When it first debuted again in 2021, our greatest criticism about Kobo’s first digital notepad, the Elipsa, was an absence of shade temperature changes for its digital paper display screen. 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?
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Though the unique Elipsa didn’t provide 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 very best e-note. The Elipsa’s display screen lighting might have solely supplied a single cooler shade 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 provide any display screen lighting in any respect. The Kobo Elipsa additionally got here with entry to Kobo’s intensive book retailer, obtainable 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 all the way 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 ebook retailer and options one of many nicest screens obtainable on e-notes at the moment.
Picture: Kobo
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Sadly, whereas the inclusion of Kobo’s ComfortLight PRO know-how, which is able to robotically modify the colour temperature of the machine’s display screen 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 display screen is seemingly nonetheless an Amazon unique. The Elipsa 2E is utilizing the identical 10.3-inch, 227 PPI E Ink Carta 1200 display screen 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.
Picture: Kobo
There are a couple of extra delicate 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 large 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 may preserve the stylus operating for a couple of months. The brand new Kobo Stylus 2 makes use of a chargeable battery as a substitute, charged by means of 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 tip 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 obtainable for pre-order beginning at the moment for $400, however ought to present up in shops beginning on April 19.
The corporate can also be utilizing at the moment’s Elipsa 2E information to announce that its Kobo Plus subscription service is lastly launching in america. Beforehand solely obtainable in international locations like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and France, Kobo Plus affords 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’ll go for Kobo Plus Pay attention, which offers entry to over 100,000 audiobooks for a similar worth. Kobo Plus Learn & Pay attention affords entry to the libraries of each companies on the identical time, and prices $10/month.