The Best E-Reader Tablets

What to Look For

To bring you the best e-reader tablets on the market, we looked at what kind of display they used, their battery life, and whether they used e-ink or LCD displays. For example, if you want a great black-and-white e-reader that uses e-ink, Kobo’s Libra 2 is a great choice. It’s perfect for PDFs and other common file formats. However, if you want to use your Kindle library on an LCD, you might want to use the Amazon Fire HD 10 tablet. It works similarly to an iPad but is much more affordable and syncs with your Kindle account effortlessly. Below, we’ll go into further detail on these amazing e-readers.

Amazon Fire HD 10 Tablet

One place for all your favorites

This amazing e-reader tablet not only displays books and other reading material, but it also can play movies, browse the web, and play games.

Best Overall

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A high-end e-reader tablet doesn’t have to break the bank. The Fire HD 10 tablet is a premium e-reader and media tablet at a super affordable price. While it only comes in 32GB and 64GB models, it can be supplemented with a microSD card up to 1TB. And since this is an Amazon device, it syncs perfectly with your other Kindle devices. It’s lightweight and easy to hold for long reading sessions.

Pros:

• The display can get very bright, but it also has a great low brightness setting as well. It’s perfect for reading at night without straining your eyes with too much light.
• The beefier processor leads to a better user experience. Apps and movies load faster and run more smoothly.
• The battery life is incredible, better than many tablets on the market.

Cons:

• We wish the case were included, although it’s at least also affordable.

Amazon Fire 7 Kids Tablet

Start them off right

This tablet for kids has fine-tuned parental controls, so your child stays safe and keeps their screen time down.

Runner Up

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When getting your kid their first tablet, it’s essential to be mindful of how they use it. The Fire 7 Kids from Amazon is specifically designed to help parents introduce their kids to proper tablet use. The parental controls are extensive, and you can even set how much screen time they get daily on up to four different profiles. And with a reinforced case, this tablet can take a beating from even the rowdiest of kids.

Pros:

• The apps work offline, so you can download appropriate content and then turn off WiFi.
• Access to the web has been restricted to only kid-friendly websites.
• You can access the parental controls on other devices with the Amazon Parent Dashboard.

Cons:

• We wish it came with a screen protector, but at least those are readily available.

Amazon Fire 7 Tablet

Digital literature on a budget

This affordable e-reader works wonderfully for books, movies, and other tablet apps.

Best Value

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Owning a tablet has never been more affordable. The incredibly low-priced Fire 7 is the perfect entry point for casual users. It runs all the latest apps like Netflix, Youtube, Hulu, etc. And with updated internals, it runs like a dream. It’s honestly hard to believe a tablet of this quality can be priced so low. And if you like downloading movies or other content, you can add a micro SD card up to 1Tb in size for extra storage.

Pros:

• Fire OS is intuitive to use; almost anyone can easily pick up this tablet and start operating it.
• This tablet is more lightweight than more expensive models with metal bodies, and it’s easy to hold for long periods.

Cons:

• The screen resolution is a bit low but decent for most uses.

Pocketbook InkPad Color, E-Book Reader

Like nothing you've seen before

This e-reader displays a wide variety of file formats in both color and black and white.

Best Color

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The great thing about e-ink is that it looks like real paper and doesn’t strain your eyes, but most e-ink tablets don’t display in color like an LCD tablet might. Enter the InkPad Color from Pocketbook. It displays full-color pages with electronic ink in a wide range of colors. Your favorite digital magazines, comics, and books have never looked so good.

Pros:

• Even with such a large screen and color ink, the battery life on this device is fantastic.
• The SD card slot will work with 512GB cards and under, so you can have plenty of space for content in color.

Cons:

• For those that like extra-bright screens, this one might not reach sufficient levels to please.

Kobo Libra 2 Glare-Free Touchscreen eReader

Easy on the eyes

Give your eyes a break with this e-reader that has adjustable lighting that can be set to night mode for orange light.

Best Warm Lighting

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If you’re looking to enjoy an e-reader in the tub, pool, or jacuzzi, this is the one to get. It has a large screen with touch capability. But it also has physical buttons, so if your hands are wet, you can still turn pages with ease. This supports numerous file formats, including epub files for classic books. Whether for studies or leisure, this e-reader tablet handles it all with grace and panache.

Pros:

• Compared to many other popular e-readers, this option has remarkably fewer ads and bloatware.
• The internal memory can be upgraded with a larger SD card, although it takes some technical know-how.

Cons:

• Unfortunately, Kindle and other DRM content won’t work on this without some finagling with the files.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the difference between LCD and electronic ink e-reader tablets?

LCD e-readers are like other tablets: they use a touchscreen with a backlight and liquid-crystal display. They’re great for movies and browsing but strain your eyes more. Meanwhile, e-ink is just like regular ink except that it can be manipulated digitally and changed in an instant. Electronic ink (e-ink for short) tends to be in black and white and is best for books or other non-video content.

What’s the average battery life for an e-reader?

For LCD tablets, the battery life can be anywhere from 10 to 20 hours, depending on the brightness, WiFi and Bluetooth use, and other factors. On the other hand, E-ink readers can easily last for days with long reading sessions — even weeks.

About the Author

Dave is a proud self-proclaimed computer geek and enjoys modding video game consoles. When he's not voiding warranties, he plays piano and video games on stream. In fact, he built his own home studio, so his expertise spans a wide range of areas. If you're looking for a tech-head for advice, Dave is your guy.

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