When you simply need a technique to learn ebooks, you have already got what you want in your pocket together with your smartphone. However if you need one thing that’s much less distracting and simpler in your eyes, chances are you’ll wish to go together with an ereader as a substitute. Because it stands, the market is at the moment dominated by two manufacturers. Amazon’s Kindle has captured the biggest share by far, however Rakuten Kobo gadgets are a successful different — in reality, the Kobo Clara Colour is our present prime choose. Smaller corporations like Onyx Boox and PocketBook produce Android tablets with e-paper screens that may do extra than simply show books.
Different issues, resembling whether or not or not you want a colour show or the power to jot down on the display screen for note-taking, will decide which ereader to purchase. Elements 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 will help you choose the very best ereader for you — and allow you to get essentially the most out of your new gadget when you get it.
Desk of contents
The most effective 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 completely 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 color filter array on prime of the usual black and white microcapsule layer. The result’s two completely different resolutions on one display screen — the colour readability is 150 dpi whereas black and white photographs and textual content are nonetheless 300 dpi.
As a result of these shows are so completely different from customary backlight LED panels, you possibly can anticipate most ereaders to do quite a few issues nicely. They’ll be simpler to stare at for lengthy durations 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 will not be 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 often the upper finish choices are stylus-enabled learn/write E Ink tablets just like the Kindle Scribe. Past worth, it’s best to contemplate bodily properties like buttons, lights, storage and determination, 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 possibly can nonetheless discover fashions with decrease decision, however we don’t suggest them.
Some ereaders have entrance LEDs that help mild temperature adjustment. Meaning you possibly can swap to a hotter mild after the solar goes down, which is able to really feel simpler on the eyes. When you’re involved about blue mild, it’s best to go for a reader with that characteristic. Lastly, darkish mode is on the market 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 advanced significantly for the reason that early days. Along with storing books, some allow you to browse the online, run apps and play music. The display screen’s body price can’t deal with gaming, however it’s adequate to point out you the Wikipedia entry for Striver’s Row when you learn Criminal Manifesto.
When you hearken to audiobooks, it’s your decision a Bluetooth-enabled ereader able to taking part in them. Many of the fashions we examined have that means, with the notable exception of the Nook ereader we tried. Take into account that audiobook recordsdata can take up extra space than print recordsdata so you may most likely need a machine with the next storage capability in the event you plan on doing lots of listening.
Above all, it’s best to contemplate the place and the way you propose to seek out books to learn. Most ereaders make it best to buy by 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.
Easy methods to 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 worth of an book, not the retailer, so a title will price the identical at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, eBooks.com and the Kobo retailer.
Amazon gives Kindle Unlimited for $12 per thirty days, and it consists of 4 million titles from which you’ll choose your subsequent learn. It consists of audio and ebooks, however you gained’t discover many large, 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, supplied 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 in the event you forgot your ereader at house. It really is essentially the most handy technique to go, however in the event you don’t wish to be locked into one model’s retailer, or in the event you go for an ereader with out its personal market, you do have choices.
Easy methods 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 get together 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 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 you acquire from a proprietary retailer, due to the flowable, formatted nature of ePub recordsdata. Whereas these device-agnostic book collections offer you further choices for locating your subsequent learn, they require a couple of extra steps to get the recordsdata onto your ereader.
To take action, you’ll usually want a pc working 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 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 pc to finish the switch course of.
Kindles use a web-based uploader as a substitute of the ADE technique. However since Kindle makes use of its personal proprietary DRM expertise as a substitute of Adobe’s, the one recordsdata it could possibly 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 Send 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 other methods) 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 have the ability to learn present titles from most publishers utilizing that app. Fortuitously, Boox gadgets run practically 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 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.
Easy methods to learn library books on an ereader
Your native library card helps you to borrow audio and ebooks by a program referred to as Overdrive and its companion app Libby. On a Kobo, you could have have built-in entry to Overdrive in a separate tab. When you’ve linked your public library card, the search perform will embody outcomes for titles accessible out of your native library system; a couple of faucets will add your picks to your machine for the size of the mortgage. I personally discover it best to borrow the title I need by the Libby app on my cellphone. After that, the e book pops up on my Kobo’s house 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 website to register. After that, the e book might 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 possibly can then use the ADE course of we described above. Gadgets that run exterior apps, like Boox’s Web page, Go Colour 7 or Palma, help you learn library books by way of the Libby app, simply as you’ll on a smartphone or iPad.
You may also use the Libby app to borrow audiobooks, however you gained’t have the ability to entry them by your ereader. (The exception is an ereader, like a Boox machine, that enables 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 Libby or purchased it from Kindle or Kobo.
How we take a look at 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 buyers {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 completely 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 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 total worth. Right here’s the whole lot we examined up to now:
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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 occasions, auto-adjusting entrance mild and, after all, a decently putting colour E Ink show. However at $280, it’s costlier than the entire different colour ereaders in its measurement 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 concern didn’t have an effect on our first evaluation unit through the unique 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 significantly—prospects who discover this may 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 is not going to expertise this concern 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 concern. The display screen on our second evaluation unit seems hotter total, however not overly so. It’s extra akin to the display screen on the Kobo Libra Color, and that’s a great factor.
Ereader FAQs
Which ereaders can learn Kindle books?
Amazon’s Kindle ereaders are the plain reply, however different gadgets able to working apps may learn titles from the Kindle retailer. For instance, you possibly can obtain the Kindle app on a Boox ereader by Google Play (the shop comes customary 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 approach you’d learn Kindle books in your cellphone or pill.
Can you purchase Kindle books and not using a Kindle?
Sure. You should purchase Kindle books by the Kindle app or by Amazon’s web site by way of a browser. You possibly can 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 one in all 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 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 nicely, however Amazon’s library of Kindle-only books is way bigger than Kobo’s. Amazon additionally gives Amazon Original tales to learn on the Kindle, that are free quick fiction and nonfiction reads which are free to Prime members.
Which ereader is finest 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 immediately on the ereader, with a devoted Overdrive tab. Kindles, alternatively, make the most of a handy “learn on Kindle” perform 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 simple, so which is the very best for you most likely is dependent upon different components than simply the library-book characteristic.
Current updates
March 2025: Added information about Bookshop.org moving 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 evaluation 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 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 colour 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/cell/tablets/best-ereader-130013808.html?src=rss
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