Kobo Clara 2E review – a slow but trusty reading companion

Hardcover books have a permanent place in my heart. But sometimes 800 pages of paper and a cover are just too heavy to carry around. That’s why, every now and again, I’ll reach for an e-reader. My most recent companion? The Clara 2E from Kobo.

eReaders

EUR179,–

Kobo Clara 2E

6", 16 GB, Deep Ocean Blue

139

eReaders

EUR179,–

Kobo Clara 2E

6", 16 GB, Deep Ocean Blue

139

The Japanese company has various e-readers on offer and is considered one of Amazon’s main competitors in the e-book segment. In 2017, Rakuten Kobo (linked press release in German) acquired Deutsche Telekom’s Tolino share. All Kobo and Tolino e-readers are manufactured by the same company, which is why you’ll find some counterpart models under both brands.

The Kobo Clara 2E’s counterpart is the Tolino Shine 4, which my colleague Martin Jungfer reviewed here. But the two devices do differ – especially in terms of software. And the hardware isn’t identical either. I go into more detail under «My verdict» below.

The Clara 2E is the «eco-conscious» model in the Kobo range. Its housing is made of 85 per cent recycled plastic, some of which comes from the ocean. The blue colour and wavelike grooves on the back allude to this.

Upon closer inspection, I notice that the device actually has two colours. Only the plastic back is blue. The sides and bezels around the e-ink display are black. This isn’t insignificant; it means the recycled blue won’t reflect at you as you read.

Hardware

The Clara 2E measures 11.2 × 15.9 centimetres – roughly the size of a thin paperback – and weighs 171 grammes, which is a few grammes less than my iPhone 13. Here are the rest of the specs:

• 6-inch HD E-Ink Carta 1200 touchscreen
• 300 ppi
• 1448 × 1072 resolution
• USB-C port and power button
• 16 GB storage
• Bluetooth and Wi-Fi 802.11 ac/b/g/n (dual band)
• Waterproof according to IPX8 rating (up to 60 minutes in 2 metres of water)
• Adjustable brightness and colour temperature
• Supported file formats: EPUB, EPUB3, FlePub, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF, CBZ, CBR and Kobo Audiobooks

The Clara 2E comes with a USB-C to USB-A cable, and its display is covered with a thin foil. I pull it off and press the power button on the back. It’s located in an indentation, so it’s well protected from unintentional presses.

The set-up

The first thing you need to do on the e-reader is log in. There are several options: you can create a Kobo account or use your Google account or Apple ID. I think having this selection is great, but it’s not entirely clear to me what the pros and cons of each option are.

I end up going for a pragmatic solution. I don’t want to deal with having yet another login, so I opt to use my Apple ID. A QR code appears, which I scan using my iPhone to log in. And bam – I’m in the Clara 2E’s user interface. First off, Kobo shows me a quick guide to my device. It’s short and helpful.

As is the fact that the Clara 2E offers many languages. I can use the e-reader in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Turkish, Japanese, Chinese, Polish, Romanian or Czech.

Navigating

The second I start typing, I can tell there’s a delay. That short moment between my input and the Clara 2E’s response still takes some getting used to, even though I’ve experienced this on other e-readers. On the flip side, the display is responsive; I don’t need to apply much pressure when tapping.

After I connect the e-reader to my Wi-Fi, I take a look at the bar at the bottom of the screen. It’s divided into four tabs: «Home», «My Books», «Discover» and «More». My Books contains my library. On the home page, I see my downloaded books and audiobooks, as well as recommendations from the Kobo store. I can click the «Discover» tab to go directly there.

Shopping the Kobo Store

The Kobo Store home page shows me a mix of new releases, top titles and similar books. There’s also a tab for e-books and audiobooks. The shopping experience is disillusioning. The store feels empty and scrolling through the selection is tedious due to the delay. I’d rather snap open my MacBook and search for new reading material in the browser. As I make my way through a number of related books, I come across an interesting non-fiction book about languages. The sample is generous – I want to get the book.

Despite being logged in with my Apple ID, I unfortunately can’t pay with Apple Pay. I now have to either enter my credit card details or use PayPal or Google Pay. I opt for the latter. Et voilà, I’ve bought the book in two clicks.

However, the shopping experience is only this carefree in my internet browser – at least for Apple users like me. How so? Well, I can’t actually make any purchases in Kobo’s iOS or iPad app. This is due to an agreement between Apple and Rakuten. Still, any books purchased in the browser or on the Clara 2E are displayed on all devices (when connected to the internet). On Android devices, you can buy e-books and audiobooks directly in the mobile app.

You can also load PDFs or EPUBs from your computer onto the Clara 2E. You can check out Kobo’s detailed instructions here.

Reading books

Time to read my non-fiction book on the Clara 2E. This works well and with no surprises. To turn the page, I can either tap or swipe. I can also jump to different parts of the book. If an appendix or other chapter is referenced, I click on the linked word, and the Clara 2E takes me there. Navigating back is also easy. I click on the bottom edge, and the e-reader shows me where I was with bold dots. Very handy.

If I don’t know the meaning of a word, I can look it up in the dictionary, which I need to download beforehand in the settings under language and dictionaries. Dictionaries are available in most of the system languages offered on the Clara 2E. There are multilingual versions allowing for convenient, direct translation in the text or through a more tedious, external lookup tool. The first type is most notably available for combinations with English (e.g. German-English, English-French).

Swedish, for example, is a bit more cumbersome to look up. Instead of seeing the translation directly in the text, I have to click on the three dots at the top right and select the dictionary option and then type in the word I want. This takes much longer and interrupts my reading flow.

Newspaper articles

Using the Pocket app, I can also download newspaper articles or web pages to the Clara 2E. The easiest way to do this is with the Chrome extension. While the saved articles quickly transfer to the e-reader, they’re not always pleasant to read. The conversion to PDF especially hurts the presentation if there are complex illustrations. The picture quality is okay for an E Ink screen. Fortunately, if I want to remove articles, I can send them to the trash directly on the Clara 2E.

Reading settings

I can adjust the reading settings for books and articles. As with other e-readers, I can set the font, font size, line spacing, margins and alignment to my liking. Unlike on my old Kindle, I can’t choose the orientation of the book on the Clara 2E. I have to read all my e-books in portrait mode.

On the Clara 2E, I can adjust two aspects of the backlighting: brightness and natural light. The latter adjusts the blue light, which is meant to help me fall asleep. Set to nearly the highest level, the Clara 2E glows almost orange. You can automate this feature by specifying your bedtime.

A new feature on the Clara 2E is dark mode. I think it’s great. However, the setting is specific to reading mode. That is, only the book’s pages while reading are dark. The main menu and navigation pages aren’t affected.

Listening to audiobooks

The Clara 2E allows you to not only read books, but also listen to them. So, I’ve downloaded a sample of Solomon Northup’s novel Twelve Years a Slave. To listen to it, I have to use Bluetooth headphones. Connecting my Sony Linkbuds S was very quick.

The playback controls I have are play and pause, rewind or fast forward by 30 seconds, volume and playback speed. I can increase the speed up to 2.75 times the original in 0.25 increments. I find the quickest setting an interesting inclusion – at that speed, I understand nothing. I can only slow down playback by a factor of 0.75, which also sounds very strange.

For audiobooks, I’m bound by Kobo; I can only download audiobooks in the Kobo Audiobooks format. But I do at least have access to the dictionary for audio files.

Battery life

Kobo doesn’t specify the battery’s exact capacity. The manufacturer’s website only mentions «weeks of battery life», depending on individual usage. For me, the Clara 2E lasts about ten to twelve days – that’s at between 70 and 100 per cent brightness, daily use and a Wi-Fi connection.

Even at extremely low battery, the e-reader lasts quite a while, but simply turns off Wi-Fi. When the battery was almost empty, it took me less than 90 minutes to have it fully charged again.

Testing the waterproof rating

The Clara 2E is waterproof, meaning you can enjoy your book in the bathtub with no worries. I took it into the shower and learned that the falling drops of water can trigger unwanted commands.

Beta features

Currently, there are four beta features: a web browser, Large Print Mode, Sketch Pad and My Words. Being able to surf the web on an e-reader can be handy in an emergency. But if I can avoid it, I do.

If I activate Large Print Mode, the user interface is enlarged to 145 per cent. Out of curiosity, I try to enlarge it further, but that seems to push the processor to its limits; the page freezes. As the loading sign spins away, I wonder why Large Print Mode is a beta feature. After all, many people have poor vision.

Sketch Pad surprised me. I didn’t expect to be able to freely scribble away. While I don’t have any pen options or the like, it works well. With My Words, the Clara 2E automatically collects all the words I’ve looked up. That’s a handy feature if you’re reading in a language you’re trying to brush up on or learn.

SleepCover

Kobo sells a SleepCover for the Clara 2E. I got the Sea Glass Green version for testing. The cover is made of plastic and has a leather look on the outside. The inside is made of soft grey fabric and is likely susceptible to stains. Even so, I find it very handy, especially because of the grooves in the cover.

eReader accessories

Kobo SleepCover

Kobo Clara 2e

64

eReader accessories

Kobo SleepCover

Kobo Clara 2e

64

Thanks to these grooves, you can fold the cover in a way that allows you to stand up the Clara 2E. It takes me a few attempts to get it right. But it’s actually quite simple: with the e-reader open in front of you, simply use your finger to pull the upper left edge of the cover towards the right. Then, fold the cover back – and you’re good to go.

Hidden magnetic inserts help to close and stabilise it. What I find very cool is that the SleepCover automatically puts the Clara 2E into sleep mode when you close it and wakes it up again when you open it. You can disable this if you prefer.

I also find the SleepCover handy when I’m on the go. The folded cover provides additional grip; I can hold the e-reader more comfortably in one hand while waiting for my train.

Currently, the Clara 2E costs around 140 Swiss francs, which is quite typical for e-readers of this size. If you want to get the Kobo Clara 2E, the SleepCover for about 30 francs is a very good extra.

My verdict

I enjoyed testing the Kobo Clara 2E. In terms of build, I like the USB-C port and the aptly positioned power button that prevents me from accidentally pressing it. I also like that the device is made of recycled plastic. The many reading settings are useful, and the resolution is good. Especially with the sleep cover, the e-reader sits comfortably in my small hand and even fits in large coat pockets.

The Clara 2E could be faster, though. The delay can be annoying. It’s also a shame that I can’t buy books in the iOS app. But if you want a handy e-reader made from sustainable materials and a library outside the Amazon universe, I still recommend the Clara 2E.

If you’re torn between the Clara 2E and the Tolino Shine 4, here’s what you need to know: the two devices share the same base hardware, though certain components are different. For example, the Shine 4 has a different processor. And, unlike on the Clara 2E, you can read books in landscape mode on the Shine 4.

But the Clara 2E offers more languages, has more beta features, and can play audiobooks thanks to its Bluetooth connectivity. In the end, it comes down to the choice between the offer of the Tolino-Allianz (link in German) and Rakuten Kobo store. The Kobo Clara 2E SleepCover also works with the Tolino Shine 4.