. Is this screen too small? No. Do I prefer buttons to touch-screen? No. Do the buttons work well? Yes. Does the touch-screen work well? Yes. Do you need both buttons and touch-screen? No. Will I continue to purchase Kobo e-readers? YES!