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The Best Ebook Readers for 2022
Whether you're considering joining the digital book revolution or want a new ebook reader to replace an older i, these are our top lab-tested picks for every blazon of bookworm.
Updated December 17, 2021
Step away from the monitor and give your eyes a residue. Ebook readers, as well called ereaders, rely on E Ink screens to allow you lot read for long periods of time without the brain-fire that comes from a radiant LCD or OLED screen. They have very long bombardment life and look terrific in sunlight. Amazon's Kindles dominate the ebook reader market in the US, merely if you lot're shopping effectually, information technology'southward a good idea to look at models from Kobo, Nook, and Onyx. We've reviewed them all.
What Screen Type and How Big?
Basic ebook readers use monochrome Due east Ink screens to display text. Due east Ink, or digital ink (ofttimes manufactured by the E Ink visitor), looks a lot like paper, and information technology'south piece of cake on your optics when reading for long periods. On the to the lowest degree expensive models, information technology's not backlit, and then you'll need light to see the text, just as you lot would with a printed book. Merely most ebook readers now include edge lighting that lets yous come across in the dark. With each model, you tin vary the intensity of the brightness from barely there to flashlight-bright. On the lowest settings, you can read in the dark while your partner sleeps peacefully adjacent to you.
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In all cases, Due east Ink is much easier to read in bright sunlight, while color touch screens on tablets tend to launder out, and their glossy displays can bear witness distracting reflections.
Most E Ink readers were 6 inches for many years, but the panel sizes are slowly growing. The latest Amazon Kindle Paperwhite and Kobo Libra 2 have 7-inch displays; the Kobo Forma and Sage take eight-inch screens; and Onyx sells larger-format readers up to 13.iii inches. I've found that you lot offset to have residuum issues with one-handed reading when a model goes above 7 inches.
Screen resolutions and quality besides vary. The lowest-priced Kindles use 167ppi displays that await crude and jaggy compared with the 300ppi displays on most other ebook readers. Eastward Ink likewise keeps improving its screens' contrast and refresh charge per unit. The new Carta 1200 engineering, used in Amazon's latest Paperwhite and Kobo's Elipsa, Libra 2, and Sage, has noticeably faster folio turns and a bit amend contrast than even the previous 300ppi Carta displays.
If y'all haven't updated your ebook reader in many years, yous'll be stunned at how much more responsive the latest Eastward Ink readers are. Frequent, startling screen flashes are actually a thing of the past; the screens flash much more subtly, much more than quickly, and much less frequently.
Kobo Clara HD (Photo: Zlata Ivelva)
How Almost Color?
If you need to read more than books, tablets with colour screens offer a bevy of other benefits. Magazines and comic books look great on larger tablets. Even lower-price tablets similar the Amazon Fire 7 can browse the web, stream video from Netflix, Hulu, or other sources, play music, and run apps. Considering of its high-quality screen and general power, though, we recommend the base of operations-model iPad for most people trying to read rich, full-page color content.
In 2020, we saw a quantum in color E Ink displays, with several readers appearing based on the E Ink Kaleido or East Ink Kaleido Plus technologies. We've tested two of them, the Onyx Boox Nova3 Color and the Handbag InkPad Color, that testify some of the heady possibilities of color E Ink. Unfortunately, we tin can't recommend them yet; the screen technology is relatively dim, with depression full-colour resolution and occasional ghosting. LCD tablets are far superior.
Will You lot Read on the Beach?
If yous like to read in the bath, past the puddle, or on the beach, yous might want to consider buying a waterproof ebook reader. Y'all take several options. The Amazon Kindle Oasis, the latest Kindle Paperwhite, and the Kobo Forma, Libra ii, and Sage are all rated to withstand submersion in water to some caste. The Kindle Oasis and the Kobos have page plough buttons so you can easily flip between pages when your hands are as well wet to apply a bear upon screen.
Practice You Have Notes While Reading?
All ebook readers let you highlight or tag particular phrases for later reference. Some have digital pens that let you take notes directly on the screen. The Kobo Elipsa, Kobo Sage, many Onyx Boox tablets, and of course the iPad line all have pen support. In general, they permit you lot annotate on PDFs and sometimes other kinds of documents, and they let you take freehand notes on a blank folio. The Onyx Boox Note Air 2 is our favorite E Ink tablet for pen use considering of its paper-like feel and strong document format support.
It's also worth mentioning the Remarkable 2 tablet here. The Remarkable 2 is a defended digital annotation-taking tablet with a passionate following. Information technology isn't a practiced ebook reader, though, as information technology just supports PDF and EPUB format books, and not books from public libraries.
Barnes & Noble Nook GlowLight iv (Photo: Sascha Segan)
Practice You Listen to Audiobooks?
Sometimes y'all'd rather mind than read. Sometimes you'd like to read and listen at the aforementioned time. Kindles at present have the power to connect to Bluetooth headphones to play Audible audiobooks. Many Amazon books will synchronize with Audible audiobooks on Kindle ebook readers. Kobos accept their ain audiobook format. Onyx ebook readers have built-in speakers and the ability to use multiple audiobook apps.
Oddly, Amazon saves its slickest audiobook feature, Immersion Reading, for its Android app, which means yous need an Onyx ebook reader to use it. That characteristic synchronizes words displayed on the page while also narrating through audio.
What Kind of Wireless Connection Do You Demand?
An always-on cellular radio lets you buy and download books from anywhere, over the air, for free (bated from the cost of the book itself, of course). Nearly devices offer Wi-Fi every bit the base level wireless connection—at a much lower cost—with 4G cellular data only available as part of a more than-expensive model.
As long as y'all don't mind waiting until you lot're nigh a hotspot to store for new books, Wi-Fi should work for you. A select few may notwithstanding adopt to pony up for cellular to buy a new book while, say, on a long camping trip or lounging at the beach.
Internal storage chapters is not much of a concern. Every ebook reader you can buy today tin can store more than 1,000 books, and some have room for thousands more. And if you take more than books than that, each of the major vendors offers cloud storage, letting you download books to your device whenever you need them, bold you're connected to Wi-Fi hotspot (or anywhere you have a cell indicate, if yous take a 4G-capable model).
Where Do You lot Get Your Books?
When you choose an ebook reader, yous're making a determination up front as to which ecosystem y'all'll support.
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo all use copy protection on most of their books, which prevents them from being read by other brands' ereaders. It's possible to remove the re-create protection, but y'all may as well remove features such as formatting and character summaries. It'due south also gotten much harder to strip the protection specifically from Amazon books in the by year or ii. Onyx ebook readers can run all of their competitors' Android apps, so they tin read everyone's content.
For public library lending, Kobo ebook readers let yous install the popular library app Overdrive as their native store, which is very user-friendly. Amazon sends you through the library's spider web site to pick books that get pushed to your device; Onyx has you load a specific library app.
Amazon has its own Prime Reading library, office of its Prime number subscription service. For kids, the Amazon Kids+ subscription service contains a lot of children's books and starts at $2.99 per month. You get a free year of it when y'all purchase the Kindle Kids Edition.
Book pick, size, and pricing varies from shop to store. Books past large publishers more often than not announced on the Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo stores. Just Amazon also has exclusive authors and imprints that only appear on its store. Many of them are self-published and non very good, but Amazon definitely has the advantage on quantity.
For more, see How to Put Costless Ebooks on Your Amazon Kindle. And for an in-depth comparison of supported formats across various ebook readers, check out Wikipedia'south commodity comparing ebook formats.
Amazon offers a number of different Kindles (Photograph: Zlata Ivelva)
How Much Should Y'all Spend on an Ebook Reader?
If yous're only reading mainstream fiction or nonfiction books, the sweet spot right now is $100 to $150 for a expert Amazon, B&Northward, or Kobo device. You tin can get a low-end model that costs less or a larger model that costs more, just the ebook readers at this price point tend to have the best rest of screen quality and size for nigh books.
Onyx's tablet-size readers cost considerably more than other ebook readers, just they're also much more powerful, letting you run multiple reading apps, comment PDFs, and read large-format documents on big screens. We run into these as primarily for academics, lawyers, people who read medical or scientific journals, and others who read for work or schoolhouse besides every bit for fun.
Which Ebook Reader Should Yous Purchase?
These are our favorite dedicated ebook readers you can buy today. If yous're getting a Kindle, bank check out our Amazon Kindle Tips Every Reader Needs to Know. And if you'd rather practice your reading on a bigger screen or one with color, head over to our peak tablet picks.
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