I love e-readers, which explains why I write about them a lot. Earlier this year, I abandoned my Kindles and took up with a Kobo Libra H2O, and that’s been a pleasurable experience. But change is coming to the e-reader world this fall, in the form of three brand-new readers. From upstart challenger Rakuten Kobo come the Kobo Sage and the Kobo Libra 2. And from the big canine, amazon kindle, comes the eleventh-technology Kindle Paperwhite. They’re extra completely different than you might assume. I’ve read books on all three over the previous few weeks. Here’s my full review. All of those gadgets have adopted more advanced expertise than previous e-readers. They’ve got the newest E Ink screens, which look great. They’ve acquired faster processors, which makes a noticeable distinction when it comes to decreasing lag when you turn pages, particularly if it's essential to rapidly flip back several pages. Although I never, ever use them, Amazon added audiobook assist for Kindles some time back.  Data has ​be en created by GSA Con᠎tent Gen᠎er ator Dem​ov er᠎sion .

With this spherical of updates, Kobo has matched them. You'll be able to join Bluetooth audio gadgets to a Kobo reader and play again audiobooks. And most importantly, all of them use USB-C for power and data connections, somewhat than the old "standard" of micro USB. That alone could be cause enough to rejoice. The $260 Kobo Sage is an enormous, lovely ereader. Its 8-inch diagonal display reminds me of the 7.8-inch screen on its predecessor, the Kobo Aura One. I likened the Aura One to a hardcover, or possibly a trade paperback-it’s a bigger and heavier device, however you do get to see more words on the web page. You probably have imaginative and prescient problems and have to display text at large sizes, the Sage will cut back the variety of occasions you'll want to click on to see the next page. The Sage is plastic but well constructed, with a display screen that’s flush with its bezel and a textured pattern on the again to make it a bit extra grippy.

Its design is asymmetric, with a bigger bezel on one side-the one with the page-turn buttons-to help in gripping the gadget. It’s the same method Amazon takes with the Kindle Oasis. One characteristic of the Sage that I didn’t take a look at is its support for Kobo’s stylus, which allows you to write notes on paperwork resembling PDFs. I'm personally a bit skeptical of utilizing an 8-inch display screen as a PDF reader, however people who find themselves marking up documents on a regular basis ought to take observe. The one greatest characteristic of the Sage might be its integration with Dropbox, which creates a Rakuten Kobo folder inside your Apps folder on Dropbox. Any PDFs or ePub free ebooks that you just drop in to that folder robotically sync to the device. In case you do plenty of sideloading of books, the Dropbox integration means you don’t must plug the gadget in to a computer so as to copy information over. There’s no denying that the Sage comes in a big package.

It’s 6.3 x 7.1 inches (161 x 181 mm) and 0.3 inches (7.6 mm) thick, making it shorter however wider than an iPad mini. And weighing in at 8.5 ounces (241g), the Sage was a bit too large for one-handed studying. I needed to rest the guide on my lap or chest, or grip it with two arms, in order to get into a snug studying place. At $260, the Kobo Sage costs about the same as a Kindle Oasis. Whereas the Oasis (which is probably due for an replace quickly) has a bit more of a premium really feel than the Sage (owing to its aluminum back), the Sage’s 8-inch screen (the Oasis display is 7 inches) is basically the main attraction. In the event you prefer a bigger gadget with a bigger screen, or actually need Dropbox syncing, or are intrigued by stylus help, the Kobo Sage is an efficient selection. If you need probably the most luxurious e-reader hardware around at any price, but don’t mind the smaller display, the Kindle Oasis has the Sage beat.

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Pub: 16 Oct 2025 09:07 UTC

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