Skilled's Score
Professionals
- Nice note-taking options
- Glorious E Ink show
- Spectacular efficiency
- OverDrive and Pocket integration
Cons
- No waterproofing
- Some software program bugs
- Audiobook choice extra restricted than Amazon’s
Our Verdict
Merely put, the Elipsa 2E is one of the best eReader you should purchase for note-taking. The {hardware} is just like the Kindle Scribe, however the software program expertise is on one other degree.
Worth When Reviewed
$399.99
Finest Costs At this time: Kobo Elipsa 2E
With most tech, there’s a wealth of alternative and loads of prime picks. For others, with eReaders being the working example right here, one or two firms dominate.
Kobo’s Elipsa 2E is a note-taking eReader that has its sights set on the Kindle Scribe. Amazon’s gadget wasn’t launched till after the unique Elipsa went on sale, however the 2E and Scribe have a lot in frequent – together with their costs.
The Scribe acquired combined critiques, so is the upgraded Elipsa 2E the go-to eReader with stylus help? The quick reply is a convincing sure, though it doesn’t get all the things proper.
Design
- Light-weight, premium construct
- No water-resistance
- Stylus included. Sleep cowl offered individually
The Elipsa 2E is the most important eReader Kobo makes by far, however the further show space is critical for notetaking. A ten.3in display guidelines out any risk of one-handed use, however that’s not what this gadget is meant for.
It retains the identical design language as different Kobos, with a plastic exterior surrounding the E Ink show. The again of the Elipsa 2E has a singular textured coating, which provides loads of grip and appears good besides. However like most eReaders, there’s just one color – black – and it’d be good to see various choices.
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
Kobo additionally has its eye on the setting with the Elipsa 2E. It claims 85% of the outside plastic has been recycled, together with 10% that might’ve in any other case ended up within the oceans. That is nice to see, and hopefully the corporate can proceed to progress on this space sooner or later.
Deciding towards aluminium or glass additionally helps maintain the Elipsa 2E comparatively skinny and light-weight. At 7.5mm and 390g, it’s simple to take nearly wherever with you, though you gained’t need to get it moist. In contrast to another Kobos, there’s no water-resistance right here and it’s an actual disgrace.
I used to be involved a couple of light-weight plastic construct feeling low-cost, however Kobo has managed to keep away from that. The Elipsa 2E feels slick and premium, and will final for a few years of use.
That sturdiness may be improved by pairing the gadget with Kobo’s personal SleepCover (an additional $69.99/£69.99). Because the identify suggests, it robotically places the Elipsa 2E to sleep when closed, offering all-important safety for the show.
Attaching the gadget to the duvet is a bit fiddly, however works effectively when you get used to it. There’s a devoted slot for the Kobo Stylus 2 (extra on that later), however it doesn’t double as a stand for hands-free use. You’ll additionally must make do with none safety for the again of the gadget, so it’s removed from a necessary buy.
The USB-C charging port is situated on the bottom-right aspect, just under the textured energy button. However other than the Kobo emblem on the back and front, the Elipsa 2E has a really minimalist design.
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
Show
- Spectacular 10.3in E Ink show
- Nice visibility due to matte coating
- Adjustable heat gentle
The Elipsa 2E expertise is centred round that 10.3in show. It’s one of many largest E Ink gadgets you should purchase, together with related dimension choices from Amazon, ReMarkable and Huawei.
Particularly, it’s an E Ink Carta 1200 panel, with a decision of 1404×1872 pixels. That’s equivalent to the unique Elipsa, though its 227 pixels per inch (ppi) is decrease than the Kindle Scribe’s 300ppi.
However does that imply the standard of the show right here isn’t as much as scratch? Completely not. All the pieces nonetheless seems extraordinarily clear and crisp, with a dynamic distinction between gentle and darkish colors. It may not be finest at school, however the Elipsa 2E has a wonderful E Ink show that may serve you effectively.
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
The matte end has two clear advantages. Firstly, it limits the build-up of fingerprint smudges and different marks. Regardless of a big aspect bezel for holding the gadget, there aren't any bodily web page flip buttons, so that you’ll have to faucet the display usually.
It additionally means the Elipsa 2E is simple to make use of in brilliant environments. Even in direct daylight, you’ll nonetheless be capable to comfortably learn what’s on the display. An auto-brightness characteristic makes it potential, though its main objective is for studying at nighttime.
E Ink shows are already simpler on the eyes than LCD or OLED panels, however you additionally get an adjustable heat gentle right here. This shifts from white gentle to hotter orange and yellow tones to minimise sleep disruption, and you too can set a bedtime for it to activate robotically. The characteristic works very effectively.
Studying expertise
- Nice in most conditions
- Not splendid to be used whereas travelling
- Works effectively in portrait or panorama mode
For those who’ve ever learn something on a Kobo earlier than, you’ll be aware of the interface on the Elipsa 2E. It’s merely a bigger model of the corporate’s different eReaders, which itself is similar to the Kindle.
The larger display doesn’t make it an excellent alternative for those who prefer to learn whereas mendacity down in mattress or travelling, however it’s nice in most different eventualities. That features for those who merely choose to have the ability to see extra content material on the display or need to improve the textual content dimension with out consistently turning the web page.
Whereas designed for use in portrait orientation (like an actual ebook), the Elipsa 2E is surprisingly good in panorama mode. There aren't any formatting points and it’s nonetheless snug to carry for lengthy intervals. For those who usually learn comics or PDFs, it’s an excellent choice to have.
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
And there are many methods to tweak the textual content you see on display. Select from a variety of main and supplementary fonts, then fine-tune the scale, line spacing, margins and justification to your liking. The default is ok for most individuals, however it’s value experimenting with this to discover a setting you want finest.
Writing expertise
- Kobo Stylus 2 within the field
- Create notebooks or annotate instantly onto books
- May be exported through cable or Dropbox
However the Elipsa 2E’s killer characteristic is its pen help. The Kobo Stylus 2 is included within the field, and it feels nice for writing or annotating. You could discover some occasional delays earlier than the display registers enter, however typically, latency is minimal.
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
The design of the Stylus 2 is in line with many different digital pens, so it’s snug to carry and feels pure to make use of. Don’t anticipate a pen-on-paper-like expertise, although – the dearth of stress sensitivity makes it very apparent that it is a digital display. As a substitute, there are 5 totally different shades to select from, to simulate that stress, however you must choose these manually.
Charging is through USB-C, however battery life isn’t a priority in any respect. Regardless of not charging when magnetically connected to the gadget, you’re a number of months earlier than needing to plug within the stylus. Pairing with the Elipsa 2E can be completely seamless, because it doesn’t depend on Bluetooth.
Holding down the bodily button on the aspect of the stylus prompts highlighter mode, permitting you to shortly choose textual content or sections of a doc. It’s additionally nice to see that the highest of the stylus now doubles as an eraser.
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
There are two important varieties of notebooks you possibly can create: a fundamental one freed from any restrictions, or a complicated model which incorporates further options akin to changing handwriting into textual content. The latter works effectively more often than not, and makes it simple to look by way of your notes for one thing particular.
Notes should be exported manually (as a PDF, PNG or JPEG), both by bodily connecting a USB cable or – extra conveniently – by connecting your Dropbox account. Having the ability to immediately entry them throughout all of your gadgets is a good characteristic, particularly with 2GB of storage on Dropbox’s free plan.
These get saved to a particular folder inside Dropbox, which means you possibly can edit or add any information to that folder and so they’ll robotically seem on the Elipsa 2E. However you possibly can nonetheless create folders and organise them direct from the gadget itself.
In contrast to the Kindle Scribe’s sticky notice strategy, Kobo additionally enables you to annotate instantly onto any ebook or doc. This feels a lot extra pure, particularly when mixed with the highlighter and eraser options.
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
Impressively, this extends to rented library eBooks, the place notes will nonetheless be there for those who borrow once more sooner or later or resolve to purchase it. Having the ability to scribble notes on something is the massive purpose to purchase the Elipsa 2E over another eReader on the market.
Specs & efficiency
- 2GHz processor and 1GB of RAM
- Efficiency surprisingly wonderful
- No mobile choice
Efficiency is the facet of the Elipsa 2E that’s shocked me essentially the most. I wasn’t anticipating a lot from a 2GHz processor and simply 1GB of RAM, however because it seems, that’s a lot for an eReader.
Nice efficiency on eReaders is in no way assured, however the Kobo Elipsa 2E is quick and responsive by eReader requirements, whether or not you’re navigating the shop, enjoying audiobooks or just turning pages in a ebook. The character of E Ink shows means there’ll all the time be some hesitation whereas the display refreshes, however it by no means takes greater than a few seconds.
Supplied you have got a strong web connection, all content material will show and obtain shortly. However there’s no choice for mobile connectivity (akin to 3G or 4G), so that you’ll want Wi-Fi.
The one mannequin of the Elipsa 2E options 32GB of non-expandable storage. This shall be a lot for most individuals, and also you’ll solely run near capability for those who obtain a number of lengthy audiobooks.
Software program & options
- Big vary of books out there
- Kobo Plus now out there in US and UK
- Glorious OverDrive and Pocket integration
The Elipsa 2E runs the identical software program you’ll discover on all Kobo eReaders. It interprets effectively to the bigger show right here, and stays the principle purpose to purchase one over a Kindle.
Let’s begin with the obvious characteristic: studying books. Kobo has its personal eBook file format, however it natively helps nearly all main file varieties: EPUB, EPUB3, FlePub, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF, CBZ, and CBR.
CBZ and CBR are comedian ebook codecs, each of which work very effectively on this bigger show. However if in case you have any of the file varieties listed above, simply switch them from a pc utilizing the USB cable within the field – or sync them utilizing Dropbox.
In actual fact, the one important file sort you gained’t be capable to use is Amazon’s personal. For those who’ve purchased a number of Kindle books beforehand, there’s no strategy to learn them on the Elipsa 2E. It’s a manner of Amazon maintaining folks loyal to Kindles and never switching to Kobo.
However the choice of eBooks out there on the Kobo Retailer is similar to Kindle. All the pieces I looked for was out there on each gadgets for the same worth. New releases arrive at roughly the identical time.
Nonetheless, you don’t essentially must purchase eBooks. The Elipsa 2E has integration with OverDrive, which means you possibly can join a free native library card and borrow books – similar to you'd for the bodily variations.
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Not each ebook is on the market utilizing this methodology, however I’m impressed with the choice which might be. My native library isn’t significantly huge, though even the wait instances for in style books (normally 4-6 weeks) aren’t unhealthy in any respect.
Most libraries allow you to borrow books for 7, 14 or 21 days. If nobody else has requested the ebook, you possibly can renew it and maintain studying. But when a maintain has been positioned, you’ll have to return on the waitlist.
Even with some limitations, having the ability to borrow library books so seamlessly is a really wonderful characteristic. The price of eBooks can mount up, so it is a nice various.
Sadly, OverDrive doesn’t embrace audiobooks. The choice of these isn’t pretty much as good on the Kobo Retailer as Audible, and also you’re much less more likely to have the creator narrate the ebook than on Amazon’s service. Nonetheless, there's the choice to import your individual audiobook information (as much as 200Mb per ebook) in MP3 or M4A codecs, which is useful.
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Each eBooks and audiobooks are included within the costly Kobo Plus subscription ($9.99/£11.99 per thirty days), however you’ll want to decide on one or the opposite on the cheaper plan ($7.99/£8.99). The service is now out there within the US and UK six years after first launching, and there are greater than 1.3 million eBooks and 100,000 audiobooks to select from.
It’s primarily Kobo’s reply to Kindle Limitless, which means you possibly can learn or hearken to as many of those as you’d like. The choice out there is commonly up to date, however you gained’t discover most of the hottest titles – at the very least initially. Because of this, it’s finest for avid readers, particularly those that are keen to attempt new authors or genres.
One other helpful characteristic is integration with Pocket, the favored “learn it later” app out there on all of your gadgets. After connecting your free account, any articles you’ve saved there'll robotically be out there to learn on the Elipsa 2E. Except the article depends on pictures or movies, it’s an effective way to learn them – particularly as they help annotations.
Generally, the software program expertise feels slick and intuitive, however that’s not all the time the case. I bumped into a few bugs throughout testing, together with a one the place the Wi-Fi connection stored dropping. However points like these may be fastened with updates, and all different options work as meant.
Battery life
- 2400mAh battery
- Round two weeks of battery life
- Gradual charging, no adapter in field
As anticipated, battery life on the Elipsa 2E is great.
The 2400mAh cell is massive by eReader requirements, and means it will possibly technically reside as much as Kobo’s claims of “weeks of battery life on a single cost”. Nonetheless, that’s solely actually potential for those who flip off Wi-Fi, maintain brightness low and restrict notetaking.
To get essentially the most out of the Elipsa 2E, you gained’t need to do any of these issues. Subsequently, a extra real looking determine is round two weeks between full fees. That’s nonetheless very spectacular, although – battery life is one thing you gained’t want to fret about on the Elipsa 2E.
The Elipsa 2E fees through USB-C, however solely the cable is included within the field. Charging is comparatively sluggish, however will get the job performed for those who’re not in a rush.
Worth & availability
At launch, the Kobo Elipsa 2E prices $399.99/£349.99 for 32GB of storage – the one mannequin out there. You should purchase it from the Kobo web site within the US and UK.
That feels like rather a lot, however it’s solely barely dearer than the most cost effective Kindle Scribe ($339.99/£329.99). The equal 32GB model of Amazon’s eReader will set you again $389.99/£379.99.
The Elipsa 2E consists of the Kobo Stylus 2 within the field, however the firm’s SleepCover will set you again an additional $69.99/£69.99.
You possibly can’t actually evaluate it to most conventional eReaders, however the ReMarkable 2 (from $279/£279) and Huawei MatePad Paper (€499, approx. $530/£420) are additionally value contemplating.
Verdict
The Kobo Elipsa 2E is a superb eReader that’s nice for each studying and note-taking.
A crisp 10.3in E Ink show is among the many highlights, and it combines with nice efficiency for a wonderful person expertise.
But it surely’s the software program that elevates the Elipsa 2E above its rivals. You possibly can annotate instantly onto any ebook through the included stylus, atone for net articles saved to Pocket and even borrow eBooks out of your native library.
Nonetheless, the audiobook choice isn’t fairly as spectacular, and there are some software program bugs. You’ll additionally must make do with none waterproofing.
Nonetheless, except you’re deep within the Kindle ecosystem, that is the note-taking eReader to purchase.
Specs
- 10.3in, 1404×1872 (300ppi) e-ink show
- 2GHz processor
- USB-C charging
- Wi-Fi
- Bluetooth
- 32GB storage
- 2400mAh battery
- Kobo Retailer
- 7.5mm thick
- 390g