Compare the Best E-Book ReadersSeptember 2021

Benefit of an E-book reader over mobiles/tables

When e-readers were introduced, many people wondered - you have your phone/tablet with you already, why not just use that to read books, and save yourself having to carry around another device? A fair question, and e-readers have multiple advantages over using your phone:

That said, if you do want to read books on your phone/tablet, many of the major e-reader makers have apps for those devices, allowing you to start reading a book on one device and pick it up seamlessly on another, so you can have your literary cake and eat it too.

Wifi/4g Connectivity

Nearly all e-readers apart from the very cheap models will have some form of wifi connection to allow the device to connect to the internet to download new books. Some more expensive models will also have 3G connectivity, meaning it can connect to the net from anywhere, and doesn’t have to be on a known wifi network. This can be helpful since it allows you to buy and download new books from anywhere - even half-way round the world - as long as you have a cell phone signal.

Stores

The biggest difference between all the various ranges of e-readers is the online stores they have access to. This denotes what books you can buy at what price. Kindle’s only have access to the Amazon store, while the Kobo reader has it’s own store. Amazon is far-and-away the biggest of these stores, but it doesn’t contain everything - and some of it’s publishing policies rub people the wrong way. Other stores have their own positives and negatives, so it is worthwhile does a bit of checking to see if the store for your chosen reader has a good selection before you commit to buying it.

Backlights

One of the most helpful additions to e-readers is a backlight. While lacking in very cheap models, most mid-range readers have a light built into the screen, which allows you to read in low-light conditions. Many have several different levels of brightness as well - higher brightness can be helpful in certain situations, but lower brightness will help conserve battery power.

Waterproofing

Waterproofing is currently limited to a small collection of e-readers, but is immensely helpful if you can get it. Having a water-resistant device means that you can happily read everywhere from the beach to the bath, and don’t have to worry about damaging your device if it gets a bit damp.

Ereader Prices

The price range of E-book readers is from $59 to $930 and in total we found prices for 17 E-book readers. The average price of a new ereader is $237 and the 80% of E-readers are priced between $70 and $419. The most expensive E-reader that we found is the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite - 8th Gen at $930, and the cheapest is the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite - 6th Gen at only $59.

E-Book Reader Brands - Price Range

Onyx ereaders range in price from $419 to $419, and the average price of Onyx ereaders is $419 which is the highest average price of all E-reader brands.

The average price of Icarus E-book readers is $361 which is the second highest average price of all E-book reader brands. Icarus E-book readers range in price from $361 to $361.

The third highest average E-book reader price out of all brands is Amazon ereaders with an average price of $242. Amazon ereaders start at $59 and their most expensive E-book reader costs $930.

E-Book Reader Brands - Average Ratings

We have evaluated 841 expert reviews and 363 user reviews for E-book readers and used this information to determine the average rating for each brand of E-reader.

Biggest E-Reader Retailers

The biggest E-book reader retailer by number of products currently for sale is eBay. We found 18 current E-book reader offers from eBay. The second biggest retailer is Appliances Connection with 1 offers. That means eBay is over 18 times bigger than Appliances Connection when it comes to E-readers.

How Fast Do Ereader Prices Drop After Release?

New ereaders drop in price by an average of 16% in the first 6 months after they were first released.

A typical new E-reader costs on average $237. By waiting 6 months before buying you could save on average $39.

Weights

'Weight' denotes the weight of the e-reader, measured in grams (g).

Comparing all E-readers, the weights range from 110.2g to 550g. The weights of most E-readers range from 160g to 200g. The ereader with the heaviest weight is the Onyx Boox Note, which is a 355g E-book reader and sells for $419.00. The E-reader with the lightest weight is the Pocketbook Touch HD 3, which is a 155g E-reader and can be purchased for $205.03.

Touchscreens

'Touchscreen' denotes whether the e-reader has touch capacity or not, meaning you can control the device by poking the screen, rather than manual controls.

Of the 80 new E-book readers currently listed on Kagoo, the vast majority are E-readers with a touchscreen. 66 out of 80 E-book readers are E-readers with a touchscreen.

Display Resolutions

'Display Resolution' denotes how many pixels make up the display of the e-reader.

Amongst new E-book readers, the most popular display resolution is 800 x 600 pixels. We found 21 E-book readers that are E-book readers that have a resolution of 800 x 600 pixels. We found 17 E-book readers that are ereaders that have a resolution of 1024 x 758 pixels, making this the second most common display resolution amongst new E-book readers.

Diagonals

'Diagonal' denotes the size of the e-reader, measured in inches from the top-left to bottom-right corner.

Comparing all ereaders, the diagonals range from 5" to 13.3". The diagonals of the majority of ereaders range from 6" to 6.5". The E-reader with the biggest diagonal is the Onyx Boox Note, which is a 10.3" E-book reader and currently retails for $419.00. The Pocketbook Touch HD 3, which is available at $205.03, has the smallest diagonal and is a 6" E-reader.

Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for Ereaders?

The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying E-book readers. For each retailer it shows the total number of E-book readers where they currently have a market leading price. The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying ereaders. For each retailer we took all of their prices and looked at what proportion of those prices where the cheapest on the market. The cheapest retailer that we found was eBay. 16 of their ereader prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.

Proportion of E-Readers for Which Each Retailer is Cheapest?

Assessing how cheap each retailer is for ereaders by counting the number of cheapest prices for that retailer, makes the retailers that offer the greatest number of E-reader prices more likely to offer the greatest number of cheapest prices. The chart below considers the proportion of each retailer's E-reader prices that are the cheapest compared to other retailers. The cheapest retailer that we found using this approach was eBay. 88.9% of their E-reader prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.