Monday, July 7, 2025

Review:Kobo Sage Review

Kobo Sage
View on Kobo Site

Rating: A

I’ve had my Kobo Sage for 100 days and read 20 books: books purchased from Kobo, books downloaded from a library via Overdrive, books downloaded from a library and sideloaded, and a book purchased from Google and sideloaded. I also have the stylus and PowerCover. I chose the Sage because I don’t need color.


TLDR: I enjoy the reading experience on the Sage and don’t miss my Kindle Oasis.


MINOR CONS

  • It sometimes gets stuck in Sleep or Power Off mode requiring a hard restart but not often

  • You need to make sure the device is powered off when you are done reading for a while or the battery will drain, especially overnight. I recommend the “Automatically Power Off After:” settings.

  • It’s too heavy to comfortably read one-handed with the PowerCover.

  • Only 1 library can be setup in the Sage’s Overdrive settings

  • Overdrive options at your library are limited. You can see Holds but not your library Wish List. Also, the Sage gives me a network error when trying to view New eBooks. Maybe it’s a memory limitation.

Pros

  • I like the 8”screen which makes it suitable to use horizontally.

  • It has forward and back buttons. It comes with the Back button on top and forward on bottom but this can be switched if desired.

  • As long as I make sure the Sage is powered off when not in use, I can go several days without charging.

  • It doesn’t have the same range of font faces as my Kindle Oasis but I didn't have trouble finding one I like (Kobo UD Kakugo).

  • It has a nice selection of options for reading: font face, font size, line spacing, margins, and justification. You can also select a header and footer. I have mine set for a page in chapter header and page in book footer.

  • When you connect the Sage to a computer via USB-C you  have the option to Connect the Sage as a device which is important for sideloading

  • You can download a library book directly to the Sage via Overdrivw.

  •  I have access to 2 libraries but can only set up one. I download the ebook from the library and sideload it via Adobe Digital Editions. I register the Sage within ADE and it shows up as a device. I also do this with non-Kobo books I have purchased. Easy peasy and it takes less than a minute.

  • For epubs without DRM, I download and put in Calibre where tthe Sage will be recognized as a device. Even more easy peasy.

  • The stylus works well with the Sage both for annotating a book and writing in a notebook.

  • The Sage has Bluetooth, web browser, DropBox and Google Drive options but I haven’t tried yet.

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