Kobo Libra 2 Review – Have Amazon Met Their Match?

Today I’m reviewing the Kobo Libra 2 which was released in late 2021 and is the upgrade of the Kobo Libra (released in 2019). Boasting great storage capacity, seamless audiobook and Overdrive support and a stylish design, will this be your next EReader? Let’s dive in and find out.

Before we jump into the detailed review, take a look at Kobo’s promotional video to get a flavor of the features available:

Special Features

All The Storage You Could Ever Need

Get ready for this. The Kobo Libra 2 comes with a whopping 32gb of storage as standard. To put this into context it means you can roughly store 24,000 EBooks or 150 audiobooks! This should be more than enough for anyone’s needs. As a comparison the Kindle paperwhite comes with 8GB as standard and then you have to pay more if you want upgrades to 16gb or 32gb. I’m impressed that Kobo is offering this level of storage as standard and this may set the stage for all EReaders going down this route in the future.

Kobo Plus

So Kobo Plus allows you to download as many EBooks as you like per month for a fixed fee and usually does have some kind of free trial available. On the surface this all sounds fine but when you start looking at some of the restrictions, it starts to unravel. Firstly it’s not available in every country (available in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal). Secondly it doesn’t include all EBooks. While there are thousands included, if you’re looking for a specific book, it might not be on the list. Finally, It also doesn’t include audiobooks either which is a major downside. So when you add all these things together, it’s not a great deal in my opinion. The question to ask yourself, are you realistically going to get through an entire EBook in a month, every single month?

Audiobook Support

Now that we’ve gotten Kobo Plus out of the way, let’s dive into the Audiobook support which I’m much more impressed with. So given I have used Audible a lot in the past, I was keen to see how Kobo’s offering stacks up against the competition.

I’ve put this table below to give a summary of their similarities and differences:

Who has the bigger library size? Well it’s quite difficult to tell. Neither of the platforms call out specifically how many audiobooks they have in total. If I was a betting man, I’d probably say Audible just because of how big Amazon is but chances are you can probably find popular titles you’re looking for on both platforms.

The Audiobook controls are simple but just enough to be useful:

• Play/Pause
• Increase/Decrease volume
• Skip Fwd/Back 30s
• Skim Through Chapter
• Change Playback Speed (0.5x – 3x)
• Select Chapter

One thing to call out with the Kobo Libra 2 is that you can only play audiobooks from the Kobo store. You cannot sideload MP3’s or audiobooks from other platforms onto the device. Not great, but personally something I can live with.

One thing you should be aware of is that audiobooks are not available in every country and you should do your research before you purchase the device. You can find the list of countries supported here

Overdrive Support

Overdrive allows you to borrow EBooks and Audiobooks from your local library and download them onto your EReader. This is a great service if you don’t want to splash the cash on a specific book and are happy to borrow a book for a fixed time period.

Kobo has seamlessly integrated Overdrive into the EReader. Once your account has been set up, it’s just a couple of clicks to download an EBook or audiobook from your local library.

Decent Level Of Customization

Once again Kobo has pulled out all the stops when it comes to customization of the device. To enhance your reading experience there are 11 fonts with a range of text sizes to suit all needs. If 11 fonts is not enough, you can always side load additional ones. There’s also a whole range of additional reading settings that you can customize which you can see in the gallery below. You can also invert which buttons select the next and previous page. The brightness of the device can be easily controlled by simply holding your finger on the page to scroll up and down. The final thing to mention here is that you can choose to lock the screen rotation to either horizontal or vertical depending on your preference.

Colour Changing Screen & Dark Mode

Beta Features

So there’s a section on the device which has included some beta features. The first is the web browser which has been a beta feature for about 10 years! Come on Rakuten! Make a decision! The other two which are slightly more useful are large print mode and My words which allows you to expand your vocabulary by looking up words in the dictionary.

It’s Waterproof

The final thing to mention in the special features section is that the EReader is waterproof. It’s been certified up to a depth of 2 meters for 60 minutes. It’s worth calling out though it doesn’t float so if you drop it in the pool, you’re gonna have to dive down and get it. I can imagine this feature would be useful if you’re planning to read your Kobo on a lido in the pool.

The Design

As you would have seen from the intro video, the Kobo Libra 2 has physical page buttons which does make it stand out from the rest of the EReaders. These can be customized so that next and previous page turns feel comfortable for you. You can also hold down the buttons for rapid scrolling.

A couple of features that are missing which would have been a great addition. Stylus support would have been ideal if you’re planning to take notes and also the device doesn’t have a 3mm audiojack. You can still connect audio devices using Bluetooth but personally I like having the additional option.  

When comparing the Kobo Libra 2 to the previous model not much has changed with the design. I think they’ve upgraded the physical page turn buttons, but that’s about it. Despite this, they’ve managed to somehow make it heavier (215g VS the original being 192g).

What About The Price?

So it ain’t cheap. You’re mainly paying for that extra storage. It’s always worth keeping an eye out for deals on Amazon. When looking at the price you need to take into account whether or not you’re willing to pay for that extra storage, the general design of the device and its level of customization.

Some Specs To Compare Against

The table below shows some high level specs which you might be interested in.

Comparing Against The Original

The table below highlights what the key differences are between the Kobo Libra 2 and the original Kobo Libra H20

Some Accessories That Are Available

So the main accessory you can purchase is the sleep cover which also acts as a reading stand when folded. I’ve included a collection of styles and colours available from Amazon:

What I Like

The unlocking of audio support and the storage to back this up are two of the key features that stand out for me. It just increases the flexibility and utility of the device which its predecessor simply didn’t have. I’m also a big fan of the seamless Overdrive integration so you don’t actually have to purchase the Ebooks or Audiobooks to enjoy stories.

What I Don’t Like

As I mentioned, I’m not impressed with the Kobo plus service. It just doesn’t feel a great offering for customers and it needs a rethink. The device is also more locked down than its predecessors (e.g. you can’t sideload MP3’s) and the number of countries where their subscription services are offered are quite limited. Finally, not a fan of the beta features section. Either commit to developing these or don’t include them.

What Amazon Customers Are Saying

At the time of writing, the majority of the reviews were 5 stars. Some issues have been reported with clunky software , although this can usually be fixed with updating it to a new version. You can check out the reviews in detail here

Conclusion

So what’s the verdict? Should you buy this device or look for something else? Well it’s certainly an upgrade on its predecessor, especially if you’re going to make use of the audiobook support. If you’re looking for an EReader with plenty of storage, plan to borrow books from the library and are willing to splash the cash then the Kobo Libra 2 is probably for you.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this in depth review and please leave a comment below if you have any questions or feedback.

Until next time

Cheers

James

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Featured Image provided by Raymond Snijders