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This 7-inch e-reader is faster than previous models and has a higher contrast ratio, which measures how much brighter the white parts of the screen are.
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Pros
Great screen and long battery life
Lightweight despite larger screen than regular Kindle
Written byMarc Saltzman, total tech expert and accomplished author with a passion for Apple products, game design, and making electronics approachable.
Updated June 16, 2025
While your social media feed may be flooded with posts that ask, “What to read?” there is also the debate about “What to read on?”
Paperbacks and hardcovers are fine, but they take up a lot of space in your travel bag or on a dusty bookshelf. You need to leave your home to buy books or wait for them to be delivered. You can’t adjust the font size or double-tap on a word for a dictionary definition. This is making e-readers sound pretty enticing, huh?
Tablets are also OK for reading e-books—but only while indoors. You can’t easily see your screen while outside, and schlepping that expensive slate to a pool or the beach is asking for trouble. Not to mention tablets can get heavy to hold, battery life isn’t great, and it’s easy to get distracted by email or social media notifications.
Thank us later, but we’ve researched and tested the best e-readers available right now. They’re relatively inexpensive, thin and lightweight, and can store thousands of e-books (you can download in seconds apiece). They’re conducive for reading indoors before bed or outdoors, most are waterproof, and battery life can last weeks or even months.
Have we sold you on picking up your first or next e-reader?
As for which one, you’ve got several good options, many of which we discuss here. Amazon’s Kindle devices are the most popular, each capable of carrying thousands of books, and sometimes audiobooks, magazines, and comics. Its largest model also includes a stylus pen to take notes, jot down ideas, or sketch images whenever and wherever creativity hits.
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Reviewed / Amazon
Best e-reader
Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition (32GB, 2024)
Dimensions: 5 x 7 x 0.3 inches
Weight: 7.4 ounces
Display size: 7.0 inches
Screen resolution: 300 ppi
Storage: 32 GB (Signature Edition) or 16 GB (Regular Model)
Bluetooth capable: Yes
Waterproof: Yes
Battery Life: Up to 12 weeks
The Kindle Paperwhite (Gen 12)—or even better, the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition (Gen 12)—are Amazon’s best Kindles you can buy today.
These 7-inch ereaders are now faster than previous models (up to 25% faster page turns), and boast a higher contrast ratio, a measurement of how much brighter the white parts of the screen are compared to the black (the text).
We spent hands-on time the Signature Edition, which offers twice the storage of the regular Kindle Paperwhite (32GB instead of 16GB), an auto-adjusting front light (based on the environment you’re in), wireless (“Qi”) charging along with a standard USB-C port, and enhanced (“metallic”) colors over the regular Kindle Paperwhite, available in black, jade and raspberry.
The 7-inch display—the “sweet spot” between portability and readability, in our humble opinion—is small and light enough to bring virtually anywhere, but e-books and other content look great at this size.
If you’re reading by the pool or at the beach, Kindle Paperwhite (all versions) enjoys IPX8 protection, which means it can be submerged in up to 2 meters of water (about 6.5 feet) for up to an hour. Battery life tops 12 weeks via USB-C cable (included), based on 30 minutes of reading per day with the light setting at 13 (and with wireless turned off).
Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition is close to a perfect 10, but it’s not an inexpensive e-reader. That, and the non-Signature Edition only offers half the storage, doesn’t include an auto-sensing front display (for brightness to be adjusted automatically), and does not support wireless charging (if that matters to you).
Pros
Great screen and long battery life
Lightweight despite larger screen than regular Kindle
One of the best overall e-book readers we reviewed, the Kobo Libra Color checks virtually all the boxes.
Buy, browse, and read e-books on its 7-inch glare-free “Kaleido 3” e-ink display. The Kobo bookstore rivals Amazon Kindle Store in its selection and layout; plus, you can download audiobooks or borrow them from your local library, virtually, with the integrated Overdrive support on the Kobo itself (requiring a valid library card number).
Swipe or tap the display to turn pages or use one of the two buttons. A sensor automatically turns on the front light when it detects you’re in a dark environment. Other features include: auto-rotation (for switching to landscape or portrait view or to switch which side the buttons are on for left-handed folks); font and margin customization; and an optional dark mode which reverses the standard black text on a white background.
Color is ideal for book covers, comics, graphic novels, kids’ e-books (with illustrations), and for those who’d like to mark-up and annotate documents using highlighted text in multiple colors (like students and businesspeople).
While not included (boo), Kobo Libra Color supports the Kobo Stylus 2 digital pen, which can also be used to jot down info in your journal/daily planner, built into in this e-reader.
Rated IP68, Kobo Libra Color is fully waterproof for up to 60 minutes submerged in as much as 2 meters (about 6 feet) of water. Speaking of water, this eco-friendly e-reader was created with ocean-bound plastic.
As for battery life, a single charge will last up to 40 days, based on 30 minutes of reading per day with the front light at 30 percent brightness and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth disabled. Next to the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, the Kobo Libra Color is our favorite e-reader out of the bunch. Seriously consider this one.
Pros
Exceptional reading experience
Notetaking and marking up (in multiple colors)
Waterproof, Bluetooth, and plenty of storage at 32GB
At 6 inches, Amazon Kindle is an affordable purse (or jacket pocket)-sized e-reader that benefits from faster page turns over its predecessor, a higher contrast ratio (with text, at 300 pixels per inch, resembling dark ink), and a brighter front light that’s 25% brighter at max setting.
The brighter light is ideal for reading books in bed, without disturbing a partner, or on an overnight flight without needing to turn on an overhead light. Conversely, there’s also a Dark Mode, which reverses the text and screen color to become white text on a black screen.
Storage now starts at 16 gigabytes (GB), which is more than enough to store thousands of e-books, but also ample for audiobooks via Audible (also owned by Amazon), which requires you to enable Bluetooth in the Settings and pair wireless headphones or a speaker.
Battery life tops 6 weeks on the Kindle, with low brightness and wireless turned off, but still many weeks with everything enabled.
Available in black or a greenish matcha color, this entry-level Kindle is a great device. As with other Kindles, there are many ways to load content onto the device, with most downloading from the Kindle Store (with more than 15 million titles worldwide), plus there’s Prime Reading (for Amazon Prime members), a Kindle Unlimited subscription (from $11.99/month) for all-you-can read access, and the ability to email or “sideload” (via USB) .epub files and other kinds of ebooks to your Kindle.
A bigger issue is that it is not waterproof, so do not bring this to a beach, by a pool (unless you take good care of it), or into a bubble bath.
Pros
Excellent value
Compact and lightweight
Brighter, lighter, and faster page turns than predecessors
Screen resolution: 300 ppi (150 ppi for color content)
Storage: 16 GB
Bluetooth capable: Yes
Waterproof: No
Battery life: Up to 6 weeks
A high-quality and waterproof e-reader for under $150 is already a great buy, but it’s even sweeter when it’s a color model, too.
Kobo Clara Color is a compact 6-inch device—perfect to slip into a clutch purse or into your jeans’ back pocket—that features a glare-free screen and touchscreen interface. Like other e-readers, you can change fonts and font sizes, access a dictionary, highlight text, and much more.
While color isn’t necessary for regular books, we’d argue, Kobo’s color “Kaleido 3” e-ink display is ideal for magazines, marking up documents with a (virtual) yellow highlighter (or other colors), and kids’ books with illustrations. Your bookshelf and the Kobo bookstore look great, too, when book covers are in color.
Speaking of the screen, the ComfortLight PRO display lets you adjust brightness and color temperature (for blue light reduction) at any time. Further customize your e-books with varying font styles, line spacing, or even “Dark Mode,” which inverts the display, showing white text on a black background instead of the standard black text on white.
Have a pair of wireless headphones or a nearby speaker? You can play audiobooks for when you want to be consumed in a story while walking through an airport or with your eyes closed in bed.
Along with the regular Kobo e-bookstore, which lets you download millions of titles—including New York Times Bestsellers—Kobo also offers Kobo Plus eBook and Audiobook subscriptions. As the name suggests, this gives you access to more than 1.5 million books (for $7.99/month), more than 150,000 audiobooks (also for $7.99/month), or both together, called Kobo Plus Read & Listen, for $9.99/month.
With its 16GB of storage, it can hold up to 12,000 e-books (or 75 Kobo Audiobooks), including ones you can freely borrow from your local library, whether you bring this to the beach, pool, or bathtub (as it boasts full IP68 waterproof protection). It’s a great e-reader for a great price.
Pros
Waterproof, color screen at a great price
Borrowing library e-books is easier than Amazon Kindle e-readers
Bluetooth for audiobooks
Cons
Battery life isn’t as good as other e-readers
Screen lighting doesn’t automatically change based on environment
Anyone who rides a crowded bus or subway to and from work, holding onto a pole for dear life, will be able to appreciate the versatility of this e-reader that can easily be gripped one-handed. The Boox Palma 2’s svelte design—taller and narrower than most other e-readers—is the contributing factor.
That is, the 6.13-inch monochrome e-reader (measured diagonally) is only about 3.1 inches wide, and so a very slender slate for consuming content. As such, it also slides smoothly into a coat pocket for when you need to take a break from reading. It weighs 170 grams (about 6 ounces), which is comparable to the Kobo Clara’s 174 grams but heavier than the Amazon Kindle’s 158 grams.
As for the display itself, it’s an HD Carta 1200 e-ink glass touchscreen, with 300 pixels-per-inch resolution (comparable to other e-readers in this round-up), an automatic front light for reading in dim environments, and auto-rotation if you want to read in landscape format.
Built on Android 13 and available in black or white, Palma 2 supports multiple e-book, document, and image formats, and it also supports MP3, WAV, and other audio files. This means you can load up audiobooks, podcasts, and music onto the e-reader. Unlike most others, there’s a speaker and headphone jack, too, if you don’t want to leverage the Bluetooth built into this device.
The Palma 2 is probably the most “tablet”-like e-reader on this list since it can do more than competing devices (one example is the 16-megapixel rear camera, ideal for document scanning) and includes built-in dual microphones for recording ideas or notes during a lecture or business meeting, expandable storage via microSD, a multi-purpose button you can use to summon an AI assistant, support for third-party apps via Google Play store, and a section for notes and a to-do list (with fingerprint sensor for built-in security).
While not everyone will want a tablet-like e-reader as it could add to distractions, these help the Boox Palma 2 differentiate itself from the pack.
Pros
Unique, narrow design
Large amount of storage
Built-in headphone jack and speaker for audiobooks
One of the (many) benefits of an e-reader as opposed to paper books is the ability to carry unlimited reading material with you as you globetrot, and it's smaller and lighter than a typical magazine.
At 32 gigabytes, the Barnes & Noble Nook Glowlight 4 e-reader offers the most storage for the price out of any brand-name e-reader we’ve come across.
We’re talking tens of thousands of e-books here—more than you’ll ever likely get through. It’s overkill, perhaps, since this Nook doesn’t play audiobooks (which use up more space than text-based e-books), but those who want peace of mind will love the huge amount of storage offered by this relatively affordable 6-inch e-reader.
Like many other e-readers, the high-resolution screen is capable of 300 pixels per inch (ppi), which is crisp enough to resemble real ink on paper. The glare-free display means it’s ideal for reading in direct sunlight; plus, it’s scratch and fingerprint-resistant, but not waterproof.
To turn pages, you can touch the screen or press a button (up to you), while the ambient sensor automatically enables the backlight when it’s dark in the environment you’re reading in (called GlowLight illumination). There’s an option for a warmer (anti-blue) light for nighttime reading, too.
Download books from the Nook store, side-load content books through software like Adobe Digital Editions (via USB cable), or borrow books from the library using the Nook Reading App and then synchronize between all devices. The app is available for iPhone, iPad, and Android smartphones and tablets. Too bad the Nook app for Windows was discontinued near the end of 2023, so you can’t use a Windows PC to add to your library.
The Barnes & Noble Nook Glowlight 4 eReader isn’t waterproof, and there isn’t Bluetooth to listen to audiobooks, but for its price, it’s a competent e-reader with lots of storage to hold many tens of thousands of books.
The largest Kindle you can buy today isn’t just for reading but note-taking, too. The 10.2-inch Kindle Scribe includes a stylus pen that feels like writing on paper, whether you want to jot down billion-dollar ideas, take notes during boardroom meetings or college lectures, sketch out designs for work or play, or mark-up/annotate books or PDF documents.
This Active Canvas, as Amazon calls it, lets you start writing on a book page and will automatically adjust the text to fit alongside your notes, and remember it’s there when you return to that page. Even if you change the font size, the page will automatically reformat to keep your notes where you left them. Handwritten notes can be transcribed into text and easily exported, if desired.
When not in use, it magnetically affixes to the right of the Kindle Scribe.
As an e-reader, this massive 10.2-inch screen may be preferred over considerably smaller 6- or 7-inch Kindles, since you can read so many words onscreen before you need to turn pages. It’s ideal for “lap” reading as it could be heavy after a while (at 433 grams). Similar to the smaller and non-stylus-supported Kindles, the glare-free screen features 300 ppi (pixels per inch) resolution and a front-lit display for reading and writing in dim environments.
There are multiple ways to import e-books and other content: download from the Kindle Store (with more than 15 million titles worldwide); the Prime Reading service (for Amazon Prime members); a Kindle Unlimited subscription (from $11.99/month) for all-you-can read access; and the ability to email or “sideload” (via USB) .epub files and other kinds of e-books to your Kindle.
E-readers can vary greatly in price and features, so how do you choose one that’s right for you? Doing some research goes a long way, which should include reading our hands-on features at Reviewed.com, of course.
Key features
Screen size: In assessing your needs, size is the first thing you should consider. The more compact the screen (with most starting at about 6 inches), the easier it is to carry around and hold while reading, but you won’t be able to fit as many words on the page as larger e-readers. You can shrink the font so that you don’t turn pages as often, sure, but it needs to be comfortable for you to read.
Display quality: If you like to read in the dark, such as beside a sleeping partner, you won’t need an overhead light if the e-reader has a built-in front light. Most do, but not all of them will automatically turn on if they sense a dim environment. If you like the convenience of an e-reader that will do this for you, make sure it has that feature before you buy. Some have a “soft light” option, too, which filters out blue light, useful for reducing eye strain and improving sleep quality, especially when using the device in the evening.
Battery: Unlike smartphones, e-readers should typically last at least a couple of weeks on a single charge, but ideally more. Nearly all of the e-readers we tested have weeks of battery life.
Connectivity: All e-readers feature Wi-Fi connectivity, allowing users to access the internet and download books and other content directly to the device. (Only early Kindle models had cellular connectivity.) Some e-readers let you send books to the devices via email or other means, and most allow you to “side load” content when connected to a computer through its USB port.
Storage: Just like other tech you may own—like a smartphone, tablet, or laptop—the higher the number of gigabytes (GB) of storage, the more content you can hold on the e-reader. In other words, a 32GB model has twice the storage capacity of a 16GB model. But here’s the thing with e-readers: Books are tiny files, and so even an e-reader with 16GB of storage can hold thousands of books at the same time. And so, 16GB should be enough for most book lovers, but e-readers that double as audiobook players or note-taking devices (or those that support color books and magazines) tend to have more storage, as those files can be bigger.
Built-in software: Most e-readers have convenient features like an integrated dictionary—you can tap (or double-tap) on a word to read a definition—as well multi-language support and/or language conversion tools, annotation features (to highlight or mark up textbooks, and such), bookmarking and sharing capabilities (to send friends passages) and more.
File support: Many e-readers support a wide variety of file formats, but the most crucial are ePub for general purpose, .mobi, or .AZW3 for Kindle devices, as well as .txt and .pdf for other general files. Outside of those, any other file formats supported may come in handy, but they also may not, depending on what you plan to do with your device.
Waterproof: If you want to bring your e-reader to a beach or pool while on vacation, or you’re a bathtub reader, you must look for a waterproof e-reader. When shopping for a waterproof e-reader, look for one with an IPX8 water resistance rating, which means it can be submerged in up to 2 meters (about 6.5 feet) of freshwater for an hour at a time. It should be noted that being waterproof doesn’t mean your e-reader is corrosion-proof, so you should still take care when close to water.
Brand: Another important consideration is which brand to go with, as each has a different e-book store to download content from. Amazon Kindle, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble are the biggest platforms, plus, most let you borrow e-books from a public library with a valid library card (and audiobooks, too).
Audiobook support: Do you like listening to audiobooks for when you want to multitask, like when walking down the street or through an airport, or to be read a story when closing your eyes at night? A growing number of e-readers support audiobooks, whether it requires Bluetooth headphones or a speaker, or you can hear audio out of the device itself (or with wired headphones). Most e-readers that can play audiobooks work on Bluetooth.
You get the point. Along with looking at your budget, consider how and where you’ll be consuming content, and that should help whittle down your choices.
FAQ: What To Know About E-readers
E-reader vs. smartphone vs. tablet: What’s the best (or worst) to read on?
If you don’t mind reading off a smallish screen, smartphones can be a convenient way to read books because they’re pocket-sized. You likely bring your phone everywhere, anyway, and you might be able to squeeze in a few pages during the last few minutes of your lunch break or while in line at the supermarket (and apps can synchronize with your e-reader or tablet to continue on a larger screen later on).
Tablets are also great for reading books, so long as you’re inside. E-readers are more conducive to reading outdoors because of their non-glare e-ink screen. They’re lighter than tablets, the battery lasts for weeks, not hours, and many models are waterproof. Some people also don’t want to see notifications, like social media updates or email message pop-ups while reading, which you would still get on a phone.
Are printed books better than e-readers?
E-readers don’t replace paper books—they merely supplement them.
Gifting a tangible hardcover book, perhaps with a personalized inscription, is a better (and more sentimental) gift than a voucher for a Kindle or Kobo e-book download. Many people like owning a bookcase with several dozen or hundreds of books they can lend to friends. You can drop off and/or take paperbacks and hardcover books from nearby “lending libraries” in parks or outside of homes on neighborhood streets. Paper books never run out of battery life or break down.
But e-readers have their benefits, too. For starters, they allow you to carry hundreds or thousands of titles at once—a boon when you’re traveling, say. They feature integrated night lights, the ability to change the font style and size, and the text margins, and built-in dictionaries. Some have audiobook support.
Lastly, e-readers all you to buy and download a book in mere seconds, without having to get up off the couch to visit a bookstore or wait for an Amazon delivery.
Why You Should Trust Our Expertise
We contacted e-reader brands to request loan units for those we didn’t already have access to.
We gauged the overall experience, from the initial setup to reading e-books in various places (and in varying lighting conditions), assessing what the e-reader was like to hold and flip pages, and testing other features it may have (such as audiobook playback).
We downloaded books from official stores, including Amazon, and accessed books with a couple of supported subscription services. Full disclosure: Kobo sent a gift code to download content from its bookstore, too. I also “side loaded” one of the books I authored, in .epub format, and a .pdf, and some comics and magazines, as well.
Copious notes were taken on the experience for each of the e-readers reviewed for this feature.
We considered who the right user for each product would be, such as a traveler, a beach or pool lover, a business professional, or a student who may want a notetaking device and e-reader in one, and so on.
For the inexpensive $100-ish e-readers, we wanted to know if some of the missing features, like a large and/or color screen, waterproofing, or Bluetooth connectivity, hampered the experience much.
Our experts
Marc Saltzman has been a technology journalist for the past 30 years, and he has always been fascinated by the intersection of technology and entertainment, be it digital music trends, streaming video services, and Smart TVs, interactive entertainment (i.e., videogames), and yes, e-books and audiobooks.
What Other Reviewers Are Saying About the Best e-Readers
To save you some time and trouble, we’ve gone ahead and researched what other competing publications and review sites are saying about e-readers.
Wirecutter: Wirecutter’s top “all-around” pick is the Amazon Kindle (2024), which we also like, but feel is a better budget buy.
PC Mag: Like us, PC Mag’s editors chose the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2024) as their “best bet” for buyers.
Consumer Reports: CR breaks down Kindle offerings by model and other differentiators, leading to a massive guide. However, Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite is a recommended e-reader among them.
Good Housekeeping: While a couple of years old, this e-reader round-up suggests Kindle and Kobo as top recommendations.
What Owners Are Saying About Our Best E-reader, the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition (Gen 12)
Amazon customers give the Kindle Paperwhite 4.6 out of 5 stars and over 7,400 reviews. User Cella says, “After years of being a staunch paperback book lover, I finally get the appeal of the e-reader. I love this thing, and honestly, I don't know if I can ever go back to reading paper books.”
Amazon: When it comes to the Signature Edition of the Kindle Paperwhite customers give it 4.6 stars out of 5 and 4,100 reviews.
Best Buy customers think it’s slightly better—4.8 stars out of only 252 reviews. Owner Zink says, “The only reason I didn’t give 5 stars is: 1) the screen glitches sometimes between pages, 2) it could have a smoother transition as you move within the Kindle.”
Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.
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Along with Reviewed and USA TODAY, Marc has been a freelance journalist for more than 20 publications, is a 16-time author (including Apple Watch For Dummies and Game Design: Secrets of the Sages), hosts the syndicated Tech It Out radio (and podcast), and is host of Tech Impact television show (on Bloomberg TV and FOX Business).
Based in Toronto, Marc specializes in consumer electronics, games and apps, smart home innovations, automotive tech, and future trends.
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