Kobo’s Elipsa is the most recent within the Amazon rival’s e-reading line, and it’s an enormous one. The ten.3-inch e-paper show brings it as much as iPad dimensions and places it in direct competitors with the reMarkable and Boox’s e-reader tablets. It excels on studying expertise, will get by on word taking and drawing, however falls a bit brief on versatility.
Kobo has been creeping upmarket for a couple of years now, and although the cheaper Clara HD continues to be the choose of the litter for my part, the Forma and Libra H2O are worthy rivals to the Kindle strains. The $400 Elipsa represents an enormous step up in dimension, perform and value, and it does justify itself — although there are a couple of vital caveats.
The machine is effectively designed however lacks any prospers. The tilted “facet chin” of the Forma and Libra is flattened out right into a easy extensive bezel on the best facet. The lopsided look doesn’t trouble me a lot, and far of the competitors has it as effectively. (Although my favourite is Boox’s ultracompact, flush-fronted Poke 3)
The ten.3″ display screen has a decision of 1404 x 1872, giving it 227 pixels per inch. That’s effectively under the 300 PPI of the Clara and Forma, and the typography suffers from noticeably extra aliasing in the event you look carefully. In fact, you gained’t be trying that carefully, since as a bigger machine you’ll most likely be giving the Elipsa a bit extra distance and maybe utilizing a bigger kind dimension. I discovered it completely snug to learn on — 227 PPI isn’t dangerous, simply not one of the best.
There’s a entrance gentle, which is well adjustable by sliding your finger up and down the left facet of the display screen, however in contrast to different Kobo gadgets there isn’t a approach to change the colour temperature. I’ve been spoiled by different gadgets and now the default cool gray I lived with for years doesn’t really feel proper, particularly with a hotter gentle shining in your environment. The vital half is that it’s constant throughout the total show and adjustable right down to a faint glow, one thing my eyes have thanked me for a lot of occasions.
Picture Credit: Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch
It’s onerous to think about the Elipsa impartial from the equipment it’s bundled with, and actually there’s no manner to purchase one proper now with out the “sleep cowl” and stylus. The reality is that they actually full the bundle, although they do add significantly to its weight and bulk. What when bare is lighter and feels smaller than a regular iPad is heavier and bigger as soon as you place its case on and stash the surprisingly weighty stylus on the high.
Picture Credit: Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch
The duvet is properly designed, if a bit stiff, and will certainly shield your machine from hurt. The duvet, secured by magnets on the backside, flips off like a sheet on a authorized pad and folds flat behind the machine, attaching itself with the identical magnets from the opposite path. A pair folds in it additionally stiffen up with additional magnetic association into a pleasant, sturdy little stand. The skin is a grippy fake leather-based and the within is delicate microfiber.
You possibly can wake and switch off the machine by opening and shutting the quilt, however the entire thing comes with a small catch: you need to have the facility button, charging port and massive bezel on the best. When out of its case the Elipsa can, just like the others of its lopsided kind, be inverted and your content material immediately flips. However as soon as you place it within the case, you’re locked in to a semi-right-handed mode. This may increasingly or could not trouble individuals however it’s value mentioning.
The Elipsa, heart, with the Forma and reMarkable 2 to its left and proper. Picture Credit: Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch
The studying expertise is in any other case similar to that on Kobo’s different gadgets. A comparatively clear interface that surfaces your most lately accessed content material and a not overwhelming however nonetheless unwelcome quantity of promotional stuff (“Discover your subsequent nice learn”). E-books free and paid for show effectively, although it’s by no means been my choice to learn on a big display screen like this. I actually want one among these giant e-readers would make a panorama mode with dealing with pages. Isn’t that extra booklike?
Articles from the net, synced through Pocket, look nice and are a pleasure to learn on this format. It feels extra like {a magazine} web page, which is nice whenever you’re studying a web-based model of 1. It’s easy, foolproof and effectively built-in.
Kobo’s new note-taking prowess
What’s new on the underside row, although, is “Notebooks,” the place unsurprisingly you’ll be able to create notebooks for scribbling down lists, doodles, notes in fact, and customarily use the stylus.
The writing expertise is satisfactory. Right here I’m spoiled by the reMarkable 2, which boasts extraordinarily low lag and excessive accuracy, in addition to far more expression within the line. Kobo doesn’t strategy that, and the writing expertise is pretty primary, with a noticeable quantity of lag, however admirable accuracy.
There are 5 pen ideas, 5 line widths and 5 line shades, they usually’re all advantageous. The stylus has a pleasant heft to it, although I’d like a grippier materials. Two buttons on it allow you to shortly swap from the present pen model to a highlighter or eraser, the place you may have stroke-deleting or brush modes. The traditional notebooks have the same old gridded, dotted, lined and clean types, and limitless pages, however you’ll be able to’t zoom in or out (not so good for artists).
Then there are the “superior” notebooks, which you should use if you would like handwriting recognition and different options. These have indelible strains on which you’ll write, and a double faucet captures your phrases into kind in a short time. You may as well put in drawings and equations in their very own sections.
Shut sufficient. Picture Credit: Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch
The handwriting recognition is quick and adequate for tough notes, however don’t anticipate to ship these on to your workforce with none enhancing. Likewise the diagram software that turns gestural sketches of shapes and labels into finalized flowcharts and the like — higher than the unique wobbly artwork however nonetheless a tough draft. There are a couple of intelligent shortcuts and gestures so as to add or subtract areas and different frequent duties, one thing you’ll most likely get used to pretty fast in the event you use the Elipsa frequently.
The pocket book interface is snappy sufficient going from web page to web page or up and down on the “sensible” notebooks however nothing just like the fluidity of a design program or an art-focused one on an iPad. However it’s additionally unobtrusive, has good palm blocking, and feels good in motion. The lag on the road is certainly a con, however one thing you will get used to in the event you don’t thoughts the ensuing product being somewhat sloppy.
Picture Credit: Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch
You may as well mark up e-books, which is sweet for highlights however finally not that significantly better than merely choosing the textual content. And there’s no manner you’re writing within the margins with the restrictions of this stylus.
Exporting notepads will be carried out through a linked Dropbox account or over USB connection. Once more the reMarkable has a leg up right here, for even when its app is a bit restrictive, the stay syncing means you don’t ever have to fret about what model of what’s the place, so long as it’s within the system. On the Kobo it’s extra conventional.
In comparison with the reMarkable, the Kobo is actually simply a neater platform for on a regular basis studying, so in the event you’re on the lookout for a tool that focuses on that and has the choice of doodling or word taking up the facet, it’s a significantly better deal. Alternatively, these simply on the lookout for an enchancment to that stylus-focused pill ought to look elsewhere — writing and sketching nonetheless feels manner higher on a reMarkable than virtually something available on the market. In contrast with one thing like a Boox pill, the Elipsa is extra easy and targeted, however doesn’t permit the chance of including Android apps and video games.
At $400 — although this features a case and stylus — the Elipsa is a substantial funding and comparably priced to an iPad, which is definitely a extra versatile machine. However I don’t notably get pleasure from studying articles or books on my iPad, and the simplicity of an e-reader typically helps me focus after I’m making notes on a paper or one thing. It’s a special machine for a special goal, however not for everybody.
It’s nevertheless most likely one of the simplest ways proper now to step into the shallow finish of the “large e-reader” pool, with extra advanced or costly choices out there do you have to need them.
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