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

In the past I have always been a hardcore nook enthusiast, I thought Id try something different with this Kobo because of the reviews. I absolutely love it, I did have to get used to the large side lip, along with it feeling larger than my nook, only because I do not or did not use the physical buttons on either of the Kobo or my old Nook. But the extra options on this Kobo are absolutely beautiful. I am addicted to the dark mode and have not gone back to the regular reading mode since I got it. I definitely suggest getting either a cover with a handle, or like I did, a handle that sticks on a piece of Velcro to attach to the back. Without a handle, youre definitely going to smack yourself in the head if you tend to read at night lying down. One bad thing I have noticed is that the battery life is not as good as on my old Nook, I do have to charge it probably twice as much.

I have been using this for quite a few months now and I love it! Comfortable to hold. Easy to adjust font and font size. Amazing battery life. I also bought the recommended cover which is very nice. I use the foldable cover as a stand to read hands free while eating breakfast. I would also recommend that.

I have had kindle ereaders for years. My latest kindle was the 2021 paperwhite. I did not like that it lacked page turn buttons, the home screen was horrible with its book advertising, I found it hard to hold, and the entire operating system was difficult for me to navigate. The Kobo libra 2 solves all of those problems. The operating system is so easy to navigate. I love the ease of holding it, the page buttons and its automatic rotating screen. Those features help make long reading sessions much more comfortable. The home screen is beautifully organized. The screen shows only the information I want to see and is not a cluttered mess. The overdrive feature is simply AMAZING and makes this 100 times better than the kindle. It is easy to use and saves me money on books. I utilize my library like never before. I have heard of complaints that the kobo store doesnt have as many books available, I have not found a single book that I have wanted unavailable. The prices of books in the store are similar to Amazon. This uses a USB-c charger (unlike the kindle oasis). It is cheaper than the kindle oasis (the nearest equivalent kindle with buttons). Kobo does have a couple of shortcomings. It does ghost at times. The battery power doesnt last as long as the kindle, but I have only used it with the wi-fi on. Im not a fan of the fonts that are available, but I know that you can side load fonts. I have not tried that yet. I would not say the fonts are horrible either, perhaps Ive used a kindle for so long I am just used to those fonts. I feel like the plastic cover/case could be upgraded as well. The Kobo is not perfect, but it is leaps and bounds better than the kindle. The overdrive feature, the home screen, and the easy to navigate operating system really is amazing. Kindle (at this time) doesnt compare at all. I cant imagine going back.

I bought this device mainly for borrowing library books. Im a little disappointed. It connects to my overdrive account but appears to only allow you to use one library at a time? I have four libraries in my overdrive because they dont all have the same books. Someone here said you can log in and out putting your various library credentials in. What a pain. Also, I can access overdrive through the discover page and searching the Kobo store. But so far hitting borrow books from your library does not work for me. Smaller issues. Does not come with a user manual. It has two fairly useless papers in the box. The quick start guide says to turn on and charge. And the other paperwork is a battery warning and tells you to read the user guide, which isnt included. It is online.

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.

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.

The Libra 2 hits a sweet spot in Kobos development path of incremental hardware upgrades from the already outstanding Aura HD. It has a perfect size and form factor, is lighter, and has a glorious screen. Except for some unneeded gimmicks on the home screen, the software works just right. Sideloading is straightforward and uncompromised. With how much I love reading, I would gladly pay for the best product on the market at any price point. This is the one.

If youd like a device that natively supports EPubs, works with the latest version of Calibre, and has far less DRM restrictions as opposed to competitors, this is the EReader for you!

I had a kindle and this is so much better! integrates directly with Overdrive, most of the books I have wanted to read have been available. You get about twice as much bang for your buck as with Kindle. The books are slightly more expensive but you arent locked into a specific store to purchase them.

The unit died the first day I used it, screen froze and no response, could not shut off or reset. Amazon return was painless, they sent a new unit the day I contacted them and instructions on return, took it to Kohls and took 5 minutes to complete. The Libre 2 is nice works great (so far). Easy to use and screen is very good. My daughter has the new Paperwhite, a much better built unit and the screen is better than the Libre 2. I may order one of them for myself as a back up.