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Kobo Libra Colour review: twice improved for better reading and writing

8:43 am | April 10, 2024

Author: admin | Category: Computers eReaders Gadgets Tablets | Tags: Google Drive | Comments: Off

Kobo Libra Colour: Two-minute review

In April 2023, I wrote an article about how I wanted a small-screen ereader with a color display and writing features. It seems like Japanese-Canadian ereader maker Kobo heard me, releasing what I wanted – well, almost – in the Kobo Libra Colour. I would have loved an 8-inch device, but then I’ve been a fan of Kobo’s Libra line of 7-inch ereaders since the first one was launched in 2019. They’ve been TechRadar’s pick of the best ereaders since then, including the Kobo Libra 2 from 2021.

The trend continues with the Kobo Libra Colour, which is a double-whammy upgrade over its predecessor.

The Libra Colour looks identical to the Libra 2, which I think is great – why fix something that isn’t broken? The page-turn buttons and the slightly curved thicker bezel make the ereader really comfortable to hold and use in one hand. What’s new, though, is its display.

As the name indicates, the Kobo Libra Colour gets the E Ink Kaleido 3 screen that supports 4,096 hues, and is currently the best color e-paper display being used on consumer devices.

I compared the Libra Colour with what I would consider its biggest rival, the Onyx Boox Tab Mini C, and thanks to the smaller size of the screen (7 inches vs 7.8 inches), text and images on the Libra Colour are sharper and the colors slightly more saturated even though they both use the same screen technology. While I admit I prefer the slightly larger screen for note-taking, the 7-inch Libra Colour is the sweet spot when it comes to portability. It's also a lot lighter than its competition.

While the color display alone would make it a worthy update, Kobo didn’t seem to be satisfied with just one new feature – the company also gave the Libra Colour writing capabilities. It inherits all the notebook features from the Kobo Sage and Kobo Elipsa 2E, but now lets you add some color to your notes. You can choose the ink and highlight colors, plus the type of pen, the thickness of the nib and more. And the handwriting recognition is something I’ve not been able to fault for a long time, but that, of course, depends on how badly you tend to scribble.

Writing on the Libra Colour is different to how it feels like on the Kobo Sage or the Elipsa 2E – it’s a lot smoother, not at all like writing on actual paper. It’s not quite as good as writing on the Amazon Kindle Scribe either – it feels like you're gliding over excessively smooth plastic and is my only complaint with this device.

Reading and writing in color takes a little extra power, so Kobo has updated the processor too, now using a 2GHz CPU compared to the 1GHz we saw in the Libra 2. And, of course, the same features can drain the battery, so the capacity here is larger as well, going from a 1,500mAh pack to 2,050mAh.

You still get 32GB of (non-expandable) storage, Bluetooth support so you can listen to audiobooks, and USB-C charging that debuted with the Libra 2 in 2021.

And you get all this for not a lot more than what the Libra 2 retails for at the time of writing, which is something I have to give Kobo credit for. This is arguably one of the more affordable color note-taking tablets on the market now and offers excellent value, just like its predecessor.

Neal Sephenson's Zodiac book cover displayed in color on the Kobo Libra Colour ereader — While not as saturated as you'd see on an LCD screen, the Kobo Libra Colour displays colors well on its e-paper screen (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Kobo Libra Colour review: Price and availability

Launch price of $219.99 / £219.99 / AU$359.95
Available to purchase off shelves from April 30, 2024
Kobo Stylus 2 and sleepcover sold separately

Available in two colors – black and white – the Kobo Libra Colour is quite competitively priced at $219.99 / £219.99 / AU$359.95. That, as I’ve just mentioned, makes it a lot more affordable than some of its competition. However, it doesn’t ship with a stylus, so if you want to take full advantage of the Libra Colour’s new features, you’ll need to invest an additional $69.99 / £69.95 / AU$119.95 for the Kobo Stylus 2. The good thing about this pen is that it charges via USB-C, so there’s no ongoing battery costs to worry about.

Even with the price of the stylus piled on, it’s still cheaper than the likes of the Onyx Boox Tab Mini C, which is currently my pick for the best color ereader and retails for $450 / £450 / AU$765. That said, it’s hard comparing the two as the Onyx ships with a capacitive stylus, has a bigger 7.8-inch screen, has 64GB of storage (compared to 32GB in the Libra Colour) and a 5,000mAh battery that’s double of what Kobo offers in its biggest ereader.

Another point of comparison would be the 7.8-inch PocketBook InkPad Color 3 that will set you back $329 / £345 / AU$595 and not offer you any writing features.

Long story short, the Kobo Libra Colour, just like its predecessor, is pretty good value. To add a little more comparison, the Kobo Libra 2 currently retails for $189.99 / £169.99 / AU$319.95 at full price, so it really isn't a huge leap in price.

The My Books tab on the Kobo Libra Colour ereader — You can choose to view your library as a list or as a gallery in the My Books tab (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Kobo Libra Colour review: Specs

Kobo Libra Colour review: Design and display

Identical body to the Kobo Libra 2
7-inch E Ink Kaleido 3 touchscreen
Magnetic edge to hold the (optional) stylus

For someone who’s used the previous two Kobo Libra ereaders, I will admit to initially being a little disappointed that the design hasn’t changed over the Libra 2. That’s only because I’ve been seeing it since 2019, but I’ll also be the first to admit that it’s one of the most ergonomic designs I've used in an ereader.

Built for single-hand use, the edge of the thicker bezel is still slightly curved upward, with the two page-turn buttons perfectly placed to provide a comfortable grip. The back panel is textured, which adds to the secure grip, and the power switch on the rear is still the same round, concave. Also inherited from the Libra 2 is the round, white indicator light that glows when you pop a USB-C cable into the charging port. The entire thing is still encased in plastic, which is made from 80% recycled materials, including ocean-bound plastics.

It’s quite impressive that Kobo has managed to keep the weight of the device down despite using a larger capacity battery in the Libra Colour. It weighs just 199.5g without a case, which is lighter than the Libra 2 that tips the scales at 215g.

The slightly curved edge on the thicker bezel of the Kobo Libra Colour ereader — Subtle design elements make the Kobo Libra Colour quite ergonomic (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

For anyone who’s planning on using the new Libra Colour for note-taking and scribbling, Kobo has ensured the stylus stays magnetically secure on the edge of the slim bezel. I’ve complained previously that this magnetic edge on some ereaders isn’t always very secure, but it seems quite strong here.

Speaking of the pen: it’s recommended that you use the Kobo Stylus 2 with the Libra Colour, which is the only one of Kobo’s pens that will stick to the side of the device. That said, the older Kobo Stylus will also work on the Libra Colour, but can’t be secured magnetically and requires a single AAAA battery. The Stylus 2, on the other hand, charges via USB-C and is, thus, lighter.

What stands out from a design perspective is the screen – it can display colors! It still retains the 7-inch screen size of the other Libra devices, but utilizes the E Ink Kaleido 3 display that I’ve seen in other color ereaders like the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C and the Onyx Boox Tab Mini C. While this screen tech can display 4,096 colors, they don’t appear as saturated as they look on a phone, laptop or tablet – they’re a little muted in comparison, but that’s the limitation of the e-paper screen technology.

The 7-inch screen on the Libra Colour, however, makes the colors look a touch truer as compared to what you’d see on a 7.8-inch or larger e-apaper screen, even when the bigger devices share the same screen tech and resolution. This is because on the smaller screen the pixels are packed more tightly together, providing more contrast. You get 150ppi resolution when reading in color (as with all other color ereaders using this screen), but it’s 300ppi when you’re viewing something in black and white, which is standard for monochrome ebook readers.

Textured rear panel on the Kobo Libra Colour ereader — A textured rear panel adds to the Kobo Libra Colour's grip (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

While Onyx uses a glass sheet as the top layer of its display, Kobo seems to have adopted plastic – one way to keep costs low. This top layer is very smooth, which you can feel when writing on the device and the experience of scribbling on the Libra Colour is likely going to take some getting used to. It feels like you’re writing over a sheet of very smooth plastic, with no friction at all and I can't say I'm a fan.

As with all the more premium Kobo ereaders, the Libra Colour screen is also lit up with ComfortLight Pro which, when set to, automatically changes the light hue from cool to warmer tones as the day progresses. This reduces the amount of blue light hitting your eye closer to bedtime.

One issue I’ve had previously with some ereaders, particularly with a black chassis, are oily fingerprint smudges. I was sent the white colorway of the Libra Colour for this review which, like the Libra 2, shows no such thing. I haven’t seen the black version of this device so can’t tell for sure whether this will be an issue or not, but I didn’t have this problem with the Libra H2O, so I’m going to hope not.

USB-C port on the side of the Kobo Libra Colour ereader — The USB-C port can be used to charge the device or transfer files (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Kobo Libra Colour review: User interface

Easy-to-use, streamlined interface
Full suite of Kobo’s writing features
Notes easily exported to Google Drive and Dropbox

I’ve always been a fan of Kobo’s user interface – it’s streamlined, very easy to navigate and wrap your head around. It only takes minutes to figure your way around if you’ve never used a Kobo device before. That hasn’t changed but, for the Libra line, there is one major difference to the interface.

There is now the My Notebooks tab smack bang in the center of the bottom navigation bar. This gives you the full suite of Kobo’s writing features, including the Advanced Notebooks that I said made the Kobo Elipsa 2E a better note-taker than the Amazon Kindle Scribe. I will admit that writing on a 7-inch screen, particularly if there’s a lot to jot down, can feel a little constricted, but then I have been using the 10-inch Kobo Elipsa 2E as my everyday ereader and note-taker for the last few months, so dropping down to a smaller notebook size is my bias and may not bother other users.

The other change to the interface is the addition of color… and I don’t mean the book covers displayed on the home screen. Every time you select a tab from the bottom navigation bar, it changes color from black to brown. In fact, if you’re downloading books – whether from Dropbox, Google Drive or the Kobo Store – the status bar is also the same color. That’s a nice touch that I haven’t seen in other color ereaders I’ve tested.

Everything else about the Libra Colour is quintessential Kobo – good file format support, including EPUBs that Amazon requires you to jump through hoops to read on a Kindle. There are a total of 10 document file types that Kobo supports by default, and this includes text and comic formats. There are also four image files supported. The only audio file support, though, is for Kobo’s own audiobooks that you can download from the Kobo Store or via a subscription to Kobo Plus. Note that Kobo Plus isn’t available in all markets that Kobo operates in, but it is in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and select European countries.

A person making brightness adjustments on the Kobo Libra Colour ereader — Kobo's user interface is very easy to wrap your head around (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

As I’ve mentioned earlier in this review, you can sign into either Dropbox or Google Drive to help transfer books. The partnership with Google is relatively new, so Kobo has a single-page instruction sheet (in PDF) already in the device’s library. It’s very seamless to use either cloud service, and that also holds true for transferring any notes or notebooks. The latter can also be accessed via the Kobo app on your phone if you need any of them in a pinch.

Unlike the newer monochrome Kobo devices like the Sage and Elipsa 2E, there is no dark mode on the Libra Colour because the E Ink screen used doesn’t support it and, if you want to see colors, you aren’t going to need it. However, there are amber LEDs that allow you to change the white light hue to warmer tones if you want to cut down on blue light. And you can easily adjust this by tapping on top of the screen to bring up the quick controls. Like the previous Libra 2 and the newer models, you can set the light temperature to change automatically at a specific time in the evening or night. You can also slide up and down the left edge of the screen to change brightness.

OverDrive, as with all Kobo ereaders, is still baked in and despite it being replaced by Libby on mobile, it is still supported on the e-ink tablets. This means, if your local public library also has OverDrive support, you can borrow digital books and magazines directly from your device without having to leave home – you just need a library card.

A drawing in color on the Kobo Libra Colour ereader — Writing and drawing on the Kobo Libra Colour feels like the stylus is gliding (or slipping) over very smooth plastic (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Pocket support is also integrated into the Libra Colour. This is a browser plugin that allows you to save online articles to read later – you just sign into your Pocket account on the Kobo and you’ll have access to anything you’ve previously saved.

Auto-rotation is also available, so you can read in either portrait or landscape mode. This can get a little annoying, though, as a small change in angle when holding the device can change the orientation of the page you’re on. So you can lock the orientation to one or the other to prevent this from happening.

Admittedly Onyx Boox devices give you plenty more options when it comes to customization and functionality within the user interface, but I think they’re overkill and it takes a steep learning curve to get the hang of it all.

Highlights and handwritten annotations on the Kobo Libra Colour ereader — You can highlight passages in color and add handwritten annotations to books on the Kobo Libra Colour (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Kobo Libra Colour review: Performance

Sharp display, with good colors due to screen size
Excellent handwriting recognition
Very responsive, but a couple of functions have a significant lag

Adding features to a tech product means it’s going to need some extra power to make sure things run smoothly and Kobo has done that by upgrading the processor for the Libra Colour. Instead of the previous 1GHz CPU, it’s now 2GHz and that seems to do the trick. After two weeks with the Libra Colour, I’ve had nothing to complain about, although there are two very specific functions that suffer from a significant lag.

Opening an ebook from either the home screen or the My Books page keeps you waiting about 7-10 seconds before something happens. Similarly, the Back To Home button on the top left corner of a page also takes a few seconds to initiate. I’m putting this down to teething problems for now and it’s a software issue, so I think it’s likely fixable via a firmware update.

Everything else, though, runs smoothly. There’s no lag when writing and drawing, neither are there any when triggering a page turn either via the buttons or tapping on the screen. Using the onscreen keyboard is also quite good.

Kobo Libra Colour and the Onyx Boox Tab Mini C displaying the same book cover — The Kobo Libra Colour's smaller size makes colors appear a touch more saturated than on a larger screen like the Onyx Boox Tab Mini C (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

I’ve tested color ereaders before in the 7.8-inch size category as well as 10-inch, and I’ve come to expect a lack of saturation when viewing in color. The Libra Colour exceeded my expectations, not because Kobo is doing anything differently, but because the smaller screen packs the pixels more tightly, adding more contrast which, in turn, gives some images depth and better saturation. 7 inches isn’t ideal for reading comics and graphic novels, but just to see better color saturation I would recommend it. Even highlight colors available when reading a title – which are the same across all color-screen ereaders – look a touch more saturated in comparison to larger-screen devices.

One thing that Kobo has always done well is handwriting recognition and that’s been brought over to the Libra Colour. This feature only works in the Advanced Notebooks when you want to digitize your scribbles, but it can even recognize sub- and superscripts. I had two other colleagues try this feature and Kobo almost aced it each time – it misspelt only one word that no human was able to decipher anyway.

Kobo Libra Colour ereader handwriting recognition test — Handwriting recognition on the Kobo Libra Colour is spot on most of the time (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

During my limited time with the Libra Colour, I experienced no ghosting – something that bothers me no end with Onyx ereaders. Two weeks with the device, however, may not be enough to say for sure that ghosting won’t be a problem, and I would expect some along the way. Still, I am impressed.

Additional functionality with a better CPU needs to be matched with enough battery life to keep an ereader going for weeks as opposed to days. So Kobo has upped the battery capacity in the Libra Colour to 2,050mAh compared to 1,500mAh in the Libra 2. This got me about 14 hours of use in total.

My testing was a little sporadic, averaging about 45 minutes of use over each day over two weeks (sometimes a little more, sometimes less). I started using the device straight out of the box at 82% battery life and didn’t top up till it hit 19% after two weeks. I’d say that’s pretty good, considering I was writing, reading and listening to audiobooks via Bluetooth. I had Wi-Fi on all the time, the screen was set at 20% brightness, and a refresh set to every 5 pages. It’s also important to note that a page refresh occurs more frequently when writing, and every erase triggers another refresh too. So the bigger battery capacity is definitely working in Kobo’s favor here.

Topping up via the USB-C port is quick, but like the previous Kobos, trickle charging kicks in at about 96%. It took the Libra Colour about 55 minutes to go from 19% to 96%, then another 45 minutes to top up completely. While it might seem annoying to have to wait that long for just a tiny bit more charge, trickle charging can preserve the battery, adding to its overall lifespan.

Should I buy the Kobo Libra Colour?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider

I think the Kobo Libra Colour is the Japanese-Canadian brand’s best device yet, but if you’re not convinced and need alternatives, take a look at the two options below, including a specs comparison with this ereader.

How I tested the Kobo Libra Colour

A hand holding the Kobo Libra Colour ereader to read — The Kobo Stylus 2 can stay magnetically secure to the slim edge of the Kobo Libra Colour (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Used as main reading and writing device for two weeks
Listened to audiobooks via a Kobo Plus subscription
Used Google Drive to transfer files, including notes written on the device

My regular e-ink device is the Kobo Elipsa 2E, but switching to the Libra Colour was just a matter of signing into my Kobo account to sync all my ebooks, notes and also access my Kobo Plus subscription.

I also have an existing library of ebooks in the EPUB format saved in Google Drive, so signing into that via the Libra Colour’s More tab gave me instant access to those, from where I saved a handful of titles to read on the device.

While I can’t draw to save my life, I did some random scribbling on the device – both while reading a book as well as in notebooks. I even got some colleagues to try the handwriting recognition feature.

I have an existing Kobo Plus subscription which gave me access to audiobooks on the Libra Colour, and I spent about 20 minutes listening to one title during my testing of the device.

All new notes and annotations that I made on the Libra Colour automatically updated to my Kobo Elipsa 2E as soon as it connected to Wi-Fi, giving me access across multiple devices.

Google Drive features

For those looking for the best free cloud storage, Google Drive includes a somewhat generous 15GB at no cost. This is spread across all of your Google apps, including Gmail and Google Photos.

Extra space is served through what's called Google One, with pricing starting at $1.99 a month or $19.99 a year for 100GB on the Basic plan. The Standard plan, with 200GB, costs $2.99 a month or $29.99 a year. The top-tier 2TB Premium subscription costs $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year.

Google One works in a similar way to Apple’s subscription bundles. However, while Apple One brings with it more of the company’s subscription services like gaming, newsstand and music streaming, Google One adds more limited functionality. All paid plans can be shared with up to five other users, while Standard and Premium versions get a respective 3% and 10% cashback on future purchases in the Google Play Store. Premium subscribers also get access to Google One VPN on Android and iOS.

For businesses, there's Google Workspace, which is essentially all of Google's apps and includes Drive and Gmail with some extra infrastructure and features for managing teams of people. You can choose between 30GB, 2TB, or 5TB storage, priced at $6, $12, or $18 per user per month.

The Enterprise tier allows you to customize your plan as per your business’s needs although you'll need to contact Google directly for a quote. Every plan gets access to the Google Suite of apps.

There’s no unlimited cloud storage or lifetime cloud storage options, which is disappointing - but there’s not much else to complain about with this clear pricing structure and prices that are about average.

Google Drive cloud storage in action — (Image credit: Google)

Google Drive: Interface & experience

Every Google app has a familiar interface with lots of white space, a dash of color, and bold graphics. What the Google Drive interface lacks in sophistication it more than makes up for with intuitiveness and speed. Finding files is quick and simple, whether you're searching for keywords and file types from the top search bar, or browsing through folders and shares from the navigation bar on the left. Google Drive applies its Optical Character Recognition automatically to PDFs and images, letting you search through the text as if they were any other document.

Files can be easily copied, moved, starred, and arranged as you like. You can make use of a thumbnail view, or a more conventional list view on the main web interface, and files can be shifted around via drag-and-drop just as if you were using a regular desktop app. We felt it was impressively straightforward, especially once you get past that everything is working inside a browser instead of a more conventional file system.

On that note, there aren’t many drawbacks to the Google Suite as a whole. It might not be right for those wanting dedicated offline access, but otherwise shines in the web browser. On the go, there are smartphone and tablet apps for Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, as well as offline access tools in the cloud storage app.

If you choose to store a local, offline copy of documents you can always edit these even when not connected to the internet. Naturally, this means any changes you make won't be synced to Google Drive until you're next online though.

Google indicates that Drive has AI processing that brings documents and shares you're likely to want next up to the top of the file list. However, we found this somewhat hit and miss overall. Still, it's easy enough to sort through the folders you've created or search more specifically. The view we particularly like is Recent, which is essentially just a list of files in reverse chronological order, and works well enough in most cases.

In the mobile apps for Android and iOS, files can be instantly accessed with an interface design that very closely mirrors that on the web, with no need to swap between different mindsets as you change devices.

For Windows and macOS, along with accessing Google Drive through a browser and uploading files there, you can also download the Backup and Sync tool which lets you sync your Google Drive locally, a lot like Dropbox, as well as upload files to the web from other commonly used folders.

Because apps like Docs, Sheets and Slides are accessed online, it makes sense to use the browser version of Google Drive, although we suspect some users will still like to sync files to their computer’s file management system to keep things in check. Previous versions of the desktop client were clumsy and lacking in features, but the latest version is just as easy to navigate from within a web browser.

Hidden away in the settings of the Google Drive client is the option to backup files from your computer. For those with a reasonable amount of storage space, this can add reassurance that, should something go wrong with your computer’s hard drive, copies are saved in the cloud. It’s not in the same league as the best cloud backup tools, but for a basic consumer-facing tool, Google performs well.

When you install the Google Drive app, it will automatically be mounted as a virtual drive. On Windows, appropriately enough it assigned itself the drive letter 'G', though you can change this. Items backed up to your virtual Google Drive won't take up space on your machine.

If you choose to mirror content the virtual drive contains a shortcut to the dedicated My Drive folder in your home directory. Any local files placed here will automatically sync to your Google cloud drive.

We like the extra granularity when it comes to control. Google Drive’s desktop client offers bandwidth throttling, which is especially useful for houses with poor connections. While this is fairly common for other cloud backup services, some similar platforms like iCloud Drive don’t allow for this level of control.

In our testing, upload and download speeds were as expected across the board including desktop and smartphone apps and browser access. It’s likely that your own broadband connection will pose the biggest limiting factor here.

Google Drive: Features

Google Drive impresses easily when it comes to the key areas you look for a cloud storage solution to offer. The web interface and mobile apps allow you to get at your files (and edit them) from anywhere. Also, the sharing options strike an excellent balance, walking the line between functionality and ease-of-use.

Sharing permissions can be set at the admin level of course, which allows different contacts access to different files, and you can also share files and folders as needed with regular links or email invites.

We like the commenter permissions, letting you choose between read-only and editing rights, ideal for collaborating on an important document.

The Team Drives component is really well done, although it is only available on the Business and Enterprise plans, with customized spaces where groups of colleagues can work together on files and folders collaboratively. Managing access to Team Drives is simple, with the ability to see who can (and can't) get to and edit the files. There are thoughtful touches as well, like the way each Team Drive can be themed differently, or the feature to email all the members of a Team Drive in one shot.

There is integrated access to Docs, Sheets and Slides, each of them a slick web app that is mature and polished. These genuinely compete with the dominant player, Microsoft 365 Office apps. And they do an admirable job of converting Office files into the Google Drive equivalents too. If you don't want to convert Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, you can just store them in Google Drive instead, syncing them between computers and devices as needed.

With file versioning, advanced search, offline access, and variety of preview and layout options, Google Drive is an impressive offering. The desktop syncing isn't quite as simple as you get with Dropbox, but you can sync any folder you like to the cloud from Windows and macOS, as well as keep certain files and folders exclusively on the web (with no need for local copies to take up room on your hard drive). The slick notification feature for changes to files and collaborations works really well, too.

Google Drive: Security

Drive stores files and transfers them using encryption, but take note that it's not end-to-end encryption. This means that Google can see your files, if it wants to.

Generally, Google has a decent record with security, and offers various levels of two-factor authentication, with numerous checks to catch unauthorized account access should it occur. Basically, if someone wants to get at your files, they're going to have to work very hard to get them.

The Google Drive app contains an acknowledgment that it was developed using open source components but as the program itself isn't open source there's no way to be certain how exactly your data's secured.

Files and folder sharing tools are quite specific and difficult to get confused, as you can see at all times who has access to what. For those on a Business or Enterprise plan, the ability is gained to analyze Google Drive usage via comprehensive audit logs so you know every 1 and 0 is accounted for, along with customized admin alerts for specific events occurring on files in Google Drive.

Google Drive: Our tests

We tested Google Drive across three key areas, measuring sync speed, file recovery and versioning. These tests were undertaken on a Windows 11 virtual machine running the Google Drive desktop client. The virtual machine was connected to the internet via VPN server, which in our speed tests consistently showed an average upload speed of 70 Mbps

Test 1 - Sync speed

For our initial test, we copied a folder containing 22 files into the application directory and measured how quickly the desktop client was able to sync the files to the cloud.

Despite Google's huge market dominance, we were surprised to find that our test files didn't sync particularly quickly with the tech giant's servers. We copied our test folder into the Google Drive folder. The app showed the files as they uploaded but the process took almost 4 minutes on a connection with a 70 Mbps upload speed - over twice as long as other cloud storage providers we've reviewed.

Test 2 - File recovery

In our second test, we deleted the test folder from the application directory, removing it from the device. We then checked to see if the files had been removed from the cloud drive and if it was possible to recover them.

As soon as we deleted the local copy of the synced folder from Google Drive, a notification appeared saying it had been sent to trash. We were also told we had 30 days to recover it and were presented with a link to Open Trash.

Upon clicking this, we were able to see the deleted folder and choose Restore. The restored folder was synced back to the device in less than a minute.

Test 3 - Versioning

File versioning lets you switch back to a file’s previous version or original state. In this test, we copied a Microsoft Word file to the cloud application folder. Once it synced, we then deleted all the text except the introduction, then saved and closed. We then tried to restore the document back to its original form.

Although we all know that Google Docs is more than capable of handling multiple versions of files, we decided to put Google Drive through its paces by avoiding G Suite altogether.

Instead, we copied the Word document to Google's My Drive folder then stripped out all the text except the introduction. When we accessed Google Drive via the web interface, we found the file and saw Manage Versions.

Google displayed the original version of the file. It also took the opportunity to remind us that it will only store different versions of files for up to 30 days or 100 versions, whichever happens sooner. We clicked Download to recover the original, unedited file.

Google Drive: Verdict

Google lives and breathes the web (unlike some of its competition), which is a natural fit for robust and reliable cloud storage. Add in the simple appearing, but powerful apps for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS, and it's a comprehensive package for both consumers and businesses. Of course this also ties in nicely to Google's other excellent apps, including Google Calendar or Gmail.

Google Drive certainly doesn't have everything. Notably, bare metal backups and end-to-end encryption are missing. As such, it simply won't provide the full cloud backup experience. Any files you place into the virtual 'G' drive, are stored on Google's servers, but you have to trust that the data can't be intercepted.

Google's business model also mostly relies on showing advertising so again you also have to trust Google not to use your personal data for marketing purposes.

Our tests showed that Google's file mirroring function worked perfectly (if a little slower than we expected). We also think Google offers great peace of mind, given that deleted files can be recovered for up to 30 days after being erased. The software also supports recovering multiple versions of files, even if you decide not to open them in G Suite.

However, what it has offers so much – across online apps and sharing options and file management, making it one of the most impressive cloud storage services at the moment. As it's very web-focused, it’s a versatile app available from any online computer or device.

Review: Canon DR-C125W

3:02 am | March 21, 2013

Author: admin | Category: Mobile phones | Tags: AP, Google Drive, USB, Wi Fi | Comments: None

Review: Canon DR-C125W

Wi-Fi functions

Canon’s latest high speed scanner, the imageFORMULA DR-C125W, is its first desktop scanner to incorporate Wi-Fi and designed to connect[……]

Hands-on review: Chromebook Pixel

3:01 am | February 22, 2013

Author: admin | Category: Cameras | Tags: Chromebook Pixel, Google Docs, Google Drive, Interestingly Google | Comments: None

Google’s Chromebook Pixel is bravely taking on the heavyweights of the laptop market, with its premium price tag, and premium-design putting it up ag[……]