Switching from Kindle to Kobo was one of the best choice I ever made

I cherished my Kindle Oasis. I nonetheless do, if I am being trustworthy. Its construct high quality is great, its display is sharp and delightful, and studying e-books on it’s, usually talking, a complete pleasure. However final month, I made the swap to Kobo, and I’m not trying again.

It was the announcement of the Kobo Libra Colour in 2024 that first had me significantly contemplating the swap. I might been interested in color e-ink screens for some time. The know-how is attention-grabbing, however I used to be additionally interested in studying full-color comics on my e-reader. And whereas I knew that may include compromises in display high quality, in addition to coloration accuracy in comparison with an precise comedian or a conventional pill, like an iPad, I remained intrigued.

Lastly, after months of hemming and hawing, I lastly made the transfer and acquired a Kobo Libra Colour, together with a Kobo branded SleepCover and a third-party stylus for taking notes on it. After just some weeks of utilizing it, I’m sure I made the fitting option to ditch Amazon.

Me and my Kindle

Why I needed out of the ecosystem

Amazon Kindle Oasis

Display

7in E Ink, 300ppi, 25 LED illumination, adjustable heat gentle

Storage

8/32GB

Battery

6 weeks

Dimensions

159 x 141 x 3.4-8.4mm, 188g

The 2019 Kindle Oasis might be one of the best all-around e-reader Amazon ever made. It has since been discontinued, as Amazon focuses in on its common Kindle, Paperwhite, Scribe, and lately launched Colorsoft strains. That is too dangerous, because the Oasis had a selected benefit over their different Kindle merchandise: buttons. Whereas the remainder of Amazon’s e-readers use equally wonderful e-ink screens, and have most of the similar options because the Oasis, they lack the Oasis’s asymmetrical format, with web page flip buttons on one facet.

Merely put: the Oasis is less complicated to carry, due to its form, and clicking the web page flip buttons makes for a way more fulfilling studying expertise than swiping the contact display. You may nonetheless swipe to show the web page on the Oasis, however there is not any query in my thoughts the buttons are higher.

I cherished my Oasis, and I nonetheless do in some ways, however I slowly started feeling aggravated by it. First off, I did not like how locked down Amazon’s ecosystem was. Whereas it was attainable to sideload books, together with by Amazon’s send-to-Kindle perform, which added syncing performance between gadgets, the Oasis clearly wasn’t constructed for that. It would not be an issue if all my books had been bought immediately from Amazon, however I supply books from every kind of locations, together with shops, the Project Gutenberg website, superior copies, and extra. Holding all that organized on the Kindle was turning into a chore.

However there have been two larger points for me. The primary was that I needed to have the ability to borrow e-books from my native library. Sadly, I’m in Canada, the place the OverDrive lending system doesn’t work with Kindle. That was instantly a degree in Kobo’s favor. Then there was the straightforward incontrovertible fact that I, like many others, have change into disillusioned with Amazon as an organization, together with their monopolistic practices inside the guide business. I needed out of their ecosystem.

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A touch of coloration

Making the transfer to Kobo

Kobo Libra Color

The Kobo Libra Color is a sport changer. The Libra Color permits customers to scribble down their each thought as they learn, write in a separate pocket book, and entry their very own Google Drive.

Display

7-inch E Ink Kaleido 3 show with FastGLR and Darkish Mode (150ppi)

Storage

32GB

Battery

A single cost on the eReader lasts as much as 40 days, primarily based on half-hour of studying per day with the entrance gentle at 30% brightness and WiFi and Bluetooth® wi-fi know-how off.

Dimensions

5.7 x 6.3 x 0.32-inches (144.6 x 161 x 8.3mm)

Model

Kobo

Connectivity

USB-C

Increase

A part of the explanation it took so lengthy to make the swap to Kobo was that my Oasis was, and stays, a wonderfully nice gadget. Why ought to I spend the cash on an entire new e-reader when I’ve a working Oasis already? However these points, significantly the dearth of library borrowing and the Amazon of all of it, began weighing on me. And it helped that Kobo had launched the Kobo Libra Color.

The Libra 2 was already an interesting gadget to me, on condition that its format and web page flip buttons already made it an honest various to the Oasis. Nonetheless, it wasn’t precisely an improve. The Libra Color, although, marked an improve in quite a lot of methods. Higher battery life than the Oasis, for instance, in addition to the power to take notes with a stylus, and a quicker processor for a smoother expertise. Plus, in fact, the colour display.

Although it must be stated, the colour display is just not essentially an improve. Due to how e-ink know-how works, to attain coloration, the very sharp black-and-white display has a filter utilized to it that makes the display darker general, affecting distinction, in addition to softening textual content. There are lots of who will discover the display a downgrade, regardless of the colour capabilities. After I evaluate the Oasis and Libra screens immediately, there is not any query the Oasis is the higher one, although the Libra remains to be superb. And coloration has benefits, too, together with a nicer-looking interface with coloration guide covers, in addition to color-coded highlights, and, in fact, coloration comics.

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An excellent choice

Deciding on my selection

I am going to admit that I waffled a bit on whether or not to maintain my new Kobo Libra Color after buying it. It was a terrific gadget, however was it actually higher? And was spending that cash value it simply to get away from Amazon and borrow books from the library? It did not take lengthy for me to know I might made a terrific choice.

The very first thing was getting my private library all arrange. Although Kindle books usually have DRM locking them down, I used to be capable of obtain all my purchases, strip them of their copy protections, and cargo them into the e-book group app Calibre. Utilizing Calibre, I additionally organized all my different e-books into one massive library, and I even went forward and stuck lots of the metadata on my books to get all of them to ensure that syncing with my new Kobo. It is a fairly guide course of, however one which has me feeling extra in charge of my library. Now, even once I buy books immediately from the Kobo retailer, I preserve a saved copy in Calibre.

Then, just some days after I purchased the Kobo, Amazon made a giant change that confirmed my transfer was the fitting one. The corporate introduced that on the finish of February, they’d now not enable customers to obtain copies of their bought Kindle e-books on to a pc. It is dangerous sufficient to have DRM on bought books, however not permitting customers to obtain the information immediately makes it clear that buying books doesn’t imply proudly owning them. Fortunately, I might made the swap to Kobo in time to obtain all my Kindle books, however others have needed to scramble, in search of different methods to get entry to the e-books they purchased. I am actually glad that I used to be capable of undergo that with none headache, and be away from Amazon’s closed ecosystem for good, having fun with comics on my Kobo Libra Color.

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