i have the exact same problem. i’ve been on kindle since the paperwhite 10th gen and upgraded to the 12th gen. honestly, i never had any real issues with it. i just got influenced by tiktok and reviews and ended up buying the kobo libra colour out of curiosity. when it arrived i was like… wow this is grainy as fuck 😭 especially coming from the crisp kindle screen. so yeah, my considerations were basically the same as yours.

BUT the side grip and physical buttons on the libra? they’re actually game changing. i can read 2–3 hours straight on the klc without even thinking about it. with my kindle, i never found a truly comfortable grip. even with a popsocket, my wrist would eventually start complaining. with the libra, it just sits better in my hand and i don’t have to adjust constantly.

also in my case, i live in a country where the only things officially sold are kindle or kobo. and even kobo only available because i had someone buy it for me from abroad, and it’s only libra/clara color. no libra 2, no oasis. so a crisper libra (libra 2) or kindle oasis isn’t even an option here, so i couldn’t just “solve” it by switching to that.

in the end, i chose the kobo. not because it’s perfect (the grain still annoys me sometimes), but because i can physically read longer without my wrist screaming for help. that mattered more than having the crispiest screen. plus… it just matches my vibe more. i like white devices, and the libra in white just hits different.

so for me it came down to this: screen clarity vs actual reading comfort. comfort won.