I wasn't convinced about the Kindle Paperwhite after a few weeks of use so I decided to order the Kobo Libra 2 to try it out. My last ereader (Kindle Voyage, still the best ereader out there imo) lasted me around 8 years and I don't plan to upgrade a lot so I want to be 110% sure of the ereader I end up going for.

I've been using them against each other for the past two hours, I'll dump my thoughts here. Curious to hear from others!

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• Speed: honestly? The UI is noticeably faster on the Kindle Paperwhite. I know the Paperwhite has a 2GHz processor while the Libra 2 has a 1GHz processor and honestly to me it shows I'm quite sensitive about device speed though so it might not matter as much to others, but this is a dealbreaker for me because it's the main reason I wanted to upgrade from my Voyage. The way I tested it is just by clicking back and forth between "Home" and "Library/My Books" on the Libra 2/Kindle Paperwhite and the PW did not miss a beat, there was no stutter and it just felt seamless. With the Libra 2, there was a noticeable stutter when moving from Home > My Books that doesn't even make sense because I only have 6 books on the device right now. EDIT: u/SmugglingPineapples correctly pointed out that the Kindle has a 1GHz processor, not 2. I'm not sure where I read the details about the processor, this is the only thing I can find as of now - "Paperwhite 5 [has] a NXP/Freescale 1GHZ processor, 1GB of RAM" vs "Libra 2 [has] a 1 GHZ single core processor, 512MB of RAM". If I find more sources comparing the processors I'll update this post accordingly. Thanks for pointing this out u/SmugglingPineapples
• Screen: this one is a bit weird, because the screen quality seems to be less... hazy on the Libra 2, but I feel like preinstalled fonts that you can find on both devices - Caecilia, for example - look much better on the Kindle, unsure why. The Paperwhite screen feels a bit fuzzy even though the flush screen feels more premium, while the Libra 2's recessed screen the slight.. grain? on the plastic make it feel cheap. To be honest this is my first time personally using a recessed screen and I now understand why people say the flush screen is more premium. But between both of these devices the Voyage wins best screen - the flush design plus the micro-etched glass just feels so wonderful and premium, I'm so sad Amazon discontinued this device.
• Battery Life: haven't used it for long enough to tell, but in the past hour or so Libra 2's battery has dropped from 67% to 55%. I've checked if it's an indexing thing and it isn't. Though honestly I'm also a bit surprised at the PW's battery life, using just 1% of brightness seems to leech the battery faster than I expected. I've read that this improves after a few charging cycles though and in general both of these batteries are good enough.
• Customizations: Libra 2 wins here. Converting from EPUB to KEPUB was easy enough, and having stats data visualizations is so cool, I'm really sad that this isn't a thing on Kindle. It also wasn't too hard to get book covers working on the Libra 2. On the Kindle it's been a bit hellish - sometimes the cover shows up when I open the book but not in the library, and sometimes the cover just never shows up at all. It's also cool to be able to sideload fonts, I haven't tested this yet but just having that option is pretty nice. As I said above though, I feel like some fonts may just look different than you're used to, probably the way the device is rendering them or something.
• Ergonomics: I thought the Libra 2 would be more comfortable than the PW5 but it also strains my hand - I have a herniated C5-C6 disc which makes my right hand's grip weaker and I have small hands so I don't think the device can be faulted for this. I will say that the weight distribution on the Libra 2 feels better because of how the device is designed and it's nice to have the choice to orient the device in the position of your choosing - I never understood why Kindle doesn't give you this option. Give the people what they want Uncle Bezos!

So in conclusion these two devices are pretty neck and neck. I feel like I will probably return the Kobo because it felt noticeably slower to me and didn't feel much more comfortable than the Kindle. I would've kept it if it had a flush design and a nicer UI, but the customizations are very very cool and I'm very sad to be giving the device up and giving my money to Kindle, which really feels like it gives you good hardware to the detriment of its very basic and limiting software. I can only hope that this transition to accepting EPUBs via Send to Kindle mean that Amazon is learning a thing or two from its competitors. I have two more days before I have to decide whether I'm returning the Kindle or keeping it, so I'll be updating with my final decision in the thread.

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EDIT: Back to say that I just packed up the Paperwhite for return!

The Kobo is a tad slower, and I'm concerned about having a device that doesn't have as much reach (and therefore maybe less support) where I live, BUT I was just more excited for it and I like the integrations - Pocket and Overdrive - a lot. I have a Canadian library card and using Overdrive to borrow books was such a breeze, you guys. Also it's just been easier to manage my collections and there's a view for series on the Kobo that's just easier to use than Kindle's collections (I'm a fantasy and sci-fi reader so series are a huge thing in this genre). I figure with all of this it's best to take a step back from Amazon and support the competition instead - and Amazon always has deep discounts going on so I can always buy the Paperwhite again if I want to.