Love this product, it meets my expectations and went beyond. Such a tool readers, the note taking is another level and the screen size is very good. It’s very pleasant to read with my kobo.

The device was shipped very fast it came from Amazon Warehouse and not directly from Kobo-Rakuten Canada. All good for 24 hours until the Stylus 2 stopped working. It’s dead. Defective from the factory I presume. Also, the first Kobo I owned that is not made in Taiwan, it’s made in China. Not trying to use “guilty by association” but just feel that there’s always something wrong that is obvious and some not so much but will rear its ugly head soon enough. Anyway, though I’d like to just keep using it, I just don’t feel comfortable as I am a bit nervous about what else will eventually fail prematurely.Lastly, I have purchased the Elipsa to mainly leverage its large screen to read PDFs and annotate with its writing capabilities. However, there are two major flaws. First, although the PDF can be enlarged or shrunk to fit the entire screen, the letter contrast on the screen could be clearer and there’s no way to customize it. I have no such issue with my Remarkable 2 with contrast – and it is sharper and has nearly unlimited levels of grayness which allows it to reproduce illustrations way better than the Kobo. Second, once I resize it on the screen, it’s very easy to knock it off alignment then I need to re-adjust it again over and over, this is very annoying. I also noticed that it lacks the feature where if I want to change a page, it does not allow me to use either a “tap & swipe” or “swipe” but no “tap only” So back to my point, Remarkable 2 is hands down better for PDF but does not have backlighting and very limited features as a capable Reader.Another handicap is its writing capability. It’s not terrible but it’s not great either. My benchmark is Remarkable 2. It does not come close. The writing capability of the Kobo Elipsa 2 feels ancient compares to the Remarkable 2. First, the marker needs to be charged before you can use it; RM2 does not. Second, when writing on the screen, RM2 feels like real paper; the Kobo Elipsa 2 feels like you’re writing on the car’s windshield. And the lag is quite noticeable as the pen is far ahead of where the actual line shows up. And there’s no way to adjust the thickness of the lines. Lastly, the pen feels like it’s hovering over the screen whereby the RM2, appears as the line and the market tip are touching each other as you write.Elipsa 2E does have more features for reading eBooks but the display with its lower resolution and lack of finite shades of grades severely handicaps being a good PDF reader. Another issue is that I purchased the OEM sleep cover with the Elipsa 2E which is very expensive. I’ve had a good experience with Clara 2E’s OEM sleepover so I took a chance. Other than its ability to provide that auto-sleeping capability, it lacks two major functions. Ability to use it as a stand such as the Clara 2E’s sleep cover (origami folding stand) and provide protection for the back of the unit. It has neither. Not only that, the part that bends wobbles so when closed, the magnetic part pulls the bottom side down which misaligns where the top corner is exposed. You have to slide it down then it aligns. Poor Q/A in my opinion, and this is also another reason I try to stay away from products made in China. They always seem to have some issue in the beginning or eventually and you wind up hating it over time. I rarely had this issue with Kobos made in Taiwan.

This e-reader excels as a pure reading device. It is the lightest 10″ device on the market, weighing about 375g, and is a pleasure to hold for long periods while reading. It also has a textured plastic shell that makes it easy to grip. Page turns are quick and the screen is on par with others using this e-ink panel. Battery life is excellent and having a back-lit panel is ideal for night-time reading. Integration with Google drive is a big plus.Where this falls short of being a perfect e-reader is the implementation of the pen, but if note-taking is not needed, it’s a moot point. One example is palm rejection is really not good. Another is using the pen to make highlights requires pushing the side button on the pen each time (there’s no setting for fast highlighting). Besides being below par for note-taking, one odd thing is in portrait mode, it always opens with the document oriented for a left-handed reader (thicker side to the right), and I have to tilt it to get to flip it 180deg for a right-handed reader. There doesn’t appear to be a way to lock this orientation for a right-hander.Hopefully Kobo improves these things in the next version, but as is, it’s a great reader.

It’s a useful device for those who enjoy reading on an ereader. The screen is delightful in its adjustability and in its clarity. The 10.3 screen is perfect for adjusting the font size so that reading glasses can be left in the drawer. With any good luck Amazon will perfect the software to allow the user to write notes directly on all ebooks; and conversion to text will be more straightforward than currently available on the devices. And someday color will be introduced by Amazon to the higher end ereaders. But today we are left with less than vivid screens that are efficient but remarkable bland.

Kobo is really a costly ebook reader without the benefit of the Kindle platform. It does not have an interface to manage files well. Kobo mostly wants to push their bookstore, not provide a tool for serious work taking notes or reviewing documents. I did like the form factor and textured bezel. But the software has a lot of work to be a contender with Boox and Remarkable.