In the event you simply desire a strategy to learn ebooks, you have already got what you want in your pocket along with your smartphone. However if you would like 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 at present 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 Colour is our present prime decide. Smaller corporations like Onyx Boox and PocketBook produce Android tablets with e-paper screens that may do extra than simply show books.
Different concerns, similar to whether or not or not you want a shade show or the flexibility to write down on the display for note-taking, will decide which ereader to purchase. Components like library measurement, 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 can assist you decide one of the best ereader for you — and assist you to get probably the most out of your new gadget when you get it.
Desk of contents
The perfect e 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 browse digital books on a cellphone or pill. However what makes e book readers completely different is the display: almost all of them use expertise from an organization known as E Ink. It manufactures digital paper shows (EPD) composed of three sheets: one containing tens of millions of microcapsules stuffed with 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.
Shade ereaders add a color filter array on prime of the usual black and white microcapsule layer. The result’s two completely different resolutions on one display — the colour readability is 150 dpi whereas black and white photos and textual content are nonetheless 300 dpi.
As a result of these shows are so completely different from normal backlight LED panels, you’ll be able to anticipate most ereaders to do numerous issues effectively. 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 one of the best tablets: we’re speaking weeks on a single cost, not days.
The ereader market isn’t as saturated as, say, the smartphone market, however there are nonetheless loads of choices on the market they usually do have small however necessary variations amongst them. They have a tendency to vary from round $100 to greater than $400, although normally the upper finish choices are stylus-enabled learn/write E Ink tablets just like the Kindle Scribe. Past value, it’s best to contemplate bodily properties like buttons, lights, storage and backbone, in addition to how the software program enables you to discover and entry books.
Studying options
With any ereader, you’ll navigate the OS through faucets and swipes, and a few add bodily page-turn buttons. Most with built-in buttons have an auto-rotating display so you’ll be able to press along with your proper or left hand.
As E Ink expertise has superior, decision has tremendously improved – even the price range Kindle ereader has a 300 ppi show. You possibly can nonetheless discover fashions with decrease decision, however we don’t advocate them.
Some ereaders have entrance LEDs that help gentle temperature adjustment. Meaning you’ll be able to swap to a hotter gentle after the solar goes down, which can really feel simpler on the eyes. In the event you’re involved about blue gentle, it’s best to go for a reader with that characteristic. Lastly, darkish mode is obtainable on most later mannequin ereaders, permitting you to invert the black and white textual content and background, which some individuals discover simpler to learn in low-light settings.
Different options
The capabilities of those pocket libraries have advanced significantly because the early days. Along with storing books, some allow you to browse the net, run apps and play music. The display’s body fee can’t deal with gaming, nevertheless it’s ok to point out you the Wikipedia entry for Striver’s Row when you learn Criminal Manifesto.
In the event you take heed to audiobooks, you might have considered trying a Bluetooth-enabled ereader able to enjoying them. Many of the fashions we examined have that capability, 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 you will most likely desire a system with a better storage capability when you plan on doing a whole lot of listening.
Above all, it’s best to contemplate the place and the way you plan to search out books to learn. Most ereaders make it best to buy via their very own digital bookstores, however all of them (even Kindles) will now allow you to obtain titles from different sources, like libraries, unaffiliated e book sellers and free public area websites.
How one can get books on your ereader
Kindle, Nook and Kobo all have their very own shops that you just entry immediately from every model’s gadgets. Costs are the identical amongst all sellers, too. Publishers set the value of an e book, not the retailer, so a title will price the identical at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, eBooks.com and the Kobo retailer.
Amazon presents Kindle Unlimited for $12 monthly, and it consists of 4 million titles from which you’ll be able to decide your subsequent learn. It consists of audio and ebooks, however you received’t discover many huge, new releases or older bestsellers. Kobo has a subscription known as Kobo Plus with about 1.3 million titles: it goes for $8 monthly 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 system, supplied you’re related to WiFi. It additionally syncs your studying throughout gadgets and apps, so you’ll be able to decide up the place you left off in your cellphone when you forgot your ereader at dwelling. It really is probably the most handy strategy to go, however when you don’t need to be locked into one model’s retailer, or when you go for an ereader with out its personal market, you do have choices.
How one can 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 a lot 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 Project Gutenberg are additionally offered 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 similar to ones you acquire from a proprietary retailer, because of the flowable, formatted nature of ePub recordsdata. Whereas these device-agnostic e book collections provide you with further choices for locating your subsequent learn, they require a couple of further steps to get the recordsdata onto your ereader.
To take action, you’ll usually want a pc working a free program known as Adobe Digital Editions (ADE). After shopping for and downloading the ePub file, open ADE and plug your ereader into your laptop (all readers right here have a USB-C port for charging and information transfers). Your system ought to pop up within the left panel. Drag and drop the ePub file out of your downloads folder into the principle panel in ADE. The file will show as a picture of the e book cowl. Drag that picture onto your system on the left panel. If the file consists of digital rights administration (which protects towards unauthorized copying) you’ll must 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 laptop to finish the switch course of.
Kindles use a web-based uploader as an alternative of the ADE technique. However since Kindle makes use of its personal proprietary DRM expertise as an alternative of Adobe’s, the one recordsdata it may settle for from third events are non-DRM recordsdata, similar to from Tor Publishing or Undertaking Gutenberg. After downloading a suitable ePub file, drag and drop it into your browser with the Send to Kindle web page open. So long as you’re signed into Amazon, this wirelessly transfers the recordsdata to your related system.
Boox additionally makes use of a browser uploader known as BooxDrop (together with many other methods) to ship ePubs to the system. Open it from the Boox App menu and also you’ll see a device-specific url. Sort 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 received’t be capable of learn present titles from most publishers utilizing that app. Luckily, Boox gadgets run almost each ereader app on the market, Kobo and Kindle included, letting you entry ePubs any variety of methods.
Not too long ago, Bookshop.org, the net vendor of bodily books that helps indie bookstores, began promoting ebooks and up to 100 percent of the profits will go to native booksellers. The corporate makes use of a special rights administration system than ADE so, proper now, you’ll be able to 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.
How one can learn library books on an ereader
Your native library card enables you to borrow audio and ebooks via a program known as Overdrive and its companion app Libby. On a Kobo, you’ve got 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 accessible out of your native library system; a couple of faucets will add your choices to your system for the size of the mortgage. I personally discover it best to borrow the title I would like via the Libby app on my cellphone. After that, the e book pops up on my Kobo’s dwelling display as soon as the system syncs.
To learn library books on a Kindle, you’ll be able to 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 might be delivered to your system 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 possibly can then use the ADE course of we described above. Units that run exterior apps, like Boox’s Web page, Go Shade 7 or Palma, mean you can learn library books through the Libby app, simply as you’ll on a smartphone or iPad.
You may as well use the Libby app to borrow audiobooks, however you received’t be capable of entry them via your ereader. (The exception is an ereader, like a Boox system, that permits exterior apps). I discovered it was simpler to take heed to an audiobook on my cellphone anyway, no matter whether or not I borrowed it via 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 sphere. We take a look at what’s accessible, what’s new, and what customers {and professional} reviewers must say. Then we slender a listing to one of the best candidates for hands-on testing.
Over the course of the previous two years, I’ve examined simply over a dozen ereaders, representing 5 completely different manufacturers: Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Boox and PocketBook. I purchased, borrowed and uploaded books for every system utilizing the strategies above. I used every one for between a couple of days to a couple 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 this point:
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Amazon Kindle (2022)
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Amazon Kindle (2024)
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Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2021)
Different ereaders we examined
Amazon Kindle Colorsoft
Amazon’s first color Kindle impressed with its fast page-turns and cargo instances, auto-adjusting entrance gentle and, after all, a decently placing shade E Ink show. However at $280, it’s dearer than the entire different shade ereaders in its measurement vary, together with the Kobo Libra Color and the Boox Go Shade 7.
Additionally, some Colorsoft homeowners reported seeing a yellow band on the backside of their ereader’s show. This difficulty didn’t have an effect on our first overview unit in the course of the authentic testing interval, however it will definitely appeared. An Amazon spokesperson instructed Engadget: “A small variety of prospects have reported a yellow band alongside the underside of the show. We take the standard of our merchandise critically—prospects who discover this could attain out to our customer support staff for a alternative or refund, and we’re making the suitable changes to make sure that new gadgets won’t expertise this difficulty shifting 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 difficulty. The display on our second overview unit seems hotter general, however not overly so. It’s extra akin to the display on the Kobo Libra Color, and that’s a very good factor.
Ereader FAQs
Which ereaders can learn Kindle books?
Amazon’s Kindle ereaders are the plain reply, however different gadgets able to working apps can even learn titles from the Kindle retailer. For instance, you’ll be able to obtain the Kindle app on a Boox ereader via Google Play (the shop comes normal within the Boox app menu). You possibly can then signal into your Kindle account and entry all of the books in your library — the identical means you’d learn Kindle books in your cellphone or pill.
Can you purchase Kindle books with out a Kindle?
Sure. You should purchase Kindle books via the Kindle app or via Amazon’s web site through a browser. You possibly can learn these titles on a Kindle or any system that may run the Kindle app, similar to a smartphone, pill or laptop. Simply bear in mind that Kindle titles can solely be learn via considered one of 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 is the distinction between Kindle and Kobo?
Each Kindle and Kobo are manufacturers of devoted ereaders that help looking out, shopping for, downloading and studying ebooks from their very own shops. Each additionally help borrowing books out of your native library through 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 effectively, however Amazon’s library of Kindle-only books is way bigger than Kobo’s. Amazon additionally presents Amazon Original tales to learn on the Kindle, that are free brief fiction and nonfiction reads which might be free to Prime members.
Which ereader is greatest for library books?
Each Kobos and Kindles have easy methods 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 immediately on the ereader, with a devoted Overdrive tab. Kindles, then again, make the most of a handy “learn on Kindle” operate from the Libby app or web site. You possibly can ship a borrowed e book to your Kindle simply by signing into your account. Each strategies are fairly straightforward, so which is one of the best for you most likely is determined by different components than simply the library-book characteristic.
Latest updates
March 2025: Added information about Bookshop.org entering into the e 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 obtained.
August 2024: Changed our Android pill decide with the brand new Go Shade 7 ereader from Boox. Up to date e book titles to present examples. Added an FAQ part to clarify the distinction between Kobo and Kindle ereaders and additional element library-book help on completely 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 shade ereader, the Kindle Colorsoft. Accordingly, we up to date our price range decide, added a premium decide and famous our expertise with the Colorsoft.
This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cell/tablets/best-ereader-130013808.html?src=rss
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