Kobo Clara 2E review: This e-reader is a tad slower than the Kindle Paperwhite but is an otherwise worthy rival

If you know anything about e-readers, you probably know that Kindle is the unofficial leader in providing books on-the-go — thanks to its lightweight reading devices. For instance, we named the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition as the “best Kindle overall,” the standard Paperwhite as the best option for outdoor reading, and the Kindle Scribe as the “best for taking notes.” Yet, it would be a mistake to claim that Kindle is the be-all and end-all in the world of e-readers, while refusing to look into any other options — akin to saying that the Dyson Supersonic is the only hair dryer that matters because of its TikTok fame.

Enter: The Kobo Clara 2E e-reader. This gadget is a veritable Kindle alternative that lives up to its promises, has 16GB of storage, and works as well as you can expect (except for being a bit on the slower side). It’s not going to blow your mind, exactly, but it’s a functional (if a bit basic) reading device that is so lightweight you’ll be carrying it with you everywhere — hitting those Goodreads Reading Challenge goals on the train, in the bath, in the park, and on the beach.

I tested the Clara 2E for about two weeks — in which I practically devoured T. Fleischmann’s Time Is the Thing a Body Moves Through and started Joan Didion’s Collected Essays, while making sure to trial everything the Kobo was capable of. This included objectively evaluating its various lighting options, annotations/highlights, paid book choices through the Kobo Plus membership, beta features (I was obsessed with the “sketch pad”), and overall functionality. I’d consider myself a book nerd through and through (I literally enjoyed Wall Street memoirs in fourth grade, guys), but I’ve never actually read on an e-reader before. As someone who was once fully #teamprintedbooks, I can now say with confidence: The Kobo managed to persuade me that e-books aren’t all that bad.

Overall, the Clara 2E was a pleasure to read with (it didn’t hurt that more than 85 percent of its exterior is made from recycled plastics). I took advantage of my library card and Overdrive to save myself some money, appreciated the fact that setting the device up took 10 minutes at most, and really liked that it didn’t interfere with my sleep schedule by emitting blue light at night. The only downsides of the Clara 2E were honestly its lack of wireless charging (which the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition has, albeit costing way more), how slow its touchscreen functioned, and the fact that it didn’t support books in Russian (my Ukrainian parents are encouraging me to read in the language so that I don’t forget it). As for how the Clara 2E stacked up against its closest Kindle rival, the OG Paperwhite? The differences are too minor to be concerned about.

The Clara 2E in the gym.
Credit: Stacia Datskovska / Mashable

Slower-than-preferred performance isn’t a dealbreaker

Getting your Kobo Clara 2E reader set up is as easy and fast as can be. After all, the only thing its box comes with is the reader itself, a cord, and a quick-start guide that allows you to start flipping those (virtual) pages in no time. However, once you connect to WiFi and download your first book onto the Clara 2E (you can do this with a $9.99 per month Read & Listen Kobo Plus membership, by buying individual literature a la carte style, or by connecting to your Overdrive account), the lags in performance officially commence.

Flipping pages by tapping the side of the screen or sliding your finger across it is an instantaneous process, but if you press and hold a word and then drag out to highlight a particular phrase, this takes way longer than necessary. In fact, at that point, I didn’t even feel like making a highlight or annotation. The latter is an even slower process, which reminded me of powering on an early 2000s desktop.

I should note that the ability to press on a word and get its dictionary definition is pretty cool. What’s even cooler is that you can save all the words you looked up by turning on the beta feature “my words” in the settings. However, all annotations sadly vanish into the e-reader void when you delete a given book from your shelf or return it via Overdrive. Considering the fact that it takes so long to make a highlight or note (and even then, the device often highlights the wrong phrase) and that they aren’t saved forever, it’s not really worth it to do so. Pro tip: Treat the Kobo Clara 2E like a borrowed, physical library book. Don’t make any marks in it — you’ll thank yourself for the time saved.

Slow performance is definitely not a positive trait for an e-reader, but I didn’t care about it all that much. In my eyes, the whole notion of reading is to slow down in a dedicated pocket of time when you aren’t burdened by any other responsibilities. I didn’t need my e-reader to perform any lightning-speed magic tricks to be able to appreciate it.

Pressing and holding a word gives you access to its dictionary definition.
Credit: Stacia Datskovska / Mashable

Always-on display is a nuisance

The Kobo Clara 2E comes with two turn-off options: sleep or a full power off. The former allows you to quickly click its on/off button in the back and get right back to the page where you left off. The latter requires you to press and hold the back button and then wait while the screen buffers… and buffers… and buffers. The Clara 2E never fully shuts off, meaning you’re always going to see the cover of your book displayed on screen, though in a dimmed way when you’re not reading it. Carrying the e-reader around my gym, I was slightly disappointed by the fact that I couldn’t make my screen “incognito.” But then again, flaunting my queer literature in front of heterosexual gym bros was a major win.

To be sure, there’s a solution to all this: You can buy a Kobo Clara 2E Sleep Cover that comes in three colors and automatically wakes your e-reader, as well as puts it in sleep mode. This will cost you an additional $29.99, which is cheaper than most official Kindle Paperwhite covers at Amazon, actually.

In fact, if we’re comparing it to this device, there is also no way to completely turn off a Kindle Paperwhite. I guess always-on displays are a sacrifice bookworms have to make if they want to enjoy reading on e-readers. Besides, all physical books — paperback or hardcover — are technically always-on, too, aren’t they?

In terms of how the always-on display affected battery life, the answer is not much. Two weeks of extensive use after a full charge, and my e-reader was still holding strong at 58 percent. If you want to maximize battery life as much as possible, Kobo also offers special energy-saving settings, like automatically powering off the device after a certain amount of inactivity.

The Kobo’s brightness and color adapts to your surroundings, but it has an (unfortunately) always-on screen.
Credit: Stacia Datskovska / Mashable

Brightness settings can be toggled with manually, but you’re gonna have to buy this baby a case if you want to stop seeing its screen.
Credit: Stacia Datskovska / Mashable

Good lighting options, bad language options

Just like the Kindle Paperwhite, the Kobo Clara 2E’s display is automatically adjusted based on your surroundings. This means that you can go full dark mode to eliminate eye strain in a dark room, be sure that blue light emission is reduced with the nighttime orange candlelight glow of the e-reader, and have a glare-free reading experience in intense sunlight. The Clara 2E allows you to set your usual bedtime hours, which is when blue light elimination will be launched full-force. If you’re not satisfied with auto adjustments, you can do everything manually with the reader’s (slow) toggle functions for brightness.

To hop on a quick tangent regarding manual adjustments, I also appreciated that this reader allowed you to change its font face, size, and line spacing. It even provided dyslexia-friendly fonts and gave insights into your reading habits (percentage of book already read, how many minutes you have left in a given chapter, how many hours you have left in the whole book, and more).

With Kobo’s lighting settings, I never felt like my eyes or head were hurting (which is what made me stay away from e-books for years). If you’re also sensitive and get migraines from too much screen time, you’ll love the Clara 2E.

However, if your primary language is not English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Turkish, Japanese, Chinese, Polish, Romanian, or Czech, you won’t love the Clara 2E… mainly because you won’t be able to use it.

When I borrowed a Russian-language book via Overdrive, it wouldn’t even sync to the e-reader, since Russian isn’t a compatible language for the Kobo. This seems limiting at best but, again, isn’t a total dealbreaker.

As for some other options and perks the Kobo Clara 2E does have, I majorly appreciated the fact that it suggested “related reads,” which you can browse by clicking the three dots in the reader’s upper-right-hand corner. I was also a big fan of beta features (“not officially supported by Kobo,” the brand is quick to clarify) like “large print mode,” the ability to browse the internet (making this a semi-tablet, if you think about it), and the “sketch pad” function which I used to show off my doctor’s script handwriting to no one in particular. While the Kindle Paperwhite does accommodate those who need their text displayed larger and also has a way to go on Google, it lacks a sketch pad. In fact, if you want to draw on a 16GB Kindle, you better be ready to spend $339.99 buying a Scribe model. One point for Team Kobo. Oh, and did I mention the Kobo Clara 2E also weighs 1.2oz less than its 16 GB Kindle Paperwhite counterpart and is $10 cheaper?

A classic Didion read is always good for the soul.
Credit: Stacia Datskovska / Mashable

To Kobo or to Kindle?

Here’s the thing: When it comes down to it, it’s logical to think that spending $10 more on a device that’s a bit heavier and doesn’t allow you to doodle on it like a kid is worth it if this device ends up working faster and is more popular with big-time readers in general.

Regardless, it’s hard to answer the age-old question of “to Kobo or to Kindle?” since both e-readers have their advantages and disadvantages — gaining points in some categories while being behind in others. The Kindle Paperwhite, for instance, can run for up to 10 weeks on a single full charge. If my Kobo e-reader was at 58 percent two weeks in, then it definitely has worse battery life than its market rival. Also, users who reviewed the Kobo Clara 2E have sometimes complained that its sunken display (versus the Paperwhite’s flush screen) is prone to collecting dust and muffin crumbs, or the crumbs of whatever other snack you enjoy alongside your daily reading.

At the same time, for the environmentally minded among us, the Kobo Clara 2E is a definite winner. As mentioned before, it really stresses eco-consciousness, being Kobo’s first e-reader made with ocean-bound and recycled plastic (specifically with “over 85 percent recycled plastic, including 10 percent ocean-bound plastic”). The Paperwhite is only made of “60 percent post-consumer recycled plastics,” according to its description at Amazon.

Kobo’s e-reader has Overdrive built in, while Kindle Paperwhite has Libby access that requires a second device (like a phone or computer) to actually get the e-book on the e-reader. When it comes down to paid reading options for those who don’t want to borrow books, it’s another difficult comparison to make. Kobo offers a 30-day free trial to its Plus membership. This is how the membership tiers break down by price after that trial is over:

• Kobo Plus Read (e-books-only access compatible with any Kobo e-reader or the Kobo app): $7.99 per month

• Kobo Plus Listen (audiobooks-only access compatible with any Kobo e-reader or the Kobo app): $7.99 per month

• Kobo Plus Read & Listen (e-books and audiobooks included on any Kobo e-reader or the Kobo app): $9.99 per month

Meanwhile, Kindle Unlimited also grants new users a one-month free trial, but then this trial renews at $11.99 per month ($2 more than Kobo’s most holistic membership package). Take that information as you will, while considering the fact that the Kindle Unlimited subscription also gives you access to select magazines (whereas Kobo does not).

Is the Kobo Clara 2E e-reader worth it?

For its current price of $139.99, if you were to ask me whether the Clara 2E is worth it, I’d say go for it. Then I’d load you with a million book suggestions across many genres. Sure, it lacks Kindle’s fame and glory and prestige and the hundreds of articles we at Mashable have already written about the device. But if you want an e-reader that allows you to — quite simply — read, then this basic model gets the job done.

It’s slow, yes: To the point of making you think twice before typing out a note during your reading. But when it comes down to flipping book pages and consuming information and tapping into your “dark academia” vibes this fall, the Kobo Clara 2E has your back. It doesn’t renege on any of its promises and doesn’t advertise itself as something it’s not. The reader’s learning curve is also not frightening at all and it’s pretty fun to hold, given its ribbed, wavy exterior.

If you get the Clara 2E for yourself (and if you’re anything like me), you’ll be reaching for it as soon as you wake up and during any of your breaks throughout the day. The Kobo truly makes reading a treat, without hurting your wallet.