Rakuten Kobo, or commonly known as Kobo, today has announced that its existing line-up of eReaders are now officially available in Malaysia. These include the Nia, Libra 2 and Sage models, as well as the new Clara 2E which was recently launched for the global market.
All Kobo eReader models are equipped with WiFi connectivity and E Ink-based touchscreens, with the latter allowing for less power consumption when compared to typical LCD or AMOLED displays. This enables for even longer battery life which, according to the company, could span a number of weeks in terms of usage.
With the exception of the Kobo Nia, the eReaders feature USB-C ports for charging and data transfer, Dark Mode, support for audio books, as well as Bluetooth connectivity for pairing external audio hardware such as earbuds, headphones, and speakers for listening to the audio books. The Libra 2, Sage and Clara 2E also come with a water resistance rating of IPX8, allowing them to survive up to 60 minutes in 2 metres of water.
Specifications-wise, the Kobo Nia is equipped with a 6-inch touchscreen with 1024 x 758 pixel resolution, 900 Mhz processor, 8 GB of internal storage, and a Micro USB port. The Sage and Libra 2 packs an 8-inch 1440 x 1920 pixel resolution touchscreen and a 7-inch 1264 x 1680 resolution touchscreen, respectively. Additionally, the former comes with a 1.8 GHz quad core processor and 32 GB storage, while the latter features a 1 GHz processor and 32GB storage. It’s also worth noting that the Sage is compatible with the Kobo Stylus accessory, which is sold separately.
Lastly, we have the newly launched Kobo Clara 2E. This particular model features a 6-inch touchscreen with a resolution of 1448 x 1072 pixels, a 1 GHz processor, and a total of 16 GB worth of internal storage.
All four Rakuten Kobo eReaders are available now via authorised distributors including Mono Digital, All IT Hypermarket, Flash Gadgets, Quantum Gadgets, and Popular Malaysia. The Kobo Nia, Sage, Libra 2, and Clara 2E are priced at RM 499, RM 1,299, RM 929, and RM 699 respectively.
In addition, Kobo revealed that a localised version of its eBooks store is now live via its website at www.kobo.com. With this, Malaysian users can now have access to the company’s large inventory of both eBooks and audio books, including numerous titles that are also available in Chinese, Malay and Tamil languages. However, keep note that the pricing for all products offered by the store are still listed in USD instead of RM.
(Source: Rakuten Kobo press release)
