Rakuten Kobo will release two color e-book readers, Kobo Libra Colour and Kobo Clara Colour, at the end of April. The latest models use E Ink Kaledio 3-module screens.

The Libra Colour and Clara Colour are incremental upgrades to the existing Kobo lineup, with the most significant update being the color screen.

The Kaledio 3 screen has a resolution of 300 ppi when viewed in grayscale, which halves to 150 ppi when switched to color. However, this is still an upgrade over the previous Kaledio screen, which was 100ppi.

We are very curious to see how the new screen handles graphic novels and comics. We recently compared the Kindle Paperwhite and iPad Mini for reading comics. The Mini won in terms of color depth and sharp screen resolution. Still, the Kobo Libra Colour could be a good, inexpensive alternative.

Compared to the Kindle Paperwhite, the Kobo model offers additional features such as a physical page-turn button, twice the storage capacity, and no ads. However, the $219.99/£219.99/AUD $359.95 Libra Colour is comparable to the Kindle Paperwhite Signature edition with the same 32GB of storage.

One way the Libra Colour upgrades its storage over the Kindle Paperwhite and Kobo Libra 2 is by integrating cloud storage with Google Drive and Dropbox.

The Clara Colour is comparable to the standard Paperwhite with 16GB of storage and a price point of $149.99/£139.99/ A$259.95.

Within the Kobo family, the Libra is similar to the Libra 2 and features the same IPX8 waterproof design as the Paperwhite; a new feature of the Libra Colour is that it is compatible with the Kobo Stylus 2, which costs $69.99 and must be purchased separately.

The Clara Color is similar to the Clara 2E, but the processor has been improved in the Color, which should improve performance.

Kobo is offering the Kobo Clara BW, an upgraded processor for the Libra Colour and Clara Colour, for $129.99/£119.99/239.95 AUD.

Rakuten Kobo's latest trio of e-readers is available for pre-order now and will begin shipping on April 30.