Compare Kobo ereader models

An image of the Kobo e-reader. Click on the image in the table to view it in full size!

We always try to provide one image that provides the clearest view of the product, on a white background. To make for the best side-to-side comparison, we try to have all of the images in the table show the product from the same perspective; usually a front view, or a perspective view showing three sides of the product.

However, please note that the images aren’t made to a specific scale. This means that products of different sizes will show up as the same size in these images. You can find and compare the size of the products under size (cm) or size (inch).

MSRP is an acronym for Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price, also known as the ‘list price’ or the ‘sticker price’. This is (usually) also the original price that the e-reader is sold for at launch, without any discount. If the product has been around for a while, you can usually find better (discounted) prices than the MSRP.

So, while the MSRP gives a general idea of how much a product might cost, the actual price could be significantly less, especially if it’s an older model. So, always make sure to check the current price.

If there are different configuration options, the price listed in the table is the MSRP for the base model. So if the same product is available in different configurations; for example with two options for storage space, the MSRP listed in the table is for the option with the lowest amount of storage space. The listed price also does not include any additional accessories that aren’t listed under accessories in the box.

The year the Kobo model was released in. Helps you to see how old (or new) the product is.

The availability status of the Kobo model. Here is an explanation of the possible options:

• Announced: the product has been announced, but can’t be ordered yet.
• Pre-order: the product is available for pre-order; if you order the product now, you’ll receive delivery of it at a given date in the future, usually on the official release-date.
• Available: the product is available, sold as new by the manufacturer, and can be ordered around the world without any waiting period other than the shipping time.
• Regional: the product is available and sold as new by the manufacturer, but can only be shipped to limited regions. The regions it can be shipped to are mentioned with their two-letter country codes.
• Discontinued: the manufacturer isn’t making the product anymore, and won’t resupply retailers when their stock sells out. However, retailers might have stock left that they’re selling, or might sell the product as either refurbished or second-hand.

To check the current price of the e-reader, you’ll find one or two links to the most reliable retailers carrying the device. Click the link to see the current price it’s being sold for. If the manufacturer sells the product themselves, one of the options will always be the manufacturer’s sales page.

Wherever necessary, we provide automatic redirects to the retailer’s closest location, based on your IP’s geolocation. This means you’ll automatically be sent to the closest store, which usually means they’ll be able to ship the product out to you with the shortest possible delivery time.

So for instance; if you’re from the United States, and click on an Amazon link, you’ll be taken to Amazon.com, whereas if you’re from Germany, you’ll be taken to Amazon.de. To try this out: click here!

The display type used for the main display of the e-reader. Here’s what the different display types mentioned in the table mean, and how they compare:

• E Ink: the device uses an E Ink display, of an unknown or unspecified type. E Ink displays mimic the appearance of ink on paper. It uses microcapsules filled with black and white particles that rearrange to form text and images. Since the display doesn’t use any light to generate an image itself, the display doesn’t become less visible when in full sunlight. Another advantage of E Ink is low power usage: E Ink displays only use power when changing the image. A disadvantage is that rearranging the particles in the microcapsules takes relatively long, which is why the refresh rate of an E Ink display is relatively low.
• E Ink Vizplex: the first generation of the E Ink displays, available since 2007.
• E Ink Pearl: second generation E Ink displays, available since 2010.
• E Ink Carta: a black & white E Ink display type introduced in 2013, with an improved contrast over E Ink Pearl. Later also renamed to ‘E ink Carta 1000’, but this is rarely used.
• E Ink Mobius Carta: an E Ink Carta screen with a flexible backplane, which is less prone to breaking.
• E Ink Carta HD: improved resolution and pixel density over the E Ink Carta, introduced in 2014. Has later also been renamed to ‘E Ink Carta 1100’, but this is rarely used.
• E Ink Carta 1200: introduced in 2021. It’s a further improvement, with a 20% increase in response time and a 15% improvement in contrast ratio over E Ink Carta (1000) (source).
• E Ink Carta 1250: introduced in 2021, with another improvement in contrast and response time.
• E Ink Carta 1300: the latest black and white E Ink screen, introduced in 2023, with yet another improvement in contrast and response time.
• E Ink Kaleido: an E Ink screen with a color layer on top of the black and white E Ink layer, that can produce 4096 different colors on top of the 16 levels of grayscale. For E Ink Kaleido, the resolution and pixel density in color is one third of the resolution in black & white. So if it has a 300 PPI for black and white, the color image is 100 PPI.
• E Ink Kaleido Plus: second generation of the Kaleido color E Ink displays, available since 2021. It should have a better color balance and crisper image than the first generation, as the distance between the color and black and white layer has been reduced. Both the resolution and the number of possible colors is the same as the previous generation. Kaleido Plus is also sometimes called ‘E Ink Kaleido 2’.
• E Ink Kaleido 3: the third generation of the Kaleido color E Ink displays, with a 30% improved color saturation over the second generation (source), as well as a higher color resolution. With Kaleido 3, the color layer has half the resolution of the black & white layer. So if it displays black & white at 300 PPI, it will display color at 150 PPI. The number of possible colors is still 4096.
• E Ink Gallery 3: a color E Ink display type. It uses microcapsules containing four different color particles: cyan, magenta, yellow, and white. The advantage over Kaleido is the better contrast – as Gallery only needs one layer to create a color image. Colors appear more vividly than with Kaleido, and there are more colors possible: over 50.000. The downside of Gallery is the slower image update time. However, with the third generation of the Gallery displays, the image update time has has been improved by enough to make this display type suitable for E-readers and E-ink tablets. Gallery 1 and 2, with their slower response times, were only suitable for displaying static images – such as in digital art frames. This is also how this display type got the name ‘Gallery’.
• Reflective LCD: a LCD screen that looks and feels paper-like because it doesn’t use a backlight. Instead, it uses a reflective layer behind the LCD to reflect natural light back out through the LCD layer. An advantage is a much higher refresh rate than E Ink, but a disadvantage is that LCD constantly uses power to produce an image, which means a shorter battery life for the device compared to E Ink.
• DES Slurry: an e-paper technology by GoodDisplay, using microstructures containing black and white particles that rearrange to form text and images. Color can be produced by a color filter.

Note: response times and contrast ratios also depends on the software used; some e-readers for instance have different speed modes to improve the refresh rate, but usually at the cost of contrast.

Note: not all of these types are used on Kobo e-readers. If you’re looking for an e-reader with a screen type not used on any Kobo models, then find it in the e-reader comparison table that compares models from all brands.

The display size of the e-reader in inches (1 inch = 2.54 cm). The mentioned size is the diagonal measurement of the main display.

The screen resolution of the e-reader in pixels: width times height. On the same display size, a higher resolution means a sharper image.

Can the e-reader display color? Yes/no.

The pixel density of the Kobo e-reader in PPI: Pixels Per Inch. More pixels on the same area make for a sharper image. So, the higher the PPI, the sharper the image.

Whether the e-reader has a built-in screen light, or ‘front-light’.

Since E ink, RLCD, and other types of E-paper displays don’t use backlight to create an image, you can’t see these displays in the dark. So if you want to read in a dark environment, you’ll have to use the front light to illuminate the display.

Whether the e-reader has the option to adjust the color temperature of the screen light; from a cool (white/blue) light to a warmer (amber/orange/red) light.

While a screen light already helps you read in the dark, it’s best to use a warm light if you’re reading in bed before sleeping. The reason is that blue light has a biological response that keeps you awake and alert, and therefore will make it harder to fall asleep once you’re done reading.

Whether the e-reader has the auto-rotate function; which means it’ll automatically change the orientation of the content from either portrait or landscape mode depending on how you’re holding the device.

To achieve this, the e-reader needs to contain a G-sensor to sense in what orientation you’re holding it. The auto-rotate function can usually be switched on or off in the software.

Whether the e-reader has a touchscreen, which means you can either tap or swipe on the screen to control it.

Can you control the e-reader with buttons? And what kind of buttons? These are the possible options:

• Page-turn buttons: two buttons to allow you to turn the pages of the e-book you’re reading: either by going to the next or the previous page. Sometimes, the same buttons can have different functions in other apps.
• D-pad: A single button that can be pressed in four different directions: up, down, left, and right. Used for navigation in apps, usually on older e-readers that don’t have a touchscreen.
• Keyboard: the e-reader contains a full physical keyboard to allow you to type.
• Volume: a button to control the volume of the e-reader. Found on e-readers that allow audio, for instance to listen to audiobooks. Sometimes volume buttons double as page-turn buttons.
• Home button: a button that, when pressed, takes you back to the homescreen, which allows for faster navigation between different apps.
• Slider sidebar: a touch-button that is mostly used to scroll in fixed-size documents like PDF’s.
• Programmable button: a button that you can assign your own function to. For instance; a shortcut to a dictionary app, or make it a ‘next page’ button.

All e-readers also have a power on/off button. If that’s the only function of the button, it isn’t mentioned in the table.

Can you use a stylus to take notes and/or draw on the Kobo e-reader model?

If so, this doesn’t necessarily mean that a stylus is also included. To see if it is, check if it’s listed under accessories in the box.

Is there a dark mode function on the Kobo e-reader? Enabling the dark mode will invert the colors: so that text will appear with white letters, and the background/page will appear in black.

The table only shows if there’s a built-in dark mode feature that works either device-wide, or if such a feature is built into the main reading application.

Does the e-reader have access to Dropbox, Google Drive, or any other cloud storage provider? This allows you to easily transfer files to your e-reader, and/or access and read files you’ve stored online.

Does the e-reader allow you to listen to audiobooks, by playing audio files? Note that this doesn’t specify how the e-reader allows you to listen to audiobooks. These are the possibilities:

• By using built-in speaker(s): you can check if the e-reader has built in speakers under other built in hardware)
• Over bluetooth: by connecting any bluetooth device that can play audio, like bluetooth headphones or earbuds, or a bluetooth speaker. You can check if the e-reader has bluetooth under bluetooth.
• Over a wired audio connection with headphones or speakers, as some e-readers have a 3.5mm AUX port that allows you to to do so. To check if an e-reader does, see 3.5 mm AUX out port.

Does the Kobo e-reader model have bluetooth? Having bluetooth allows you to wirelessly connect with bluetooth headphones, earbuds, or bluetooth speakers.

Having bluetooth means you can listen to any audiobooks on the device over bluetooth, for instance by using bluetooth headphones.

Does the Kobo e-reader have Wi-Fi, and which Wi-Fi version?

The amount of internal storage available in the e-reader. If the e-reader is available with different amounts of internal storage, all options are listed.

If you want to know if the e-reader has enough storage space for your purposes, here are some rules of thumb on how much space different types of files take up (on average):

• Formatted E-book: about 3-5 MB
• Audiobook: an average audiobook is about 10 hours in playtime, which takes up around 280 MB in standard quality audio, or 560 MB in high quality.
• Apps: a basic app (simple tool) typically takes up about 5-20 MB, whereas a typical social media app, messaging app, and basic game apps can take up about 20-100 MB each.

Note that: 1 GB = 1000 MB.

This means that a 8 GB e-reader can store well over 1000 full books, but less than 40 standard quality audiobooks.

Also note that some of the spaces is already used up by the operating system and pre-installed apps on the device, so not all of the internal storage space is available for storing files.

If you need a lot of storage space, look into e-readers that allow you to expand the storage space by placing a microSD card, which is listed under MicroSD card reader.

RAM stands for Random Access Memory, often referred to as the ‘working memory’ of a device.

RAM is an extremely fast type of memory, used to temporarily store and quickly access data that the e-reader is currently using in applications. This allows for smooth and efficient performance when running applications or processing tasks.

Note that nothing in stored permanently in RAM.

More RAM in e-readers helps with the overall performance and responsiveness, particularly when navigating through menus, opening books and audiobooks, or using features like dictionary lookup and annotations.

The CPU, Central Processing Unit, or just ‘processor’ for short, is the brain of the e-reader. It handles all the instructions from the software and performs the necessary calculations to run applications smoothly.

Every e-reader has a CPU, but how fast it is depends on the CPU clock speed, and the amount of processing cores.

The maximum clock speed of the CPU, is expressed in GHz. The higher the clock speed, the more instructions can be processed in the same amount of time.

The number of processing cores is also listed. In multi-core processors however, usually not all cores can run at the listed maximum clock speed. However, more cores mean multiple processes can be ran simultaneously, which improves speed – especially in multitasking.

Number of cores mentioned in the table:

• None mentioned: 1 core (single core) or unknown.
• Dual core: 2 cores
• Quad core: 4 cores
• Octa core: 8 cores

For basic reading, you don’t need that fast of a CPU. However, having a fast CPU makes more noticeable difference when running more complex apps.

Note that the refresh rate of an E Ink display is usually limited by the screen itself – a faster CPU can’t make it refresh faster beyond a certain point.

Whether the e-reader contains a MicroSD card reader. By placing a MicroSD card in the card reader, you can expand the useable storage space of the device – by a lot.

So if you want to be able to use more space than there is available as internal storage, make sure to check if the e-reader has a MicroSD card reader.

Note: Chinese manufacturers often refer to MicroSD as ‘TF’. So, a TF reader is a MicroSD card reader, and a TF Card is synonymous to a MicroSD card.

Whether the Kobo e-reader has a 3.5 mm AUX out audio port available, which means you can connect wired earbuds or headphones.

The battery capacity of the Kobo e-reader, in milliampère-hour, at a 3.7 V potential.

The higher the capacity, the bigger the battery. However, battery life also depends on the amount of power used – which will differ between Kobo e-readers, as well as by how they’re used.

The type of USB (charging) port found on the Kobo e-reader used for charging and transferring files.

USB-C is the newest type of USB port, and also the one also found on most smartphones. An e-reader having a USB-C port means you can use the same USB (charging) cable you’re already using for your smartphone and most other recent devices, meaning you don’t constantly have to switch cables to either charge your e-reader or to transfer files.

Whether the e-reader is waterproof, and in what capacity. If available, the Ingress Protection code (IP-code) of the e-reader is shown.

The size of the Kobo e-reader in centimeters (cm): Height × Width × Depth (thickness).

The weight of the Kobo e-reader in grams. This is the weight of the product without any accessories.

The size of the Kobo e-reader in inches (in): Height × Width × Depth (thickness).

The weight of the Kobo e-reader in ounces. This is the weight of the product without any accessories.

The colors that the e-reader is available in for purchase.

Accessories that come with the e-reader in the box, if any. If the e-reader is sold in different sets; some with and some without accessories, it’s listed as such, including the difference in price (MSRP) for the set that comes with accessories.

Note that charging cables, manuals, user guides, or quick-start-guides are NOT listed in this column.

The model number of the Kobo e-reader, which can differ from the model name. This allows you to look up more information on the exact device. This is also helpful to figure out which exact Kobo e-reader you have, or what exact device is being sold when looking for Ebay listings.

Note that the same Kobo e-reader may be available with multiple model numbers for different color versions or hardware configurations (if any).

If available, a link to the full user guide or manual of the listed e-reader, so you can see how it works, or find other details not covered in the comparison table.

If available, a link to the official product page on the website of the manufacturer.