Even if Amazon came up with the first eBook reader all other gadget manufacturers could not stand aside. Today there are hundreds of eBook readers to choose from and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Competition drives the industry. With more manufacturers competing on the same market, prices went down, the performance of the readers improved and the number of PDF books available online exploded in the past couple of years. However, just like with any other gadgets, value for money ratio creates successful products. For this reason alone, the top 10 best eBook readers in 2014 have been chosen and listed to narrow down the search for the perfect travel friendly book library.
10. Sony PRS-T1
The Sony RPS-T1 seems inspired by the company’s Xperia handhelds. It has the very similar design but a totally different purpose. The eBook reader is available in various colors and comes with a few extra features such as a premium display, long battery life, light weight and visually appealing. According to the manufacturers the PRS-T1 is one of the slimmest eBook readers that come with a touchscreen. In adition to the basic functions, the reader also supports web browsing making it useful for something other than reading
9. Barnes & Noble NOOK eBook
The Barnes & Noble NOOK eBook is the perfect budget solution. It comes with all the basic functions of a reader. It doesn’t offer all that many but it does come with a touch color display. The manufacturers did add a bit of functionality to make it viable for web browsing and playing some games but the device works better when used just for reading. It does not have powerful enough hardware to do anything else and if it did it would have been considered a tablet and that is not the case with the NOOK.
8. Kobo Glo Digital Text Reader
The Kogo Glo is a light eBook reader that manages to stand tall alongside its major competitors Amazon and Barnes & Noble. It has a visually appealing design, wireless LAN support, decent screen resolution and good battery life. When it comes to book library, the Kobo has a smaller selection but on the other hand it is extremely easy to connect it to a PC and just transfer some PDF files. Last but not least the model comes in white which might be a bit unappealing for some but it does give the device a stylish and fresh look.
7. Kobo Aura HD Digital Text Reader
The Kobo Aura HD is an excellent eBook reader. Its build quality, display resolution and overall design and features place it amongst the best readers made so far but it has one major downside that prevents it go higher in this top 10. It is a bit too expensive and the ones that have a limited budget it can be a major inconvenience. The ones that do have the budget will find the display quality more than amazing. Also, it is a very thin device with a minimalistic yet eye-catching design.
6. Amazon Kindle
The Kindle is the most basic eBook reader available from Amazon. This also affects the price of the device which is just over $50. It has a simple design, it is light and easy to carry around since it has a 6 inch display that makes it similar in size to a 7 inch tablet. To be noted that the Kindle does not feature a touchscreen and the user will have to use the physical buttons placed at the bottom of the display to navigate. It supports wi-fi connections and has an amazing battery life.
5. Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch
For just under $80 the Nook Simple Touch is a decent option for the ones that want a convenient eBook reader that is small, light and comes with a touchscreen. The Nook has a 6 inch screen which is just enough to read a digital book and a large battery that can keep the reader powered for two months on standby. The ones that are interested in getting one should know that the library offered by Barnes & Noble has been populated with more titles reaching more than 2 million books.
4. Kindle DX
The Kindle DX is an expensive eBook reader but it does come with some nice perks. The display is 9.7 inch which makes it also one of the largest readers on the market. At the same time, the internal memory offers more than enough space to store no less than 3500 books. Sadly it does not have touchscreen functionality but it does have a qwerty keyboard which makes it easy to write emails and carry out any tasks that would require typing. The DX also includes a 3G module and Wi-Fi support making it easy to connect to the internet. A single charge is estimated to be enough for two weeks of usage.
3. Sony PRS-600BC Touch Edition
Sony decided to play smart this time and build something that looks different. The PRS-600 is one of the few eBook readers that had its case design to make it look like a book. Also, the display resolution is a bit higher than average but it is well reflected in the quality of the device. It can be connected to a PC or laptop for file transfer and reads almost all the popular eBook formats.
2. Kindle Keyboard 3G
From many points of view, the Kindle Keyboard 3G is quite similar to the DX but it comes at a much lower price and that is mainly because it has a smaller display. It still comes with a convenient qwerty keyboard, 3G and Wi-Fi support. It does not have a memory expansion slot but the internal memory is enough to hold thousands of books. Last but not least, the Kindle Keyboard comes with a Text-to-Speech feature that turns any eBook into an audio book.
1. Kindle Paperwhite
The Kindle Papwerwhite is the most popular eBook reader to date. It is extremely light, comes with a great display that makes it possible to read even under direct sunlight and offers an excellent up time. It has just a power button as the navigation is done with the aid of the touchscreen. As expected, the device comes with Wi-Fi support, free cloud storage and a reasonable internal memory that can hold thousands of books.
