Comparing Our Favorite E-Readers
Model Display Resolution Color? Storage Weight Battery Life and Charging Kindle Paperwhite (2024, 12th Generation) 7 inches, adjustable warm light 300 ppi (pixels per inch) No 6 GB 7.4 ounces Up to 12 weeks, USB-C charging Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition (2024, 12th Generation) 7 inches, auto-adjusting front light 300 ppi No 32 GB 7.55 ounces Up to 12 weeks, USB-C and wireless charging Kobo Libra Colour 7 inches, adjustable front light 300 ppi, black-and-white; 150 ppi, color Yes 32 GB 7.03 ounces Up to 40 days, USB-C charging Boox Palma 2 6 inches, adjustable warm light 300 ppi No 6 GB 6 ounces Varies based on use Amazon Kindle 6 inches, adjustable front light 300 ppi No 16 GB 5.56 ounces Up to 6 weeks; USB-C charging Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Kids 7 inches, adjustable warm light 300 ppi No 6 GB 7.4 ounches Up to 12 weeks, USB-C
Honorable Mentions
Below, you'll find a few more e-readers we like but don't necessarily love as much as our top picks.
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Kindle Scribe 2024 for $400: The second-generation Kindle Scribe is a great option if you want an e-reader that doubles as a digital notebook, but also want to remain within the Kindle ecosystem. It has a 10.2-inch (300 ppi) paperlike display with features like adjustable warm light and an auto-adjusting front light. The included Premium Pen also has a soft-tipped eraser (mimicking that of a No.2 pencil). With Active Canvas and expandable margins, you can also mark up ebooks and write notes in the side panel.
Nook GlowLight 4 Plus for $200: The 4 Plus is the only waterproof Nook in the lineup, and it has the biggest screen at 7.8 inches, along with 32 GB of storage. It also has physical page-turn buttons and a headphone jack for listening to audiobooks (but you can also connect wireless earbuds via Bluetooth). But it was often slower than my Kindle and tended to freeze. While the large library has cheap and even free ebooks, it's not as good a selection as Kindle Unlimited. The process of getting a book from the library on a Nook is also beyond frustrating. You'll need to download either Adobe Digital Editions or Android File Transfer before connecting the device to your computer physically and then transferring the files.
Kindle Colorsoft Photograph: Brenda Stolyar
Kindle Colorsoft Signature for $280: The Kindle Colorsoft Signature is Amazon's first Kindle with a color screen. It has a screen with an oxide backplane, which Amazon says delivers better contrast and image quality along with custom-formulated coatings and nitride LEDs for brightness and color accuracy. But the screen is capped at 150 ppi for color images, versus 300 ppi for black and white, and the experience of reading is still a little fuzzier when compared to the latest Paperwhite. It takes noticeably longer to process color images, too. It's missing features that are by now standard on other color e-readers, like page turn buttons and stylus support. It's not a bad Kindle, and color does enrich the whole e-reading experience, but we suggest waiting for a discount during an Amazon sale event. Kindle has since launched a cheaper option, the Kindle Colorsoft ($250) that has less storage (only 16 GB, verus 32 GB) and no auto-adjusting light or wireless charging.
Kobo Clara Colour for $160: Our testers have really liked this color e-reader, especially compared to the Kindle Colorsoft. It's more affordable, but you still get to see book covers or graphic novels in full color, and you can highlight in color too. In testing, we found that some books weren't as easy on the eyes, like the blue-and-yellow color scheme of Curious George, but that was one small gripe in an otherwise seamless reading experience. The Clara lacks page-turn buttons, but the 6-inch screen size is comfortable for one-handed use. It has 16 gigabytes of storage rather than 32, but that's still about 12,000 books. There's Overdrive integration and Bluetooth support. It's also waterproof, made from recycled materials, and is repairable. Kobo just announced a new white colorway for this e-reader.
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