When it first debuted back in 2021, our largest complaint about Kobo’s first digital notepad, the Elipsa, was a scarcity of colour temperature changes for its digital paper display. With the brand new Elipsa 2E, Kobo has remedied that, however are minor enhancements to its e-note sufficient to assist it tackle each reMarkable and Amazon now that the competitors has stepped up?
Though the unique Elipsa didn’t supply fairly as polished a pen-on-paper expertise because the reMarkable 2, it had a couple of benefits over the reMarkable, which stays one in all our favourite picks for the best e-note. The Elipsa’s display lighting might have solely provided a single cooler colour temperature (which probably meant that utilizing it to learn or write late into the night time may have an effect on a person’s sleep schedule), however the reMarkable tablets nonetheless don’t supply any display lighting in any respect. The Kobo Elipsa additionally got here with entry to Kobo’s in depth book retailer, accessible proper on the machine, the place because the reMarkable 2 requires any extra content material to all be side-loaded.
Selecting between the reMarkable 2 and the Kobo Elipsa got here right down to what customers wanted from an e-note machine, and the way they deliberate to make use of it. However two years later, the Elipsa now faces much more competitors within the type of the Amazon Kindle Scribe, which incorporates entry to Amazon’s on-line e book retailer and options one of many nicest screens available on e-notes today.
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Sadly, whereas the inclusion of Kobo’s ComfortLight PRO know-how, which is able to robotically regulate the colour temperature of the machine’s display from cool to heat temperatures all through the day, is a welcome improve for the Elipsa 2E, the Kindle Scribe’s 10.2-inch, 300 PPI E Ink screen is seemingly nonetheless an Amazon unique. The Elipsa 2E is utilizing the identical 10.3-inch, 227 PPI E Ink Carta 1200 display as the unique Elipsa, and whereas textual content and graphics ought to nonetheless look very sharp and crisp on it, it now feels prefer it’s lagging behind Amazon’s e-note.
There are a couple of extra refined design enhancements the 2e makes to the Kobo Elipsa 2, together with the addition of a textured sample on the again of the pill that makes it simpler to grip and maintain. However the different huge replace is the introduction of the Kobo Stylus 2. The unique Kobo Stylus featured a pair of shortcut buttons close to the tip for shortly accessing highlighter and eraser features, and was powered by a skinny AAAA battery inside, which can preserve the stylus working for a couple of months. The brand new Kobo Stylus 2 makes use of a chargeable battery as an alternative, charged via an built-in USB-C port, and whereas it retains the shortcut button for switching to highlighter mode, the eraser button has been moved to the top of the stylus, the place it features extra like an eraser on an actual pencil, requiring customers to flip the stylus over to make use of it.
Two years later, Kobo has managed to maintain the worth of the Elipsa 2E the identical as the unique. It’s accessible for pre-order beginning in the present day for $400, however ought to present up in shops beginning on April 19.
The corporate can also be utilizing in the present day’s Elipsa 2E information to announce that its Kobo Plus subscription service is lastly launching in the US. Beforehand solely accessible in nations like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and France, Kobo Plus provides three completely different subscription plans. For $8/month, customers can both get entry to over 1.3 million ebooks with Kobo Plus Learn, or they will go for Kobo Plus Pay attention, which offers entry to over 100,000 audiobooks for a similar worth. Kobo Plus Learn & Pay attention provides entry to the libraries of each providers on the similar time, and prices $10/month.
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