I had my Kobo Libra Colour since July 2024 and recently, my partner gifted me an Onyx Boox Go Color 7. I love my KLC and this is one of my 2024 e-readers that stayed with me all the way. I yapped alot about BGC7 with my partner and maybe because I sold a lot of my gadgets and cancelled my original BGC7 order last year, this is what he got me.
Let us take a look of the common features comparison.
I am a heavy manga and manhwa reader, so I do not want to be super techy in this comparison. I would like to show you the things I am more particular with my devices - color, screen, performance, battery life, functionality and ease of use.
Color & Screen
I took photos of my KLC and BGC7 in full brightness and with the natural light at full as well for comparison. Click the embed photo below to view the photos.
I am using the KLC dev set up G6 to compare it with my BGC7 set to Optimal ( E-Ink center settings. When comparing the colors ( figure 1 ), the BGC7 has better color registration than the G6 of the KLC. However, when it comes to black and white displays ( figure 3 ), the BGC7 starts to show a greenish tint. The greenish tints are more prominent when I turned off my room lights ( figure 4 and 5 .)
Warm light as we all know helps reduce eye strain especially for in low light conditions. When it comes to warm light for night reading, the KLC's is better compared to the BGC7. see figures 6 and 7.
Something I hate with BGC7 is how grainy the book cover appears in my library. Look at the photos below. It almost looks like there are missing strokes on the bride's body in the cover photo when viewed on my BGC7.
Performance
When it comes to speed, I’ve noticed that my BGC7 freezes more often than my KLC, which rarely freezes even after a full day of use. When I increase the speed on the BGC7, the ghosting becomes more noticeable, so I’ve chosen to prioritize less ghosting over faster performance.
Battery Life
I don’t have much to add here, but one downside of the BGC7 is its battery life. Since it's powered by Android and runs more apps in the background, it only lasts about a day or two. On the other hand, the KLC can easily last for weeks.
Functionality
What I love most about my KLC is its stylus feature. For those who enjoy annotating or highlighting while reading, this is definitely a feature you’ll miss on the BGC7. If you're into taking notes or marking up your books, the KLC has a big advantage!
Ease of Use
When it comes to usability, the BGC7 offers much more functionality. Powered by Android, it allows you to download various apps, which gives it a lot of versatility. For example, I use an audiobook app, so I can listen to audiobooks while reading on the same device. Both the BGC7 and KLC have cloud features for file sharing, with Google Drive and OverDrive available on the KLC, and Send2Boox on the BGC7. One of the big advantages of the BGC7 is that when you send files, there are no issues with the size of the book cover—unlike the KLC, where you often need to use a kepub file and sometimes tweak the cover to make it look right. This makes file management much smoother on the BGC7.
For me, both devices have their own advantages over the other. However, I’d say that my KLC is the more "on-the-go" device because I can use it for much longer. I’ve also done a lot of tweaks, and I can sync my reading progress with Goodreads thanks to the plugins I added in Calibre.
I must say, it really depends on your personal preference when deciding which device is the winner for you. I hope this review helps if you’re still considering which colored device to buy. Now, should I get a Kindle Colorsoft? Lol. (◕̻͠◸◕̻͠)
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