Kobo Clara Colour
Shares rank 22 of 29 e-readers by recommenders
People like its colour screen for comics and reading, and its openness to alternative software, though critics find the colour display less clear and say colour is mostly a gimmick.
People like its colour screen for comics and reading, and its openness to alternative software, though critics find the colour display less clear and say colour is mostly a gimmick.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 64%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Colour screen engages readers
“the colour screen keeps them engaged (we had black and white e-readers before and it just wasn't the same)”
Comment from 6 Sep 2026 in “Doomscrolling ourselves to death” “they love them for graphic novels”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “E Ink Kaleido 4” Happy, attached owners
“I have a love affair with my Kobo Clara Colour”
Comment from 19 Sep 2026 in “Minimal Phone 2” “I'm happy with my Kobo Clara Colour.”
Comment from 21 Aug 2026 in “Kobo can run apps now” Runs alternative OS and jailbreaks
“I've been trying to find an alt OS for my Clara Colour and this looks great.”
Comment from 21 Aug 2026 in “Kobo can run apps now” “I love that was even able to load my jailbroken epub library to the Kobo.”
Comment from 31 Aug 2026 in “Rakuten Kobo returns to U.S. retail as sales double”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Colour screen less clear, lower contrast
“I looked at the new color screens and they didn't look as clear to me”
Comment from 21 Aug 2026 in “Kobo can run apps now” “The color one has a darker screen and less contrast than the bw one.”
Comment from 22 Aug 2026 in “Kobo can run apps now”
Other e-readers people recommend
The four most recommended other e-readers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Kindle | 222 | 255 | 47% | 12 | 12 yrs37 owners | — |
| Xteink X4 | 178 | 47 | 79% | 10 | 2 mo31 owners | Approved |
| Kobo e-reader | 154 | 53 | 74% | 12 | 7 yrs14 owners | Approved |
| reMarkable 2 | 93 | 45 | 67% | 12 | 5 yrs13 owners | Approved |
| Kobo Clara ColourThis page | 7 | 4 | 64% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
All 13 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“they love them for graphic novels”
“I like the product but colors are mostly a gimmick.”
“I have a love affair with my Kobo Clara Colour”
“the colour screen keeps them engaged (we had black and white e-readers before and it just wasn't the same)”
“not plastering the logo/name on the front where it's staring you in the face as you try to read”
“I love that was even able to load my jailbroken epub library to the Kobo.”
“The color one has a darker screen and less contrast than the bw one.”
“I bricked mine while trying to install nickel and koreader”
“I'm happy with my Kobo Clara Colour.”
“I looked at the new color screens and they didn't look as clear to me”
“I've been trying to find an alt OS for my Clara Colour and this looks great.”
“I couldn't highlight across pages until I bulk converted my library to KEPUBs”
“I love my Kobo (clara colour) and really, if they just removed the Adobe reader, it'd be perfect.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.