The perfect ereaders for 2025

Display screen measurement: 6” | Show kind: Black/white and colour E Ink | Decision: 300 dpi black & white, 150 dpi colour | Capability: 16GB| Battery life: As much as 42 days (30 min. each day, 30% brightness, Wi-Fi/BT off) | Waterproof score: IPX8 (submergible to six toes for 60 minutes) | Heat mild: Sure | Lock display adverts: No | Textual content codecs: EPUB, EPUB3, FlePub, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF, CBZ, CBR

Learn our full Kobo Clara Colour review

Our earlier decide for this class, the Kobo Clara 2E was a wonderful ereader with a crisp show, a heat glow and responsive, intuitive contact controls all housed in a water-resistant design that felt premium. When Rakuten introduced the Clara could be up to date, I frightened we’d see Kobo machine with superfluous revamping to justify an inflated worth. Fortunately, that’s not the case. The Kobo Clara Colour not solely provides colour and a quicker processor, it’s simply $10 greater than the earlier era.

Because the title suggests, this ereader provides colour to the web page, lending slightly vibrance to e book covers, tables and graphs, and even the panels of graphic novels. The expertise comes from E Ink, within the type of the Kaleido 3 module that includes a colour filter layer on prime of the usual black and white microcapsule layer. That ends in two totally different resolutions on one display: 150 dpi for colour and 300 dpi for textual content.

Full-color pages remind me of comedian e book artwork from the ‘60s, muted however saturated. Shade makes e book covers extra attractive and provides slightly selection to headings, and tables in some non-fiction books. It’s definitely not a essential characteristic, but it surely provides vibrance and it’s enjoyable. 

There’s a slight distinction in readability between the colour and non-color model of the Clara. When you look intently, you’ll be able to see a little bit of noise on the white elements of the web page. That is because of the added colour filter layer. It is not distracting and solely one thing I seen when evaluating the 2 generations side-by-side. but when absolute readability is your major purpose, you might be higher off with a non-color ereader.

Most likely the extra helpful improve right here is the twin 2GHz processor, a bump from the Clara 2E’s 1GHz CPU. There’s a noticeable enchancment within the pace of the web page turns and navigating from the menu to the web page and again once more is almost instantaneous. As with the 2E, the Color hardly ever errors a swipe for a faucet or a web page flip gesture for a menu request.

The adjustable heat entrance mild continues to be right here (it’s truly slightly hotter on the Color) and makes studying at evening simple on the eyes. The working system is identical, with intuitive entry to the Kobo retailer, your private books and titles out of your native library through Overdrive. You’ll be able to customise your studying expertise with choices for font, font measurement, line spacing, margins and so forth. Kobos don’t have a technique to save a bunch of show settings just like the Kindle does, so I’d like to see that added with future OS upgrades. However for now, the customizations are simply sufficient to get your e book the way you need it to look.

The Color is almost similar in form and measurement, and has the identical premium really feel because the 2E, although the plastic has a grainier end. The bezels are noticeably much less flush with the display now, although that didn’t alter my studying enjoyment.

Now that it prices $150, the Kobo Clara Color is $40 greater than the bottom mannequin Kindle. However the waterproof construct, heat entrance mild, responsive controls and lack of adverts (which price $20 to do away with on Amazon’s machine) make it price it. And, in nice information for the right to repair crowd, it’s even designed to be user-repaired as soon as it falls outdoors of guarantee via a partnership with iFixit. 

Rakuten nonetheless makes the Kobo Clara BW, which is almost similar to our earlier “greatest total” decide. It does not undergo from the slight readability loss that the colour overlay presents, but it surely additionally nonetheless has the older processor.   

After all, when you already personal a mountain of Kindle books, you might need to stick to Amazon’s system. In that case, the very best Kindle is Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite. It prices $160 and was just lately up to date with a extra highly effective processor and new E Ink tech that makes it exceptionally speedy whereas displaying high-contrast textual content. The nice and cozy mild is nice and the flush entrance display feels premium.

Yet one more consideration, now that Amazon now has its personal colour mannequin too, is the . The unique prices $280, which is considerably costlier than the Clara Color and even the . In July, Amazon launched a colour mannequin for $230. It has much less storage, no wi-fi charging and no auto-adjusting front-lights, however prices $30 lower than the unique.

Display screen measurement: 6” | Show kind: Black/white E Ink | Decision: 300dpi | Capability: 16GB | Battery life: 6 weeks | Waterproof score: None | Heat mild: No | Lock display adverts: Sure | Textual content codecs: Kindle Format 8 (AZW3), Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; PDF, DOCX, DOC, HTML, EPUB, TXT, RTF, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP via conversion

When you simply need to learn books, and don’t have any want for the perks that the fancier ereaders convey (colour, waterproof score, heat mild, and so forth), then the bottom mannequin Kindle is for you. The six-inch, non-flush show is housed in a textured plastic that feels much less premium than, say, the Paperwhite and even the 2 Kobos on our checklist, however nonetheless feels loads sturdy. And it’s sufficiently small to slot in a coat or again pocket making it very travel-friendly.

It’s unlucky that the 2024 mannequin is $10 greater than the 2022 mannequin when not a lot has modified, but it surely’s nonetheless the most cost effective ereader from any of the main producers. And if we all know one factor about Amazon, it’s that the corporate loves a very good sale, so that you’ll doubtless discover it on low cost when you can maintain out for Prime Day or Black Friday offers.

The reader is a no-frills gateway to the very best of what the Kindle ecosystem has to supply, together with Kindle Exclusive titles, with books by established authors in addition to newer, self-published writers; Kindle Unlimited provides the widest collection of any subscription-based studying service on the market; and Audible Originals is made up of narrated titles and podcasts you’ll be able to solely hear via a Kindle machine or Amazon-owned app.

When you like to modify between audiobooks and ebooks, Kindle is the way in which to go. While you purchase each iterations of a title, you not solely get a reduction, however the Whispersync characteristic strains up the place you might be within the e-printed model with the narration, too. Say you hear for an hour after which need to learn – the synchronization allows you to decide up on-screen the place you left off audibly. (Although we should always level out you could’t hear and browse concurrently on the identical machine.) In assessments, the characteristic was pretty correct, getting me shut sufficient on the web page or within the audio to determine my spot.

Web page turns are faster on the brand new mannequin however I’m dissatisfied that there’s nonetheless no technique to alter the zones and responses to touchscreen gestures, like there’s on each Kobo and Boox gadgets. Kindles all have a really slender strip on the left for going again a web page and I’m continuously lacking it and going ahead as an alternative. Although swipes usually work properly.

Most likely essentially the most noticeable lacking characteristic is the 6-inch display’s lack of heat mild. In comparison with any ereader with that possibility, the display on the usual Kindle seems harsh and bluish, but it surely’s nonetheless far simpler in your eyes than a telephone or pill display. There’s loads of customization for the font, measurement and margins, too. You’ll be able to even save your settings as a “theme,” one thing not provided by different gadgets. I created one with bigger textual content and wider line spacing referred to as “drained eyes.”

Some folks gained’t be bothered by the lock display adverts that come normal on this Kindle (until you pay $20 to take away them). They’re pretty innocuous, largely selling Kindle e book offers or particular titles (it’s not such as you’ll see promos for TVs or robotic pool cleaners). Personally, I like having the ability to set the sleep display to the e book cowl of what I’m at present studying, but it surely’s simple to recover from that if all you need is a extra handy technique to devour books on the lowest worth.

Display screen measurement: 7” | Show kind: Black/white and colour E Ink | Decision: 300 dpi black & white, 150 dpi colour | Capability: 32GB | Battery life: Weeks | Waterproof score: IPX8 (submergible to six toes for 60 minutes) | Heat mild: Sure | Lock display adverts: No | Textual content codecs: EPUB, EPUB3, FlePub, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF, CBZ, CBR

When Kobo got here out with the brand new Clara Color, it additionally debuted the new Libra Colour, which could be the extra thrilling of the 2 gadgets. Along with colour expertise from the E Ink Kaleido panel and an upgraded processor, the Libra now has stylus help. It’s the one ereader on this checklist with that characteristic, making it rather a lot like a small E Ink tablet — however all of its new options truly make it a greater ereader.

After I wrote in regards to the earlier era ereader, the Libra 2, I used to be impressed by how snug it was for studying. None of that has modified; the buttons and auto-rotating display adapt the machine to simply about any studying place you selected and the skinny design, textured again and soft-touch plastic give it a premium really feel. 

Kobo’s interface is almost the identical right here as with different fashions, properly organized to allow you to simply discover your present reads or browse and search new titles from Kobo’s retailer or your native library within the Overdrive tab. The customizations for mild and textual content allow you to get the web page wanting simply the way you prefer it, however there aren’t so many choices that it feels such as you’re writing code.

The brand new options add to the expertise. In colour, e book covers all look extra attractive — although, in case your TBR checklist is already three toes lengthy, this gained’t not assist issues. The brand new processor makes waking from sleep, turning pages, navigating the menu and altering orientation zippy quick.

Then there’s the standing compatibility. Attempt as they could, some new applied sciences don’t yet beat their real-world counterparts. That’s largely how I really feel about styluses — I’m only a large fan of pen on paper. However Kobo’s stylus makes it so enjoyable to focus on textual content and scribble notes within the margins of a e book that I’m beginning to come round. Plus, it neatly and magnetically attaches to the facet so it doesn’t get misplaced.

Urgent and holding the button on the facet of the stylus highlights textual content whereas flipping it round erases. I by chance pressed the button a number of occasions after I was attempting to jot down, however I obtained used to the position after a couple of minutes of utilizing it. You’ll be able to decide from 4 totally different highlighter colours and look at your written notes and spotlighted textual content within the notes part of any title — which I might see being fairly helpful for e book membership reads, faculty assignments or simply refreshing your self on a previous learn earlier than you dive into the sequel.

Be aware-taking within the margins or straight on the textual content labored on each e book I attempted. Although I ought to level out that when you change the font measurement in a e book, your handwritten notes will probably be transformed to a sticky note-type field. Going again to the unique font restores your unique annotations.

The Kobo Libra Color is $30 costlier than the Libra 2, however you get rather a lot for $220. If it had been simply an ereader, the beautiful colours, responsive studying expertise, quick web page turns and straightforward highlights would make it definitely worth the worth. However you additionally get options that make it extra than simply an ereader, like Dropbox and Google Drive integration, a beta net browser and free-writing and text-converting notebooks.

After all, the stylus prices additional and also you gained’t get options like notebooks and writing within the margins with out it. Collectively, the set prices $290, which is a substantial $110 cheaper than the just lately updated (and hottest) stylus-enabled ereader the Amazon Kindle Scribe. It is also cheaper than Kobo’s personal 10-inch mannequin, the Elipsa 2E. The Scribe has a, 10.2-inch display and the Elipsa 2E has a ten.3-inch display. That is a pleasant measurement for writing however, for me, is slightly large for an ereader. The Libra Color alternatively has simply the correct options on the proper measurement, plus some extras that stretch its usefulness. Amazon used to have an ereader with buttons within the Kindle Oasis, however that mannequin has been discontinued. 

Display screen measurement: 6” | Show kind: Black/white E Ink | Decision: 300dpi | Capability: 32GB | Battery life: 12 weeks | Waterproof score: IPX8 | Heat mild: Sure, auto adjustable | Lock display adverts: No| Textual content codecs: Kindle Format 8 (AZW3), Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; PDF, DOCX, DOC, HTML, EPUB, TXT, RTF, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP via conversion

Learn our full Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition review

After I reviewed the brand new Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, I used to be struck by the elevated studying expertise it offered. It’s remarkably quick, the textual content is splendidly crisp and it has a premium design that feels nice to carry. Amazon was capable of enhance web page flip and scrolling speeds for each the usual Paperwhite and the Signature Version by giving them new processors and utilizing an oxide thin-film transistor layer to allow quicker adjustments on the web page. The layer additionally permits for higher show readability than different transistor layers.

Each the usual and Signature fashions have heat entrance lights that solid a stunning glow throughout a display that’s slightly bigger now at 7-inches (up from 6.8 final time). The battery life is longer, promising as much as 12 weeks (as an alternative of 10), which means you’ll hardly ever have to cost your ereader. Regardless of that, the Paperwhite fashions are literally three millimeters thinner than the earlier era (and only a contact heavier).

With the Signature Version, you additionally get auto-adjusting entrance lights that dim or brighten as daylight fades otherwise you transfer from room to room. The storage capability goes up from 16GB to 32GB, so even when you obtain a complete bunch of audiobooks, you aren’t prone to run out of area too rapidly. And at last, you get a wi-fi charging possibility for the periodic events when it’s time for a refill. All of these options are good to have, although not essential — however for anybody who needs to learn ebooks in essentially the most luxe approach doable, the Signature mannequin is the one to go for.

In order for you an expertise that’s almost as deluxe, however don’t want the wi-fi charging, auto-adjusting lights and additional capability specs, the non-Signature Paperwhite continues to be noticeably extra premium than the usual Kindle, with a bigger display, ultra-crisp textual content and an expensive construct. Plus you continue to get entry to all of the perks that solely Kindles provide, like Goodreads integration, Kindle Unique titles, Kindle Limitless subscription books and Whispersync tech that strains up your audio and e-book reads so you’ll be able to swap between the 2 codecs. 

There’s additionally the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Kids, which is identical gadget, however comes with a canopy, an extended guarantee and a six-month subscription to Amazon Children+. 

Display screen measurement: 7” | Show kind: Black/white and colour E Ink | Decision: 300 dpi black & white, 150 dpi colour | Capability: 64GB | Battery life: Weeks | Waterproof score: splash-resistant | Heat mild: Sure | Lock display adverts: No | Textual content codecs: PDF, CAJ, DJVU, CBR, CBZ, EPUB, EPUB3, AZW3, MOBI, TXT, DOC, DOCX, FB2, CHM, RTF, HTML, ZIP, PRC, PPT, PPTX, PNG, JPG, BMP, TIFF

Shade E Ink screens are the “new” factor in ereaders — though the tech has been commercially accessible since around 2010. E Ink introduced its Kaleido 3 show in 2022, and with the correct mixture of colour saturation and readability, it’s now interesting sufficient for common consumption. Now Boox, Kobo and, at last, Amazon all have fashions with colour screens.

The Boox Go Color 7 (accessible from Amazon and Boox) is a pure option to supplant our earlier winner on this class, the Boox Web page. The Go Shade 7 not solely provides colour, it additionally comes with double the storage capability, an additional gig of RAM and ships with Android 12. The again is now textured as an alternative of slick, an improve my accident-prone fingers are grateful for, and the processor is quicker too, going from a 2.0Ghz octa core CPU to a 2.4Ghz chip. This all comes on the similar $250 checklist worth because the Web page. The battery has the identical 2,300mAh capability, however ereader batteries final the order of some weeks, so an improve in that division wasn’t actually essential.

For the reason that Go Shade 7 runs on a fork of Android 12, it acts extra like a pill than a standard ereader. Like all Boox gadgets, this strategy is greatest suited to the tech-savvy. In contrast to a Kindle or Kobo, which come preconfigured with a retailer to purchase books, in addition to simple borrowing out of your native library system, Boox ereaders provide little hand-holding in setup and utilization. Whereas there’s a retailer, it’s made up of public area titles — most individuals will learn books by importing ePubs manually. Or, extra doubtless, you’ll learn on a third-party ereader app like Kobo, Kindle, Libby and others, which you’ll obtain from the built-in Google Play retailer.

Boox’s built-in ereader app, NeoReader, is properly featured with a very good quantity of management over the look of the textual content. Nevertheless it solely handles DRM-free ePub information from websites like Venture Gutenberg or publishers like Tor. If you wish to learn ePubs with digital rights administration, which make up the overwhelming majority of present ebooks, you’ll want to make use of a unique app. Sarcastically, I’ve been utilizing the ereader app from PocketBook (a rival firm) to learn the DRM ePubs I buy from third events.

The Go Collection readers are impressively customizable, with programmable buttons and fine-tunable settings. Boox users have created APK information to tweak and enhance the expertise additional. The machine even has a microphone and audio system, and might run apps like Spotify. In brief, the Go Shade 7 can do excess of a typical ereader can, when you’re prepared to experiment.

The expertise is enhanced with a comfortable, adjustable entrance mild with temperature management that makes for nice low-light studying and the flush, glare-free, display is lush and detailed. Like all colour ereaders, you do hand over a modicum of readability to accommodate the colour array, and the heat is noticeably extra yellow. I solely seen the distinction after I set comparable ereaders side-by-side and, actually, it’s the distinction between a tremendous duper crisp display and solely a brilliant crisp display.

The comfortable and muted colours have a saturated appear to be watercolors or previous comedian e book illustrations. Evaluating the identical e book cowl on the Kobo Clara Color and this, the Boox hues do look a contact grainier and fewer wealthy. However that’s a small sacrifice when you want an ereader that may do excess of simply carry your books round.

Display screen measurement: 6.13” | Decision: 300 dpi | Capability: 128GB | Water-proof: Sure, splashes and spills | Heat mild: Sure | Lock display adverts: No | Textual content codecs: PDF, CAJ, DJVU, CBR, CBZ, EPUB, EPUB3, AZW3, MOBI, TXT, DOC, DOCX, FB2, CHM, RTF, HTML, ZIP, PRC, PPT, PPTX

Boox has the widest vary of codecs of any ereader firm I’ve examined — and the Boox Palma is essentially the most enjoyable. It’s the identical measurement and form as a smartphone and, in a number of methods, it acts like one, too. The house display is a muted black-and-white model of what you may discover on a regular Android telephone — you’ll be able to even add widgets. Like most Boox gadgets, it might obtain and run apps from the Google Play Retailer and has audio system to play music and movies. The E Ink display (a Carta 1200) renders textual content crisply, however photographs, significantly transferring ones, look grainier and rougher than they might on an actual telephone’s LCD or OLED display. That mentioned, the video high quality is the very best I’ve seen on an E Ink display, because of a software program enchancment Boox calls Tremendous Refresh Expertise.

The most recent era of the Palma provides an upgraded processor, a fingerprint unlock button and ships with Android 13, all of which ought to make it much more succesful. However make no mistake, it’s not going to exchange your telephone. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are the one connectivity and the 16MP digicam is only for making doc scans you’ll be able to convert to PDFs. However the phone-like construct is comfortingly acquainted and the E Ink display is gorgeous to learn. At $280, it’s costlier than a regular ereader — and even some E Ink tablets — but it surely’s a extremely transportable technique to learn Kindle, Kobo, Google Books and different ePubs, whereas additionally dealing with easy video games and apps like a smartphone. When you’re sick of the glow of your handset, the Boox Palma is a captivating various.