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If you want to buy one of the best e-readers, a strong option is the Kobo Clara, a mid-sized e-reader that comes in two distinct flavors. The first of which, the Kobo Clara Colour, I’ve reviewed previously, and found to be excellent. But what about the Clara BW, the monochrome-screened sibling of the colorful Colour? Thankfully, Kobo sent me both so I could put them to the test and find out.
Much of the Clara BW is identical to that of the Clara Colour, so I won’t be going into intimate detail like I did with the Colour. Refer back to that review if you’re interested to know the details on how it feels and how the software works. In this review, I’ll largely be covering the differences between the two devices, after briefly covering the identical areas. However, you’ll also find out why I’m hesitant to recommend the Clara BW after spending so much time with the Clara Colour.
The Kobo Clara BW isn’t the most exciting looking device out there, but it is a well crafted one.
It’s built from stout black plastic, and slipperiness aside, I love it. The heft is reassuring, and the recessed power button on the back is a triumph. There’s a USB-C port at the bottom which means it can share a charger with your phone. Like its stablemate, it’s repairable with guides and parts from iFixit. And like every e-reader, the weeks-long battery life means it won’t need charging all that much. The small size means it’s portable in a way larger e-readers like the Kindle Paperwhite aren’t, and while it’s a little boring, you’ll forget all about its looks when you start digging into books.
The 6-inch display is clear and crisp, with a 300 pixels per inch (ppi) resolution that means even small details are easily legible. As a result, reading on this device is great. The night mode can kick in at a specific time, and filter out blue light, so you can settle down easier for bed. The audiobook experience is … basic. It works well, but those who like lots of options and ways to tweak their listening experience will probably find it a bit lacking. It will work fine for casual audiobook listeners though, and you can listen through a Bluetooth connection, whether that’s through wireless earbuds, headphones, or a Bluetooth speaker.
This is a great e-reader so far. But something was bugging me while I was using it. The more I used it, the more I realised I don’t quite understand why this e-reader exists.
The Clara BW has a large shadow cast over it, and that shadow belongs to the Clara Colour.
The Clara BW is an excellent device. But so is its counterpart, the Clara Colour — and in a lot of ways, the BW is so good because the Color is too.
These two devices are identical. I don’t mean “so similar as to be identical”, I mean actually identical. Turn the screens off and place the two devices side-by-side and it’s impossible to tell the two apart. If it weren’t for the color screensaver on the Clara Colour I wouldn’t actually know which I was looking at. This won’t necessarily be an issue in most people’s lives, since you’re only likely to run into problems if you and someone you live with own one of each, but it does highlight the major issue I have with this e-reader; it’s too similar to the Clara Colour.
The BW’s looks are just the start. It’s exactly the same size, with exactly the same software, and the same look and feel. The Clara BW has a longer estimated battery time, likely because it doesn’t need to render power intensive color, and obviously, there’s a difference in display tech. I do prefer the Clara BW’s display. I had no issues with the Clara Colour’s screen, but the Clara BW somehow looks and feels better, despite the two of them having the same resolution and specs. Would I have noticed if I wasn’t using the two of them side-by-side and one after the other? Not at all, and this should not be a reason to prefer the BW by any means. And on the flip side of this preference is the BW’s 1.0 GHz processor, which is massively overshadowed by the Colour’s dual 2.0 GHz processor.
The Clara Colour overshadows the Clara BW — and so what? Is that really such a big deal? After all, the Kindle Colorsoft overshadows the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, and they’re basically the same device. Why shouldn’t that be the same for the two Clara devices? The key is cost: The Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition is $200, while the Colorsoft is priced at $280. That’s an $80 gap between the two. The same cannot be said for the Clara Colour and the Clara BW, where the gap is just $20.
While this means the Clara Colour is a great deal, it casts some doubt on whether the Clara BW is too. While the Clara BW is an excellent e-reader, so is the Clara Colour, and the Colour comes with a more powerful processor and a color display, for just $20 more. It’s hard to see why anyone would pick the Clara BW. Only those who dislike color displays, or who really really want to save $20 should consider the Clara BW.
No, you shouldn’t buy the Kobo Clara BW. Not because it’s a bad e-reader, but because it’s too close in price to the Kobo Clara Colour, which you should buy.
The Clara BW is a victim of the Colour’s success. There would absolutely be room for more than one Clara model in Kobo’s offerings, but when it’s being sold for $140, just $20 less than the Kobo Clara Colour? It’s hard to see who would forgo spending $20 in order to avoid having a stronger processor and a color display.
The Clara BW is an excellent e-reader, but when the price difference between it and the Clara Colour is so low, it’s impossible to recommend.
This would change dramatically if the Clara BW was available at a lower price. If it was $40 less, and cost $100, it would be a much more viable option and it would be much easier to justify the BW’s weaker processor and black and white display. But at this price? Absolutely not, buy the Kobo Clara Colour instead.
Merely days after the iPhone Duo hit the shelves, images of broken screens on the phone started popping up across social media. Until now, it’s been unclear what’s causing the line of defective pixels that appears vertically along the crease, as well as horizontally, on the phone’s inner display.
Apple has finally acknowledged the issue, which has shown up on iPhone Duo units owned by customers as well as demo units in stores. In a statement shared with Bloomberg, Apple says that not all iPhone Duo units are affected and that those that are tend to show the display fault early on. The company added that users who experience problems with their iPhone Duo display should contact AppleCare for a replacement.
Not long ago, Apple treated independent repair like an act of outright hostility. The Cupertino giant locked down parts with serial-number pairing, while repair tools remained firmly out of reach of anyone outside its authorized repair network. More importantly, the company waged a legal and lobbying battle against right-to-repair legislation.
I've covered enough of these fights over the years to know what a shift looks like. That's why what happened in October 2026 genuinely caught me off guard. The day the iPhone Duo went on sale, what may be the most mechanically complex iPhone to date, Apple pulled off a surprising about-face. It published teardown-style repair manuals for a handful of major components.
Apple's first foldable phone is now on shelves, in short supply, but with an unreal amount of buzz around it. After all, it's the first foldable iPhone, and there's plenty that this phone gets right. But there's also a lot that is either broken or underwhelming. What's peculiar is the dialogue around this phone, and how it has completely overshadowed every other attempt at making a phone with a similar form factor.
I've spent some time with the iPhone Duo, and I've used the Galaxy Z Fold 8 for almost three months now. In my opinion, Samsung deserves more credit. When the Galaxy Z Fold 8 arrived earlier this year, it was celebrated in some circles and ridiculed in others for supposedly copying what Apple would eventually deliver with the iPhone Duo. The dialogue was pretty odd, for multiple reasons. Samsung has been making foldable phones for years, so claiming that it copied a product Apple hadn't even launched was simply absurd.