E-book reader Rakuten Kobo Clara 2E is a new entrant joining a particular war that is in the market electronic readers they kept for a long time Amazon with your Kindle family and Rakuten with their Kobos.

Both companies have e-readers for all tastes and purchasing power, from 109.99 euros for the simplest Kindle or 99 euros for the Kobo Nia, to the top of the range with Kindle Scribe and Kobo Ellipseboth with a price between 370 and 400 euros and who are fighting on a new battlefield, that of large-screen readers with a pencil for notes.

The Kobo Clara 2E is the second cheapest e-book reader from Rakuten (€129.99 at the moment after a discount of 20 euros from the original price of 149.99 euros, so that we can compare it with the Kindle Paperwhite (139.99 euros).

Rakuten Kobo Clara 2E Specifications

Kobo Clara 2E, perfect for holding with one hand

The new Kobo Clara 2E is an electronic book reader 6 inch touch screen and 300 dpi, which retains a similar design to the Kobo Nia, Rakuten’s 6-inch device. With dimensions of 15.9 x 11.2 x 0.86 cm and a weight of 171 grams, it is great for holding with one hand, even if you have purchased (highly recommended) SleepCoverwhich we will now address in more detail.

In the production of the Kobo Clara 2E, Rakuten wanted to make clear its commitment to the environment, which can be summed up in the fact that in one year it intends to collect more than 200,000 plastic bottles from the oceans of our planet and more than one million CDs and DVDs from landfills.

The exterior of the Kobo Clara 2E is made from over 85% recycled plasticincluding 10% of ocean-derived plastics. In addition, the cover of this e-book reader does not contain magnets and is made of FSC-certified recycled paper. This packaging is printed with soy ink thanks to a renewable and ecological printing process.

As seen in the images that accompany this review, the reading area is typical of a 6-inch e-book reader, surrounded by a small plastic frame that has no buttons on either side and a USB charging port at the bottom.

To turn the device on and off, Rakuten decided to place a button on the back of the Kobo Clara 2E, just at the top right. When the e-book reader is not in use, we recommend activating standby mode by pressing this on/off button, although we can also activate it by closing the SleepCover. If we want to turn it off completely, we will have to keep the button pressed until we see the message “Off” on the screen.

A very interesting detail of the Kobo Clara 2E is its IPX8 certification, which makes it resistant to splashing water, but also to immersion to a depth of 2 meters. Every day it is more common to see people reading on the beach or by the pool, and there are also people who like to read while taking a bath. Now they will be able to stop worrying about small water accidents because the Kobo Clara 2E will support them.

With reference to SleepCover which you can see in the pictures above, I think it’s the perfect (and necessary) accessory for the Kobo Clara 2E. Its exterior is made from 97% recycled plastic (including 10% ocean-derived plastic) and an inner microfiber lining made from 40% recycled fibers from plastic bottles.

It is sold in three colors (orange, green and black). €29.99 and there the model is named Basic sleep cover (currently not in stock at the Kobo store) in blue from €19.99. Both covers when closed will cause the Kobo Clara 2E to go into standby mode and wake up when opened again. The difference in price is that the normal SleepCover can be folded (as shown in the images above) to read without having to hold it in your hand.

Kobo Clara 2E, a reading experience

The screen of the Kobo Clara 2E has a very remarkable level of brightness, which, together with the fact that it is anti-reflective, will allow us to read even in bright sunlight. In addition, it is possible to adjust the brightness and color temperature according to the time of day thanks ComfortLight PRO technology, so it will help us sleep better if our habit is to read for a while before going to bed. And also with the idea of ​​reducing visual fatigue dark mode It will allow us to read with white text on a black background.

As for its storage capacity, 16 GB It has enough to carry up to 12,000 Kobo eBooks or 75 audiobooks. Use technology to listen to audiobooks because the eReader doesn’t have speakers Bluetoothso we will have to pair it with an external speaker or wireless headphones.

And if you’re worried about battery life, Kobo claims it will last for weeks, even with fairly high brightness and reading for several hours a day. The reality with our experience of more than a month is this you forget the batteryThe charge level never seems to drop. Simply by remembering to charge it every fortnight or more, you will always have it available.

Other interesting details of the reading experience with the Kobo Clara 2E are that by swiping from the top you can access three recently opened documents (including audiobooks) or that by swiping up from the bottom while reading we can adjust (this time with some icons located in the upper right) the level brightness or font type and size, as well as access to the reading configuration (where, for example, “dark mode” is selected) or statistics (hours we would have left to finish the book, minutes left to finish the chapter, etc.).

In conclusion, I would like to say that thanks to WiFi synchronization (by the way, in “beta features” there is a web browser that works quite well) we can use a service that I especially like. it’s about Pocketan app and web service that helps us save interesting articles we find while browsing the web. Then just go to “My Articles” to read them another time.