Kobo’s pint‑size color e‑reader just got a fresh coat: the Kobo Clara Colour is now available in a clean white finish. For readers who want a compact device that handles novels, comics, and magazines without ads or ecosystem lock‑in, this is the small e‑reader to beat—and the white colorway is the most requested look finally delivered.
Why the white Clara Colour stands out
The white chassis isn’t just a style tweak. It visually recedes around the page, making color illustrations and book covers pop, and it’s easier to spot in a crowded tote. Kobo has leaned into minimalism here: rounded edges for one‑hand comfort, grippy texture, and a pocketable footprint that disappears in a jacket or purse.
Kobo executives have said the white finish was the top request from early Clara Colour buyers. It’s a small but telling signal: this device is built for readers who care how their library looks and feels, not just what it costs.
Color e‑ink, tuned for real reading
The Clara Colour uses E Ink’s Kaleido 3 panel, which displays crisp monochrome text at high resolution and adds a color layer for book covers, children’s titles, cookbooks, and comics. You get the battery‑sipping perks of e‑ink with enough color to make illustrations and charts meaningful. It’s not tablet‑bright saturation—and that’s the point. The page remains glare‑free and comfortable under sunlight or a bedside lamp.
ComfortLight PRO, Kobo’s adjustable frontlight, lets you dial in brightness and warmth to reduce blue‑light exposure at night. There’s a true dark mode, too. Page turns are quick for a 6‑inch reader, and the screen’s matte finish keeps reflections out of the way on trains, planes, and poolside loungers.
Freedom from ads—and from format headaches
Unlike many mainstream e‑readers, the Clara Colour is ad‑free out of the box. There are no lock‑screen promos or home‑screen banners nudging you toward a store. That matters if you want your device to feel like a bookshelf, not a billboard.
Format support is a quiet superpower here. Kobo reads EPUB natively—still the most common e‑book format worldwide—along with Kobo’s own KEPUB, PDFs, and comic files like CBR/CBZ. That means less converting and more reading. Pocket integration lets you send web articles to the device with a click, turning long reads into distraction‑free sessions later.
Library borrowing is excellent, too. Through built‑in OverDrive support (where available), you can search your public library’s catalog, place holds, and download titles directly to the Clara Colour. OverDrive reports hundreds of millions of digital checkouts annually, and the one‑tap flow on Kobo is a big reason heavy library users gravitate to this platform.
Specs that serve the book, not the spec sheet
The Clara Colour keeps the essentials: a 6‑inch display for true portability, USB‑C charging, Bluetooth for audiobook playback on wireless headphones, and ample storage for a personal library. Battery life is measured in weeks, not hours, because e‑ink sips power only when pages change. If you read 30–40 minutes a day, you’ll likely top up far less than you would a tablet.
Kobo’s TypeGenius typography suite remains one of the best. You can adjust weight, sharpness, margins, and line spacing with fine‑grained control that rivals dedicated reading apps. It sounds minor until you realize a tiny tweak to font weight can transform legibility on a small screen.
Price, availability, and who should buy it
The white Kobo Clara Colour lists at $159.99 in the U.S., positioning it below many ad‑free competitors and well under premium large‑screen models. Amazon still doesn’t offer a color e‑ink Kindle; if you want children’s books, travel guides, and graphic novels to show their hues without sacrificing battery life, Kobo has the lead.
Choose the Clara Colour in white if you want a compact, ad‑free reader with true color for covers and light illustrations, strong library support, and EPUB freedom. If you read almost exclusively text and crave waterproofing or page‑turn buttons, consider Kobo’s larger Libra line. If color isn’t important, Kobo’s black‑and‑white models remain excellent and cost a bit less.
Bottom line
The Clara Colour was already the most balanced 6‑inch color e‑ink device for everyday reading. The new white finish adds a clean, reader‑centric aesthetic to a feature set that respects your library, your eyes, and your time. For most people looking for the best small e‑book reader right now, this is the one to get—especially in white.