Reviewing Kobo Sage - March 2022 (1 of 3)

Sharing my experience. Hoping that the software continues to improve this and other Kobo devices as I have enjoy their platform and previous devices (Clara, Libra H20).

# Pros
- 🔪⚡️ Great screen sharpness (E Ink Carta 1200)
- 👍 Great size at 8"
- ⚖️ The weight honestly didn't feel that bad to me. Definitely seemed to be spread across whole device more than a Libra H20 I compared it to.
- 📖 The experience of being able to write onto an ePub is a really nice feature. Typing on many ereaders is not great, and delays quick notation a person experiences with a book.
- 🌘 Dark mode is cool and shows off the crispness and contrast of this really nice screen
- 🤫 I found the buttons to be quiet which is nice when reading in bed (but I did seem to notice a couple misses)
- 🔄 Dropbox sync. At this point, any ereader should have SOME type of syncing capability. Odd to me that it is on Kobo Sage and not Libra.
- 📰🌳🌞 Pocket integration. Web articles, but offline in e-ink is excellent. Another huge asset for them. I wish it had more functionality that the core app has (tags, highlighting, )
- 📚 ♥️ Like other Kobo devices, Overdrive is excellent to have on board. This really keeps me wanting to support them with how easy they make things. Such a wonderful feature.
- 🌞 Warm front light for night reads

# Cons
- 🪫 Battery dropped as quickly as others said, even before I used the Stylus. Having to jump through hoops to potentially make it decent via Factory Resets and running through the battery multiple rounds feels wild to have to consider. Within ~30 minutes of reading, prior to even receiving the Stylus, I had wifi on and the light off and I saw a 7% drop.
- 🙁 I did not enjoy the experience of the Kobo Stylus. Nib feels plastic-y and clicks/clacks more than others. I read it uses MPP, Microsoft Pen Protocol, which means there are alternative options....I would recommend finding out which one you would rather have. I also felt like the stylus didn't quite write as expected, missing strokes I expected it to make. This happened more when I wrote with the reader in hand and less later on when I tried writing with on the device laying flat on my desk. Not sure if this is related but felt less consistent than other ereader notation experiences I've had.
- 🐞 Buggy software: Froze on me during reading a Kobo store book and other times within a 24 hour period of using the device
- 📝 Notebook features buggy and slow, and due to weak PDF handling I don't trust it. After factory reset, I didn't immediately see test notes come back. They may not be saved? Be sure to read up before trusting your notes are safe.
-❓ PDFs did not display content or ignored formatting other PDF apps were able to handle
- ↔️ Initial setup ran into issues with connecting with Dropbox/Pocket. Not sure if this was some wifi issue that wasn't clarified, but I got through after a reset.
- 🚫 After setup I ran into an issue where I couldn't access any files via Dropbox (PDFs I created, DRM free ePubs...). A hard reset helped but a very glitchy experience.
- ☝️👀 Device only available in black unlike the Libra which has white as an option. Finger prints are distracting for me (~thx, adhd~). I really like white tech cases for this reason. Hoping they consider others in the future.
- 📢 Bought from Walmart and despite logging with Kobo, still had startup screen of Walmart...Bleh

All in all, not what I was hoping for. Feels behind the market and I unfortunately expect a lot more due to e-note/android driven devices with more intense processing capabilities at near similar price points....BUT I will say that I *want* to be inside a more secure device with fewer distractions. I wanted this to be a perfect solution for me so that is what is driving my feedback to be more critical.

For a better in depth review, check out
**My Deep Guide**
**Teoh on Tech**

0:00 Kobo - Initial Impressions in March 2022
3:58 Kobo Stylus
5:04 Writing Experience
12:00 PDF Bugginess
14:33 Initial side-loaded epub/PDF and Dropbox Bugs
16:38 I want to like this device
18:45 Book Annotations, Dark Mode
22:46 Battery
26:09 PDF Dark Mode Inversion
26:41 Screen Refresh Flashes
27:30 Purchasing Kobo from Walmart
29:24 Conclusion

[heidis]

I just purchased the Sage and love it. Yes the battery sucks but otherwise I loved it. I charge all my tablets daily so its no big deal to charge this. I had it for a month now. The bugs went away after a week or two. Probably because it "updated". You need to give it time to update. I purchased Microsoft slim stylus and it works great on it

[markrosenholtz]

Thank you for this thorough and honest review. I was considering the Sage .... But not anymore. Any response from Kobo? Updates? Have any great alternatives?

[pedecia]

Thank you. Just ordered the sage having watched some positive reviews but going to return it and keep using my Kindle paperwhite gen 5 until a better device will come out.

[xpressolearning]

I've had mine for a few months now.. no issues. Battery life is a challenge.. did you ensure you updated the firmware..

[maatienko]

Thanks for your video!
I bought this device yesterday and immediately noticed uneven lighting. Near the buttons on the right, the light is brighter. This is my first e-book so I'm wondering if this is normal for e-books or I should return it? Because I am sure that over time I will simply stop noticing this difference in lighting. I also noticed the same situation in your video. Thank you!

[RebeccaAmalia]

I’m so glad I stumbled upon your video before buying this during the Black Friday sale. It’s such a shame :(

[oraz.]

I got the mobiscribe which is nice looking and only needs a little wacom pen but the software is terrible especially the pdf reader. If only this thing's software could be swapped into it's body.

[buidelrat]

I've had the same frustrating experience with the Kobo Elipsa: slow stylus input, random lockups, bugs galore.

[matthewrice]

a quick review lol - makes a 32 mininute video. but honestly thank you for the review I watched it all.

[this.is.a.username]

I'm hating these oasis clones, if they're going to rip off a kindle, they should bring back the Kindle 3's page turn buttons. I want them flush on both edges.

that was the best style imo, book readers do not need to be touch screen

[gaymrblog]

I recently bought this device so to read my growing library of epub manga from Humble Bundle. I think they have improved the software dramatically in the last year. Note taking is still kind of meh, but it does do the job if you need to jot down a note. The device is fantastic for overdrive, manga, general book reading . My battery lasts for days up to a week. Do you use the sleepcover? I do and it seems to work well. Great video!