kobo
Latest
Kobo’s new ereaders include its first with color displays
Rakuten has a trio of new Kobo ereaders, including the company’s first two with color displays. On Wednesday, the company revealed the $220 Kobo Libra Colour and $150 Clara Colour alongside the monochrome $130 Clara BW.
Kobo takes on the Kindle Scribe with improved Elipsa 2E e-ink tablet
Rakuten-owned Kobo unveiled its newest e-reader today, a $400 alternative to the Kindle Scribe and reMarkable 2.
E-book library app OverDrive is shutting down on May 1st
OverDrive, the service you can use to borrow ebooks, audiobooks and other digital media from your local library, school or university, is shutting down.
The Kobo Clara2E e-reader is waterproof and made of recycled plastic
The exterior is made of 85 percent recycled material.
Apple's AirPods Pro drop to $175, plus the rest of the week's best tech deals
This week's best tech deals include the AirPods Pro for $175, Apple's iPad mini for $459, Amazon's Fire HD 8 tablet for $45 and the Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones for $278.
Kobo's Libra 2 e-reader is $20 off right now
Kobo's Libra 2 eReader is on sale for $160, the first good discount we've seen on it.
What we bought: How the Kobo Libra 2 got me out of a reading slump
Kobo's $180 Libra 2 e-reader helped push me out of a reading slump and break my reliance on Amazon's Kindle store. Kobo devices may not have as much name recognition as Kindles do, but the Libra 2 excels with its ergonomic design, sharp screen and Overdrive integration.
Kobo's new $260 Sage e-reader lets you add handwritten notes
Kobo has introduced two new e-readers including the $260 Kobo Sage that lets you take e-notes, as well as the waterproof, mid-range Libra 2.
Kobo's 10.3-inch Elipsa is the company's biggest e-reader to date
It's the largest e-reader Kobo has made to date.
Kobo's new entry-level e-reader is the $100 Nia
The Kobo Nia is an entry-level reader with a six-inch, 1,024 x 758 Carta E Ink display (with Kobo’s ComfortLight front lighting), 172 gram weight, 8GB of storage and 1,000 mAh battery that will run for “weeks on end” on a single charge.
Kobo's audiobooks are now accessible through CarPlay
Kobo has been slinging e-books for years now, but it's still pretty new to the whole audiobook craze -- the Canadian company (and Rakuten subsidiary) only added spoken-word content to its catalog about a year ago. Thankfully, Kobo recently made it a little easier to keep listening to Caroline Kepnes' You after you've gotten cozy behind the wheel. Devotees can now listen to their Kobo audiobooks through Apple CarPlay-compatible infotainment systems — just connect the phone to your car, fire up the app, and you're off to the races (so to speak).
Kobo's latest e-reader is big, durable and waterproof
Like Amazon's Kindle range, Kobo's e-readers run the gamut from affordable devices to premium products. The company's latest falls firmly in the high-end category. At $280, the Kobo Forma costs 50 bucks more than its current top-of-the-line model; the Kobo Aura One. It's also waterproof (with an IPX8 rating, meaning you can dunk it in 2 metres of water), lightweight (at 197g, it's 15 percent lighter than the Aura One), and touts 8-inches of screen space.
Walmart squares up to Amazon with a new e-book store
Walmart has officially launched the Amazon e-book and audiobook rival it's been working on with Kobo this past year. The big box retailer announced its partnership with Kobo's parent company Rakuten back in January, promising to give its customers (in the US, at least) an easy way to access the six million titles in Kobo's library. Now, you can finally access the partner's e-book experience via Kobo e-readers and their new co-branded apps for iOS and Android devices. You can also purchase e-books on Walmart's US website, where they're listed alongside their physical counterparts. Take note that due to an agreement with Apple, the e-book store isn't visible inside the iOS app, though the application will show any item you purchase via other means.
Kobo's new e-reader offers an HD e-ink screen for $130
In a world full of full-color tablet displays, it may seem surprising that dedicated e-readers are still around. But these devices actually have an advantage over tablets that avid readers appreciate -- the e-ink displays are much easier on the eyes than backlit displays. They allow for comfortable long-term reading. Today, Rakuten announced a new Kobo e-reader called the Clara HD. It's a 6-inch device with an HD 300 dpi screen at an affordable $130.
Walmart teams up with Kobo to sell ebooks and audiobooks
Later this year, you'll be able to buy ebooks and audiobooks straight from Walmart's website. The big box retailer has teamed up with Japanese e-commerce titan Rakuten to launch a business that can take on Amazon's Kindle offerings. Walmart will give its customers in the US an easy way to access to Kobo's library -- Kobo is Rakuten's digital book division -- and its six million titles from tens of thousands of publishers. The company will also start selling Kobo eReaders, which will set you back at least $120, online and in stores sometime this year.
Kobo quadruples the storage for limited-edition Aura One e-reader
Enthusiasm for e-readers has slowed in recent years, meaning new entrants have to boldly differentiate or they'll fall under the wheels of Amazon's niche-dominating Kindle. Kobo's Aura One, released in August, is unique in the world of devices: It's waterproof, meaning you can finally take an e-reader into the bath, and has softer light for nighttime perusing. Now Kobo is releasing a limited edition of the device with 32GB of storage, quadruple the space of the original -- which is great news for fans of comics and manga.
Kobo adds audiobooks along with an Audible-like subscription
Kobo is finally getting into the audiobooks biz. The Canadian company has added audiobooks to its offerings and already has an extensive catalogue sell, including bestsellers like the Harry Potter series. Even better, it has launched $10-per-month Audible-like subscription service, which sounds like a good deal if you regularly purchase audiobooks. The service gives you credits you can use to get any title from Kobo.com, even if its list price costs more than what you paid. You get a free 30-day trial period, so you can check out how it works before committing. But if you know you can go through a single audiobook real fast, you can also just straight up buy a three-pack credit for $30 and keep up to 24 credits in your subscription account.
Kobo's latest waterproof e-reader is sized for poolside reading
Kobo's Aura One e-reader was potentially the dream device for anyone who likes to read in the bath or at the beach, but it had some catches. Its big 7.8-inch screen didn't make it the most portable device around, and that $229 price could be off-putting if you just wanted to read a novel now and then. Enter the just-introduced Aura H2O -- the new e-reader is still as waterproof as the One, and shares the same smart lighting that reduces blue light at night (in theory, to help you sleep). Its 6.8-inch touchscreen is decidedly easier to hold during longer siestas, while the $180 price (£150 in the UK) might simplify your purchasing decision.
Kobo will sell discounted digital copies of your paper books
Kobo, the Canadian e-reader titan, has snapped up a little-known e-book platform called Shelfie and will incorporate its features into its apps. Shelfie was a service that sold digital copies of print books you already own at a discount before it shuttered in January. You had to take photos of your book shelves (hence, its name) to prove you own the titles you want to buy. The service's technology would then identify your books and make an inventory of everything you own by scanning their spines.
Kobo is the next to offer an e-book subscription service
All-you-can-read e-book subscriptions are nothing new (just ask Amazon), but Kobo is just now joining the fray. It's launching Kobo Plus, a service that offers unlimited reading of eligible books (currently 40,000 titles) for a flat monthly fee. While there aren't any surprising attempts to shake up the basic subscription formula, you probably won't complain if you prefer Kobo's e-readers or mobile apps -- you no longer have to buy every single title that piques your interest.
