Pros
- Lightweight
- Affordable
- Great e-reader
- Waterproof
- Read DRM-protected ebooks (via ADE)
- Innovative advanced notebooks
- Frontlight
- Good handwriting recognition
- Page-turn buttons
- Backed by a major corporation
Cons
- Sub-par writing experience
- Not very versatile
- Stylus requires batteries
- Cannot export highlights/annotations
- Feels a bit 'clunky'
The Kobo Sage may be thought of as a smaller, waterproof version of the Kobo Elipsa 2E. It is a lightweight 8" e-reader with some innovative note-taking features but the tactile writing experience is lacking, and the whole ecosystem feels a bit 'clunky'.
The Kobo Sage is Rakuten Kobo’s small, waterproof e-reader with writing capabilities.
It runs virtually the same software as the larger-screened Kobo Elipsa 2E, so to avoid duplication, I refer you to my Kobo Elipsa 2E review for an overview of reading and note-taking functionality.
The Elipsa 2E ships with the Kobo Stylus 2, which is the second iteration of the original Kobo stylus that ships with the Sage. Both styluses provide a subpar writing experience, however the newer version is marginally better because it is rechargeable via USB (the original required 1xAAAA battery)
The table below shows the differences between the two tablets:
| PRODUCT | KOBO SAGE | KOBO ELIPSA 2E |
|---|---|---|
| Specs & ratings info |  Not yet rated |  Okay |
| My Rating | ||
| Price (approx) | $300 | $400 |
| Manufacturer | Kobo | Kobo |
| Release year | 2021 | 2023 |
| SCREEN | KOBO SAGE | KOBO ELIPSA 2E |
| Screen type | Carta 1200 | Carta 1200 |
| Screen size | 8" | 10.3" |
| Screen resolution (B/W) | 1440 x 1920 | 1404 x 1872 |
| Screen density (B/W) | 300dpi | 227dpi |
| Colour | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| Screen resolution (Colour) | n/a | n/a |
| Screen density (Colour) | n/a | n/a |
| Frontlight | ✓ | ✓ |
| Wacom compatible | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| Buy | ||
| HARDWARE | KOBO SAGE | KOBO ELIPSA 2E |
| CPU | 1.8 GHz quad-core | 2 GHz |
| RAM | 0.5Gb | 1Gb |
| Storage | 32Gb | 32Gb |
| Battery | 1200mAh | 2400mAh |
| Super Refresh | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| Keyboard folio | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| Speakers | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| Microphone | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| G-Sensor | ✓ | ✓ |
| Ceramic Tip | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| Bluetooth | ✓ | ✓ |
| Fingerprint scanner | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| SD card slot | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| Rear camera | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| Front camera | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| Waterproof | ✓ | ⨯ |
| USB-C | ✓ | ✓ |
| Width | 160.5mm | 193mm |
| Height | 181.4mm | 227mm |
| Thickness | 7.6mm | 7.5mm |
| Weight | 241g | 390g |
| Buy | ||
| SOFTWARE | KOBO SAGE | KOBO ELIPSA 2E |
| Operating system | KoboOS | KoboOS |
| Google Play Store | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| Kindle support | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| Handwriting search | ✓ | ✓ |
| Handwriting conversion | ✓ | ✓ |
| Insert shapes | ✓ | ✓ |
| Insert images | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| Split screen | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| Custom templates | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| No. templates | 35+ | 35+ |
| Brush types | Ballpoint Pen, Fountain Pen, Calligraphy Pen, Brush, Highlighter | Ballpoint Pen, Fountain Pen, Calligraphy Pen, Brush, Highlighter |
| Screen share | ⨯ | ⨯ |
| ADE support | ✓ | ✓ |
| File formats | PDF, EPUB, EPUB3, TXT, HTML, FlePub, CBZ, CBR, MOBI | PDF, EPUB, EPUB3, TXT, HTML, FlePub, CBZ, CBR, MOBI |
| File formats (image) | PNG, JPG, GIF, BMP, TIFF | PNG, JPG, GIF, BMP, TIFF |
| File formats (Audio) | Kobo Audiobooks (via Bluetooth) | Kobo Audiobooks (via Bluetooth) |
| Buy | ||
| PRODUCT | KOBO SAGE | KOBO ELIPSA 2E |
About the author
Dan Dutton is passionate about E-ink writing tablets, which bring together the pleasure of writing on paper with the power of digital technology. When he bought his first tablet, he realised that there wasn't a lot of unbiased information available for people that were considering buying an E-ink tablet, and so he built eWritable.