Kindle rival drops to great low price at Argos and I highly recommend it

If you want a new e-reader and you thought you only had the Amazon Kindle line up to choose from, think again. Kobo makes excellent alternative devices with great features that often outdo Kindle, with competitive prices to boot.

Now, one of the latest Kobo models has seen a great price reduction for Black Friday. The Kobo Libra Colour, the firm's top-of-the-line colour screen e-reader, is on sale for £179.99, a £30 reduction on its £209.99 RRP, from Argos.

This makes it only £20 more than the Kindle Paperwhite. If it were my money, I'd go for the Kobo. I reviewed the Libra Colour when it came out, and it has a colour screen as well as e-book library borrowing integration, two things the Paperwhite line up does not have for UK buyers.

The asymmetrical design allows the Libra Colour to have page turn buttons, something no current Kindle has. This lets you keep your thumbs off the touchscreen to skip pages without obscuring what you're reading, as well as being on a larger bezel that helps you hold the device one-handed.

The screen is a 7-inch colour E Ink panel. It doesn't display vivid colours like you get on an LCD or OLED screen of a phone or tablet, but this is the nature of e-paper technology. The muted colours are still great, meaning you can view your library of book covers in eye-catching colour, as well as browse the Kobo store (when connected to Wi-Fi) to pick out your next read.

The Kobo also has Bluetooth so you can listen to audiobooks you buy or borrow. As mentioned, the Libra Colour can connect to your local library's e-book and audiobook loan service thanks to a free service called OverDrive. All you need is your library card to log in on the device, and from there you can browse your library's collection to borrow tor place holds on hundreds of titles.

View the Kobo Libra Colour (black) at Argos

View the Kobo Libra Colour (white) at Argos

It's a great way to save money on new books, borrowing them instead of buying. You can also borrow magazines and other media if they are available, such as comic books and graphic novels that look infinitely better on the colour screen compared to a monochrome e-reader.

I've used the Kobo Libra Colour extensively as my main e-reader when testing, and I believe it is one of the best on the market. I'd pick it over any Kindle thanks to its excellent screen and design, as well as the aforementioned OverDrive smarts. Kindles have OverDrive, but only in the US, so Kobo wins in that area on these shores.

You also have integration with free read later service Instapaper. This lets you save articles you see on your phone, PC or tablet into an app to read them later. This can sync onto you Kobo, letting you read articles in E Ink peace, away from distraction.

With 32GB storage, Kobo says you can fit tens of thousands of books on the Libra Colour, with room for up to 150 audiobooks. It is also rated for weeks of battery life, though this depends on usage. You charge it via USB-C, though there's only a cable in the box, no charger.

The Libra Colour is compatible with the Kobo Stylus 2 (sold separately). Kobo's software allows you to annotate directly onto e-books to make notes, and you can highlight in colour. You can also create separate notebooks to use the device as a digital notebook.

There are cheaper Kindles and Kobos out there to consider, but the Kobo Libra Colour for £179.99 is an excellent deal this Black Friday, and one I recommend to all dedicated readers.