Finest e-book readers for 2024 Leave a comment

Any e-book reader will allow you to cram a Magnificence and the Beast-sized library’s price of books in your pocket, however so will your telephone. An e-book reader presents a extra book-like studying expertise, with fewer distractions and fewer eye pressure, and plenty of embody additional options, like adjustable frontlighting. Some actually are pocketable. Others are waterproof or supply bodily page-turning buttons, whereas just a few even allow you to take notes.

I’ve been utilizing e-book readers for practically a decade, and I’ve gone hands-on with dozens, from the Kindle Paperwhite to lesser-known rivals just like the Pocketbook Period. Whether or not you need one thing your child can throw in opposition to the wall or a water-resistant, warm-glow Kindle that received’t wreck your spa ambiance, these are the very best e-book readers for everybody. 

Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.9 x .32 inches / Weight: 205 grams / Display space and backbone: 6.8-inch display, 300ppi decision / Storage: 8GB or 16GB / Different options: IPX8 waterproofing, Bluetooth audio help 

Should you largely purchase ebooks from Amazon, you’ll desire a Kindle, and the Eleventh-gen Kindle Paperwhite is your best option for most individuals. Beginning at $139.99, it’s cheaper than the Kobo Libra 2 — my high non-Amazon e-book reader, which I’ll dive into later — for most of the similar options. These embody a big 300pi show and an adjustable heat white frontlight, which make for a transparent and pleasurable studying expertise. The latter additionally conveniently improves sleep by slicing down on blue gentle that interrupts melatonin manufacturing. 

That heat white frontlighting is a bonus over the cool white of the $99.99 base-model Kindle, and in contrast to the bottom Kindle, the Paperwhite has IPX8 water resistance. The $189.99 Signature Version Paperwhite additionally has an auto-adjusting frontlight and no lockscreen advertisements. It additionally has wi-fi charging, which is a uncommon function to search out in an e-reader.

Amazon is the biggest on-line retailer on the earth, and it dominates the US e-book market, so Kindle homeowners have entry to benefits homeowners of different e-book readers don’t. A lot of Amazon’s {hardware} technique relies on providing cut-rate reductions to drag you into its content material ecosystem. When you have Prime and purchase a number of Kindle ebooks, the Paperwhite is your best option as a result of Amazon makes it extremely simple to purchase and skim its stuff. Its ebooks and audiobooks are sometimes on sale, and Prime members get extra free content material by Prime Studying. Rivals like Kobo supply gross sales, too, nevertheless it’s laborious for them to supply reductions as steep as Amazon does.

There are downsides, although. The Paperwhite has lockscreen advertisements except you pay $20 additional to eliminate them. It’s additionally too large to carry comfortably with one hand. Maybe the Kindle Paperwhite’s greatest flaw, although — which it shares with all Kindles other than Fireplace tablets — is that it’s not simple to learn books bought outdoors of Amazon’s retailer. Kindle e-book codecs are proprietary and solely work on Kindle. Not like Kobo and different e-book readers, Kindles don’t help EPUB recordsdata, an open file format utilized by just about everybody besides Amazon. So, for instance, if you happen to usually store from Kobo’s bookstore (or Barnes & Noble or Google Play Books or many different e-book shops), you may’t simply learn these books on a Kindle with out utilizing a workaround. There are methods to transform and switch file codecs so you may learn on the Kindle and vice versa, nevertheless it’ll take a few additional steps.

Nevertheless, if you happen to don’t purchase your books elsewhere otherwise you don’t thoughts procuring from Amazon, you’ll be more than pleased with the Kindle Paperwhite.

Learn our full evaluation of the Kindle Paperwhite.

Dimensions: 5.69 x 6.36 x 0.35 inches / Weight: 215 grams / Display space and backbone: 7-inch display, 300ppi / Storage: As much as 32GB / Different options: Bodily page-turning buttons, waterproofing, Bluetooth audio help 

The Kobo Libra 2 is a superb different to an Amazon e-book reader, particularly for readers outdoors the US. It’s simply as good because the Paperwhite, with most of the Paperwhite’s standout options, like waterproofing, USB-C help, and a 300ppi show. It doesn’t work as effectively with Amazon’s ecosystem, in fact, nevertheless it presents just a few additional perks that make the e-reader, in some methods, much more pleasurable to make use of.

For one factor, it helps extra file codecs, together with EPUB. It’s additionally a lot simpler to immediately borrow books from the Overdrive library system, whereas native help for Pocket means you may learn your saved articles offline. The Libra 2 additionally comes with easy-to-use bodily buttons and begins at 16GB of storage, double the capability of the bottom Paperwhite. There aren’t any annoying lockscreen advertisements to cope with, both. Plus, as an alternative of a flat-front display, the show is barely recessed into the body. I cherished that because it meant I didn’t unintentionally faucet the display and skip a web page, as I usually did with the Paperwhite. It additionally saved the display cleaner and — mixed with the vast aspect bezel — made the Libra 2 extra snug to carry.

The Kobo Libra 2 is my favourite e-book reader to make use of. I saved having to restrain myself from utilizing it on a regular basis to provide the opposite e-readers on this checklist a good probability.

Nevertheless, at $189, it prices $50 greater than the ad-supported Paperwhite, although it’s solely $20 greater than the ad-free Paperwhite. That hole widens much more when the Paperwhite is on sale, which it usually is. Plus, as any individual whose digital library consists primarily of Amazon ebooks, I discovered the truth that I couldn’t simply and rapidly learn my huge assortment of Kindle books irritating. You are able to do it, however you’ll must convert file codecs utilizing third-party apps, which might take time, particularly when you have a big library. But when these issues don’t matter or apply to you, the Kobo Libra 2 offers you the very best digital studying expertise of all of the e-readers on this checklist.

Dimensions: 6.2 x 4.3 x 0.32 inches / Weight: 158 grams / Display space and backbone: 6-inch display, 300ppi decision / Storage: 16GB / Different options: USB-C help, Bluetooth audio help 

The base-model Kindle ($99.99 with advertisements) is the very best low-cost e-book reader. Its 300ppi decision makes textual content clearer and simpler to learn than the lower-resolution screens on different e-book readers in its value vary, and its 16GB of storage is double even that of the Paperwhite. It even has USB-C for comparatively quick charging. 

Studying on its six-inch display feels slightly extra cramped than it does on the bigger shows of the Kindle Paperwhite and Kobo Libra 2. Nevertheless, the flip aspect is that its small dimension makes it pocketable, gentle, and simple for small fingers to carry. Mixed with its comparatively inexpensive value, the Kindle can also be the very best e-book reader for teenagers — particularly within the youngsters model Amazon sells for $20 extra. It shares the identical precise specs however is ad-free with parental controls, a two-year prolonged alternative assure, and a case. It additionally comes with one 12 months of Amazon Children Plus, which grants youngsters entry to 1000’s of children books and audiobooks at no cost. After that, although, you’ll must pay $79 per 12 months.

The bottom Kindle doesn’t have additional conveniences just like the bodily page-turning buttons discovered on Barnes & Noble’s entry-level e-reader, the Nook GlowLight 4e. Nevertheless, you do get one thing extra necessary: snappier responses. On many of the different entry-level e-book readers I examined, together with the GlowLight 4e, I needed to wait just a few seconds after tapping the display for the web page to show. The Kindle, as compared, provided no perceptive lag.

There are different tradeoffs. There’s no water resistance, in contrast to the Paperwhite, and battery life is sweet, nevertheless it’ll final you three weeks tops — not months, just like the Paperwhite. And since it’s an Amazon e-book reader, you’re additionally locked into the Amazon ecosystem and must pay additional to eliminate advertisements. But when you are able to do with out all of that, the Kindle delivers the necessities for underneath $100.

Learn my full evaluation of the Kindle.

Dimensions: 7.6 x 8.94 x 0.30 inches / Weight: 390 grams / Display space and backbone: 10.3-inches, 227ppi decision / Storage: 32GB / Different options: Handwriting to textual content conversion, magnetic stylus, Bluetooth audio help 

Of all the big e-book readers I examined, the Kobo Elipsa 2E stood out essentially the most due to its glorious note-taking talents. You’ll be able to immediately write on pages, and the notes won’t disappear, which makes for a extra intuitive note-taking expertise than the Kindle Scribe, which solely helps on-page notes on choose Kindle titles. In any other case, you’re restricted to creating annotations on playing cards which might be like disappearing sticky notes. 

It’s also possible to sync your notes with Dropbox or view them on-line, and Kobo may even convert handwriting to typed textual content. Amazon rolled out an identical functionality for the Kindle Scribe, however it might probably solely convert handwriting to typed textual content while you export notebooks and never as precisely. In contrast, Kobo helps you to convert your handwriting not simply whereas exporting but additionally from inside a pocket book itself.

The Elipsa 2E additionally presents different useful note-taking instruments. It’s even succesful, for instance, of fixing math equations for you. It’s also possible to insert diagrams and drawings, and it’ll mechanically snap it into one thing that appears cleaner and nicer. There’s additionally an incredible number of pen sorts and ink shades. 

True, the Kindle Scribe begins at $60 much less, however the Kobo Elipsa 2E comes with twice the storage. You can step as much as the 32GB Kindle Scribe if you’d like the identical storage capability, however that places it at basically the identical value because the Kobo. I like to recommend simply forking out the cash on the Elipsa 2E as an alternative.

I additionally suggest the Elipsa 2E over the Onyx Boox Word Air 2 Plus, regardless that it, too, presents a lot better writing instruments than the Kindle Scribe. That’s as a result of it prices a whopping $449 and in addition isn’t as available within the US market. The Onyx Boox Word Air 2 Plus additionally comes with too many distracting extras, like an easy-to-access music participant and the Google Play app retailer preinstalled so you may obtain a number of studying apps, together with each the Kindle and Kobo apps. Nevertheless, Kindle and Kobo notes didn’t present up on the Onyx Boox Word Air 2 Plus — and you’ll’t annotate their books anyplace as simply as you may on their respective gadgets.

Word-taking capabilities apart, the Kobo Elipsa 2E can also be e-reader, nevertheless it comes with the identical strengths and weaknesses as different Kobo e-readers. There’s help for a variety of file codecs, however you may’t simply learn Kindle books with out changing them first. Its 227ppi show can also be barely much less sharp than the 300ppi display discovered on the Kindle Scribe and the Kobo Libra 2. Nevertheless, the ten.3-inch display does stability issues out a bit and makes textual content simpler to learn, so it’s probably not a noticeable downside.

There are another e-book readers I examined that I didn’t function above however are nonetheless price highlighting. Listed below are essentially the most notable:

Should you’re on the lookout for a non-Amazon different that’s extra inexpensive than the Kobo Libra 2, the Kobo Clara 2E is price a glance. It sells for $139.99 and in addition presents waterproofing in addition to a pointy, 300ppi show, nevertheless it lacks buttons. As I discussed in my evaluation, I additionally preferred that it doesn’t include advertisements however discovered it’s not as quick because the Kindle Paperwhite. Nevertheless, now that I’ve used the e-reader for fairly a while, I discover it’s snappy sufficient, and the occasional lag isn’t as distracting as I imagined it’d turn into. The Libra 2 remains to be sooner, although.

In 2023, Barnes and Noble launched the brand new Nook Glowlight 4 Plus. Should you personal a number of digital books from Barnes and Noble, this may very well be Kindle different. In any other case, I’d nonetheless suggest the Kobo Libra 2 to everyone else. The $199.99 Nook Glowlight 4 Plus is an effective e-reader with lots to supply, together with a beautiful 300ppi display, waterproofing, bodily page-turning buttons, and even a headphone jack. Nevertheless, it’s simply not as snappy, which makes setting it up, shopping for books from the machine itself, and navigating the interface a sluggish ordeal. It didn’t assist that the display typically froze, too, which meant I needed to restart the machine whereas in the midst of a e book.

Lastly, I didn’t point out the Kindle Oasis, which has bodily page-turning buttons and which many think about a high-end machine. At this level, although, it’s previous, laborious to search out in inventory, and lacks some options even the bottom Kindle presents — like USB-C help. That makes it much less interesting at $249.99. If you’re prepared to pay that a lot for a high-end reader, I’d check out the Kobo Libra 2 or the Kobo Sage as an alternative. The latter is $239.99 ($30 off), but not solely does it include buttons and USB-C, however you can even use it to take notes. The eight-inch display feels very cramped to put in writing on, although, so I wouldn’t suggest it as a major note-taking machine. 

Replace February 2nd, 2024: Adjusted costs and added new associated hyperlinks.