There’s an e-reader for everyone, whether you want to read in the bathtub or jot down notes in the margins, explore the Amazon ecosystem or stay away from it completely.
You can fit as many books as a library the size of Beauty and the Beast in your pocket with any ebook reader, but your phone can do the same. With less distractions and eye strain, reading an ebook reader feels more like reading a book. Many of them also come with extra features like adjustable frontlighting. Certain ones are truly portable. Some even allow you to take notes, while others include physical page-turning buttons or are waterproof.
The best Kindle
The 6.8-inch E Ink display on Amazon’s most recent Kindle Paperwhite can be adjusted for color temperature, making it ideal for reading at night. It also has a USB-C port, an IPX8 waterproof rating, a quick processor, and a battery life of several months.
You should get a Kindle if you primarily purchase ebooks from Amazon; for most individuals, the 11th generation Kindle Paperwhite is the best option. With prices starting at $139.99, it offers many of the same capabilities at a lower cost than my favorite non-Amazon e-reader, the Kobo Libra Colour, which I’ll discuss later. A large 300pi display and an adjustable warm white frontlight are two of these features that contribute to a clear and comfortable reading experience. The latter conveniently increases sleep quality by reducing blue light, which interferes with the creation of melatonin.
An advantage of the Paperwhite over the $99.99 base-model Kindle is its warm white frontlighting, which is enhanced by IPX8 water resistance. Moreover, the $189.99 Signature Edition Paperwhite features no lockscreen advertisements and an auto-adjusting frontlight. It has additionally
Since Amazon is the biggest online retailer in the world and controls the majority of the US ebook market, owners of Kindles enjoy benefits that owners of other ebook readers do not. A large portion of Amazon’s hardware strategy relies on enticing customers into its content ecosystem with steep discounts. The Paperwhite is the ideal option if you have Prime and frequently purchase Kindle ebooks because Amazon makes it very simple to purchase and read its products. There are frequently sales on its ebooks and audiobooks, and Prime subscribers may access more free content via Prime Reading. Although competitors like Kobo also have sales, it’s difficult for them to give as big of a discount as Amazon does.
The best non-Amazon ebook reader
The Kobo Libra Colour is a color e-reader featuring a 7-inch E-ink display and physical page-turning buttons. It also features Kobo Stylus 2 compatibility and IPX8 waterproofing.
The Kobo Libra Colour is an excellent alternative to Amazon’s ebook readers, especially for readers outside the US or anyone who doesn’t want to tap into Amazon’s ecosystem. Kobo’s latest slate offers many of the standout features found on the 11th-gen Kindle Paperwhite — including waterproofing, USB-C support, and a 300ppi display — along with a few perks that make it more helpful and enjoyable to use.
The color display is the most obvious. The Libra Colour uses E Ink’s latest Kaledio color screen technology, which provides soothing, pastel-like hues that still pop in direct sunlight. It’s not as sharp as reading in monochrome — the resolution drops to 150ppi when viewing content in color — but it’s a nice touch that makes viewing a wider range of content more pleasant. Book covers and comics, while still muted, have an added layer of depth, even if the colors are nowhere near as vivid as that of a traditional LED tablet.
The best cheap ebook reader
The affordable six-inch Kindle Paperwhite is essentially what Amazon’s new entry-level Kindle is. Other than not being waterproof, it is comparable, having the same crisp display and USB-C compatibility.
The base-model Kindle ($99.99 with ads) is the best cheap ebook reader. Its 300ppi resolution makes text clearer and easier to read than the lower-resolution screens on other ebook readers in its price range. Plus, it even has USB-C for relatively fast charging.
Reading on its six-inch screen feels a little more cramped than it does on the larger displays of the Kindle Paperwhite and Kobo Libra Colour. However, the flip side is that its small size makes it pocketable, light, and easy for small hands to hold. Combined with its relatively affordable price, the Kindle is also the best ebook reader for kids — especially in the kids version Amazon sells for $20 more. It shares the same exact specs but is ad-free with parental controls, a two-year extended replacement guarantee, and a case. It also comes with one year of Amazon Kids Plus, which grants kids access to thousands of kids books and audiobooks for free. After that, though, you’ll have to pay $79 per year.
The base Kindle doesn’t have extra conveniences like the physical page-turning buttons found on Barnes & Noble’s entry-level e-reader, the Nook GlowLight 4e. However, you do get something more important: snappier responses. On most of the other entry-level ebook readers I tested, including the GlowLight 4e, I had to wait a few seconds after tapping the screen for the page to turn. The Kindle, in comparison, offered no perceptive lag.
