Comparing Our Favorite E-Readers
Honorable Mentions
Below, you'll find a fewer much e-readers we similar but don't needfully emotion arsenic overmuch arsenic our apical picks.
Boox Go 7 ($250) and Boox Color Go 7 ($290): Boox is known for its wide scope of e-paper tablets, including the Palma 2 recommended above. If you're looking for thing a small larger with a akin Android-based experience, the Go 7 and Go Color 7 are a coagulated choice. There are leafage turner buttons, and it's a bully quadrate signifier that's casual to clasp and use. The Go 7 is black-and-white, but you tin get a colour surface for $40 much with the Go Color 7. I don't usage colour features a ton, truthful it's worthy redeeming wealth if you won't either, but it's large that the terms quality isn't steep.
Boox Palma 2 for $316: This is simply a amusive small pouch sized device, and it has a bully upgrade from the older exemplary with fingerprint recognition, a faster CPU, and a newer mentation of Android. WIRED Review Adrienne So loves utilizing it with the Kindle app, but she wishes it outgo less. It's presently unavailable, and I'm waiting to spot if it comes backmost successful banal oregon is replaced with a caller mentation this year.

The Kindle Colorsoft.
Kindle Colorsoft Signature for $280 and Kindle Colorsoft ($250): The Kindle Colorsoft Signature is Amazon's archetypal Kindle with a colour screen. It has a surface with an oxide backplane, which Amazon says delivers amended opposition and representation prime on with custom-formulated coatings and nitride LEDs for brightness and colour accuracy. But the surface is capped astatine 150 ppi for colour images, versus 300 ppi for achromatic and white, and the acquisition of speechmaking is inactive a small fuzzier erstwhile compared to the latest Paperwhite. It takes noticeably longer to process colour images, too. It's missing features that are by present modular connected different colour e-readers, similar leafage crook buttons and stylus support. It's not a bad Kindle, and colour does enrich the full e-reading experience, but we suggest waiting for a discount during an Amazon merchantability event. Kindle has since launched a cheaper option, the Kindle Colorsoft ($250) that has little retention (only 16 GB, verus 32 GB) and nary auto-adjusting airy oregon wireless charging.
Kindle Scribe (2nd Gen, 2024) for $400: The second-generation Kindle Scribe is simply a large enactment if you privation an e-reader that doubles arsenic a integer notebook, but besides privation to stay wrong the Kindle ecosystem. It has a 10.2-inch (300 ppi) paperlike show with features similar adjustable lukewarm airy and an auto-adjusting beforehand light. The included Premium Pen besides has a soft-tipped eraser (mimicking that of a No.2 pencil). With Active Canvas and expandable margins, you tin besides people up ebooks and constitute notes successful the broadside panel. Amazon has announced 3 much Kindle Scribes are coming retired this winter, including colour options, truthful we'll beryllium investigating those erstwhile they're available.
Kindle Scribe (3rd Gen, 2025) for $500: The latest Kindle Scribe arrived successful December 2025 with a colour version, a caller exterior plan that does distant with the azygous thicker side, and adjacent bezels and frames crossed each sizes. It has a caller homepage plan that makes it casual to entree your latest books and notebooks, and a speedy notes leafage you tin besides hop into. It besides has a caller acceptable of AI features that tin summarize things for you and adjacent nonstop your notes to an Alexa+-powered talker truthful you tin inquire questions astir them, but overall, these features aren't indispensable and conscionable thrust up the price. The older Kindle Scribe (2nd Gen) is inactive my preferred enactment if you privation a Kindle e-reader that doubles arsenic a integer notebook.
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Kindle Scribe (3rd Gen) connected the left, and Kindle Scribe Colorsoft connected the right.
Kindle Scribe Colorsoft for $630: Amazon brought the colour surface to the Kindle Scribe precocious past year, with a redesigned exterior to lucifer the caller third-gen Kindle Scribe. The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft works precisely however you'd expect, with a scope of colors and tools you tin usage connected the notebooks and portion speechmaking your books arsenic well. There are besides respective AI features, which is portion of what makes it truthful pricey. I deliberation it's excessively costly for not being capable to alteration into an e-paper laptop similar the ReMarkable Paper Pro, but if you truly wanted to instrumentality with Kindle and person a colorful integer notebook and e-reader successful 1 device, this is the 1 to get.
Nook GlowLight 4 Plus for $200: The 4 Plus is the lone waterproof Nook successful the lineup, and it has the biggest surface astatine 7.8 inches, on with 32 GB of storage. It besides has carnal page-turn buttons and a headphone jack for listening to audiobooks (but you tin besides link wireless earbuds via Bluetooth). But it was often slower than my Kindle and tended to freeze. While the ample room has inexpensive and adjacent escaped ebooks, it's not arsenic bully a enactment arsenic Kindle Unlimited. The process of getting a publication from the room connected a Nook is besides beyond frustrating. You'll request to download either Adobe Digital Editions oregon Android File Transfer earlier connecting the instrumentality to your machine physically and past transferring the files.
FAQs
Ebooks tin beryllium cheap, but arsenic with regular books, the outgo tin adhd up if you're a large reader. You should instrumentality vantage of your room paper and cheque retired ebooks instantly from the comfortableness of your home. We person a elaborate usher that explains however to get escaped room books, but the abbreviated mentation is that astir libraries administer books via OverDrive. You tin entree these books a fewer ways, done Kindle oregon straight from OverDrive with a Kobo, oregon you tin download the Libby app. These ebooks are automatically removed from your instrumentality and returned to the room erstwhile they're due.
Each e-reader's ain publication work varies successful quality. Our favourite is Kindle Unlimited for $12 a month, which includes millions of titles, including audiobooks and magazines. Amazon's Prime Reading besides offers a fistful of escaped books each month, which is bully to cognize if you already person a Prime account. You tin adjacent lend books to friends and household for a abbreviated portion (or person them stock a publication with you). We person a roundup of the Best Ebook Subscription Services here.
What File Formats Do E-Readers Support?
The astir wide utilized format is ePub, which works natively with each the e-readers successful this usher but for Kindle—technically. You tin inactive upload ePub files to your Kindle, but you'll person usage the “Send to Kindle” diagnostic (through Amazon, your email, oregon the Kindle app) to person it to Amazon's proprietary format called AZW. (Newer Kindles enactment AZW3 and KFX, specifically). Other formats that volition enactment with these e-readers see PDF, TXT, HTML, DOC, and DOCX.
Can I Install Apps connected an E-Reader?
The Kindle, Kobo, and Nook usage proprietary operating systems that don't let you to instal third-party apps. The Boox, connected the different hand, runs Android (mainly Android 11 and newer). So, that means you tin usage it to download immoderate apps disposable successful the Google Play Store oregon side-load apps from your computer.
Do You Need an E-Reader? What About a Phone oregon Tablet?
You don't have to bargain a abstracted instrumentality to work ebooks. Smartphones and tablets are cleanable for this purpose. You tin usage Amazon's Kindle app to work ebooks (iOS, Android), and adjacent download OverDrive's Libby app (iOS, Android) for room publication entree anyplace arsenic well. However, the E Ink screens recovered successful e-readers are conscionable nicer to look at. I besides similar that these devices are one-trick ponies; determination are nary notifications to beryllium distracted by oregon societal media feeds to doomscroll through.
If you'd inactive alternatively person 1 astute instrumentality you tin work connected and usage for different purposes, instrumentality a look astatine our Best Tablets and Best iPads guides for recommendations.
What About a Digital Notebook?
We’ve tried a fewer E Ink tablets meant for taking “handwritten” notes that tin beryllium organized and searched digitally. E-readers with that capableness inactive prioritize reading. If the Kobo Libra Colour isn't large capable for your note-taking needs, you mightiness similar these. Right now, our favourite E Ink tablet is the $629 ReMarkable Paper Pro which lets you instrumentality notes with a responsive stylus connected a colour E Ink screen. However, it's not meant for reading—you tin work PDFs connected it, but the acquisition of getting books connected it is acold from seamless compared to Kobos and Kindles.
How Does WIRED Test E-Readers?
The astir important happening we bash erstwhile investigating e-readers is work connected them! We walk hours speechmaking books acquired successful a assortment of formats, from books purchased straight from each brand's store, downloaded from section libraries via OverDrive/Libby, oregon PDFs acquired for escaped from God knows where.
In the process, we measure artillery life, brightness, lag, surface responsiveness, and substance sharpness. We cheque for other tools similar annotation, and whether oregon not the tablet accommodates accessories similar a stylus. We besides enactment if the tablet has different features, similar waterproofing oregon entree to large exclusive subscription services.
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