Say hello to E Ink’s best B&W screen yet

Earlier this year, Kobo rocked the e-reader world when it simultaneously released a trio of new e-readers. Two of those devices, the Kobo Libra Colour and the Kobo Clara Colour, were the lowest-priced color e-readers the market had ever seen. But the Kobo Clara BW, the third device, tends to get lost in all the hype for its colorful siblings.

The Clara line has been around since 2018 and the only significant change over the years has been in the screen. The original Clara HD had the first Carta screens. The Clara 2E had the upgraded Carta 1200 screen. And with the release of the Clara BW, the screen was upgraded to Carta 1300. Kobo has also changed the processor with each generation, but each one has had a 1GHz clock speed, so that tends to get overlooked. Given that the Clara BW is a very minimal upgrade from its previous incarnation, how does it hold up, and is it worth investing in?

Price, availability, and specs

The Kobo Clara BW is available from Rakuten and Amazon for $130. You can also pick up three covers for the Clara BW: a clear plastic case($20 Rakuten, $22 Amazon), a basic Cobalt Blue folio sleep cover ($20 Rakuten, $22 Amazon), and a folio sleep cover with an origami stand that’s available in Black, Candy Pink, Cayenne Red, and Misty Green ($30, Rakuten and Amazon). There are also several cases available from third-party sellers.

When it comes to specs, the Clara BW sits right at the baseline for just about everything and hasn’t changed much over the years. It has a 6-inch screen with 300ppi pixel density and 1448×1072 resolution, just like the 2E.

It has 16GB of internal storage and a processor with a 1GHz clock speed and 512MB of memory, just like the 2E (although the BW uses a MediaTek chip, not a Freescale like the 2E). The battery is 1500mAh, like the 2E, and it weighs 174 grams, just 3 grams heavier than the 2E. Other than the Carta 1300 screen, it’s basically the same device.

What’s good about the Kobo Clara BW?

Size matters

The Clara BW is a small device, and in my estimation, that’s mostly a good thing. For one thing, I love that the Clara BW fits into my pocket. Not the pockets on my skinny jeans obviously, but it fits in the pockets of my shorts with no problem. That means that it’s much easier to travel with compared to even the marginally larger Kobo Libra 2.

Despite the small size, Kobo has a great reader bundled with all of its devices. So, things like the typeface and font sizes are super easy to control. There are also lots of ways to customize the displayed information.

Personally, I like to see page counts on my top and bottom margins (pages in current chapter on top, pages in book on bottom), but you can also opt to display the percentage read, estimated time remaining, or nothing at all. I also really like the dark mode for nighttime reading, but unfortunately, there’s no dark mode for the Kobo’s UI.

Since we’re talking about the screen, the new Carta 1300 display looks really nice. The contrast is incredible, and the resolution is superb. Ghosting is always present with E Ink, but it hasn’t been a distraction yet.

The Clara BW has Kobo’s ComfortLight PRO front light, which I like a lot. It can be adjusted by sliding up or down on the left of the screen, and it has a buttery smooth transition from off to on when walking through shadows or dark hallways.

What’s bad about the Kobo Clara BW?

Where’s the beef?

Well, 512MB of RAM isn’t enough. There was at least one occasion when I was testing pinch-to-zoom (don’t do it) and the Clara BW just kind of locked up for a couple of seconds and wouldn’t respond to my input. I will concede the economic necessity of using a cheaper chip to keep the device competitive, but in my estimation, it wasn’t worth it. Having said that, when my device wasn’t locked up, it was generally pretty snappy.

The size of the Kobo Clara BW is one of its greatest assets, but it feels like Kobo didn’t try to meet readers where they are. The device is small and light, but it can be a bit awkward to hold for extended reading sessions in some positions. Walking around or sitting on the couch isn’t an issue, but lying down and reading cramped my hand up. This is because there’s no good way to support it one-handed. I might just be feeling nostalgic for the Kobo Libra 2, which has a big bezel for an easier hold. It would be better if I could hold the Clara BW in landscape orientation, but it doesn’t support screen rotation.

Speaking of which, I want buttons. It’s not that swiping on the screen is particularly burdensome or unresponsive, I just don’t want to. It is possible to turn pages when touching a region of the screen, but I find it’s too prone to accidental touches to be worth my time. I did try to connect my 8BitDo game controller via Bluetooth as well, but my Clara BW wasn’t having any of it.

Should you buy it?

Yes, with some caveats

The Kobo Clara BW is a solid device that most won’t regret buying. Kobo has been in the e-reader game long enough that its UI is mature and easy to navigate. Sideloading books is as easy as dragging and dropping into the root directory, and buying from the Kobo ecosystem is just as easy as buying from Kindle/Amazon. Kobo e-readers also allow for more tinkering for the technically minded, but it’s not as overwhelming as a Boox can be.

If you already have a similarly sized e-reader from the last five years or so, you won’t see a lot of improvement over what you already have. There’s also a lot of competition at this size that could sway your opinion. The base Kindle is $100 and the Nook GlowLight 4e is just $80. The most expensive 6-inch device, the Boox Poke 5, is $180, runs on Android 11, has expandable storage, and better specs all around. Of course, none of those devices have the Carta 1300 display, so if the gains that the new Carta display brings to the table are important to you, the Clara BW is the device for you.