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I use e-readers every single day, and in the last five years, I relied on the Kindle Oasis. The aluminum design, page turn buttons, and high-quality E Ink panel made it a standout choice, but annoyingly, Amazon doesn’t sell the product any longer, and there isn’t a viable alternative — the brand is instead focusing on note-taking devices like the Scribe.
This was problematic as the battery life of my Kindle Oasis isn’t anywhere close to what it used to be; I still get a few days out of a charge, but I couldn’t reliably use it on the road. As I started heading back to events, I wanted another e-reader that was up to the task, and that’s where I came across the Kobo Libra Colour.
Kobo’s latest e-reader nails the basics; it has a 7-inch E Ink panel, adjustable warm light, and physical page turn buttons — all the features that made me like the Kindle Oasis. As a bonus, the e-reader has USB-C connectivity, and Libby/Overdrive integration.
I switched to the Libra Colour at the start of the year, and after three months of extensive use involving travel to three countries and reading over a dozen books, I’m convinced — this is the ideal upgrade to the Kindle Oasis.
Kobo Libra Colour: Pricing and availability
Kobo unveiled the Libra Colour in April 2024, and the e-reader is available globally. It costs $229 on Amazon and the Rakuten store, and you can get your hands on the e-reader in the U.K. for £209. It debuted in India back in October 2024, and is available in the country for ₹19,999 ($231).
Kobo Libra Colour: Design
Kobo did a good job with the design of the Libra Colour, and it feels great to hold and use. Just like the Kindle Oasis, the Libra Colour has physical page turn buttons, but they’re on the left. There’s a raised edge on the left that makes it easier to hold the e-reader, and the back is flat.
Unlike the Oasis, the Libra Colour has a plastic back, and while it doesn’t quite have the same premium feel, there are no issues with the build quality. Coming in at 199g, the Libra Colour is 11g heavier than the Oasis, but the difference isn’t noticeable in daily use. And while it has a plastic back, there is an interesting floral motif at the back that makes holding the device just that little easier.
The raised edge houses the USB-C port, and it’s great to be able to use an e-reader that uses the same charging port as my phone. This was a constant source of frustration with the Kindle Oasis, and Amazon really should have introduced a model with USB-C connectivity. Thankfully, that isn’t an issue on the Libra Colour.
I got the white color variant of the e-reader, and it looks a little more distinctive than the standard black model. The e-reader has built-in sensors that change the orientation of the screen according to whatever hand you’re holding it in, and the location of the page turn buttons is ideal.
The buttons are easily accessible with your thumb, and have good tactility. If anything, the buttons proved to be a bit too stiff in the beginning, but they’re better to use now. Having physical buttons makes all the difference on an e-reader, and I can’t go back to using one without it. A cool feature is the ability to invert the buttons; by default, the bottom button is used to go to the next page in a book, but you can easily switch it to the top button.
The one issue I have with the design is the power button; it’s located at the back, and it’s inconvenient to access most of the time. Thankfully, pressing the page turn buttons wakes the device, so that’s what I’ve been doing. While it isn’t a problem as such, I don’t like that the panel doesn’t sit flush with the body; this is another area where the Oasis wins out.
Outside of that though, I can’t find anything to fault with the Libra Colour. It may not have quite the same in-hand feel as the Oasis, but it is just as reliable in daily use, and it holds up incredibly well during travel.
Kobo Libra Colour: Panel
The defining feature on the Libra Colour is the 7-inch panel, and unlike every other e-reader I used until now, it does a great job rendering colors. It’s made possible by use of E Ink’s Kaleido 3 panel, and it has good color saturation thanks to 4,096 colors. The resolution of the panel is 1680 x 1264, with a pixel density of 300PPI — just like the Kindle Oasis — with monochrome text and 140PPI when it comes to content in color.
It’s enjoyable to use an e-reader with a color panel, and it’s a technical achievement in and of itself. Because of the way E Ink panels work, there’s no backlight powering the display, and it’s instead illuminated by LEDs on the side. While this isn’t an issue with black and white text — it looks just as clean as other e-readers — it is noticeable when viewing things like comics and book covers.
There’s a noticeable grain to the colors, and because of the inherent nature of E Ink, you don’t get the same color vibrancy as LCD or OLED panels — that’s just the way the tech works. So if you’re looking to get the Libra Colour to read comics, know that it still does a decent job in this area as it integrates the CBZ and CBR extensions, but color quality won’t be anywhere as good as an Android tablet like the Xiaomi Pad 7.
The E Ink panel by itself does a good job curbing blue light emissions, and I had no problems using the Libra Colour all day. It uses Kobo’s ComfortLight Pro tech, so you get adjustable warm light in addition to the regular white LED lighting, and it definitely makes a difference — particularly when reading at night. On that note, there’s dark mode as well, and while I use the mode extensively on my monitor and phones, I prefer reading books without it.
Basically, this is one of the best panels you can get today, and it makes using the Libra Colour that much more engaging.
Kobo Libra Colour: Real-world usage
The Libra Colour is a delight to use; it’s comfortable to hold throughout the day, and the 7-inch panel size is ideal to read books. The E Ink panel itself is terrific, with good pixel density and clarity. I didn’t see any issues with ghosting — where afterimages of previous pages are retained when you refresh — and the interface is just as fluid as the Kindle Oasis.
There are no issues with navigation, and page turns are handled smoothly while reading a book. Obviously, a big draw is the physical page turn buttons, and they make using the Libra Colour that much more enjoyable. While I didn’t use it to read comics, it’s fun to be able to view book covers in color, and that novelty doesn’t go away. What I also like is that the device lets you put the cover on the lock screen when it’s idling, and that’s a nice addition.
The Libra Colour is available in a single configuration with 32GB of storage, and considering most ebooks are less than 1MB in size, the storage isn’t a problem with sizable collections. It isn’t an issue even if you want to read comics on the device, and while the color panel doesn’t have the best resolution, it is a decent choice in this regard. Similarly, you can listen to audiobooks by connecting a Bluetooth device.
The e-reader has a 2050mAh battery, and in my usage, it easily lasted two weeks between charges. That’s less than what I got with the Kindle Oasis (back when it’s battery didn’t degrade), but the color E Ink panel needs more power, and the convenience of charging over USB-C more than offsets any issues around battery longevity. Charging the e-reader takes over an hour and a half as it is limited to 10W, and it didn’t exceed 7W when connected to a standard 100W USB PD charger.
What I like about the software is the customizability. There’s integration with cloud storage providers, so you can easily download books from Google Drive if that’s what you prefer. You can also easily load custom fonts on the device, and the built-in selection in itself is extensive. I’ve gotten used to Amazon’s Bookerly font over the last decade, and it was a breeze to install it on the e-reader.
You can also easily annotate and highlight books, and this is particularly handy thanks to the color E Ink panel. There’s also the ability to journal and take notes, but you’ll need to pick up the Kobo Stylus to do that. I have a dozen styli in the house, but none of those — even the ones paired with Onyx and Remarkable readers — connected to the Libra Colour, so I wasn’t able to test this feature.
There’s IPX8 ingress protection, and you can use the Libra Colour in the tub or at the pool without any issues. Finally, if you use Libby, you can get the books onto the Libra Colour and read without too much of a hassle, and that’s another area where the e-reader wins out against the Kindle Oasis.
In general, the Libra Colour does a better job with DRM-free e-books than any of Amazon’s e-readers, and it’s refreshing to see. Kobo’s ebook store isn’t anywhere as extensive as the Kindle Store, but you can easily grab books from any storefront and read on the Libra Colour as it has native EPUB, EPUB3, FlePub, PDF, and MOBI integration.
Kobo Libra Colour: The alternatives
As good as the Kindle Oasis has been, it’s clear that Amazon has no intention of delivering a successor to the product. Thankfully, there are other alternatives around; I like what Onyx is doing with its e-readers, and the BOOX Go Color 7 is a decent choice.
It has the same E Ink Kaleido 3 panel as the Libra Colour, adjustable warm light, and higher 64GB of storage. You get physical page turn buttons as well, and although I didn’t test the product, I’m keen on seeing whether Onyx was able to resolve the ghosting issues that’s prevalent on its other devices.
Kobo Libra Colour: Should you buy it?
You should buy this if:
- You want an e-reader with a color panel
- You want physical page turning buttons
- You need a good design that’s built to last
- You want great battery life
- You need customization-friendly software
You shouldn’t buy this if:
- You need an extensive built-in ebook store
- You want a metallic chassis
The Libra Colour delivers everything I need in an e-reader in 2025. The design isn’t too heavy, and the white model looks quite elegant. Kobo did a great job with the weight distribution, and I didn’t see any issues even after using the e-reader all day. The page turn buttons take a while to get used to as they’re stiff out of the box, but once you’ve gotten acclimated to the e-reader, this isn’t an issue.
The E Ink panel is delightful; text is clear and detailed with no ghosting, and there’s extensive customizability when it comes to font selection. The icing on the cake is the color panel, and it’s fun to view book covers and illustrations as intended. The warm light makes it easier to use the e-reader at night, and with Bluetooth, USB-C connectivity, and IPX8 ingress protection, Kobo nailed the basics.
The software is great to use, and there’s no lag when navigating the interface or turning pages in a book. Battery life isn’t quite as good as the Kindle Oasis, but you’ll still only need to charge the device biweekly on average. Ultimately, the Libra Colour is the best e-reader to upgrade to if you’re still on the Kindle Oasis.
Thanks to a fantastic color E Ink panel and and a fluid interface, it’s a delight to read on the Libra Colour. It’s good to hold and use, has all the extras you need in 2025, and the page turn buttons make a real difference. If you’ve had the Kindle Oasis or any other e-reader and want to switch to a newer model, this is the one to get.