I dearly love a paperback book that I can bend, touch, smell, and display on my bookshelf when I’m done. But there’s no doubt that ebook readers (also called e-readers) make life easier—they might just make you read more too. E-readers let you carry thousands of books or dozens of audiobooks in a single, slim, rectangular tablet; they have paperlike screens that are easy on the eyes; and they won’t inundate you with distracting notifications. Books can also be expensive and take up a lot of physical space, but that’s not a problem with ebooks. Even better, you can check out digital books from a library without leaving your house.
Naturally, when you hear “e-reader,” you might think Kindle. Amazon makes the best ebook reader, which is why we have a separate Best Kindles guide that breaks down the entire lineup. But there are a few Kindle alternatives out there in case you don’t want to support Amazon or you just want a different set of features. WIRED’s Gear team has spent months, if not years, reading on these tablets—these are our favorites.
Updated June 2024: We’ve added Nook’s newest Lenovo reading tablet.
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How We Test E-Readers
The most important thing we do when testing e-readers is read on them! We spend hours reading a mix of books downloaded directly from the brand’s store and from our local libraries via OverDrive/Libby. If there are extra features, like annotating books or separate notebook sections for writing and drawing, we spend a few more hours utilizing those tools too, all while keeping an eye on just how long the battery life lasts.
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