Hi! The name is Howler and I’m an extremely avid reader.

When ereaders hit the market, I wasn’t a fan. Where was the smell? The pleasure of passing pages, the (not always) comforting weight? I didn’t want an ereader.

But it got to a point where I could not fit a single book in my bedroom anymore, and I had to surrender. I got a Sony (the one with buttons on the lower part) and my fate was sealed.

Since then, I’ve owned a couple more devices (Boox, Tolino…) and they all died from exhaustion.

BUT

Then I met her. 8" screen, buttons, not part of Amazon, lightweight… The first impulsive purchase of my life.

I’m talking about Kobo Forma, my companion and best friend for the last 10 years. I’ve taken it to the beach. To the desert. Mountaineering. It fell in a swimming pool. A dog threw up on it and I immediately simpathy puked on the Forma too.

Good as new (well I had to tape the buttons because they fell).

Forma has an extremely crispy screen, it’s almost weightless despite it’s size, and though many people found that the frontlight of their devices didn’t work as intended, mine did.

It’s so thin that even now I fear breaking it, somehow.

One would think that with such a lot of real state, I’d read mangas or comics. I’ll be honest. It sucks for that. That could be a big problem for some people, obviously.

It was advertised as a good device for highlighting and note taking… But I found it so buggy, laggy and annoying that I never used the feature.

I used it ONLY to read (sideloaded books) and Heaven knows it did its job impeccably, despite the janky buttons some CEO decided they were acceptable in such an expensive device.

HOWEVER

It’s going down the same road as my previous devices: burnout. The battery ain’t what it used to be. Not bad for most, yet, but for a compulsive reader… It’s a problem.

ENTER THE NEW DEVICE

T’was supposed to be a Kobo Libra 2 BUT THEY GOT DISCONTINUED. A minute of silence for the friend I never met, please.

ENTER MY LAST HOPE

Dun dun duuuuuun the Libra Colour which y’all knew about because it’s on the title.

Right off the bat, the Colour is 7", 1 less than Forma. I’m not upset about it at all, but it’s noticeable. The buttons feel functional when you click them! (In Forma they worked, but you had 0 feedback) and it uses USB-C.

The device itself feels sturdier than the forma, and since it’s flat, I’m not afraid of it breaking around the handle.

Device is snappy, the backlight is a delight (hehe), I loaded all my books with no issues, battery seems durable, it’s very comfortable to hold, mangas show up nicely…

BUT BUT BUT

THE SCREEN IS HELLA DARK

I know it’s because of the technology it uses and that the frontlight fixes the readability issue. (So don’t come after me for this complaint).

I was quite baffled. Pictures online showed that it was darker, but daaaamn. The colours are indeed muted, but I like them a lot.

I’ve highlighted a couple of sentences and it seems to work well, but I don’t have the pen so I can’t draw a masterpiece for y’all to admire.

I know some people don’t care about the darkness thingy. I know that some, do. Hence this post and the images attached :)

I still don’t know what will I do (keep the Colour, I bet) but I hope this helps or entertains someone.

WARNING: I don’t use the Kobo services (throwaway email for the win) so I have no idea about the integrations it offers.

Verdict: Libra Colour is nice, I guess. I refuse to go back to 6" screens. But for me, the Forma was THE ereader.