Kobo Libra Color: A Kindle Oasis Replacement That’s Mostly Good

I picked up a Rakuten Kobo Libra Color recently (what a mouthful of a name). This was mostly a necessity—I’ve been using a Kindle Oasis for years, and while I love the form factor, mine is cracked. It’s still usable, but distracting enough that I started looking for alternatives.

Amazon, as a company, isn’t my favorite for various reasons. But, since they discontinued the Oasis (the only Kindle model I actually like), I figured it was time to see what the competition had to offer. Enter the Kobo Libra Color.

My Use Case: A Nocturnal Reader’s Perspective

I should preface this by saying I don’t need the color features or even the note-taking capabilities of the Kobo. My e-reader exists for one purpose: reading at night, in the dark, in bed. That’s it. It’s always in dark mode, always loaded up with some sci-fi or fantasy book. I like to escape. Except when I made the questionable decision to read 1984 and The Handmaid’s Taleback-to-back in February. Not my best move, given the current political climate, but here we are.

Anyway, my e-reader is a nocturnal creature.

First Impressions

I went with the white model, which has this subtle shimmer to it. It feels light—maybe even lighter than the Kindle Oasis?—though a bit more plasticky. The texture on the back is nice, and while it doesn’t feel as "premium" as the Oasis, I’m not here for aesthetics. I’m here to read.

The screen is bright when it needs to be, dark when it needs to be. However, the screen itself isn’t flush with the bezel like on the Oasis or like most modern electronics with a screen, which threw me off at first. I tend to rest my thumb in the lower-right corner for page turns, and on the Kobo, there’s a noticeable dip where the screen meets the frame. Not a deal-breaker, but a minor annoyance.

The Good Stuff

• OverDrive integration: Borrowing library books is seamless, which is a huge plus. Except if you have two library cards. Which I do, I got it to work eventually, but it was weird to set up. Also where's my girl Libby?
• No Amazon nonsense: No constant nudges to buy new books, no UI dark patterns designed to push me into purchases. "We think you might like this (shitty book that's vaguely sci-fi but it's popular right now please buy it)" kind of stuff going on.
• Clean, straightforward UI: It’s a reading device, not a storefront disguised as an e-reader.
• Good contrast and lighting options: The screen works well in both light and dark environments.
• Tons of visual customization as far as reading goes. All kinds of good fonts, leading, margin size, etc.
• The battery is pretty good? I haven't had to charge this damn thing since I got it a few weeks ago. Also USB C, thank you.

The Little Nitpicks

If I had to nitpick—and let’s be honest, I do—here are a few quirks that bug me:

• Slide for brightness only in "reading mode": I love being able to slide my finger up/down the left side of the screen to adjust brightness, but why does it only work while reading a book?
• Dark mode isn’t system-wide: This is the worst offender. The UI stays blindingly white when you exit a book, which has flashbanged me more than once in the middle of the night. Why isn’t there an option for full UI dark mode? Am I missing something?
• Dark mode toggle placement: It’s buried inside reading settings instead of being in the brightness settings where it would actually make sense.
• Where's Libby? I know Libby is a wrapper ontop of Overdrive - and largely replacing it everywhere. Where is she, Kobo... or... Ratuken? Who makes this thing?
• A little more customization. Maybe I have weird expectaitons, but since this isn't some giant corporate owned beast I felt like there should be more opportunities to make the device "mine" – pick my homepage content, adjust what shows up in the nav at the bottom, so on.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, it’s an e-reader. It shows words on a screen, and I can read them. That’s what I need it to do, and it does it well. While the Oasis still feels more premium, the Kobo Libra Color gets the job done—and it’s not shackled to Amazon’s ecosystem, which is a win in my book.

Would I recommend it? If you’re looking for an Oasis replacement, it’s probably the closest thing out there. It's a little pricey. But if you read as much as I do, that cost gets eaten up quickly. Just be prepared for some quirks along the way.