Kobo Libra 2 | eReader | 7” Glare Free Touchscreen | Waterproof | Adjustable Brightness and Color Temperature | Blue Light Reduction | eBooks | WiFi | 32GB of Storage | Carta E Ink Technology | Black

So I'm new to "readers," but have read off my tablet for a long time. I'm not a big reader, but I'm trying to do that more, so a nice, light-weight, dedicated reader seemed like it would help. I chose this one because it has OverDrive already in place and ready to go -- and I read mostly library loan books, so I thought that would be more convenient. I had a couple of hiccups getting that working (mostly my ignorance).I don't have any previous experience to compare it to (except it's far superior to reading on a tablet), but I'll say that reading is a pleasure. Good screen, touch-screen or buttons work perfectly. I thought the small screen would bother me, but it's so easy to page up it's not an issue at all. I love that it has auto-rotate, I'm learning that for holding it when I'm reading outside I like vertical where I can hold the large side handle, but I have a "thing" to hold it while I sit leisurely by the window indoors, and then I prefer horizontal. It's okay to be spoiled :-)It has very nice and easy adjustments - just slide a bar to increase type size or brightness. I like their typeface and spacing options. I've had it for four days and I'm mostly playing with it so far, and it's lost half its charge in that time. I don't think that's a huge deal, but others have commented about it.I'm struggling a little about just one thing -- it does not support the X-Ray feature that Kindle has to keep track of characters -- for whatever reason I have a problem remembering the names of the many secondary characters even a day later, and I have used X-Ray pretty regularly to keep up. I like that feature. It may only available on Kindles, but for an expensive and high-end reader, I think it should have such useful features as this. But the quality of the screen (and the bigger size) are top notch.

I absolutely love this e-reader! My favorite feature is the built-in OverDrive/Libby integration that allows you to borrow a book from your local library (if available) right from the book's listing in the Kobo store and to browse your library's offerings right from the device. I love not having to pull out my phone or laptop in order to check out or return a library e-book.Another unexpected plus has been the integration with Pocket, which was an application I hadn't used prior to purchasing my Libra 2. I installed the Pocket extension on my web browser and the app on my phone, so any time I come across an article I find interesting it's one click and one device sync away from being available on my e-reader for me to peruse distraction-free without the glare of a typical screen. I've found myself reading way more news articles, blogs, etc. this way.Side-loading EPUB files on the Libra 2 turned out to be really easy-- literally just plug into a computer then drag-and-drop. Purchasing from the Kobo bookstore has also been a decent experience on every platform I've tried (Libra 2, web browser, Windows app) and discounts seem easy to come by for all sorts of titles. The battery life has been great. Front lighting can be adjusted to suit a variety of conditions, from reading in bright sunlight to a pitch black room.Seriously, if you're on the fence, I'd encourage you to get one! It's miles better than the Barnes & Noble Nook readers and has some distinct advantages over Kindles as well.

The settings are easy to use to make reading easy in all kinds of lighting. The black letters are crisp and stand out well. Syncs and updates easily with OverDrive & Libby. Easy one-hand operation. Only con so far is when reading in the dark I set refresh screen to every 10 pages. Wish I could turn off refreshes in the dark. Otherwise better experience than the 3 year old Kindle. The slightly larger screen is nice. Had I realized the size value I would have purchased the Kobo Sage 8 inch. Even so, the Kobo 2 physical page up/down are just perfect (except for the little click with each push). It's so easy to turn a page with my thumb without moving my hand or using my other hand. I really appreciate that!

Pros: easy-to-read screen (I use 25% brightness), large storage capacity, easy navigation, slow battery drain (about 10 days between recharges). These are all heavyweight considerations.Cons: mostly lightweight considerations. (1) Except for this one, which I guess is a medium-weight consideration: it is intended that you create a Kobo account just to be able to use the thing (because tracking!, I guess). There are ways around that, which you can find online. But it's extremely annoying that you can't. just. use. it. out of the box. (2) Rakuten is coy about the battery capacity for some reason -- they won't tell you, even though you can easily google it (or just look here: it's 1500mAh). It's really annoying that they're like that. (3) The area on the screen where you essentially "right-click" to get the options menu for individual books, is *really* small, and if you don't hit it *exactly* centered, it will open the book for reading. I *hate* that. My fingertips are not huge, either. (4) Adjusting selected text is really finicky; not only is it super sensitive about where it thinks the center of your touch is, it lags when making the adjustment, so it's very easy to think you haven't moved your finger enough when really it's just taking its own sweet time changing the selection -- but since you *think* you haven't moved your finger enough, you move it more. So it's not that easy to select exactly the text you want (and because the dictionary can be sensitive to whether the selection includes a terminal 's' [like in plurals] or a period, that can be important). (5) It doesn't honor footnote bookmarks, so good luck finding the actual notes. Other readers do so I don't know what Rakuten's problem is. (6) Oh, you wanted to see the publication date in the book list, or even the book details? Too bad -- no date for you!