5 Best Budget Friendly E-Readers
If you’re looking to replace your bulky collection of paperbacks or just starting out, e-readers provide an efficient solution for storing and reading books without the clutter.
These devices come in a range of sizes and provide non-glare, low-power displays to reproduce text and graphics as if they had been printed on paper. Many also boast subtle backlighting for reading in low light conditions.
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite
The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is an affordable e-reader with a high resolution display, long battery life and wireless charging.
It also boasts a glare-free display and X-Ray technology, which breaks down people, places, and things in books to make reading easier for you.
The Kindle also boasts several useful features, such as an integrated dictionary and pop-up menu to adjust fonts, line spacing, and margins. Furthermore, you can highlight and annotate quotations before sharing them with your Goodreads account for easy reference.
Kobo Libra H20
The Kobo Libra H20 is an affordable ereader that provides an exceptional reading experience. It’s waterproof, has a great screen resolution and a comfortable handle for comfortable handling.
The Libra H20 is an affordable mid-tier e-reader that offers the same great design and features of the Kobo Forma at a lower cost. This device is perfect for anyone seeking a waterproof e-reader without forking over the high price tag of the Kobo Forma.
Kobo’s 7-inch 300 PPI E Ink display is bright and easy to read, featuring a frontlight with adjustable color temperature as well as a 1GHz processor. Plus, it supports Kobo’s Overdrive and Pocket e-book reading services as well as epub files from non-proprietary sources.
Kobo Clara 2E
Kobo’s Clara 2E e-reader is the ideal option for eco-conscious readers, offering twice the storage of previous models, faster WiFi, Bluetooth audio support and waterproofing. With this latest model you get twice as much storage capacity, faster WiFi speeds, Bluetooth audio playback support and waterproofing – making it the ideal eco-friendly e-reader!
It’s also more compact and portable, which makes it great for when you’re on-the-go. Additionally, it supports more file formats than Amazon’s Kindle does, plus is compatible with OverDrive – a system that lets you borrow books from local libraries.
The Clara 2E features a 6in HD e-ink screen with a resolution of 1448 x 1072 and 300 pixels per inch. Its sunken design means there’s no glass on the front, making fonts sharper and clearer.
Kobo Aura One
If you’re in search of a new e-reader but can’t justify spending the money on an Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, the Kobo Aura One might be your best bet. It boasts several noteworthy features like its 7.8-inch screen and water resistance.
Kobo also includes ComfortLight Pro, a feature that adjusts the screen’s lighting according to time of day. This makes for easier sleep after reading, especially if you tend to read late at night.
The Aura One boasts 8GB of internal storage, which is more than enough for most ereaders. However, if you need more room to store digital comics or larger files, the 32GB version might be worth the extra investment.
Amazon Fire HD 8
The Amazon Fire HD 8 is an affordable tablet perfect for users seeking a small device to read eBooks, watch videos and listen to music. It boasts plenty of great features and is incredibly user-friendly.
This year’s Amazon Fire HD 8 is faster and smaller than its predecessor, featuring hands-free Alexa voice commands. Plus, it comes with USB-C charging for improved battery life compared to last year.
The Fire HD 8 offers a generous screen with 1280 x 800 pixels at 189ppi resolution. While it may not have the sharpest picture quality compared to some higher-end tablets, its resolution is still more than sufficient for watching movies and videos.
Kobo Aura One Signature Edition
Kobo has always been known for pushing the envelope when it comes to e-reader design, and their latest top-of-the-line model takes that concept even further. At 7.8 inches in size, it offers more viewing area than most e-readers and also boasts some handy extras such as waterproofing for worry-free poolside reading.
Kobo readers are designed for nighttime reading, featuring Natural Light settings that reduce blue light exposure. Plus, if you have access to Overdrive library book loan accounts, Kobo readers can easily be connected to those services as well.
At $230, the Aura One isn’t as budget-friendly as some of its rivals such as the Kindle Paperwhite or Kobo Libra H20, but it still provides excellent value for its cost. The display is crisp and bright, the screen size ideal for long reading sessions, plus it’s waterproof too
Kobo Elipsa
If you’re searching for the ideal note-taking ereader with some of the most advanced features, the Kobo Eimpotriva may be worth considering. Its E-Ink Carta screen can recognize handwriting and comes equipped with a Kobo stylus to further enhance its features.
The Elipsa has 32GB of storage, making it convenient to import documents and export them as PDFs directly from the device. Furthermore, it supports Dropbox syncing your ebooks across multiple devices for added convenience.
The device also has a convenient notebook feature, so you can write and draw without opening an additional app. There’s even a dedicated My Notebooks tab on the home screen for convenient access.