These are the Xiaomi phones that will be updated to MIUI 10

Xiaomi will roll out the MIUI 10 update to over 25 devices.

Xiaomi announced MIUI 10 alongside the Mi 8 at the end of May, and during the Remi Y2 unveil in India the manufacturer detailed the global version of the ROM.

A key addition in MIUI 10 is Xiaomi’s AI camera tweaks, which facilitate portrait mode on devices with a single imaging sensor. The ROM also includes display gestures as standard, a redesigned multitasking pane, new system sounds, and much more.

Xiaomi rolled out the MIUI 9 update to over 40 devices, and the MIUI 10 update will be making its way to over 25 phones over the course of the year. The update is slated to hit newer devices like the Redmi Note 5 Pro, Mi Mix 2, Redmi 5/5A, and the Mi Max 2, as well as older phones — the Redmi Note 4, Redmi Note 3, and even the Mi 3.

Here’s the full list of Xiaomi devices that will be updated to MIUI 10:

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 5
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A/5A Prime
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4/4X
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3
• Xiaomi Redmi Y1/Y1 Lite
• Xiaomi Redmi Y2
• Xiaomi Redmi 5
• Xiaomi Redmi 5A
• Xiaomi Redmi 4
• Xiaomi Redmi 4A
• Xiaomi Redmi 3S
• Xiaomi Mi Mix 2
• Xiaomi Mi 6
• Xiaomi Mi 5s/5s Plus
• Xiaomi Mi 5
• Xiaomi Mi 4
• Xiaomi Mi 3
• Xiaomi Mi Max 2
• Xiaomi Mi Max
• Xiaomi Mi Note 3
• Xiaomi Mi Note 2

MIUI 10 beta is slated to kick off sometime in mid-June, and the stable build will be arriving in September, making it a longer-than-usual wait for the stable channel to make its way to devices. I’ll delve into what MIUI 10 has to offer once the beta builds start rolling out, so stay tuned for more from Xiaomi’s latest ROM.

Hands on with Redmi Y2: Xiaomi’s selfie-focused budget smartphone

The Xiaomi juggernaut in the budget and mid-range segment in India continues to roll with the company setting new benchmarks in terms of value for money devices as well as sales figures with each offering, really.

In November last year, Xiaomi introduced a new ‘Y’ series as part of its Redmi range of devices with a focus on front-camera setup. The company had ignored the selfie segment before this and saw the likes of Vivo and Oppo capture the mindshare in that category.

So, here we are seven months later with the Redmi Y2 and these are my initial impressions of the Redmi Y2 after a few days of usage.

While the last time, Xiaomi offered two variants of the device – Redmi Y1 and Redmi Y1 Lite – the company is now going for a single device, with two memory variants… one with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage and another one with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.

Design

The Redmi Y2 sports a plain vanilla, but functional, design. It’s an all plastic build, brushed with a metallic finish. There’s nothing we’ve not seen before, but it is built nicely and the rounded back cover allows the device to sit comfortably on the palm of your hand. Compared to its predecessor, at 170 grams, the Redmi Y2 is a tad heavy but it’s not a showstopper. The design is reminiscent of the Redmi Note 5 Pro, apart from the discreet antenna lines on this one.

The smartphone features a 5.99-inch HD+ (1440 x 720) display with an 18:9 aspect ratio. The taller display allows more screen real estate while retaining the dimensions of the Redmi Y1 which had a 5.5-inch display.

In my limited time with the device, the display seemed quite bright under direct sunlight. The colors are a tad muted, but the HD resolution is good enough for a smartphone in this price segment.

Hardware

The Redmi Y2 is powered by Xiaomi’s trusted Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC, a chipset that Xiaomi doesn’t let go despite several newer variants – it’s like they picked a bundle of them at Qualcomm’s yard sale.

Jokes apart, the Snapdragon 625 is a reliable processor that combines high performance with exceptional battery efficiency. The chip is manufactured with the 14nm FinFET process, with a top speed of 2.0GHz, and it’s got a good enough punch for a reliable Android experience.

The Redmi Y2 packs in 3080mAh battery which should be good enough for an entire day, even for power users, especially because the Snapdragon 625 is a pretty efficient chipset. The choice of microUSB over USB Type-C is disappointing though.

Camera

Like its predecessor, the Redmi Y2 sports a 16MP front camera with f/2.0 aperture powered by artificial intelligence (yes, why not!). The company claims that the front camera uses ‘Super Pixel’, a process that refers to the combination of four pixels into one single large 2.0μm pixel. This reduces photo noise, captures more light, and enhances photo quality when shot in low light.

For a budget smartphone, it does take quite good selfies for the usual social media purposes. The LED selfie light helps in dark conditions, but I preferred photos without the light awkwardly washing away the photos.

Xiaomi puts in AI smarts to offer portrait selfies and digital makeovers with its AI Beautify 4.0 technology that simulates makeup. Too much vanity, really. But you’d be buying this phone only if you’re into the trend, so yeah, make yourself look better.

Redmi Y2 also features Face Unlock to conveniently unlock the phone using your facial details.

At the back, there’s a dual camera setup with a 12MP primary sensor with 1.25μm pixel size and a 5MP secondary sensor. The pixel size helps with low-light photography by capturing more light. The dual camera employs AI for separating the foreground and background accurately for those bokeh shots. It’s the same setup as the Redmi Note 5 Pro, and it would be interesting to take it for a whirl in different conditions to see how it fares.

Software

The Redmi Y2 runs MIUI 9.5, the company’s proprietary UI layer, over Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box.

At the launch, the company announced that the device will also get the MIUI 10 upgrade. The beta of MIUI 10 will start rolling out in mid-June while the stable version would arrive in September.

Redmi Y2 offers the option of choosing full-screen gestures to ditch the on-screen buttons, which frankly is the more intuitive option to interface with your smartphone. Big props to Xiaomi for offering the same.

Summary

The lower spec’d variant of the Redmi Y2, the one with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, is priced at 9,999 rupees ($148) while the 4GB + 64GB variant is priced at ₹12,999 ($193).

At first glance, the Redmi Y2 looks like a capable phone even though the pricing makes it compete with its own Redmi siblings. The Redmi Y2 is quite basic, apart from the camera shenanigans, but sometimes that is just good enough for a budget smartphone. We’ll find out more in our detailed review.

With artificial bone marrow, scientists aim to decode blood disease

Bone marrow is like the offensive line of the immune system — it’s an essential part of the team but doesn’t always gets the recognition. By pumping out hundreds of billions of blood cells every day, bone marrow helps us fend off disease and is essential to a healthy human body.

To better understand how marrow fortifies us against disease — and to potentially help develop better therapies for diseases like leukemia — researchers have sought to develop artificial bone marrow that functions like the real thing. The problem is, living blood cells reside and multiply in a special environment, called the hematopoietic niche, which scientists have so far failed to replicate.

But now, researchers from the University of Basel and ETH Zurich have engineered an artificial bone marrow that mimics the natural kinds, offering a key to better understand how blood forms and how blood diseases can be treated.

“This 3D engineered tissue is established and maintained in a bioreactor system,” Ivan Martin, a professor of biomedicine at the University of Basel who worked on the project, told Digital Trends. “It partially recapitulates the structure, composition, and organization of the native bone marrow microenvironment … but also its main function, which is the replication and differentiation in more mature cells.”

Martin and his colleagues used a ceramic bonelike scaffold, which they combined with living cells in a bioreactor, mixing the synthetic and organic components together.

Within that artificial system, cells are able to multiply over the course of several days — not as long as natural bone marrow, but degrees better than previous synthetic models. Rather than immediate medical applications, the researchers hope their technique leads to more sophisticated, tailor-made marrow models, which can assist in drug screening.

“More than a direct medical demand, the fields of hematology and tissue engineering lacked a model close enough to sustain reasonable comparison with the in vivo human bone marrow microenvironment,” Matin said. “Indeed, research has limited possibilities to access information from human specimens and the human hematopoietic niche has remained rather inaccessible to experimental manipulation and optical observation.”

Moving forward, Martin and his team hope to use this system to study blood disorders, particularly the conditions within which these conditions first arise.

A paper detailing their research was published this week in the journal Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences.

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3D-printed mini-submarine can move in water without a motor

A motorless mini-submarine has been created by researchers from ETH Zurich and the California Institute of Technology. The 3D-printed vessel moves using a new propulsion concept designed for swimming robots, enabling it to paddle without engine power.

By responding to temperature changes in water, the robot moves its paddles back and forth, gently — albeit briefly and awkwardly — propelling itself forward.

“Imitating the motion of rowing boats, frogs or water striders, the swimming robot propels itself forward by driving its oars back,” Kristina Shea, an ETH Zurich professor of engineering design who led the project, told Digital Trends.

Rather than relying on an electric motor that connects to a power source, the robot’s oars are activated using a similar mechanism used in snap-on bracelets. This activation is triggered by a “shape memory polymer” strips, which act like muscles.

“A shape memory polymer is a type of plastic that becomes compliant when heated,” Shea explained. “In the heated condition, it can be ‘programmed’ from its permanent shape to a secondary shape. This secondary shape becomes stable when the shape memory polymer is cooled down, yet it does not lose its ‘memory’ of its permanent shape. When it is reheated, it recovers its permanent shape.”

In recovering its permanent shape, force is transferred to an internal mechanism, causing the oars to snap back and drive the robot forward. The shape memory polymer is designed to expand in water, so when the water is heated, they serve as something like muscles for the machine.

The machine is still very primitive, capable of performing just a single paddle stroke and small tasks like dropping a coin. But by demonstrating that this propulsion method is feasible, the researchers hope to develop more complex techniques.

“The main takeaway from our work is that we have developed a new and promising means of propulsion that is fully 3D printed, tune-able, and works without an external power source,” Shea said in a statement.

Among these possible applications, Shea and her team envision similar systems providing low-cost power sources for ocean exploration. In addition to responses to changes in water temperature, these future versions may be sensitive to things like acidity and salinity.

A paper detailing the study was published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Apple Expands Indoor Maps Availability at Airports and Malls

Apple Maps has gained indoor maps for an additional four international airports and one shopping mall around the world.

The recently enabled airports include Charlotte Douglas International in North Carolina, Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International and Québec City Jean Lesage International in Canada, and Taoyuan International in Taiwan.

When searching for those airports, Apple Maps users can tap “look inside” or simply zoom in to view terminals, boarding gates, security checkpoints, airline check-in desks, baggage claim carousels, information kiosks, restrooms, stores, restaurants, parking garages, and even escalators, elevators, and stairs.

An indoor map is also now available at the Trinity Leeds shopping center in England, according to Apple’s iOS feature availability page.

Indoor maps at shopping malls make it easier to find the exact location of stores, restaurants, restrooms, escalators, elevators, and stairs on each floor. The feature enables users to filter stores by categories, such as clothes, shoes, accessories, beauty, food, and drinks, with detailed place cards for each.

When the feature launched with iOS 11, indoor maps were only available in a handful of airports and shopping malls around the world, but Apple has been steadily adding locations over the past year.

The list includes airports and shopping malls in select cities across North America and Europe, including Baltimore, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, London, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, San Jose, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, and Washington, DC. The full list can be viewed here.

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LinkedIn will tell you exactly how long your new job’s commute will be

When it comes to finding a new job, it’s not just the work-life balance, the compensation, or the people that ultimately have to take into consideration. It’s the location, too. Now, LinkedIn is not only helping you build your resume and your professional network but is also serving as your mapping service. The company’s latest feature lets you see the location and commute time to certain employers, which may just help you decide whether or not you want to be its next employee.

The feature, aptly named “Your Commute,” has now been made globally available on the mobile version of the site, and provides location data for all businesses where LinkedIn already boasts location information, according to TechCrunch. Soon, the feature will also be available on desktop. As senior product manager Dan Li told TechCrunch, moving forward, Your Commute will be a factor when LinkedIn recommends jobs that you may want to check out.

“When members save their location preferences in Career Interests, we’re able to provide more relevant job recommendations that fit exactly what they’re looking for in their next role,” Li said. “We’re thinking through additional ways members can use location information to improve their job searches in the near future.”

The location services of LinkedIn are being supported by Bing Maps, which comes as no surprise given that both Bing and LinkedIn now live under the overarching Microsoft umbrella. The professional networking service, of course, was acquired by Microsoft in 2016 for $2.6 billion.

“Our members have indicated that the location of a job — and the commute time associated with it — is a big factor in their decision-making process when considering new roles,” Li added. “We know commute times are getting longer across the board according to recent research from Gallup.” While you may not be able to avoid this trend, at least you’ll know what you’re getting yourself into ahead of time with the new feature.

According to LinkedIn’s own survey data, around 85 percent of workers would take a lower salary if it meant a shorter commute. As LinkedIn puts it, “The Your Commute feature is a quick and easy way for members to access insight into their potential commute directly within the job posting on LinkedIn and empower them to make more informed career decisions.”

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Robot-controlled table lets you manipulate liquid rocket fuel with your face

We love ferrofluid, the crazy ink-like rocket fuel that moves around seemingly of its accord, like the Venom suit from Spider-Man in its liquid form. We also love robots, especially when they are put to particularly innovative use. And we love awesome A.I. tech demos of things like face tracking.

You could say, then, that we’re the ideal target audience for an amazing new art installation developed by Zurich-based designers Maria Smigieska and Pierre Cutellic. Called “Proteus,” it’s a wall-mounted robot table that uses real-time face tracking to manipulate a ferrofluid display. Check out the video up top to see it in action.

The work is currently on display at the Ars Electronica Center in Linz, Austria, as part of a “Creative Robotics” exhibition. It is composed of a KUKA KR3 robot mounted to the wall, with a custom magnetic end effector that manipulates the ferrofluid. This ferrofluid is arranged in a 92 dish grid containing alcohol and the liquid rocket fuel. Using FaceOSC face tracking software, the robot magnetic effector can be manipulated to create all kinds of beautiful patterns in response to how viewers move their face.

“The piece is a hybrid analogue and digital, interactive display,” Smigieska told Digital Trends. “Analogue because it works with matter, which in our case is ferrofluid; digital because its pattern is modulated by magnetic fields and robotic interface. Similarly to any display, it is based on a grid, but instead of simple color intensity, each pixel contains a much richer pattern dependant on user interaction — namely real-time face tracking data, as well as the behavior of neighboring ferropixels.”

What is the point of it? According to Smigieska, the ferrofluid’s constant switching in form is a reference to the stories of Greek god Proteus, which gave the project its name. Really, though, it’s just a beautiful art installation that merges the worlds of tech and artistry to create something stunning.

In some ways, it reminds us of this beautiful table creation by artist Bruce Shapiro, which also borrowed its inspiration from Greek mythology and uses a tiny two-motor robot and magnet to create constantly shifting patterns in sand. In both cases, we don’t know exactly why we want one –just that we really, really do!

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Google prepares an always-connected Chromebook to take on Microsoft

Dan Baker/Digital Trends

More Chromebooks could be coming in the future with a built-in LTE modem for always-on connectivity. The latest code in Chrome OS reveals that Google may be looking at adding eSIM, or electronic SIM, support to the operating system. Google may even leverage its Project Fi service to provide cellular data to Chromebooks in the future, 9to5 Google suggested.

A code commit with the Hermes codename was spotted by XDA Developers. “Hermes is the codename for the project of implementing eSIM support for Chrome OS,” the commit read. “Hermes will be responsible for delivering messages between devices with eSIM chips and carrier servers through profile downloads as well as service discovery for new carriers.”

Like a traditional SIM card in a smartphone or tablet, an electronic SIM connects the device to a cellular network. Unlike a traditional SIM, eSIM isn’t a physical card that can be  removed. Instead, eSIM are digital cards that are embedded and built into the hardware. Apple uses an eSIM, for example, on its Apple Watch to save space on the compact wearable as a physical SIM card isn’t needed, and Google is also no stranger to the technology. The standard is currently supported on the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones. With an eSIM, customers can also easily change wireless service providers without having to replace a physical SIM card.

Adding eSIM support to Chrome OS makes sense given that the lines between Chromebooks and Android tablets are now blurring. In the past, tablets with cellular data connectivity were popular given that they can quickly access the internet and apps can update in the background when away from a Wi-Fi network. And with a 360-degree hinge in a convertible form factor, support for Android apps, and the addition of digital inking capabilities with a stylus, many modern Chromebooks, including Google’s Pixelbook, can be used as an alternative to Android tablets.

With always-on connectivity, future Chromebooks with eSIM support would be more competitive against Always-Connected PCs from Microsoft. The Always-Connected PC platform runs Windows 10 on ARM-based processors made by Qualcomm. In addition to low power consumption, Microsoft had touted the always-on LTE connectivity as a benefit for road warriors who need to stay productive while away from an office with Wi-Fi.

Google’s Project Fi service currently switches between T-Mobile, Sprint, and U.S. Cellular networks depending on various factors, like network speed and reception. The benefit of Project Fi on Google’s Pixel phones is that you get free roaming when traveling internationally. It’s unclear if a data-only Chromebook plan will also benefit from roaming at no extra cost.

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The best MacBook Pro you can buy is on sale for $1,000 at Best Buy

Best Buy is taking $300 off the price of Apple’s latest 13-inch MacBook Pro notebooks as part of a limited time promotion. With the discount, Apple’s entry-level MacBook Pro laptop comes in at just under $1,000, down from $1,300, but that model doesn’t come with the Touch Bar. Apple also has a $1,200 configuration, discounted from $1,500, as well as a high-end $1,800 configuration, down from $2,100, as part of this sale.

At the base $1,000 configuration, you’re going to get a seventh-generation Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM with 128GB storage, integrated Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640, and two Thunderbolt 3 ports. The laptop is available in both silver and space gray at that price. The $1,500 model bumps the storage up to a 256GB solid-state drive, but keeps everything else the same. It also doesn’t ship with Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint scanner or the Touch Bar. This configuration is also available in silver and space gray. And finally, Best Buy’s top configuration comes with 512GB of storage, two additional Thunderbolt 3 ports, Touch ID scanner, and the new Touch Bar. The $1,800 configuration also doubles the memory to 16GB and comes with an upgraded Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650, but only the space gray version of this laptop is in stock at Best Buy at the time of writing.

While these are the newest MacBook Pros, there are some caveats you should be aware of before you make a purchase decision. First, unlike older MacBook Pro models, Apple switched to a new butterfly key switch design for its keyboard. This allows Apple to design the laptops with a slim profile, but the downside is that key travel is shallow and could be uncomfortable to type on. Second, the keyboard may be twice as prone to failure as older keyboards, and out of warranty repairs are expensive given the complex assembly of the keyboard.

The latest Best Buy price discounts come at a time when rumors of a MacBook Pro refresh are at a high. Although these laptops use Intel’s seventh-generation processors, the latest competing notebooks running Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system have been shipping with Intel’s newer eighth-generation processor, which comes with better performance and improved battery life. Still, if you don’t need the latest hardware processors, the discount could represent a good value. And when Apple releases its next version of MacOS called Mojave this fall, these MacBook Pros will be capable of running the update. Mojave brings a Dark Mode as well as a number of new features and security fixes to make it harder for websites to spy on your online activities.

If you’re in the market for a new laptop, be sure to also check out some of our favorite MacBook Pro alternatives.

We strive to help our readers find the best deals on quality products and services, and choose what we cover carefully and independently. If you find a better price for a product listed here, or want to suggest one of your own, email us at dealsteam@digitaltrends.com.Digital Trends may earn commission on products purchased through our links, which supports the work we do for our readers.

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Kobo Clara HD review

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Kobo Clara HD

It’s hard to believe it has been eight years since Kobo released its first ebook reader. The original Kobo was an ambitious, but somewhat impractical ebook reader. It nailed the basics, like its six-inch E Ink display with a 170 DPI, as well as a big rubber navigation button. What was missing, however, was Wi-Fi or cellular connectivity — if you wanted to download a book, you’d need to plug the Kobo ebook reader into your laptop.

Ebook reader technology has come a long way, but Amazon has claimed the space as king with its Kindle devices. Rakuten’s Kobo is still in the fight, though, and its latest entry is the Kobo Clara HD, a budget ebook reader meant to directly compete against Amazon’s affordable Kindle Paperwhite. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles you’ll find on more expensive ebook readers like the Kobo Aura One and Kindle Oasis, but there’s a lot packed in for just $130.

Ergonomic design

The Kobo Clara HD looks like the average ebook reader. It has a six-inch, 300 pixels per inch (ppi) E Ink display nestled in a chunky and plastic black slab. The thick bezels around the whole ebook reader may look dated, but it helps with holding the device comfortably when reading.

On the bottom, you’ll find a MicroSD charging port alongside the power button. We’d really like to start seeing USB Type-C charging ports in ebook readers, since that’s what many phones and laptops use and it’d make things simple if only one cable was needed, but even the most expensive ebook readers still use MicroUSB.

Flip the Kobo Clara HD over and you’ll find a textured back that’s gently curved to fit perfectly in the palm of your hand. And at a little under 6 ounces, about the weight of an iPhone 8 Plus, the Clara HD is one of the lightest ebook readers we’ve used. All of that means it’s lightweight and comfortable to use for long periods of time. The 6-inch form factor makes it a perfect companion for commutes.

At a little under 6 ounces, about the weight of an iPhone 8 Plus, it’s the lightest ebook reader we’ve used.

There is one feature missing that would make the Kobo Clara HD the perfect budget ebook reader — water resistance. We’ve only seen water resistance in a handful of expensive ebook readers, so we’re not surprised to see it absent here, but considering Kobo beat Amazon to the punch before, it’d be nice to see the company do it again with one of its most affordable ebook readers.

Great display and zippy performance

Once we started our first book, The Female Persuasion, on the Kobo Clara HD, we were hooked. The 300 DPI E Ink screen produces crisp text and sharp images. Page transitions — which can be painfully slow on older ebook readers — are nearly instantaneous. And since the Clara HD refreshes the screen at the end of each chapter, we didn’t notice any significant ghosting on the display.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The Clara HD does an excellent job of automatically managing brightness throughout the day, but there’s also a brightness slider that lets you to make manual changes to suit your personal preferences. It’s perfectly readable outdoors in direct sunlight. There are also a number of customization features, like the ability to choose from 11 different fonts along with 40 font size options. You can also tweak font weight and sharpness settings. It’s also easy to highlight, annotate, and share passages via Facebook.

The 300 DPI E Ink screen produces crisp text and sharp images.

The ebook reader uses the same ComfortLight Pro technology found in other Kobo ebook readers. It’s essentially a blue-light filter that works automatically by tracking the time and your timezone, and it then reduces the amount of blue-light exposure at night. The screen gets more orange, but it’s certainly more helpful for your health as blue light from screens can hinder your sleep.

The Clara HD’s internals are unremarkable, but we haven’t run into problems after quite some use.  It’s powered by a 1GHz processor along with 512MB of RAM. Books load quickly and page transitions are seamless. What does stand out however, is the Clara HD’s 8GB storage capacity. It’s double what you’ll find on the Kindle Paperwhite or the similarly-priced Kobo Aura, and it should allow you to store around 6,000 books on it.

One glaring omission

If you’ve ever used an ebook reader before, the Clara HD’s software experience will be familiar. When you turn the device on, there’s a homepage that shows the current book you’re reading, as well as a library of all the titles you own. There’s also an e-book store alongside a list of recommended books. The bar at the top provides features a drop-down menu to quickly access the ebook reader’s features as well as a battery life indicator, search bar, sync icon, and brightness control.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

In addition to all the basic features you’d expect on an ebook reader, the Kobo Clara HD also has Pocket integration, and the icon can be found on the bottom of the home screen. Tap it, and here you can access articles and websites sent from Pocket on your laptop or computer’s browser. You’ll find a similar feature on Kindle with Instapaper, but to use it you’ll need to pay $20 a year on the Kindle.

It has 8GB of storage capacity, double what you’ll find on the Kindle Paperwhite or similarly priced Kobo Aura.

The Clara HD also has an Activity mode that lets you track reading time, average minutes per session, and number of books read. It’s a simple yet handy feature that offers a lot of insight into your overall reading habits.

But there is one glaring omission on the Clara HD, and it’s Overdrive integration. It’s a feature first introduced on the Kobo Aura One that allows you to download library books directly to your ebook reader for a short period of time, but it’s nowhere to to be found on the Clara HD. Yes, you can manually add Overdrive titles to the Clara HD, but it’s an involved process requiring you to connect your ebook reader to your computer each time you want to check out a book. We’d have liked it to be a simpler process here.

No magazines or newspapers

In addition to an ebook reader store boasting more than five million titles, the Kobo Clara HD supports more than a dozen different formats including EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT, HTML, RTF, and more. Buying e-books directly from the Kobo Store on the ebook reader is the easiest way to get your next read, but adding titles from third parties requires you to side-load the book into the Kobo Clara HD. It can be a little bit of a pain, and there’s no handy “Send To Kindle” type feature that allows you to email documents directly to the ebook reader.

Kobo Clara HD Compared To

Sony Digital Paper DPT-RP1

Boox Max 2

Kindle Oasis (2017)

Kobo Aura H2O Edition 2

Kobo Aura One

Kindle Oasis

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2015

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2013)

Kobo Aura HD

Kobo Mini

Sony Reader PRS-T2

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite

Spring Design Alex

Barnes & Noble Nook

Sony PRS-700

You won’t find newspaper or magazine subscriptions in the Kobo Store. It was available at some point, but it was removed several years ago. Rakuten Kobo said they removed the feature to focus on their key e-book business. You can access newspaper and magazine subscriptions on Kindle devices, so this may not be the device for you if that’s what you want to use an ebook reader for.

Long-lasting battery

Kobo said the average reader will be able to use the Clara HD for weeks between a single charge. We’ve used the device for about a week and our Kobo Clara HD still nearly has a full charge. It’s safe to say that you won’t have to worry about charging this device much.

Price, availability, and warranty information

The Clara HD costs $130 and it’s available now from Kobo’s website.

It comes with a one-year warranty that covers manufacturer defects. If you encounter problems, you can send your ebook reader to Rakuten Kobo for repair or replacement.

Our Take

The Kobo Clara HD has all the features you’d expect, and then some, in an entry-level ebook reader. It’s lightweight, has a spectacular six-inch HD display, offers a lot of storage, and adds automatic lighting adjustments for night-time reading.

Is there a better alternative?

The Kobo Clara HD is your best choice if you’re looking for a budget ebook reader. The Kindle Paperwhite is a similar ebook reader overall — even in price — in case you want to use Amazon as your e-book store.

If you’re open to spending more money, we recommend taking a look at the Kobo Aura One or the 2017 Amazon Kindle Oasis. Check out our guide to the best ebook readers for more.

How long will it last?

If well cared for, the Kobo Clara HD is likely to last four or five years, likely more. Ebook reader technology evolves slowly, so it’s less likely you’ll see substantive changes in the field that would render the Kobo Clara HD obsolete in the near future. In terms of hardware, the battery is the component mostly likely to fail on most devices. But since you only need to charge the ebook reader a few times a month, it should take quite a few years before you begin experience issues with battery degradation. A more likely scenario is that you’ll simply outgrow the Kobo Clara HD over time and want to upgrade to an ebook reader with a larger display or more features.

Should you buy it?

Yes. If you’re looking for an excellent entry-level ebook reader, the Kobo Clara HD is our top pick.