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Kobo Libra vs Kobo Nia
July 10, 2024
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Kobo Libra is the embodiment of your reading style. With more storage, a faster E Ink screen, and Bluetooth wireless technology so you can listen to Kobo Audiobooks, Kobo Libra is an integral part of your rich reading life. Packed with features and personality and storage for all of your eBooks Kobo Libra was made to do more. An ergonomic design keeps your reading life on hand and page turn buttons keep the story going while you sip your coffee, stir your signature pasta sauce, or nurse your newborn so you can read on and on, no matter what.
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Kobo Nia is a 6-inch reader with a 1024x758 pixel, 212 ppi resolution touchscreen. It's equipped with Kobo's ComfortLight tech, which lets you adjust the display's brightness as you see fit. The Nia is pretty sleek at 172 grams, with 9.2mm of thickness around the edges. Inside, there's a 1,000mAh battery, which offers "weeks" of reading on a single charge + 8GB of storage.
Kobo Libra vs Kobo Nia in our news:
2023. Rakuten unveiled Kobo Libra 2
The Kobo Libra 2, as unveiled by the ever-industrious Rakuten Kobo, is the sort of e-reader that might have been described by a Vogon poet as “breathtaking” and “perplexingly asymmetrical.” Sporting a 7-inch HD E Ink Carta 1200 display with an improbably crisp resolution of 1264 × 1680 pixels (or a retina-pleasing 300 PPI), it dares to ask the existential question: “Why stick to one color temperature when you can have all of them?” It features Dark Mode for when you’d prefer your words glowing softly from the void, and a 1 GHz Processor ensures your literary escapades run as smoothly as Zaphod Beeblebrox piloting a stolen spaceship. Its 32 GB storage practically begs for an intergalactic library, while the thickened right spine with physical page-turn buttons offers a tactile nod to readers clinging to the romance of "real books." Oh, and did we mention it’s waterproof? Because it is—perfect for bathtub philosophers and spacefaring dolphins. Available in Black and White (because why complicate perfection?), the Libra 2 can be accessorized with SleepCovers ($50), presumably for when your books need a nap. Priced at $250 and available through Flipkart and other online retailers in India, it’s a wonder of modern technology—or at least it thinks it is.
2020. Kobo introduces $99 e-reader Nia to replace Aura
In the vast and occasionally perplexing universe of e-book readers, Rakuten has flung a new contender into the cosmic void of consumer electronics. Behold the Kobo Nia, a nifty little gadget with a 6-inch, 1024x758 pixel touchscreen clocking in at a crisp 212 ppi. Thanks to its ComfortLight tech, you can make the screen as bright or as dim as your whims demand, all while clutching a remarkably svelte 172-gram device that’s just 9.2mm thick. Inside this sleek bit of circuitry lies a 1,000mAh battery, cheerfully boasting "weeks" of page-turning endurance, and 8GB of storage for more books than you can realistically read in a year. Inevitably, it invites comparison to Amazon's cheapest Kindle, which starts at $89.99 (but only if you're willing to endure the indignity of ads; $109.99 if you’re not), featuring the same 6-inch screen but with a comparatively meh 165 ppi resolution and half the storage. For anyone feeling mildly allergic to Amazon's ecosystem and looking for an affordable e-reader that doesn’t nag them with special offers, the Nia makes a rather compelling case—perhaps even with a wink and a smug little grin.
2019. Kobo brings the Forma form factor to a cheaper model Kobo Libra
The new Kobo Libra H2O adopts the Forma's design for a 7-inch screen device that costs a more reasonable $170. It’s still not inexpensive in the realm of e-readers, of course. That’s about $40 more than, for example, the Kindle Paperwhite, but it’s great to see some of these features beginning to appear in more affordable products. The design functions well, allowing for reading in both landscape and portrait modes, with autorotation enabled by the built-in accelerometer. Kobo has also refined the software to feature improved menus, enhanced book scrubbing and better previews. Additional features include the ability to adjust the front light brightness by swiping along the side of the screen. As the name suggests, the device is waterproof with an IPX8 rating.
