eBook readers have been around for years now and unlike in their early days, there are more options available on the market today.
We would like to see more companies making eReaders, but unfortunately, the market entry into this space requires a mammoth amount of work and investment.
This is because a complete ecosystem hosting e-books is also required to be provided.
Despite the limited number of options available on the market we fine pick the best eReader 2018 has to offer.
Although some may question the eReader practicality and debate about eReader vs tablet thinking that if you have the former, you do not need the latter. We actually disagree, as we believe the two devices have been intentionally designed for two different purposes and should not be compared. There are multiple reasons that make eReaders a better reading choice in 2018:
- Screen designed for easy reading and less eyestrain
- Glare resistant
- Water resistant (some models)
- Lighter and cheaper than a tablet
- Long battery life (weeks long)
- Book-like feel when reading
The days of Amazon Kindle being the only eReader option are long gone. The market now offers other alternatives, however not as many as we would like to. Given the alternatives available – should you still go for a Kindle or there is a better fit for you?
We have reviewed multiple eReaders and have shortlisted five. Additionally, we have picked the best eReader 2018 has to offer in each category and highlighted their cons and pros. At the end of the article, you will find a quick table summarising eReader features between all five models for easy comparison. All in all, if you are after a Kindle e-reader review or would like to learn about the alternative options – please stay tuned as we have some great content for you.
Best eReader 2018 – Quick Comparison
If you are short on time and not able to go through the detailed description of all the ebook readers in our review, we have prepared a table summarizing the most important aspects you need to know to make your decision. If you need a more detailed comparison, you will find it in the table at the bottom of this page.
| E-book Reader | Screen Size | Storage | Page Turns | Battery Life | |
|
(Editor’s Choice)
|
7″ | 8 or 32 Gb | Touchscreen + button | up to 6 weeks | |
| 6″ | 4Gb | Touchscreen | up to 8 weeks | ||
| 6″ | 4Gb | Touchscreen + page press | up to 6 weeks | ||
| 7,8″ | 8Gb | Touchscreen | up to 4 weeks | ||
|
(Editor’s Choice)
|
6″ | 8Gb | Touchscreen + buttons | up to 6 weeks |
How to chose?
There are a number of factors you would need to consider when buying an eReader. Below I have listed some handy tips for you to consider.
Screen Size
It appears that the market has established the 6″ screen size to be the most popular amongst the readers. But don’t worry, if your screen size preferences are different, we have couple more options on our list that we would be happy to recommend.
Outdoor use
If you are someone who likes reading outside then sun glare and the water exposure may be important to you. If you like reading out on a sunny day, then having a screen that is glare resistant is a must. If on top of that you like reading on the beach or next to a pool, then some level of water resistance would be highly recommended.
Connection
Most eReaders these days come with Wi-Fi, so I’d be really staying away from the ones that don’t. The question is more about whether you need the cellular internet connection or not. I personally do not find this feature useful, as I never run out of books to read whilst on the move. In fact, I tend to upload the books on my eReader way in advance. For the ones that do have a need to download books whilst on the go – the cellular internet connection would be required.
Ecosystem
The downside of ebooks is that there are multiple different formats as there is no universally agreed format amongst the publishers yet. This means that your Kindle ebook would not work on Kobo‘s or Barnes & Noble‘s ebook reader devices and vice versa.
There are also free or open formats such as ePub. You may know, but Google, for example, offers over a million of free books in that format. This is great, but if you are a Kindle user – ePub is not supported as Amazon only allows books from Amazon ecosystem to be used. There are ways around it by using a third-party application, yet natively the ePub support does not come with Kindles.
Our suggestion is that you start by browsing the online stores such as Amazon, Kobo or Barnes & Noble to make sure that the types of books you like reading are available there. It is also handy to compare the prices to ensure you are getting a good deal as they vary between the stores.
eBook Apps
If you are planning to read books on multiple devices, such as your phone or tablet then you need to ensure that there is an ebook reader app available for your device.
Price
Although the prices for eReaders have recently fallen, the price range is still significant. There are now eReaders available on the market for under $100, whereas the premium models can get close to $300. As most of the time, the price is driven by the features available, so you need to make sure that you are not buying an eReader that has some cool features that you will never use.
1. Amazon Kindle Oasis – The Best Kindle Ever Made
The first things you notice holding the eReader is the solid build quality and amazing ergonomics. Although the e-reader gets down to 0.13″ in thickness it still feels incredibly solid and sturdy. The narrow bezel and the premium materials such as the metal back and the soft cover give the Kindle Oasis a premium look and feel.
In addition, the Kindle Oasis is extremely comfortable. Holding the eReader in one hand is a breeze due to the right size, perfect balance, lightweight and tapered design.
The Kindle Oasis features the biggest 7″ screen of any other Amazon Kindles. With 300 points per inch, the display quality is crisp and clear. The bigger screen gives you an additional paragraph (on average) per page which results in fewer page flips. It also makes the picture books and comics appear a lot more readable.
It is also the first Kindle made to get an IPX8 certification, which allows it to be submerged (up to six feet deep) in freshwater for up to an hour.
The e-reader comes with a number of fancy yet super practical features. First, it has a physical button to turn pages. Yes, this may be going back in time, yet when your hands are wet, unlike touchscreen, it works like a charm. In fact, after the prolonged use, we found ourselves using the button all the time as it is just so much more comfortable than a touchscreen.
Secondly, it has the ability to listen to your Audible audiobooks, which is simply amazing. I found myself using both as I am one of those readers who doesn’t have a strong format preference and likes switching between e-books and audiobooks. If you are like me, keep in mind that you would also need to have a pair of Bluetooth headphones as there is no 3.5mm jack.
Thirdly, it features the new adaptive 12-LED front light which automatically changes the brightness based on the environment. This is especially handy when reading at dusk or dawn time, indoors or outdoors.
Lastly, the white-on-black view feature which reverses the colors and makes the font white and background black may appeal to some. This is definitely not the feature for everyone, but I can see some people finding it very useful.
The innovative features listed above are actually not that innovative as most of them we have previously seen on Kobo Aura One, we do think however that Amazon has done a great job of taking those features and bringing them into the Amazon ecosystem.
- Design & Build Quality 100%
- Features 95%
- Battery Life 90%
- Value 70%
| POSITIVE | |
 |
Great design and build quality |
|
Waterproof |
|
Great screen |
|
Lighweight |
|
Long battery life |
| NEGATIVE | |
 |
Expensive |
|
Not able to read non-Amazon e-book formats out of the box |
2. Amazon Kindle Paperwhite – Best Value Kindle Ebook Reader
In terms of the look and feel, not much has changed compared to the original Paperwhite. The e-reader still looks and feels sturdy and solid. It still has a matte finish made of soft plastic that has plenty of grip making it quite comfortable to hold with one hand.
The things that have noticeably changed are the screen quality, performance and a tighter integration with the Amazon content ecosystem.
The additional benefit of the new E Ink screen is the improved energy efficiency, which gives Kindle Paperwhite up to 8 weeks of use on a single charge. It also makes it one of the most energy efficient e-readers on the market today. To further push the energy efficiency or to simply adjust your comfort level you could change the level of lightning produced by four built-in LEDs. The backlight, however, is not as evenly distributed as on Kindle Voyage or Kindle Oasis which have 8 and 12 backlight LEDs respectively.
The new Kindle Paperwhite also comes with an updated software including the new Bookerly font. It was specifically designed for use on digital devices with improved character spacing, justification, kerning, hyphenation and capital letter support. It supposedly allows the user to read faster and reduce eyestrain.
Talking about drawbacks, the main complaint with Kindle Paperwhite, and all Kindles for that matter is their total dependency on Amazon’s ecosystem. I still don’t quite understand why Amazon would not make it easy for us and integrate the support for ePub files which would allow reading free books, including the ones from Google. Don’t get me wrong – it can be done by installing a third party application, but should it really be that hard?
- Design & Build Quality 90%
- Features 75%
- Battery Life 90%
- Value 90%
| POSITIVE | |
|
High resolution, crisp display quality |
|
Improved performance |
|
Great value |
|
Long lasting battery |
| NEGATIVE | |
|
No adaptive backlight |
|
Quite light on features |
|
Cheapest package comes with ads |
3. Amazon Kindle Voyage – Best Ex Luxury Ebook Reader
The Kindle Voyage shares the screen with its lesser siblings, yet delivers better levels of contrast which improves the readability slightly.
It has the 6″ screen that produces 300 points per inch and a crystal clear display quality as a result. In fact, the display makes the reading experience so good that this is the closest we’ve seen to a real book.
The battery life has always been a strong side of Amazon Kindles. It has slightly taken a punch due to the backlight being introduced, yet still remains quite solid providing the Kindle Voyage with up to 6 weeks of reading time given it used for 30 minutes a day on average.
It is the lightest Kindle in our review which makes it comfortable to use with one hand.
Unlike its lesser siblings, the Kindle Voyage supports PagePress controls. Those are physical controls that trigger the page flip by applying the pressure on each side of the e-reader. We did find it clunky at first, but within minutes it became a second nature and we have genuinely found them to be practical and useful.
- Design & Build Quality 80%
- Features 80%
- Battery Life 90%
- Value 60%
| POSITIVE | |
|
Amazing screen quality |
|
Great page turning controls |
|
Comfortable for one hand use |
|
Reliable and even backlight |
| NEGATIVE | |
|
Hard to justify the price |
4. Kobo Aura One – Best Featured Ebook Reader On The Market
We actually have a deep respect for Kobo as it is a highly innovative company. You will find that many new features that you see today on Kindles have actually first appeared on Kobo’s e-readers. Larger screen size or water-resistant body, just to name a few.
The Aura One is the flagship e-reader in Kobo’s line up. It has a solid build quality and the design with a strong durability focus. The back of the device has a rubberized, textured finish that makes it more comfortable to grip and hold the e-reader with one hand.
It is also quite enjoyable to use at night time. The Aura One has an integrated backlight which automatically adapts to your environment. Although it works and it works well, I feel the backlight is not evenly spread with more light being available at the bottom of the screen.
One of the newer additions is the night mode, which gives your screen an orange shade to reduce the strain on your eyes. This may not be for everyone, yet some users may find it quite useful.
The user interface is slick, clean and intuitive. The home screen displays the details of the current book you are reading as well as articles that you have saved in your Pocket account. Overall, it feels more user-friendly and informative compared to Kindle e-readers.
The biggest advantage that Aura One has over any Kindle e-reader is the support of open ebook formats such as ePub, PDF or Mobi. It allows you to host all your ebooks in one place irrespective of where they came from.
The areas where the Aura One seems to underperform is actually the Kobo’s ecosystem. It is not as dynamic, offer-rich or complete. it also appears to be less competitive in terms of the price compared to Amazon (at least the books I’ve checked).
In terms of battery life, the Aura One can last up to a month on a single charge. This is not the most outstanding result we have seen, yet more than sufficient for a practical use.
Whilst Kobo e-readers are still making their name in the US, I think they deserve a lot more attention than they currently have. Part of the reason is the dependency on the eco-system which is not as mature as Amazon’s. Before you make a decision to buy Aura One, I suggest you drop by their online store and check the books you are interested in. Make sure that not only the selection is there but also the prices are being competitive. I found some books to be more and some to be less expensive than on Amazon.
- Design & Build Quality 90%
- Features 90%
- Battery Life 80%
- Value 80%
| POSITIVE | |
|
Water resistant |
|
Big screen, crystal clear display quality |
|
Clean and intuitive user interface |
|
Support any ebook format |
|
Blue light night mode |
| NEGATIVE | |
|
No page turning buttons |
|
A little too expensive |
|
Ecosystem not as strong as Amazon |
5. Nook Glowlight 3 – Best Affordable eBook Reader
Unlike its older sibling – the Nook Glowlight Plus, the Nook Glowlight 3 looks and feels basic, which actually happens to play to its advantage. It does not have an aluminum body, glass screen or water resistance rating, yet what it does have is a stunning level of practicality for indoor reading. Perhaps the best we’ve seen in e-readers so far.
The large screen bezel initially looked dated to us, yet we have quickly changed our minds as soon as we have started using it. The thicker bezel has actually allowed the placement of two physical page turn buttons on each side. Tapping the buttons flips the pages forward or backward, whereas double tapping flips the whole chapters. We have actually liked those buttons so much, that despite it being such a simple feature – it made all the difference for us.
The Nook Glowlight 3 also comes with an updated software which improves the user experience. The user interface has adopted a flat design coupled with higher resolution graphics. The book shopping experience has also been improved and became quite robust and clean.
The e-reader has the Barnes and Noble Readouts integrated, which allows the readers to discover new books by featuring author interviews, previews and free content. It also supports EPUB format which opens the door to so many free ebooks out there.
Like any device, the Nook Glowlight 3 has its flaws. Although it supports the PDF format, the experience it delivers is poor and inconsistent. The e-reader takes too long to respond to the zoom commands or sometimes does not even register them. If you are planning to extensively use PDF files, the Nook Glowlight 3 is probably a suboptimal choice.
- Design & Build Quality 90%
- Features 90%
- Battery Life 80%
- Value 90%
| POSITIVE | |
|
Crisp display quality |
|
Comfortable and ergonomic fit |
|
Physical page turn buttons work exceptionally well |
|
Backlight system is amongst the best on the market |
|
Supports ePub format |
| NEGATIVE | |
|
PDF support is subpar |
|
Slow performance at times |
Feature Comparison
| Amazon Kindle Oasis | Amazon Kindle Paperwhite | Amazon Kindle Voyage | Kobo Aura One | Nook Glowlight 3 | |
| Screen Size | 7″ | 6″ | 6″ | 7.8″ | 6″ |
| Resolution | 300 ppi | 300 ppi | 300 ppi | 300 ppi | 300 ppi |
| Storage | 8 or 32 Gb | 4Gb | 4Gb | 8Gb | 8Gb |
| Built-in Light | Yes – 12 LEDs | Yes – 4 LEDs | Yes – 6 LEDs | Yes – Comfort Light Pro | Yes – 13 LEDs, 6 White and 7 Yellow |
| Page Turns | Touchscreen + button | Touchscreen | Touchscreen + page press | Touchscreen | Touchscreen + buttons |
| Battery Life | up to 6 weeks | up to 8 weeks | up to 6 weeks | up to 4 weeks | up to 6 weeks |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi + Cellular | Wi-Fi + Cellular | Wi-Fi + Cellular | Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi |
| Waterproof | Yes – IPX8 | No | No | Yes – IPX8 | No |
| EPUB suport | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Audible | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Weight | 6.8 oz | 7.6 oz | 6.6 oz | 8.11 oz | 6.5 oz |
| Dimensions | 6.3″ x 5.6″ x 0.33″ | 6.7″ x 4.6″ x 0.36″ | 6.4″ x 4.5″ x 0.3″ | 7.68″ × 5.45″ × 0.27″ | 6.93″ × 5.0″ × 0.38″ |
| SCORE | 9 | 8.6 | 7.8 | 8.5 | 8.8 |
| Price | Check | Check | Check | Check | Check |
Frequently Asked Questions
WHAT EBOOK FILE STANDARDS ARE AVAILABLE?
What is ePub?
The format is supported widely on most of the ebook readers except Amazon Kindles.
I don’t think one should take into consideration the ecosystem or at least not have such ‘sophisticated features’ take precedence over the the core reading experience especially when Amazon kindle gets that wrong , even the ‘mighty’ oasis. To me the various ways one can adjust fonts, margins and the like within the kobo firmware without the need for Calibre etc… and the superior screen size and display of the Kobo Aura One mean Kobo has got the basic core fundementals down while Amazon does not and focuses on extraneous sophisticated extras. The Kobo aura One hardware is technically superior overall and so is the core reading experience. Sure, the ecosystem and certain kindle software/firmware extras make the kindle seem more mature e.g. x-ray, easily exporting annotations etc… however, with the exception of X-ray and audible I can pretty much do everything and more with my Kobo :
1.) I can buy and read books for use with my Kobo from all book stores including Amazon.com by stripping the DRM with or without Calibre. Also, I am no lawyer but stripping DRM on your ebooks does not seem to illegal, at least not here in New York, as long as you do not distribute them for piracy see here :
https://gizmodo.com/its-perfectly-legal-to-tell-people-how-to-remove-drm-1670223538
2.) Koreader can be installed on the Kobo for superior PDF handling without having to ‘jailbreak’ it unlike the Oasis , though Oasis has decent PDF rendering/support without Koreader.
3.) I can export annotations from my Kobo using various methods but none of them are as simple as emailing them to myself from an Oasis
So on and so forth etc…
Yeah, of course this means you have to have access to a PC or laptop to take full advantage of the Kobo and it is more time consuming but I find since it has 8 gigabytes of memory if I sit down one weekend and load everything on my ereader , with forethought, then it is not a constant hassle to use. That is called being smart and using the executive function of the frontal lobe of my brain instead of being impulsive. For on the fly impulsive online news stuff or articles there is always the pocket function for Kobo, though.
So for me the Kobo Aura One is 9/10 and the Kindle Oasis is an 8/10.
Amazon kindle Oasis gets only a 8/10 for me because 1.) Amazon focuses on sophisticated features while never perfecting the core reading experience (putting the cart before the horse) 2.) It tries to lock you into their ecosystem having less flexible support for ebook formats (no epub support ?! It is 2018 and this is not acceptable). 3.) Kobo aura one is truly the choice for booklover as I see things like audible as stuff for illiterates and people dipping their toe into being the literati but not committed to dipping their toe all the way in.
That being said I appreciate your opinion and review but I have my own opinion and we are both free to our own opinions of course 🙂
Hi Kevin,
Thanks for your elaborate comment, I truly believe our readers will find it useful. I think I agree with almost everything you said and purely from the hardware and reading perspective, I think that the Kobo One (in the premium range) and Nook Glowlight 3 (in general purpose/mid range) are the best devices on the market today. At the same time, I think that the ecosystem should be included in the overall score as it also contributes to the user experience a great deal. I found that if using the ecosystem results in a frustrating or incomplete behavior, it can put off people like me and others from using the device all up. To give you a real-life example from a different niche – I was choosing mobile phones for myself years ago. I always wanted to buy the Nokia’s flagship, but could never give it a real chance since their ecosystem was just way too inferior to Apple’s.
With Kobo One and Amazon Kindle Oasis, if I had pick one purely based on reading experience, I would pick Kobo. With the ecosystem being in the mix, I would pick Kindle Oasis. Neither are perfect in my view, yet I hope you can see my point. Thanks again for the loads of useful information you have to share with our readers!