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Blanket Ellipsa 2E.
Rakuten Kobo
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The back of the device is textured (also has a large logo).
Rakuten Kobo
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Elipsa can be used to read books, but it can also be used to take notes, doodle, and annotate.
Rakuten Kobo
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Listen to audiobooks with built-in Bluetooth.
Rakuten Kobo
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A $70 case protects the Elipsa and provides a place to store the pen.
Rakuten Kobo
Rakuten has updated its pen-compatible Elipsa e-reader to make it more competitive with e-reader repurposed notepads like the reMarkable 2 and Kindle Scribe. The new Kobo Elipsa 2E is a 10.3-inch e-reader with pen that lets you take notes, annotate documents, and make notes on the book you’re reading. The device is available for pre-order now and will start shipping on April 19th.
The Elipsa 2E has some things in common with Amazon’s Kindle Scribe hardware. These include large asymmetrical side bezels, a warm screen light to reduce eye strain at night, Bluetooth support for listening to audiobooks, and a USB-C port. The 227 PPI screen isn’t as sharp as Scribe’s 300 PPI screen, but it’s the same density as the screen included in reMarkable 2. The Elipsa weighs slightly less than the Scribe (0.96 to 0.88 pounds). It should feel like having two tablets.
Pen accessory for Kobo Elipsa 2E.
Rakuten Kobo
The Elipsa’s $400 price tag is fine for what you get. Scribe starts at $340, but you get a lesser Basic Pen and only 16 GB of storage. Stepping up to the 32GB Scribe, the Premium Pen’s price rises to $390, much closer to the Elipsa. Kobo sells the case for an additional $70, but offers no other storage capacity or alternative pens. Elipsa has features that Scribe does not. For example, a “lasso” tool for quickly grabbing and moving what you write or draw, and integration with Dropbox and (coming soon) Google Drive.
If you want to avoid Amazon’s ecosystem, Rakuten’s Kobo lineup is probably the closest you can get to replicating the versatility and usefulness of Amazon’s hardware. The Elipsa 2E competes with the Scribe, but we also have the Sage and Libra 2 competing with the Kindle Oasis. Clara 2E competes with Paperwhite. The Kobo Nia goes up against the basic $100 Kindle. Like Elipsa and Scribe, Amazon typically offers a feature or two more than comparable Kobo devices, and costs a little less than Kobo. Kobo also introduced the Kobo Plus unlimited book subscription for $8/month (or $10/month for both audiobooks and wordbooks) to compete with Amazon’s $10/month Kindle Unlimited service.
Image of listing by Rakuten Kobo
