The Best Ereader To Buy Right Now

Any ebook scholar will fto you cram a Beauty and nan Beast-sized library’s worthy of books successful your pocket, but truthful will your phone. An ebook scholar offers a much book-like reference experience, pinch less distractions and little oculus strain, and galore see other features, for illustration adjustable frontlighting. Some really are pocketable. Others are waterproof aliases connection beingness page-turning buttons, while a fewer moreover fto you return notes.

I’ve been utilizing ebook readers for astir a decade, and I’ve gone hands-on pinch dozens, from nan Kindle Paperwhite to lesser-known rivals for illustration nan Pocketbook Era. Whether you want thing your kid tin propulsion against nan wall aliases a waterproof, warm-glow Kindle that won’t ruin your spa ambiance, these are nan champion ebook readers for everyone. 

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The champion Kindle

Dimensions: 7 x 5 x .3 inches / Weight: 211 grams / Screen area and resolution: 7-inch screen, 300ppi solution / Storage: 16GB / Other features: IPX8 waterproofing, Bluetooth audio support 

If you mostly bargain ebooks from Amazon, you’ll want a Kindle, and nan 12th-gen Kindle Paperwhite is nan champion prime for astir people. Starting astatine $159.99, it’s cheaper than nan Kobo Libra Colour — my apical non-Amazon ebook reader, which I’ll dive into later — while offering galore of nan aforesaid features. Those see a freely 7-inch 300pi show pinch rich | opposition levels and an adjustable lukewarm achromatic frontlight, which make for a clear and enjoyable reference experience. The second besides conveniently improves slumber by cutting down connected bluish ray that interrupts melatonin production. 

That lukewarm achromatic frontlighting is an advantage complete nan cool achromatic of nan $109.99 base-model Kindle, and dissimilar nan guidelines Kindle, nan Paperwhite has IPX8 h2o resistance. The $ 199.99 Signature Edition Paperwhite besides has an auto-adjusting frontlight and nary lockscreen ads. It has wireless charging, which is simply a uncommon characteristic to find successful an e-reader.

Amazon is nan largest online retailer successful nan world, and it dominates nan US ebook market, truthful Kindle owners person entree to advantages owners of different ebook readers don’t. Much of Amazon’s hardware strategy depends connected offering cut-rate discounts to propulsion you into its contented ecosystem. If you person Prime and bargain a batch of Kindle ebooks, nan Paperwhite is nan champion prime because Amazon makes it incredibly easy to bargain and publication its stuff. Its ebooks and audiobooks are often connected sale, and Prime members get much free contented done Prime Reading. Rivals for illustration Kobo connection sales, too, but it’s difficult for them to connection discounts arsenic steep arsenic Amazon.

There are downsides, though. The Paperwhite has lockscreen ads unless you salary $20 other to get free of them. It’s besides excessively large to clasp comfortably pinch 1 hand. Perhaps nan Kindle Paperwhite’s biggest flaw, though — which it shares pinch each Kindles speech from Fire tablets — is that it’s not easy to publication books purchased extracurricular of Amazon’s store. Kindle ebook formats are proprietary and only activity connected Kindle. Unlike Kobo and different ebook readers, Kindles don’t support EPUB files, an unfastened record format utilized by beautiful overmuch everyone except Amazon. So, for example, if you often shop from Kobo’s bookstore (or Barnes & Noble aliases Google Play Books aliases galore different ebook stores), you can’t easy publication those books connected a Kindle without utilizing a workaround. There are ways to convert and transfer record formats truthful you tin publication connected nan Kindle and vice versa, but it’ll return a mates of other steps.

However, if you don’t bargain your books elsewhere aliases you don’t mind shopping from Amazon, you’ll beryllium much than happy pinch nan Kindle Paperwhite.

Read our Kindle Paperwhite review.

The champion non-Amazon ebook reader

Dimensions: 5.69 x 6.34 x 0.33 inches / Weight: 199.5 grams / Screen area and resolution: 7-inch screen, 300ppi (black-and-white), 150ppi (color) / Storage: 32GB / Other features: Physical page-turning buttons, waterproofing, Kobo Stylus 2 support, Bluetooth audio support 

The Kobo Libra Colour is an fantabulous replacement to Amazon’s ebook readers, particularly for readers extracurricular nan US aliases anyone who doesn’t want to pat into Amazon’s ecosystem. Kobo’s latest slate offers galore of nan standout features recovered connected nan 12th-gen Kindle Paperwhite — including waterproofing, USB-C support, and a 300ppi show — on pinch a fewer perks that make it much adjuvant and enjoyable to use.

The colour show is nan astir obvious. The Libra Colour uses E Ink’s latest Kaledio colour surface technology, which provides soothing, pastel-like hues that still popular successful nonstop sunlight. It’s not arsenic crisp arsenic reference successful monochrome — nan solution drops to 150ppi erstwhile viewing contented successful colour — but it’s a bully touch that makes viewing a wider scope of contented much pleasant. Book covers and comics, while still muted, person an added furniture of depth, moreover if nan colors are obscurity adjacent arsenic vivid arsenic that of a accepted LED tablet aliases arsenic vibrant arsenic nan Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition.

However, dissimilar nan Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition, nan Libra Colour useful pinch a integer pen — nan Kobo Stylus 2 (sold separately) — which lets you item matter successful various colors aliases return notes utilizing Kobo’s integrated notebooks. You tin besides return advantage of immoderate of nan much precocious capabilities recovered successful nan Kobo Elipsa 2E, allowing you to lick mathematics equations, person handwriting into typed text, and insert diagrams. This lets nan Libra Colour usability arsenic a mini notebook of sorts, though I wouldn’t usage it arsenic a superior note-taking instrumentality since nan seven-inch show tin consciousness cramped to constitute on.

The colour show is only portion of nan appeal, though. The Libra Colour doesn’t person nan lockscreen ads connected nan guidelines Paperwhite — and packs beingness page-turning buttons, which consciousness much intuitive to usage than tapping either broadside of nan show arsenic you person to do connected Amazon’s modern e-readers. The speedy e-reader besides supports much record formats, including EPUB files, and makes it overmuch easier to get books from nan Overdrive room system. Until recently, Kobo offered support for nan bookmarking app Pocket, which was different large trading constituent arsenic it fto you publication saved articles offline. As of July 8th, nan app is nary longer available, though Kobo’s CEO suggested successful May that nan institution is seeking a replacement.

However, astatine $229.99, nan Libra Colour costs $70 much than nan entry-level Paperwhite — and that’s without Kobo’s $69.99 stylus, which is required for performing definite tasks. That spread widens further erstwhile nan Paperwhite is connected sale, which happens much often than nan Libra Colour. The Kobo can’t easy pat into Amazon’s immense room of ebooks, which tin beryllium frustrating if you’ve amassed a postulation of Kindle titles complete nan years. It tin beryllium done, but you person to person record formats utilizing third-party apps, which is tricky and tin return time.

But if those things don’t matter aliases use to you, nan Kobo Libra Colour will springiness you nan champion integer reference acquisition of each nan e-readers connected our list. It’s my individual favorite.

Read our Kobo Libra Colour review.

The champion inexpensive ebook reader

Dimensions: 6.2 x 4.3 x 0.32 inches / Weight: 158 grams / Screen area and resolution: 6-inch screen, 300ppi solution / Storage: 16GB / Other features: USB-C support, Bluetooth audio support 

The base-model Kindle ($109.99 pinch ads) is nan champion inexpensive ebook reader. Its 300ppi solution makes matter clearer and easier to publication than nan lower-resolution screens connected different ebook readers successful its value range. Plus, it has USB-C for comparatively accelerated charging. 

Reading connected its six-inch surface feels a small much cramped than it does connected nan larger displays of nan Kindle Paperwhite and Kobo Libra Colour. However, nan flip broadside is that its mini size makes it pocketable, light, and easy for mini hands to hold. Combined pinch its comparatively affordable price, nan Kindle is besides nan champion ebook scholar for kids — particularly nan Amazon Kindle Kids Edition which costs $20 more. The kid-friendly type shares nan aforesaid specs but is ad-free pinch parental controls, a two-year extended replacement guarantee, and a case. It besides comes pinch six months of Amazon Kids Plus, which grants kids entree to thousands of children’s books and audiobooks for free. After that, though, you’ll person to $79 per twelvemonth (or $48 pinch Amazon Prime).

The guidelines Kindle doesn’t person other conveniences for illustration nan waterproofing you’ll find successful the entry-level Kobo Clara BW and Paperwhite. You besides don’t get nan beingness page-turning buttons recovered connected Barnes & Noble’s entry-level e-reader, nan Nook GlowLight 4e (though nan Kindle is simply a batch snappier than nan Nook). And because it’s an Amazon ebook reader, you’re besides locked into nan Amazon ecosystem and person to salary other to region ads. But if you tin do without that, nan Kindle delivers nan essentials for nether $110.

The champion ebook scholar for taking notes

Dimensions: 7.6 x 8.94 x 0.30 inches / Weight: 390 grams / Screen area and resolution: 10.3-inches, 227ppi solution / Storage: 32GB / Other features: Handwriting to matter conversion, magnetic stylus, Bluetooth audio support 

Of each nan ample ebook readers I tested, nan Kobo Elipsa 2E stood retired nan astir because it’s a bully e-reader pinch coagulated note-taking abilities. You tin constitute straight connected pages conscionable arsenic connected a beingness book. The Kindle Scribe lets you annotate book pages arsenic well, but it’s analyzable involving resizable matter boxes that messiness up nan page formatting and forestall you from doing basal things for illustration circling words. In contrast, taking notes connected nan Elipsa 2E feels acold much intuitive and natural.

The Elipsa 2E offers different adjuvant note-taking devices and capabilities. Like nan Kobo Libra Colour, it’s capable, for example, of solving mathematics equations for you. You tin besides insert diagrams and drawings, and it’ll automatically threat them into thing that looks cleaner and nicer. You tin besides sync your notes pinch Dropbox aliases position them online and person handwriting to typed text. The Kindle Scribe offers nan second capability, too, but again, Kobo does it faster and amended wrong nan original notebook archive arsenic opposed to connected a abstracted page. The only point missing from nan Elipsa 2E is nan Scribe’s note-summarization feature, but that’s a trade-off I americium okay pinch fixed really overmuch easier it is to return notes.

Finally, nan Kobo Elipsa 2E comes pinch doubly nan retention (32GB) for nan aforesaid value arsenic nan guidelines Kindle Scribe. You can step up to nan 32GB Kindle Scribe for $20 much aliases upgrade to 64GB for $40 extra. Yet fixed nan Scribe’s limitations, I still urge redeeming nan money and buying nan Kobo Elipsa 2E instead.

Note-taking capabilities aside, nan Kobo Elipsa 2E is besides a bully e-reader pinch nan aforesaid strengths and weaknesses arsenic different Kobo devices. There’s support for a wide scope of record formats, but you can’t easy publication Kindle books without converting them first. Its 227ppi show is besides somewhat little crisp than nan 300ppi surface recovered connected nan Kindle Scribe and nan Kobo Libra Colour. However, nan 10.3-inch surface balances things retired a spot and makes matter easier to read, truthful it’s not a noticeable drawback. Plus, nan Elipsa 2E comes pinch an adjustable lukewarm ray for nighttime reading. That’s a characteristic rival e-readers pinch much precocious note-taking capabilities — including nan $409.99 Onyx Boox Go 10.3, which lets you insert links to notes — lacks.

Other ebook readers that didn’t make nan cut

There are immoderate different ebook readers my colleagues and I person tested that I didn’t characteristic supra but are still worthy highlighting. Here are nan astir notable:

Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition

The Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition is nan first Kindle to characteristic E Ink’s colour surface exertion and it stands retired from different colour e-paper devices pinch customizations. It offers improved contrast, much vibrant colors, and faster surface refreshes. With a $279.99 value tag, it’s nan astir expensive Kindle model presently disposable that doesn’t support a stylus for note-taking, and it includes premium features for illustration wireless charging that are convenient but not really basal for a instrumentality pinch months of artillery life. Amazon doesn’t connection a cheaper type of nan Colorsoft for illustration it does pinch nan Paperwhite, which is disposable successful modular and Signature Edition versions, but if you want a colour surface and want to instrumentality pinch Amazon, nan Colorsoft is your champion option. – Andrew Liszewski, Senior Reporter 

Kobo Clara Colour

If you’re looking for a non-Amazon replacement that’s much affordable than nan Kobo Libra Colour, nan Kobo Clara Colour — nan successor to nan Kobo Clara 2E — is worthy a look. At $139.99 $159.99, nan ad-free e-reader costs much than nan Kobo Clara 2E, but I deliberation it’s worthy nan other $10. It continues to connection nan aforesaid six-inch show and IPX8 waterproof design, but nan e-reader now offers color. Plus, it’s noticeably faster — thing I was happy to see, considering nan occasional lag connected nan Clara 2E sometimes sewage connected my nerves. You don’t get nan Clara Colour’s beingness buttons aliases stylus support, but that’s a adjacent tradeoff astatine this value point.

Nook Glowlight 4 Plus

In 2023, Barnes and Noble released nan Nook Glowlight 4 Plus. If you ain a batch of integer books from Barnes and Noble, this could beryllium a bully Kindle alternative. Otherwise, I’d still urge nan Kobo Libra Colour to everybody else. The $199.99 Nook Glowlight 4 Plus is simply a bully e-reader pinch a batch to offer, including a beautiful 300ppi screen, waterproofing, beingness page-turning buttons, and moreover a headphone jack. However, it’s conscionable not arsenic snappy, which makes mounting it up, buying books from nan instrumentality itself, and navigating nan interface a slow ordeal. It didn’t thief that nan surface sometimes froze, too, which meant I had to restart nan instrumentality while successful nan mediate of a book.

Boox Palma 2

Despite each nan advantages of E Ink show technology, your smartphone is astir apt still a much convenient instrumentality for reference fixed really pocket-friendly it is. The Boox Palma 2 is simply a smartphone-sized E Ink instrumentality that’s conscionable arsenic easy to gaffe into a pocket, but pinch much capabilities than an e-reader. Its 6.3-inch E Ink show is awesome for reference books, but nan $279.99 Palma 2 besides runs Android 13 truthful you tin instal productivity apps for illustration email and messaging — assuming you’ve sewage entree to Wi-Fi, of course, because nan compact e-reader lacks cellular connectivity. If you already person nan original Palma, nan sequel isn’t worthy nan upgrade. But if you’re looking for a smaller replacement to Kindles and Kobos, nan Palma 2 could beryllium worthy nan splurge. – Andrew Liszewski, Senior Reporter 

Boox Go 10.3

The $409.99 Onyx Boox Go 10.3 is different ad-free ebook scholar you tin usage to return notes. It’s fantabulous arsenic a note-taking device, and it offers an impressively wide scope of penning devices and much prebuilt notebook templates than Kobo’s Elipsa 2E. Jotting down notes utilizing nan built-in notebook felt much akin to penning connected insubstantial arsenic well, and its slim creation makes nan instrumentality consciousness much for illustration a accepted notebook. Like each Boox devices, it besides provides speedy entree to nan Google Play Store, truthful you tin download aggregate reference apps — including some Kindle and Kobo apps. The slate’s crisp 300ppi show is sharper than that of nan Kobo Elipsa 2E, too, which is simply a plus.

However, successful comparison to nan easy-to-use Elipsa 2E, nan Go 10.3 lacks a beforehand ray and comes pinch a steeper learning curve. Notes you return connected a Kindle aliases Kobo instrumentality won’t transportation complete (and vice versa), and you can’t annotate books successful either app utilizing nan Boox. I besides felt for illustration entree to Google Play tin beryllium a double-edged beard arsenic it grants easy entree to distracting apps, including games, streaming services, and TikTok. It’s excessively slow to usage nan latter, but it’s accelerated and comfortable capable that I recovered myself playing astir pinch nan Word Search app acold excessively often. For maine personally, I request my e-reader to beryllium devoid of specified distractions — it’s 1 of nan biggest things that distinguishes it from a tablet, aft all. But if you’ve sewage much self-control than I do, nan Go 10.3 could beryllium worthy a look.

Boox Go Color 7 Gen II

In April, Boox introduced nan Go Color 7 Gen II, which retails for $279.99. This water-resistant e-reader offers a 300ppi show that drops to 150ppi erstwhile displaying colour content, overmuch for illustration its Kobo and Kindle rivals. However, akin to nan Kobo Libra Colour, this ad-free exemplary offers physical-page turning buttons and supports note-taking. A stylus isn’t included, truthful you’ll request to walk an other $45.99 for Boox’s pressure-sensitive InkSense pen if you want to return notes. And, for illustration different Boox devices, it runs connected Android, giving you entree to a wide scope of apps and online bookstores done nan Google Play Store.

While I appreciated not having to sideload my Kindle and Kobo library, on pinch greater elasticity to fine-tune colour settings, I yet for illustration nan Kobo Libra Colour. In my testing, nan Go Color 7 Gen II felt frustratingly sluggish by comparison to nan Libra Colour, which is disappointing fixed nan Boox costs $50 more. Responsiveness is simply a halfway portion of nan reference acquisition for me, truthful I’d only urge Boox’s exemplary to readers who worth having Android app elasticity complete performance.

What’s coming next

• In July, Amazon announced a much affordable type of nan Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition: nan Kindle Colorsoft. At $249.99, it’s $30 cheaper but comes pinch half nan retention astatine 16GB. It besides lacks wireless charging and an auto-adjusting beforehand light, that second of which tin beryllium very adjuvant for nighttime reading. Otherwise, it seems identical to nan Signature Edition model. I’ve conscionable gotten my hands connected nan e-reader, but I’ll fto you cognize my impressions erstwhile I’ve spent much clip testing it.

Update, August 13th: Adjusted pricing and availability. Also, I added thoughts astir nan Boox Go Color 7 Gen II and mentioned nan caller 16GB Kindle Colorsoft model. Andrew Liszewski besides contributed to this post.