Display screen measurement: 10.3-inch | Battery life: Two weeks | Community connectivity: Wi-Fi | Capability: 8GB | Included stylus: No, additional value | Supported file varieties: PDF, EPUB

The latest reMarkable tablet isn’t topping our record as a result of it’s probably the most full-featured and even most fascinating writing pill we examined. Fairly, it gives one of the best mixture of options individuals will discover helpful in an e-paper machine like this.

We’ll get into all of them, however first, it’s value mentioning construct high quality. The reMarkable 2 weighs lower than one pound and is among the sleekest E Ink tablets we tried. It has a ten.3-inch monochrome digital paper show that’s surrounded by beige-colored bezels, with the chunkiest portion on the backside edge the place you’d naturally grip it. There’s a slim silver bezel on the left aspect, which attaches to equipment just like the folio case and the brand new Type Folio keyboard. Hats off to reMarkable for making an E Ink pill that feels proper at dwelling with all your different fancy devices.

Let’s begin with the writing and studying experiences on the reMarkable 2, each of that are nice. From the get go, scribbling, doodling and writing was a breeze. I examined out the Marker Plus, which has a built-in eraser, however each it and the usual Marker are tilt- and strain delicate pens, and require no batteries or charging. I noticed mainly no lag between my urgent down onto the reMarkable 2’s display screen and features exhibiting up. The latency was so low that it felt the closest to precise pen-and-paper. However I’ll say that this isn’t distinctive amongst our prime picks on this information – virtually the entire E Ink tablets I examined bought this very essential function proper.

In terms of studying, the reMarkable 2 helps PDFs and ePUBs, and you may add recordsdata to the machine by logging into your reMarkable account on desktop or by way of the companion cell app in your telephone. You can too pair your Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive or Dropbox account along with your reMarkable account and entry recordsdata that manner as properly. That must be adequate for anybody who, say, reads a whole lot of tutorial papers or critiques many paperwork for work. It’ll be tougher for individuals who buy their ebooks from on-line marketplaces just like the Kindle or Kobo shops, however there are different choices for these.

One other enjoyable strategy to get paperwork onto the reMarkable 2 is by way of the Read with reMarkable extension for Google Chrome. After putting in it and pairing your reMarkable account, you’ll be capable of ship articles you discover on-line on to your reMarkable 2 so you may verify them out later. You may even customise these recordsdata to be despatched as textual content solely, which can allow you to change their format instantly in your reMarkable, or as a PDF file. No matter which you select, you’ll be capable of mark up these articles as you’d some other file on the E Ink pill.

I used this extension lots and I loved studying longform articles on the reMarkable 2 greater than on my iPhone. Having the ability to underline, spotlight and in any other case mark up these tales was extra of a bonus than a necessity for me, however for others who glean sources from on-line supplies will likely be higher off for it.

General, it’s fairly straightforward to get recordsdata onto the reMarkable 2 and it’s doable to entry them elsewhere when it’s possible you’ll not be capable of whip out the E Ink pill. These with a reMarkable Join subscription may have one of the best expertise, and it’s a pleasant perk that you just get a one-year membership while you purchase one. The $3-per-month (or $30-per-year) subscription gives the flexibility to edit current notes and take new ones from anyplace utilizing the desktop and cell apps, plus limitless cloud storage and syncing.

That stated, I saved most of my testing native on the reMarkable 2 itself and was impressed by its means to be a digital pocket book with no steep studying curve. You may create completely different notebooks and “fast sheets” to arrange your handwritten notes, and folders to make sense of imported recordsdata. You’ll discover eight completely different brush varieties with which to mark up paperwork and take notes, together with customizable line thicknesses and “colours” (which simply present up as shades on the pill itself). You may even kind wherever you need in a doc, and the reMarkable 2 can translate handwritten notes into machine-readable textual content with stunning accuracy.

It was no shock that the reMarkable 2 ended up having one of the best mixture of options, together with a comparatively low studying curve. The corporate was one of many first on the scene with a very viable E Ink pill again in 2017, and so they’ve been refining the expertise ever since. However that comes at a price – the reMarkable 2 isn’t the costliest E Ink pill we examined, nevertheless it’s not low cost both. The pill will set you again $399 with the usual Marker, or $449 for a bundle with the Marker Plus. You would get a 10th-gen iPad and the USB-C Apple Pencil for across the similar worth and also you’d have a extra versatile duo, purely primarily based on the capabilities of iOS.

However you’re most likely not contemplating an iPad for a particular cause, whether or not that’s your love for E Ink or the sensation of pen-to-paper writing, otherwise you merely desire a extra distraction-free expertise. If you happen to’re in search of an E Ink pill that won’t take ages to get used to, affords a stellar writing expertise and makes it comparatively easy to entry notes elsewhere, the reMarkable 2 is your finest guess.

Learn our full reMarkable Paper Pro review

Display screen measurement: 11.8-inch | Battery life: Two weeks | Community connectivity: Wi-Fi | Capability: 64GB | Included stylus: No, additional value | Supported file varieties: PDF, EPUB

ReMarkable upped the ante in mainly each manner with the Paper Pro, with out sacrificing something we liked in regards to the reMarkable 2. Each my colleague Dan Cooper and I examined out the brand new machine and you may learn his full reMarkable Paper Pro review right here, which works in-depth into the Paper Professional’s achievements and shortcomings. In my testing, I used to be most impressed by the refined design, sooner response occasions and small joys that got here from having a brand new shade show.

The $629 Paper Professional has an 11.8-inch show, which is barely bigger and taller than that of the reMarkable 2. It’s not cumbersome, although, and with its 5.1mm thickness, it will get actually near the legal-pad pocket book measurement I personally love. It feels fairly premium by itself, particularly with the brand new grooved edges, and even with its Folio protector, it stays fairly svelte. The reMarkable 2 definitely isn’t an ogre by comparability, however the “professional” within the Paper Professional’s identify is well-deserved.

Contained in the reMarkable Paper Professional is a 1.8GHz quad-core Cortex A53 processor, 2GB of RAM and 64GB of storage — all of that are specs which have been bumped up from the reMarkable 2. It really makes a distinction within the efficiency of the brand new mannequin. The Professional feels zippier than the reMarkable 2: web page refreshes are faster, actions and transitions are extra easy and pen latency is just 12ms (virtually undetectable in my expertise).

The place you see the gears working most frequently is in the usage of shade. The Paper Professional’s display screen makes use of a modified model of E Ink’s Gallery 3 expertise known as Canvas Coloration, which is able to producing 20,000 colours that may layer on prime of one another (assume while you spotlight a line greater than as soon as utilizing two completely different colours over each other). You may really see the pixels turning from an ordinary black shade to the colour of your selecting while you’re scribbling in a observe, which isn’t a foul factor as a result of the display screen doesn’t lag or freeze due to this — write at your individual velocity and the machine will up and produce the best colours as you go alongside.

As for software program, you’re getting the identical expertise as you’d with the reMarkable 2, which is to remain a reasonably streamlined interface that makes it straightforward to arrange all your paperwork, notes and different studying and writing materials. The reMarkable 2 provided some of the approachable software program experiences in an E Ink pill, and that continues right here on the Paper Professional. These gadgets prioritize a distraction-free setting — or on the very least, a lower-distraction zone — and I respect how reMarkable has saved its gadgets’ interface easy and simple.

Arguably the largest caveat to any reMarkable pill stays the month-to-month Connection subscription — an optionally available $3 month-to-month or $30 yearly service that gives limitless cloud storage, machine syncing and the flexibility to create and edit notes in reMarkable cell apps. Energy customers will seemingly discover it worthwhile to pay for Join, however the Paper Professional’s 64GB of inner storage is perhaps sufficient for others who need to preserve it easy (and preserve all of their exercise to the Paper Professional itself). New machine homeowners get a 100-day free trial, so it’s straightforward sufficient to offer Join a shot after which cancel if you happen to don’t end up utilizing all of its perks.

An important factor to recollect if you happen to’re contemplating a reMarkable pill is that, primarily based on our testing, each the reMarkable 2 and reMarkable Paper Professional are stable gadgets. The Paper Professional definitely earned its “professional” moniker because of noticeable enhancements the corporate made, however these don’t negate how good of a tool the reMarkable 2 nonetheless is. However if you happen to’ve bought the money and need to spend money on a luxurious E Ink pill expertise, the Paper Professional is the best way to go.

Display screen measurement: 10.2-inch | Battery life: Months | Community connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | Capability: As much as 64GB | Included stylus: Sure | Supported file varieties: AZW3, AZW, TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively and more

You actually have two choices on this area: the Amazon Kindle Scribe and the Kobo Elipsa 2E. The Scribe edged out the Elipsa 2E purely due to its low-latency pen-and-screen mixture. The Elipsa has its deserves, which we’ll get into in a bit, nevertheless it simply couldn’t compete with the Scribe when it got here to a seamless and easy handwriting expertise.

We already gave the Kindle Scribe the full review treatment and tested out the latest Kindle Scribe, which includes extra AI options. As talked about, there’s little to no latency when writing on the Scribe with its companion pen. Due to the latest software update, you even have extra brush varieties to select from now, together with fountain pen, marker and pencil, which add to the appeal. Like different E Ink tablets, the Scribe makes it straightforward to create a number of notebooks, and you may add pages to them and alter up their templates if you want.

As an e-reader, the Scribe shines not solely because of its 10.2-inch touchscreen with auto-adjusting entrance lights, but additionally as a result of you may have Amazon’s total e-book retailer at your fingertips. If you happen to get most of your studying materials from Amazon or subscribe to Kindle Unlimited, you’ll be capable of leap proper into all your titles immediately on the Scribe simply as you’d on a tool just like the Kindle Paperwhite. As well as, the Scribe can connect with Audible by way of Bluetooth for audiobook listening. It’s additionally straightforward to get ebooks out of your native library and browse them on a Kindle. This will likely be essential not just for voracious readers, however particularly for college kids who purchase or lease digital textbooks and people who eat books often for analysis functions.

I thought of college students lots when utilizing the Scribe. I began faculty in 2009, two years after the primary Kindle was launched and one 12 months earlier than the primary iPad got here out. Getting textbooks digitally actually wasn’t an choice for me – however I can perceive the attraction a note-taking machine just like the Kindle Scribe would have for college kids. It’s arguably even higher than an ordinary Kindle due to its greater display screen measurement, which can make it much less tiring to stare at for lengthy durations of time. Including the flexibility to take handwritten notes whilst you’re finding out is icing on the cake.

Nevertheless, Amazon’s execution of e book notes isn’t my favourite. You can not make annotations within the margins of Kindle ebooks. As an alternative you press and maintain the pen’s tip on the display screen to focus on textual content or add a observe to a specific phrase or phrase. If you happen to do the latter, a window pops up on the underside half of the display screen the place you may both take a handwritten observe or kind a textual content observe utilizing the Scribe’s mildly irritating and sluggish on-screen keyboard.

Amazon rectified this a bit with a software update that permits for direct on-page writing in sure Kindle books. The Kindle Retailer now has a piece that showcases “Write-on Books,” which is at present largely made up of journals and sport books that function puzzles like crosswords and sudoku. That is definitely a step in the best route, nevertheless it means you continue to will not be capable of mark up your favourite fiction and non-fiction books till they help the brand new function.

That is the place I give a nod to the Kobo Elipsa 2E, the place you can write notes within the margins, underline, circle and in any other case mark up your studying materials. It’s a extra pure (and enjoyable) expertise because it mimics what you’d do if you happen to had been studying a bodily e book. It’s a disgrace that the latency on the Elipsa was only a hair extra noticeable than that of the Scribe. If it weren’t for that, it may need crushed Amazon’s machine right here.

What that additional little bit of latency interprets to in apply is handwriting that may come out only a bit messier, and that will increase precipitously the sooner you write. However that additionally signifies that you’ll discover this probably the most when taking notes longhand on the Elipsa; if you happen to’re primarily utilizing an E Ink pill to mark up paperwork, it gained’t have an effect on you as a lot.

Regardless of that, I did like the best way Kobo executed notebooks on the Elipsa. You may have an ordinary pocket book the place you may write and scribble away, or an “superior” pocket book that helps handwriting-to-text conversion and inserting issues like diagrams and formulation. Textual content conversion is definitely fairly correct, too, even when coping with a few of my ugliest handwriting. Kobo additionally has a reasonably sizable e-book market, so it’s definitely a good choice if you wish to keep away from the Amazon ecosystem.

Display screen measurement: 7.8-inch | Battery life: Weeks | Community connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | Capability: 32GB, expandable as much as 2TB with microSD card | Included stylus: No, additional value | Supported file varieties: PDF, EPUB, Phrase, Textual content (.txt), PNG, JPG, Comedian e book archive (.cbz), FictionBook2 (.fb2) and OpenXPS (.xps)

Supernote impressed me with its X pill after I first examined it and now the corporate is on the X2 model. The A6 X2 model has a 7.8-inch display screen, and the just lately launched Manta A5 X2 has a ten.7-inch show. I’ve tried each out at this level and the principle distinction, as one would possibly count on, is display screen measurement.

However earlier than we get right into a comparison of the 2 Supernote gadgets, let’s discuss in regards to the upgrades the corporate made to each just lately. With the Nomad X2, the design has been tweaked in delicate methods from the unique Supernote I examined. You get the up to date FeelWrite 2 display screen protector expertise, which is a smoother, much less scratchy one than different E Ink tablets, and a plastic physique that’s fairly light-weight. There are twin sidebars, sections on each lengthy edges of the pill that, when swiped, convey up a menu, making this model simpler for right- and left-handed customers alike. The software program auto-rotates while you flip the display screen, too. On prime of that, each the Nomad and Manta X2 gadgets are user-repairable now with replaceable batteries and a microSD card slot, each of which you’ll see on the bottom of the pill because of its clear panel (there’s an opaque, white choice too that’s additionally simply as upgradeable however nowhere close to as futuristic wanting).

Unsurprisingly, that is nonetheless probably the most enjoyable I had utilizing any E Ink pill. Due to its help of a variety of file codecs (PDF, ePUB, Phrase, PNG, JPG, and many others), you may put loads of materials onto the X2 and do what you want with it. In my earlier experiments, I wished to see if I may deal with it virtually like a digital bullet journal, and that wasn’t arduous to do. There are built-in web page templates, however I used to be capable of obtain each day, weekly and month-to-month planner templates on-line, resize them and transfer them onto the X2 utilizing Android File Switch. The machine has a devoted “MyStyle” folder the place it can save you recordsdata you need to use as templates. Probably the most troublesome half was ensuring I had the scale proper whereas resizing the paperwork. As soon as saved in the best folder, I may make a complete pocket book out of the templates I had gotten from the web without spending a dime.

However you don’t need to get that deep if you happen to don’t need to; Supernote’s software program comes with quite a lot of built-in observe templates which might be greater than appropriate for a variety of conditions and situations. The machine nonetheless has its personal app retailer, nevertheless it’s fairly sparse, save for the Kindle app (though, the very last thing I wished to do on the Supernote was learn) and the new Atelier painting app. The latter is described by the corporate as “skilled portray software program” that has quite a lot of completely different brush choices, marker and spray instruments, 16 ranges of grayscale shade and the choice to export your creations as PSD recordsdata so you may take them to the following degree in Photoshop. It’s a enjoyable tackle a extra inventive pocket book of kinds, and people who discover themselves desirous to separate their inventive creations from their mostly-words notes will respect the inclusion.

This machine actually shines as an E Ink pocket book and the corporate clearly put a whole lot of thought into “constructing a greater mousetrap,” so to talk. You may translate handwritten phrases into typed textual content, however you don’t have to try this to ensure that the software program to acknowledge your handwriting. There’s a key phrases function that permits you to mainly bookmark essential phrases for fast entry later. All that you must do is lasso the phrase, press the key phrase button and the pill’s software program will translate your writing into typed textual content. Then you may add it as a key phrase and rapidly leap again to it from the left-side pill of contents menu. Equally, you may bookmark titles and add stars to pages which might be essential, all of which enable you leap between essential bits.

That stated, a Supernote machine is just like one from Onyx Boox in that it’s not going to carry your hand. It’s a must to be able to mess around, mess with settings and customarily tinker with it proper while you open the field, and a few will likely be just fine doing that (like our personal weekend editor Cheyenne MacDonald). The software program isn’t as polished as that on gadgets made by Amazon or Kobo, which ends up in an unavoidable studying curve. However pocket book nerds like myself will likely be thrilled with all that the Supernote Nomad has to supply.

That stated, this isn’t the costliest E Ink pill on our record, however it should set you again $329 or extra: $329 for the Nomad A6 X2 or $505 for the Manta X2, and $89 (or extra) for an accompanying pen. Which measurement you select will in the end rely upon private desire. The Nomad, as its identify suggests, is the extra moveable of the 2 and feels extra like interacting with a paperback e book (albeit a really skinny one), whereas the Manta provides you noticeably extra display screen actual property. If you realize you’ll do a whole lot of writing on this machine, think about your handwriting sizer — those that default to cursive or massive, crazy print could discover a extra spacious companion within the Manta.

Display screen measurement: 10.3-inch | Battery life: Weeks | Community connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | Capability: 64GB | Included stylus: Sure | Supported file varieties: PDF, PPT, EPUB, TXT, DJVU, HTML, RTF, FB2, DOC, MOBI, CHM, PNG, JPG, TIFF, BMP

The latest Boox pill we have examined, the Note Air4 C appears to be like and feels virtually an identical to the Air3 C, however now it’s barely much less weighty (actually 10g lighter than its predecessor), consists of two additional gigabytes of RAM and runs Android 13. Boox just lately debuted the Note Air 5C, which has just a few variations from our present choose: the 5C helps Boox’s magnetic keyboard cowl and it runs Android 15 somewhat than Android 13. We’ll replace this record as soon as we’re capable of check the Notice Air 5C, however contemplating Boox continues to be promoting the Notice Air 4C, we really feel snug persevering with to advocate it for now.

I skilled little to no latency when writing on the Boox Notice Air and I used to be proud of the variety of brush choices it has within the Pocket book app. Due to the colour E Ink show, now you may even add and save a couple of completely different brushes with coloured ink, line thickness and different specifics and rapidly change between them. That is notably helpful on a shade E Ink pill like this as a result of it can save you, say, black, purple and blue brushes to make use of to distinguish several types of notes and switching amongst them is tremendous fast. You can too now add completely different shapes to notes and fill them in with shade; I made one thing that resembled a sticky observe utilizing a easy sq. stuffed in with yellow. Probably the most visible learners amongst us will discover options like this very useful.

Just like the Supernote A6 X2, this pill comes with a bunch of web page templates you should use for note-taking (together with some shade choices now as properly), or you may herald your individual PDFs and different paperwork to make use of as templates. There’s an “AI recognition” function that interprets an entire web page’s handwriting into typed textual content, and it’s really fairly correct. (Although, it did constantly confuse my “&” for a capital A). I additionally appreciated that you would be able to add different kinds of fabric to your notes, together with internet pages and voice recordings, and share notes as PDFs or PNGs by way of electronic mail, Google Drive and different providers. Options like these be certain that, with this partially analog machine, you don’t miss out on among the conveniences {that a} true digital pocket book system would have.

The very fact stays that Boox’s total Notice collection is what you’d get if you happen to eliminated among the notebook-specific options from the Supernote A6 X2 and added in a extra full model of Android. Boox makes quite a lot of fascinating E Ink gadgets and the Boox Notice Air is the one which finest compares to the others on our record because of its 10.3-inch show. They’re E Ink Android tablets, so which means you may really obtain Android apps from the Google Play Retailer like Kindle, Kobo and others. There’s even an online browser, and sure, you may watch movies on this factor, too.

In fact, simply because you are able to do all of that doesn’t imply it’s best to. E Ink screens are really finest for studying and writing, so I didn’t spend a lot time binge watching YouTube on Boox’s machine – however I used to be completely satisfied that I had the liberty to take action. Actually, the utility of Android is available in with the app retailer and I count on that most individuals will use it to obtain all of their favourite studying and writing apps. Very like an ordinary pill, this will likely be a terrific choice for anybody that will get their studying materials from a bunch of various locations — and since you may manually switch paperwork out of your laptop to the machine, too, it’s far-and-away probably the most versatile choice on our record.

And, importantly, Boox tablets normally supply an fascinating worth proposition. A Boox Notice Air4 C bundle with the pill, an ordinary pen and a folio case is available in at $529, placing it on the upper finish of the worth spectrum among the many gadgets we examined. However contemplating it’s a full Android pill, that doesn’t appear absurd. Those that need to keep away from distractions more often than not whereas nonetheless accessing electronic mail and an online browser would possibly gravitate in direction of a tool like this.

Display screen measurement: 13.3-inch | Battery life: Weeks | Community connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | Capability: 128GB | Included stylus: Sure | Supported file varieties: PDF, PPT, EPUB, TXT, DJVU, HTML, RTF, FB2, DOC, MOBI, CHM, PNG, JPG, TIFF, BMP

Most E Ink tablets obtainable now max out at 10 or 11 inches in display screen measurement. However the newest mannequin from Boox, the Note Max, has a gloriously giant 13.3-inch Carta 1300 show. It’s not the one E Ink pill from Boox to get this massive — the Tab X has the identical measurement display screen, albeit with a decrease dpi (207 vs the Notice Max’s 300) — nevertheless it is among the few e-paper tablets with such a big show made by a longtime producer on this area.

Other than the luxurious show, the Notice Max feels and works like some other pill within the Notice collection so get able to tinker with it if that is your first such Android-based machine. However I discovered the note-taking and doodling expertise to be outstanding on such a big e-paper show. I’m somebody who prefers giant notebooks (B5-sized and bigger, A4 or legal-pad sized most well-liked) so it’s not stunning that I used to be drawn to the Notice Max.

One of many native Boox apps I notably liked utilizing on this large-format machine was Calendar Memo, which supplies you a month-view calendar that you would be able to faucet into particular person days and take notes that correspond to that day. So for instance, you may take work notes, journal, write down to-do lists and extra and return to these writings even after the day has handed simply by tapping on a particular day within the calendar. And if you happen to use Boox’s native ereading app, the books and paperwork you learn on every day may also present up along with your notes, offering a helpful log of your progress. Not solely did I discover it helpful to have all of that info in a single viewport because of the massive show, however I may additionally see myself utilizing the Calendar Memo app often to log the entire most essential issues I need to bear in mind long-term for every day.

That stated, the Notice Max doesn’t come low cost: it’s $689 for the pill, plus the included cowl and stylus. Whereas it’s nice that Boox doesn’t make you pay additional for these much-needed equipment, it’s nonetheless seemingly too cost-prohibitive for most individuals.

Display screen measurement: 7.3-inch | Battery life: Two weeks | Community connectivity: Wi-Fi | Capability: 64GB | Included stylus: Sure | Supported file varieties: PDF, EPUB

If you happen to like the concept of the reMarkable Paper Professional however both need one thing smaller or cheaper (or each), the brand new Paper Pro Move was mainly made for you. With its 7.3-inch Canvas Coloration show, it resembles a steno-pad version of the full-sized Paper Professional. It’s most comparable in measurement to the Supernote Nomad, however the Paper Professional Transfer is barely smaller in width and top, which ought to enable it to slide into huge pockets extra simply.

The {hardware} is top-notch similar to the common Paper Professional, with stable, ridged edges and a luxe display screen that gives good suggestions while you write on it. Its marker attaches magnetically to the best aspect of the machine for charging and secure maintaining, and you may optionally get a folio case for the Paper Professional Transfer that can shield the display screen while you’re not utilizing it and safe the marker even additional.

Software program is an identical right here to the common Paper Professional as properly, with a couple of new added options like a drag-and-drop toolbar, observe search and handwriting-to-text conversion that will likely be obtainable throughout different reMarkable tablets. As well as, you may create all method of notebooks for handwritten textual content and add paperwork utilizing reMarkable’s cell app and internet shopper. The machine helps PDFs and EPUB recordsdata, which limits issues a bit if you happen to had been hoping to make use of this like a ereader. There are higher E Ink tablets for that goal; the Paper Professional Transfer, similar to the common pill, is finest for handwriting notes, marking up paperwork and the like. And because of its measurement, it’ll seemingly be a lot better for individuals who work on location or within the subject, somewhat than at a desk.

The worth can be a bit extra manageable than the full-sized Paper Professional. The Transfer will run you $449 when paired with its normal marker, however if you need the upgraded marker and need to add the folio case into the combination, be ready to spend extra. Nonetheless, $449 is a greater beginning worth than the common Paper Professional’s $629 flooring.

Display screen measurement: 7-inch | Battery life: As much as 40 days | Community connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | Capability: 32GB | Included stylus: No | Supported file varieties: EPUB, EPUB3, FlePub, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF, CBZ, CBR, Kobo audiobooks

The Kobo Libra Colour not solely provides shade to its display screen but additionally stylus help. Which means you may spotlight textual content, write within the margins of e-books and create notebooks. The low-latency, feature-rich stylus, plus integration with Dropbox and Google Drive, make the Libra Color a surprisingly efficient E Ink pill. In the end, we nonetheless assume the Kindle Scribe is your finest guess for a tablet-and-ereader combo, because of the extra expansive Kindle library and the bigger, ten-inch display screen — however Kobo’s newest deserves a point out.

The Libra Color is our present choose for a mannequin with buttons in our ereader guide. It has a premium construct, loads of textual content customizations for snug studying and a crisp, warm-light, seven-inch show. The addition of shade provides curiosity to e book covers and allows you to spotlight textual content in 4 completely different hues. Kobo additionally caught a sooner processor within the machine, which makes waking from sleep, turning pages, navigating the menu and altering orientation zippy quick.

The Libra Color doesn’t include the Kobo stylus — one other level within the Scribe’s favor — however if you happen to add the $70 accent, you’ll be capable of spotlight textual content and scribble notes within the margins of any e book. You’ll additionally unlock entry to Kobo’s two types of notebooks: Fundamental, which helps you to draw, scribble and write freehand, and Superior, which may convert handwriting to typed textual content and allows you to add diagrams and sections.

The stylus affords three pen types, plus a brush and highlighter, and switching between them is fast with an unobtrusive menu. Due to the colour expertise, you may write and attract ten colours and spotlight in 4. One of many few points I bumped into was with the highlighter button — it’s in a terrific spot for spotlighting textual content on the fly, however that location can be proper the place I relaxation my pointer finger, so I typically hit it whereas writing. However the utility of the built-in eraser balances out that irritation.

I observed a barely perceptible latency and good strain sensitivity, which is most evident utilizing the fountain pen. The faucet-to-convert function virtually at all times accurately turned my bizarre printing-and-cursive-hybrid handwriting into kind, and importing notebooks to Dropbox or Google Drive took mere seconds. (You can too do hardwired, USB-C transfers to a pc.)

With the added value of the stylus, you’ll pay $300 for Kobo’s set, which continues to be $100 cheaper than the bottom mannequin of the newest Kindle Scribe. If you happen to don’t want a bigger display screen or entry to the a whole bunch of Kindle titles you might have already bought, the Libra Color makes for an interesting ereader/E Ink pill various. — Amy Skorheim, Senior Reporter