Should you simply need a strategy to learn ebooks, you have already got what you want in your pocket together with your smartphone. However in order for you one thing that’s much less distracting and simpler in your eyes, chances are you’ll need to go along with an ereader as an alternative. Because it stands, the market is presently dominated by two manufacturers. Amazon’s Kindle has captured the most important share by far, however Rakuten Kobo gadgets are a successful different — the truth is, the Kobo Clara Color is our present prime choose. Smaller firms like Onyx Boox and PocketBook produce Android tablets with e-paper screens that may do extra than simply show books.
Different concerns, resembling whether or not or not you want a coloration show or the power to jot down on the display screen for note-taking, will decide which ereader to purchase. Elements like library dimension, compatibility with rights-managed content material and extra additionally come into play. Over the previous two years, we’ve examined out greater than a dozen gadgets to create a information that will help you choose the very best ereader for you — and make it easier to get essentially the most out of your new gadget when you get it.
Desk of contents
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Greatest ereaders
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What to search for in an ereader
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Find out how to get books on your ereader
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How we check ereaders
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Ereader FAQs
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Latest updates
The very best book readers for 2025
What to search for in an ereader
Loads of apps, together with the Kindle app, will allow you to obtain and skim digital books on a cellphone or pill. However what makes book readers totally different is the display screen: practically all of them use expertise from an organization referred to as E Ink. It manufactures digital paper shows (EPD) composed of three sheets: one containing tens of millions of microcapsules full of black and white ink particles sandwiched between clear electrode layers. When a cost is utilized, both the black or white particles shift to the highest, forming letters and the whitespace round them.
Colour ereaders add a coloration filter array on prime of the usual black and white microcapsule layer. The result’s two totally different resolutions on one display screen — the colour readability is 150 dpi whereas black and white pictures and textual content are nonetheless 300 dpi.
As a result of these shows are so totally different from commonplace backlight LED panels, you possibly can count on most ereaders to do various issues properly. They’ll be simpler to stare at for lengthy intervals of time and simpler to learn in direct daylight. Additionally, since E Ink shows solely require energy to rearrange the ink, these gadgets have for much longer battery lives than even the very best tablets: we’re speaking weeks on a single cost, not days.
The ereader market is just not as saturated as, say, the smartphone market, however there are nonetheless loads of choices on the market they usually do have small however vital variations amongst them. They have a tendency to vary from round $100 to greater than $400, although often the upper finish choices are stylus-enabled learn/write E Ink tablets just like the Kindle Scribe. Past worth, you need to take into account bodily properties like buttons, lights, storage and backbone, in addition to how the software program helps you to discover and entry books.
Studying options
With any ereader, you’ll navigate the OS by way of faucets and swipes, and a few add bodily page-turn buttons. Most with built-in buttons have an auto-rotating display screen so you possibly can press together with your proper or left hand.
As E Ink expertise has superior, decision has tremendously improved – even the finances Kindle ereader has a 300 ppi show. You may nonetheless discover fashions with decrease decision, however we don’t advocate them.
Some ereaders have entrance LEDs that help gentle temperature adjustment. Which means you possibly can swap to a hotter gentle after the solar goes down, which is able to really feel simpler on the eyes. Should you’re involved about blue gentle, you need to go for a reader with that function. Lastly, darkish mode is obtainable on most later mannequin ereaders, permitting you to invert the black and white textual content and background, which some folks discover simpler to learn in low-light settings.
Different options
The capabilities of those pocket libraries have superior significantly for the reason that early days. Along with storing books, some allow you to browse the net, run apps and play music. The display screen’s body fee can’t deal with gaming, nevertheless it’s adequate to point out you the Wikipedia entry for Striver’s Row when you learn Criminal Manifesto.
Should you hearken to audiobooks, you might have considered trying a Bluetooth-enabled ereader able to enjoying them. A lot of the fashions we examined have that potential, with the notable exception of the Nook ereader we tried. Remember the fact that audiobook recordsdata can take up extra space than print recordsdata so that you'll in all probability need a machine with a better storage capability for those who plan on doing a variety of listening.
Above all, you need to take into account the place and the way you propose to search out books to learn. Most ereaders make it best to buy by way of their very own digital bookstores, however all of them (even Kindles) will now allow you to obtain titles from different sources, like libraries, unaffiliated book sellers and free public area websites.
Find out how to get books on your ereader
Kindle, Nook and Kobo all have their very own shops that you just entry straight from every model’s gadgets. Costs are the identical amongst all sellers, too. Publishers set the worth of an book, not the retailer, so a title will value the identical at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, eBooks.com and the Kobo retailer.
Amazon provides Kindle Limitless for $12 per thirty days, and it contains 4 million titles from which you’ll choose your subsequent learn. It contains audio and ebooks, however you gained’t discover many massive, new releases or older bestsellers. Kobo has a subscription referred to as Kobo Plus with about 1.3 million titles: it goes for $8 per thirty days for ebooks solely, $8 for audiobooks solely or $10 for each.
Shopping for a e-book from a proprietary retailer immediately delivers it to your machine, offered you’re linked to WiFi. It additionally syncs your studying throughout gadgets and apps, so you possibly can choose up the place you left off in your cellphone for those who forgot your ereader at dwelling. It actually is essentially the most handy strategy to go, however for those who don’t need to be locked into one model’s retailer, or for those who go for an ereader with out its personal market, you do have choices.
Find out how to add ePubs onto an ereader
Shops like ebooks.com and Google Play have tens of millions of ebooks on the market as digital rights-managed (DRM) ePub recordsdata, which Kobo, Nook and PocketBook readers can learn of their native ereader apps. Kindles don’t help DRM ePub recordsdata in any respect and Boox gadgets require third celebration studying apps (of which there are lots of) to learn these recordsdata. Titles from Apple Books are solely readable in iOS gadgets.
Titles from some publishers like Tor and public area classics from websites like Undertaking Gutenberg are additionally bought as ePubs, however with out the added DRM. Consequently, Kindles and the Boox Neoreader do help these recordsdata. Books you get from third-party sources will look identical to ones to procure from a proprietary retailer, because of the flowable, formatted nature of ePub recordsdata. Whereas these device-agnostic book collections offer you further choices for locating your subsequent learn, they require just a few further steps to get the recordsdata onto your ereader.
To take action, you’ll usually want a pc operating a free program referred to as Adobe Digital Editions (ADE). After shopping for and downloading the ePub file, open ADE and plug your ereader into your pc (all readers right here have a USB-C port for charging and information transfers). Your machine ought to pop up within the left panel. Drag and drop the ePub file out of your downloads folder into the primary panel in ADE. The file will show as a picture of the e-book cowl. Drag that picture onto your machine on the left panel. If the file contains digital rights administration (which protects towards unauthorized copying) you’ll have to authorize your ereader, which requires utilizing or making a free Adobe ID. When you’ve completed including recordsdata to add, eject the reader out of your pc to finish the switch course of.
Kindles use a web-based uploader as an alternative of the ADE methodology. However since Kindle makes use of its personal proprietary DRM expertise as an alternative of Adobe's, the one recordsdata it could settle for from third events are non-DRM recordsdata, resembling from Tor Publishing or Undertaking Gutenberg. After downloading a suitable ePub file, drag and drop it into your browser with the Ship to Kindle web page open. So long as you’re signed into Amazon, this wirelessly transfers the recordsdata to your related machine.
Boox additionally makes use of a browser uploader referred to as BooxDrop (together with many different strategies) to ship ePubs to the machine. Open it from the Boox App menu and also you’ll see a device-specific url. Kind that into your browser to entry a file supply portal that uploads to your library. Boox’s built-in ereader app, NeoReader, additionally doesn’t help recordsdata with DRM, so that you gained’t be capable to learn present titles from most publishers utilizing that app. Happily, Boox gadgets run practically each ereader app on the market, Kobo and Kindle included, letting you entry ePubs any variety of methods.
Lately, Bookshop.org, the web vendor of bodily books that helps indie bookstores, began promoting ebooks and as much as 100% of the income will go to native booksellers. The corporate makes use of a special rights administration system than ADE so, proper now, you possibly can solely learn titles you purchase from them on the Bookshop.org app, however the firm is working with the makers of each Kindle and Kobo to increase compatibility to these ereaders.
Find out how to learn library books on an ereader
Your native library card helps you to borrow audio and ebooks by way of a program referred to as Overdrive and its companion app Libby. On a Kobo, you will have have built-in entry to Overdrive in a separate tab. When you’ve linked your public library card, the search operate will embody outcomes for titles obtainable out of your native library system; just a few faucets will add your picks to your machine for the size of the mortgage. I personally discover it best to borrow the title I would like by way of the Libby app on my cellphone. After that, the e-book pops up on my Kobo’s dwelling display screen as soon as the machine syncs.
To learn library books on a Kindle, you possibly can both undergo the Libby app or the Overdrive part of your library’s web site. When you click on Borrow, you’ll see the choice to “Learn now with Kindle,” which takes you to Amazon’s web site to register. After that, the e-book will likely be delivered to your machine the subsequent time it connects to WiFi.
For different ereaders, you’ll undergo your library’s Overdrive portal and obtain the ePub after clicking the Borrow button. You may then use the ADE course of we described above. Units that run exterior apps, like Boox's Web page, Go Colour 7 or Palma, will let you learn library books by way of the Libby app, simply as you’d on a smartphone or iPad.
You too can use the Libby app to borrow audiobooks, however you gained’t be capable to entry them by way of your ereader. (The exception is an ereader, like a Boox machine, that permits exterior apps). I discovered it was simpler to hearken to an audiobook on my cellphone anyway, no matter whether or not I borrowed it by way of Libby or purchased it from Kindle or Kobo.
How we check ereaders
When placing collectively any information, the very first thing we do is spend hours researching the sector. We have a look at what’s obtainable, what’s new, and what consumers {and professional} reviewers should say. Then we slim an inventory to the very best candidates for hands-on testing.
Over the course of the previous two years, I’ve examined simply over a dozen ereaders, representing 5 totally different manufacturers: Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Boox and PocketBook. I purchased, borrowed and uploaded books for every machine utilizing the strategies above. I used every one for between just a few days to some months. I evaluated every one within the areas of e-book entry, ease of studying, further options and general worth. Right here’s all the pieces we examined to date:
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Amazon Kindle (2022)
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Amazon Kindle (2024)
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Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2021)
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Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Signature (2024)
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Boox Go Colour 7
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Boox Leaf 2
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Boox Web page
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Boox Poke 5
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Boox Palma
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Kobo Libra 2
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Kobo Libra Color
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Kobo Clara 2E
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Kobo Clara Color
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Kobo Nia
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NOOK GlowLight 4
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PocketBook Period
Different ereaders we examined
Amazon Kindle Colorsoft
Amazon’s first coloration Kindle impressed with its fast page-turns and cargo instances, auto-adjusting entrance gentle and, after all, a decently placing coloration E Ink show. However at $280, it’s costlier than the entire different coloration ereaders in its dimension vary, together with the Kobo Libra Color and the Boox Go Colour 7.
Additionally, some Colorsoft house owners reported seeing a yellow band on the backside of their ereader’s show. This subject didn’t have an effect on our first overview unit throughout the unique testing interval, however it will definitely appeared. An Amazon spokesperson instructed Engadget: "A small variety of clients have reported a yellow band alongside the underside of the show. We take the standard of our merchandise severely—clients who discover this could attain out to our customer support workforce for a substitute or refund, and we’re making the suitable changes to make sure that new gadgets won’t expertise this subject transferring ahead."
Amazon despatched us a brand new Colorsoft ereader on the finish of 2024 and it does seem that the fixes the corporate made resolved the yellow-band subject. The display screen on our second overview unit seems hotter general, however not overly so. It’s extra akin to the display screen on the Kobo Libra Color, and that’s factor.
Ereader FAQs
Which ereaders can learn Kindle books?
Amazon’s Kindle ereaders are the apparent reply, however different gadgets able to operating apps can even learn titles from the Kindle retailer. For instance, you possibly can obtain the Kindle app on a Boox ereader by way of Google Play (the shop comes commonplace within the Boox app menu). You may then signal into your Kindle account and entry all of the books in your library — the identical manner you’d learn Kindle books in your cellphone or pill.
Can you purchase Kindle books with no Kindle?
Sure. You should purchase Kindle books by way of the Kindle app or by way of Amazon’s web site by way of a browser. You may learn these titles on a Kindle or any machine that may run the Kindle app, resembling a smartphone, pill or pc. Simply remember that Kindle titles can solely be learn by way of one among Amazon’s ereaders or the Kindle app. The corporate makes use of proprietary digital rights administration on all ebooks it sells that may’t be learn by different ereader apps like Kobo or Adobe ADE.
What's the distinction between Kindle and Kobo?
Each Kindle and Kobo are manufacturers of devoted ereaders that help looking, shopping for, downloading and studying ebooks from their very own shops. Each additionally help borrowing books out of your native library by way of Overdrive and Libby.
The distinction is that Kindle is owned by Amazon and makes use of the Kindle retailer, whereas Kobo is owned by Rakuten and its books come from the Kobo retailer. Each shops come pre-loaded as a tab on their respective ereader and each carry most in-print books. Every retailer additionally carries their very own unique ebooks as properly, however Amazon’s library of Kindle-only books is way bigger than Kobo’s. Amazon additionally provides Amazon Authentic tales to learn on the Kindle, that are free brief fiction and nonfiction reads which are free to Prime members.
Which ereader is greatest for library books?
Each Kobos and Kindles have easy programs for borrowing library books. Different ereaders, like Boox, allow you to borrow books after downloading the Libby App. Solely Kobo ereaders allow you to seek for and borrow books straight on the ereader, with a devoted Overdrive tab. Kindles, however, make the most of a handy “learn on Kindle” operate from the Libby app or web site. You may ship a borrowed e-book to your Kindle simply by signing into your account. Each strategies are fairly simple, so which is the very best for you in all probability depends upon different elements than simply the library-book function.
Latest updates
March 2025: Added information about Bookshop.org stepping into the book market. Up to date details about price-setting by publishers.
January 2025: Up to date the "Others we examined" part to incorporate impressions of the second Kindle Colorsoft overview unit we acquired.
August 2024: Changed our Android pill choose with the brand new Go Colour 7 ereader from Boox. Up to date e-book titles to present examples. Added an FAQ part to elucidate the distinction between Kobo and Kindle ereaders and additional element library-book help on totally different fashions.
November 2024: Following the discharge of Amazon's new Kindle ereaders, we examined and reviewed the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Version, the base-model Kindle and Amazon's new coloration ereader, the Kindle Colorsoft. Accordingly, we up to date our finances choose, added a premium choose and famous our expertise with the Colorsoft.
This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cellular/tablets/best-ereader-130013808.html?src=rss