10 Best eReaders of 2022 – Reviewed

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Written by Séamus Bellamy

It can be hard to settle into reading online, with so many distractions that come from modern life. To get away from constant notifications from online services like Facebook and Instagram, you could turn off your smartphone or tablet and crack open a good book. Alternatively, you can invest in an e-reader. An e-reader can hold, literally, thousands of books and lets you step away from distractions that come with computing devices in favor of a more focused experience.

After weeks of research and months of testing, I can tell you that the Kobo Libra H2O (available at Kobo) is the best e-reader, for most people. Featuring a large display, crisp screen resolution, and great front lighting, a well-stocked online bookstore, and a number of built-in applications that make accessing free content easy, it offers every feature that a book lover could want. If you prefer a smaller device or need to buy one on a budget, Kobo’s Nia (available at Walmart) is also a fine choice. It offers most of the features of the Libra H2O, in a less expensive package.

If you’re already invested in Amazon’s ecosystem of books, periodicals and audiobooks, our favorite Kindle is the Kindle Paperwhite (2021) (available at Amazon).

Here are the best e-readers we tested ranked, in order.

  1. Kobo Libra H2O
  2. Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2021)
  3. Kobo Elipsa
  4. PocketBook Touch HD 3
  5. Kobo Nia
  6. Kobo Sage
  7. Onyx Boox Poke 3
  8. Barnes & Noble Nook GlowLight 4
  9. Barnes & Noble Nook GlowLight Plus
  10. reMarkable 2

Credit: Reviewed / Betsey Goldwasser

Boasting an incredible range of features, the Kobo Libra H2O is the best e-reader, for most people.

Credit: Reviewed / Betsey Goldwasser

The Kobo Nia offers most of the features of the Kobo Libra H2O, in a more compact and affordable package.

Credit: Reviewed / Séamus Bellamy

The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is our pick for the overall best Kindle you can buy.

How We Tested E-Readers

Credit: Reviewed / Betsey Goldwasser

We spent weeks using each e-reader in this roundup in order to get a feel for how they performed.

The Tester

I’m Séamus Bellamy, the Updates Editor at Reviewed. I’m a voracious reader who doesn’t have space in my home for more than a handful of paperbacks. Over the past five years, I’ve relied on e-readers to satisfy my passion for reading. I’m familiar with most of the e-readers on the market and, in the past, have reviewed them for multiple publications.

The Tests

The best way to test an e-reader is by reading—a lot. I spent several weeks with each device, using them to PDF files, trashy mystery masterpieces published in a number of e-book file types, digital comic books, and image files, in an attempt to get a feel for how each one performed. I also noted the amount of content that could be accessed by each e-reader.

I paid attention to the quality of text displayed on its screen, its refresh rate (how often the device erases the artifacts left on its display from the previous pages you’ve perused), and the effectiveness of its front lighting. I noted how responsive its user interface was.

What You Should Know About E-Readers

If you read for more than a few hours a week or find yourself too distracted by app notifications to settle into a good book, owning an e-reader—rather than downloading an e-reading app on your tablet—is an absolute must.

Most e-readers are designed for one task: the consumption of literature, be it in print or narrated as an audiobook. Some models are smaller and lighter than a tablet, making them more comfortable to hold during long reading sessions. Others, like the reMarkable 2, are as large as an iPad, making them ideal for perusing PDFs or comics. In most cases, an e-reader’s non-reflective display and adjustable front lighting make it possible to use them in any lighting condition.

E-readers are also great when it comes to battery life. Even with moderate use, a tablet, like an iPad, needs to be charged, often. Depending on your reading habits, you may be able to go for weeks at a time before your e-reader’s battery requires charging.

What’s The Difference Between a Kindle and an E-Reader?

Nothing! Kindle is simply the brand name of the line of e-readers that Amazon sells. The Amazon Kindle is arguably the best-known e-reader brand in North America. Think of it along the same vein as when someone asks for a Kleenex, they’re actually asking for a tissue.

Only Amazon Kindle devices and Amazon’s Kindle apps for iOS, Android and computers can read the e-books you’ve purchased from the Amazon Kindle Store (with a few exceptions that we’ll talk about, in a moment). This is because Amazon’s e-book files are protected by DRM (Digital Rights Management).

This isn’t a practice that’s unique to Amazon, however: most e-books from Barnes & Noble or Kobo’s digital stores, for example, are protected also protected by DRM. So, they can only be read using Barnes & Noble’s or Kobo’s hardware and apps, respectively.

Where Can I Get E-Books That Aren’t Protected by DRM?

If you’re like me, you believe that the digital content you own should be able to be used in any way you see fit. Investing in DRM-free e-books allows you to do this, as they can be read on most any e-reader, tablet or computer.

To get you started, here are a few outlets that offer DRM-free content:

  • Project Gutenberg: Project Gutenberg offers over 60,000 free, DRM-free e-books to download and read. You’ll find that most of the e-books here are books and publications that are old enough to have entered the public domain. If you love the classics, this is a great place to start.
  • Rakuten Kobo: The Kobo bookstore offers a small number of DRM-free e-books that can be downloaded from their website to be sideloaded onto an e-reader.
  • Amazon Kindle Store: While the majority of e-books you can download from the Kindle Store are DRM-protected, there are a few exceptions. A number of publishers, such as Baen and Tor, for example, have requested that their books be sold by Amazon, without Digital Rights Management measures in place. Amazon doesn’t make it easy to find their selection of DRM-free titles. Finding books through Amazon without DRM protection in place takes time and research.
  • SmashWords: SmashWords is an e-book distribution site that features a huge selection of titles from well-known publishers as well as self-published material. It’s possible to buy books from most genres from their website.

E-Reader Terms to Know

There are a few terms we discuss in this guide that may not be familiar to you but are important to know when shopping for an e-reader:

E Ink Carta or electronic paper display: Types of low-powered displays often found in an e-reader. Small electrical charges are used to move microcapsules towards and away from the surface of the display, forming text and images. The content shown on most e-reader displays is monochromatic. These displays consume far less power than traditional laptop and tablet displays do.

Ghosting: The outline of letters and images leftover from reading previous pages of a book.

Refresh Rate: How often an e-reader clears its display of all content before loading new content. The more frequent the refresh, the less ghosting you’ll see.

Front lighting: A ring of LEDs embedded in an e-reader’s display bezel.

Sideloading: Using a computer to transfer content to an e-reader.

DPI and PPI: Dots Per Inch and Pixels Per Inch: Measures of an e-reader’s display resolution.

What About Color E-readers?

E-readers with color displays are a relatively new development. We’ll review them as the technology matures.


Other E-Readers We Tested

Source: https://www.reviewed.com/laptops/best-right-now/best-ereaders

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If possible, bring in your library card and eReader or tablet as we
demonstrate how easy and fun it is to read and listen to library books
using your own device. Don’t have a library card or a device yet? We’ll
provide a demonstration on the big screen and yo…….

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Jan 20 | Getting Started with eReaders | Romeoville, IL Patch – Patch

If possible, bring in your library card and eReader or tablet as we
demonstrate how easy and fun it is to read and listen to library books
using your own device. Don’t have a library card or a device yet? We’ll
provide a demonstration on the big screen and you can watch, listen and
learn.

Registration is required. Class
will meet in the lower level computer lab.

…….

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