Kobo’s Elipsa 2E, our favorite e-reader for taking notes, has hit its best price yet

By wazup on July 13, 2024 Comments Closed / 64 views

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By Sheena Vasani, a writer covering commerce, e-readers, and tech news. She previously wrote about everything from web development to AI at Inside.

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The new Kobo Elipsa 2E on a desk surrounded by papers. — a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Image: Kobo

We’re already seeing great deals land on Amazon devices like the Kindle Scribe ahead of Prime Day next week, which makes sense as it’s an Amazon event. It’s possible we’ll see even more Kindle deals arrive soon, but it’s less certain what kind of discounts — if any — we’ll see on e-readers from rivals like Kobo. Thankfully, if you don’t want an Amazon e-reader, Rakuten Kobo has launched a new sale, dropping its top-notch Kobo Elipsa 2E down to an all-time low of $349.99 ($50 off) when you purchase it direct from Rakuten Kobo. You can also pick it up for the same price at Amazon or Target via a third-party seller.

I spent a lot of time testing both the Kindle Scribe and the Kobo Elipsa 2E, and ultimately Kobo’s is my favorite large-screen ebook reader for taking notes. For one, you can actually write directly on any page — which allows for a more intuitive note-taking experience — whereas the Scribe only lets you directly annotate select Kindle titles. Moreover, it can accurately convert handwriting into typed text while exporting notebooks and — unlike the Scribe — while you’re writing within a notebook. The ad-free e-reader also boasts double the storage (32GB) as the entry-level Kindle Scribe and features a great selection of pen styles (and shades).

The main downside is that the Elipsa 2E doesn’t natively support Kindle books, though it does support many other file formats (EPUB, EPUB3, CBZ, FlePub, etc…). Plus, if you’re willing to invest a little extra time and effort, there are ways to convert your collection so you can still read your Kindle library from your Kobo.

The Kobo Elipsa 2E is an ad-free 10.3-inch e-reader you can write on with the included stylus. It offers a whole host of useful features, like the ability to convert handwriting to typed text and a great selection of pen types.