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Four Types of E-book Readers

Preview:

Why an e-book reader?

When you read, you become absorbed in your story or the concepts of a non-fiction book. You aren't smelling and caressing your book.

1. Your e-book reader doesn't require external light. You can read in a dark room.
2. If you run into a word you don't know, touch it and you'll get a definition.
3. If a character in a story appears and you can't remember who it is, you can touch the name and see where that character previously appeared.
4. You can adjust font size, margins, line spacing, and other options to make it easier to read.
5. You can adjust the lighting to make it easier to read.
6. You can hold a thousand books in a device lighter than a paperback.
7. Books are cheaper if you buy them.
8. You have direct access to checking out books and magazines from the library for free from home.
9. You don't need to clutter up your home with books or dust them.
10. The eInk display is made to look like paper, so it is easy on the eyes.

Types of e-readers

1. OLED (or LCD)

This is the first thing to decide. Do you want a full tablet or an e-ink reader? A tablet will be bigger, heavier, and have a much shorter battery life. Many people find it harder on their eyes. However, on the plus side, it will have beautiful color, and it will be powerful enough and big enough to run many other programs. It should allow you to take notes and type easily. It is powerful enough to be useful for many things. You can watch movies on it if you like.

Your main options here are normal tablets, iPads, or a Kindle Fire. I use a normal Android tablet, the Alldocube iPlay Mini. It is an 8.4" Android tablet that I use it a lot. I only use it to read books that are bigger, or require color, or that I'm going to take copious notes on. I never use it for pleasure reading. I also watch TV on my TV, not my tablet.

An advantage to the Android tablet is that you can install the Kindle app and read Kindle books, the Libby app and read library books, and the Kobo app and read Kobo books. You can also read just about any file you copy into the device. Furthermore, they are bigger than a normal reader, so PDF files are easier to read.

2. E-ink tied to a store?

E-ink readers, on the other hand, are very lightweight, and batteries last a month. They are designed specifically for reading. It is difficult to type on them. They are not powerful. They do provide a wonderful reading experience and are easy to carry and hold while reading. Their screens are normally black and white and are made to look and act like paper. There are 2 main choices:

1. Kindle Paperwhite. This is a portal into the Amazon store. If you buy your books from Amazon and don't mind being advertised to and held captive in their system, it is a simple way to go, and it works. Amazon provides good value.
2. Kobo Reader. Kobo is the second biggest bookseller. They make a nice reader that is a portal into their store and also into the library. Their system is somewhat more open, and they have most normal books, but sometimes Amazon locks in an author. I really like their portal into the library. Last night I watched the movie "Bone Collector" from a Jeffrey Deaver book. I liked it, so I opened my Kobo reader and selected Overdrive. That linked me to the county library, and I found one of his other books that I could check out immediately. A few minutes later I was reading it for free.

3. Color E-ink?

They've begun making color E-ink readers. The colors are washed out, and they are not as sharp as the B&W readers. Unless you have a special use case, I'd say wait for the technology to improve.

4. Android E-ink, not linked to a store?

The last solid option is the Boox Go 7, or Boox Palma 2. What Boox has done is provide a high-quality Android B&W E-ink device. The advantage of this device is that it can run many Android apps. Not all, because many require color to even make menu selections. But these allow you to install the Kobo app, the Kindle app, and the Libby app (for the library). You can have a nice file manager and a good keyboard app. They provide a good reading app, but you can also install your preferred reader app from the Play Store.

These are beautiful devices and a pleasure to use. But the Kobo app isn't as good as the dedicated Kobo reader, and it costs $100 more. I suspect the Kindle Paperwhite is better than their Android app but do not know. I can read Amazon books just fine on my Boox reader. I can also take short notes and copy paragraphs for those notes. They can then link to my office computer's note program.

The Boox devices give you freedom, and they are delightful machines. I much prefer reading on my Boox reader to reading on my normal Android tablet. It gives me all the advantages of an Eink reader and also most of the advantages of an Android tablet and freedom. I can check out library books on it, but I prefer getting library books from my Kobo reader.

I enjoy my Boox Page. If you buy one, I recommend adding their hard magnetic case so you can take it anywhere and it'll be protected.