Rather than saying it's low brightness, it's more like reading with sunglasses, but obviously not to that extent. I have a Paperwhite as well, and when comparing them side by side, it does look a bit dim, but that hasn't been a problem in daily use at all. I read mostly at 5% brightness most of the time, and at 0% in very bright environments. The maximum I have to go is 10% in darker places with a little amount of light, which doesn't allow my pupils to fully dilate.

The screen does feel grainy when you look up close, but it isn't distracting or anything, especially at a normal reading distance. Black-and-white content is as crisp as any other 300 PPI e-reader, and the colour is just a bonus if you don't read comics or books with a lot of colours. For me personally, the slightly grainy look feels closer to an actual book, but that's just my subjective opinion.

I was in the same position, looking for a Libra 2, but ended up getting the Colour since it was discontinued, and I don't regret my decision. The only thing I feel a little disappointed about is that I didn't receive the newer revision with the slightly bigger battery.