There’s a new Kobo eReader on the way. It’s called the Kobo Clara HD and it has an E Ink display and an FCC listing for the device showed up over the weekend, as spotted by The Digital Reader.
We don’t know much about the Kobo Clara HD at this point, other than that it has an E Ink display, support for 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n WiFi networks, and a 1,500 mAh, 5.55 Whr battery.
The device is manufactured by Netronix, which makes a number of popular eReaders. And the HD in the name suggests it’ll have a reasonably high-resolution display.
Kobo’s hardware lineup currently consists of 4 eReaders with prices ranging from $120 to $280. They’re all available online from the Kobo website.
But when the new Kobo Clara HD launches, there’s a chance you might be able to walk into a store and buy it.
Kobo, which is owned by Japanese company Rakutan, recently announced a new partnership with Walmart that could help the company gain inroads in the United States, where Amazon’s Kindle line of devices dominate the eReader space.
Once upon a time Kobo had a similar deal with Borders Bookstores, but since Borders went out of business it’s been hard to walk into a store in the US and look at a Kobo device the way you can walk into a Barnes & Noble and see a Nook or walk into any number of stores and play with a Kindle.
The Walmart deal also means Walmart will sell eBooks and audiobooks through Kobo’s platform.
Update: It looks like the Kobo Clara HD will ship in June for around $129.
I think that is very interesting. At one time there was a few e-book readers. It seems they are making a comeback. I still use my Kindle e-book reader with e-ink screen. It has 60 books on it. The e-ink screen means the battery lasts a long time. I will be checking out this new one online.