There is a vast number of people who are looking to switch to another e-reader due to Amazon suspending the ability to use the USB File Transfer system on February 26th. They see Amazon killing off so many services in the past year that it is no longer worth staying with the ecosystem and hardware. They are wondering what e-readers they should buy that have fewer draconian policies.
In the past six months, Amazon killed off Kindle Vella, their short-form story platform, Kindle Flashcards. Not to mention the Kindle Colorsoft debacle, where the yellow bar at the bottom of the screen was a hardware defect that hurt the Kindle brand with its first color e-reader.
If you want to ditch your Kindle and switch to another brand, there are plenty of options. Selecting the right e-reader for your needs can be daunting, but here are some of the best, along with their core features and functionality.
Kobo
Rakuten Kobo has been making e-readers since 2010 and has been in the game for a long time. Regarding market share and sales volume, they are the global number two player, second only to Amazon. There are a few reasons to embrace Kobo: you can easily borrow library books via Overdrive, it supports many book formats and fonts, and it has advanced features to control the reading experience. Most of their current devices have cloud storage, making it easy to access your books. The company offers various screen sizes, a great combination of color e-readers, traditional black and white e-paper, and even a few e-notebooks.
Kobo also as their answer to Kindle Unlimited; Kobo Plus. It offers three tiers, based on what type of content you want. You can just get access to books, or audiobooks. Their is a plan that gives access to both e-books and and audiobooks too, so it is worth it. However, their catalog of content is not as strong as Amazon. Since Kindle Unlimited also has manga, magazines, newspapers.
One of the significant advantages of Kobo is its support. They regularly issue software updates and push them to the latest and old hardware. I have seen updates reach devices that are over 10 years old. Whereas Amazon only supports devices for up to 5 years when they first go on sale on the website, older devices never receive updates.
Kobo sells its e-readers on its website, Amazon, and through a series of bookstores and big box retailers worldwide. It is very easy to buy Rakuten Kobo since so many places let you try it before you buy it.
Recommended Kobo Products
Kobo Clara Colour | eReader | 6β Glare-Free Colour E Ink Display | Dark Mode Option | Waterproof |...
- ππ₯π’πͺπ¦π ππ‘π π₯πππ πππ’π’ππ¦ ππ‘ ππ¨ππ ππ’ππ’π¨π₯ - Read in colour with a 6β E Ink display to enjoy eBook covers, comics, graphic novels, illustrations, and more.
- πππππππππ§ ππ‘ ππ’ππ’π¨π₯ - With multiple colours available at the touch of a finger, you can highlight your eBooks. Add, erase, or change colours as you go, and easily see all your highlights by chapter at a glance.
- πππ¦π¬ π’π‘ π¬π’π¨π₯ ππ¬ππ¦ - ComfortLight PRO automatically reduces blue light and personalize your reading settings via font size, line spacing, or even Dark Mode
Kobo Clara BW | eReader | 6β Glare-Free Touchscreen with ComfortLight PRO | Dark Mode Option |...
- π₯πππ ππ’π ππ’π₯π§ππππ¬ ππ‘π¬ π§ππ π - Glare-free 6β E Ink Carta 1300 HD lets you read in bright sunlight without reflections with fast page-turns and optional Dark Mode for better nighttime reading
- πππ¦π¬ π’π‘ π¬π’π¨π₯ ππ¬ππ¦ - Use ComfortLight PRO to adjust your eReaderβs brightness, colour temperature, and blue light so you wonβt be kept awake
- ππ£π«π΄ πͺππ§ππ₯π£π₯π’π’π ππ₯πππππ₯ β Full waterproof protection and meets requirements of IPX8 rating β waterproof for up to 60 minutes in up to 2 metres of water
Kobo Libra Colour | eReader | 7β Glare-Free Colour E Ink Kaleidoβ’ 3 Display | Dark Mode Option |...
- ππ₯π’πͺπ¦π ππ‘π π₯πππ πππ’π’ππ¦ ππ‘ ππ¨ππ ππ’ππ’π¨π₯ - Book covers, comics, graphic novels, illustrations, note-taking and more come to life. No glare in sunlight, no notifications β just you and your eBooks in full-color
- π¬π’π¨π₯ ππ’π¨π₯π‘ππ, πππππ¬ π£πππ‘π‘ππ₯, ππ‘π π π’π₯π - Dive into your stories with colorful markups. With Kobo Stylus 2* compatibility (*sold separately), annotate, highlight, and note take your eBooks in color
- πππππ§πͺπππππ§ ππ₯ππ’π‘π’π ππ πππ¦πππ‘ - Ergonomically designed with page-turn buttons, left/right screen rotation, full font size and margin customization, and landscape mode
Pocketbook
Pocketbook has been making e-readers for a little bit longer than Kobo. They are a European company, but their e-readers are sold worldwide. They support most e-book formats in the business, so you can read your manga in CBR/CBZ or even buy books from other retailers and use Adobe Digital Editions to load them. Pocketbooks have always been bullish on page-turn buttons, which most industry players have abandoned. Pocketbook has its bookstore, but it is not as polished, nor does it have the same Kindle or Kobo content, so you will primarily buy this because youβre not locked into a specific ecosystem.
Pocketbook e-readers are usually sold through third-party retailers. Amazon seems to be the best choice due to its liberal return policy.
Recommended Pocketbook e-readers
PocketBook Verse Pro E-Reader Waterproof | Eye-Friendly 6'' E-Ink Cartaβ’ HD Touchscreen |...
- EYE-FRIENDLY & GLARE-FREE TOUCHSCREEN: The E-Ink Carta touchscreen provides a high-resolution reading experience, making it ideal for long reading sessions. Enjoy an eye-friendly 6-inch display that comes as close as possible to a page on paper.
- PERFECT LIGHTING: The adjustable SMARTlight allows you to personalize the screenβs brightness and color tone. With the automatic mode, it adapts to the time of day and your environment. The Dark Mode reduces eye strain by darkening the background and brightening the text in low-light settings.
- WATERPROOF: Dive into e-books with IPX8 waterproof protection! Enjoy uninterrupted reading as this e-reader withstands immersion in fresh water up to 2 meters deep for up to 1 hour, without any worries or harmful consequences.
Pocketbook Era E-Reader, Stardust Silver, 16GB | 7ΚΊ Glare-Free & Eye-Friendly Touch-Screen with E...
- GLARE-FREE & EYE-FRIENDLY SCREEN: PocketBooks newest 7-inch E-ink Carta 1200 screen delivers a 15% increase in image contrast and a 20% boost in touch screen response time. Due to the glare-free screen, reading is even possible in bright sunlight. Enjoy your favorite books on the paper-like E-Ink screen!
- WATERPROOF & ANTI-SCRATCH PROTECTION: The small e-book reader is waterproof and IPX8 certified. It can be immersed into water up to 2 meters deep for one hour. The enhanced screen protection perfectly protects the e-reader from scratches.
- AUDIO-BOOK SUPPORT: Listen to audio-books via Bluetooth connected headphones or built-in speaker. The Text-to-Speech function allows the e-paper tablet to read any text file aloud in one of 26 languages.
PocketBook InkPad Color 3 E-Book Reader | Enhanced 7.8'' Color E-Paper E-Ink Screen | Eye-Friendly...
- FULL OF COLORS & TOTALLY EYE-SAFE: PocketBook InkPad Color 3 is equipped with a large 7.8-inch color screen based on the new technology E-Ink Kaleido 3. This eye-friendly and glare-free screen displays 4096 colors and demonstrates a 50% improvement in color e-page resolution, so you can enjoy your books, comics, and manga even more!
- EYE-FRIENDLY SMARTLIGHT & DARK MODE: discover superior reading comfort with SMARTlight. Adjust screen brightness and color tone for cozy evenings or bright mornings. Use Night Mode for eye-safe late-night reading without additional lighting.
- ENJOY AUDIOBOOKS WITH A BUILT-IN SPEAKER: PocketBook InkPad Color 3 supports 6 audio formats, so you can always switch from reading to listening. Dive into exciting audiobooks using a built-in speaker or pair the e-reader with other audio devices via Bluetooth.
Onyx Boox
Onyx Boox has a wide array of products, primarily focusing on e-readers and e-notebooks. Different screen sizes and functionality make it easy to spend a couple of hundred for something as good as the Kindle Paperwhite or sometimes even better. Onyx employs the Android operating system; all their devices have Google Play and Google Play Services. This allows users to use an E INK screen and craft their experience. Onyx sells its devices on its website and various Amazon stores.
Onyx offers several black-and-white e-paper readers, e-notebooks, and color devices. Depending on the screen size you want, Onyx has solid offerings. However, Onyx products cost more than Android because Android requires more processing power and RAM.
Onyx has an online store. St-generation and previous-generation hardware are available in their Amazon stores. However, they donβt have accurate retail visibility, so trying the United States and Europe, where you can buy directly from them, isnβt easy. They are also before you buy.
Recommended Boox Products
BOOX Palma2 Mobile ePaper eBook Reader Fingerprint Recognition Smart Button Dual Microphones Off...
- Screen: 6.13" HD Carta 1200 glass screen with flat cover-lens Resolution: 824*1648 (300 ppi) Touch: Capative touch CPU: Octa-core + BSR RAM: 6GB ROM: 128GB Connectivity: Wi-Fi + BT 5.1 Front Light with CTM (Warm and Cold) G-sensor for Auto Rotation Light Sensor 16MP Rear Camera with LED Flash
- OS: Android 13 Document Formats: PDF, CAJ, DJVU, CBR, CBZ, EPUB, EPUB3, AZW3, MOBI, TXT, DOC, DOCX, FB2, CHM, RTF, HTML, ZIP, PRC, PPT, PPTX Image Formats: PNG, JPG, BMP, TIFF Audio Formats: WAV, MP3 Supports 3rd-party apps
- Button: Power Button with Fingerprint Recognition, Volume/Page-Turn Buttons, Smart Button USB-C Port (Supports OTG or use as an audio jack) microSD Card Slot Built-in Speaker Built-in Dual Microphones Battery: 3,950mAh Li-ion Polymer Dimensions: 159 x 80 x 8.0 mm (6.3" x 3.1" x 0.31") Weight: Approx. 170 g (6 oz)
BOOX Tablet Go Color 7 ePaper E Ink Tablet 4G 64G Front Light (Black)
- Screen: 7'' Kaleido 3 (4,096 colors) Carta 1200 glass screen with flat cover-lens Resolution: 1680 x 1264 (B/W 300 ppi, Color 150 ppi) Touch: capacitive touch CPU: 2.4Ghz Octa-core RAM: 4GB ROM: 64GB Connectivity: Wi-Fi (2.4GHz + 5GHz) + BT 5.0 Front Light with CTM (Warm and Cold) G-sensor for Auto Rotation
- OS: Android 12 Document Formats: PDF, CAJ, DJVU, CBR, CBZ, EPUB, AZW3, MOBI, TXT, DOC, DOCX, FB2, CHM, RTF, HTML, ZIP, PRC, PPT, PPTX, EPUB3 Image Formats: PNG, JPG, BMP, TIFF Audio Formats: WAV, MP3 Supports 3rd-party apps
- Buttton: Power Button, Page-Turn Buttons USB-C Port (Supports OTG or use as an audio jack) microSD Card Slot Built-in Speaker Built-in Microphone Battery: 2,300mAh Li-ion Polymer Dimensions: 156*137*6.4mm (6.1" x 5.4" x 0.25") Weight: Approx. 195g (6.9oz)
BOOX Tablet Note Max 13.3 No Frontlight B/W ePaper Notebook Carta 1300 300 PPI 6G 128G
- Screen: 13.3" Carta 1300 glass screen with flat cover-lens Resolution: 3200 x 2400 (300 ppi) Touch: BOOX stylus touch (4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity) + capacitive touch CPU: 2.8Ghz Octa-core + BSR RAM: 6GB ROM: 128GB Connectivity: Wi-Fi + BT 5.0 G-sensor for Auto Rotation No Front Light
- OS: Android 13 Document Formats: PDF, CAJ, DJVU, CBR, CBZ, EPUB, EPUB3, AZW3, MOBI, TXT, DOC, DOCX, FB2, CHM, RTF, HTML, ZIP, PRC, PPT, PPTX Image Formats: PNG, JPG, BMP, TIFF Audio Formats: WAV, MP3 Supports 3rd-party apps
- Button: Power Button USB-C Port (Supports OTG or use as an audio jack) Built-in Dual Speakers Built-in Microphone Battery: 3,700mAh Li-ion Polymer Dimensions: 287.5 x 243 x 4.6 mm (11.3" x 9.6" x 0.18") Weight: Approx. 615 g (21.7 oz)
Remarkable
If you are a Kindle Scribe owner and want to get out of the e-notebook arena, there is no better brand than Remarkable. They popularized the entire note-taking industry and have the best-in-class features and polished software. They regularly push out firmware updates to introduce new features and bug fixes. Their business model is about e-notebooks; they donβt even make e-book readers. Their mantra is βdistraction-free.β You will never see popups and notifications, anything to prevent you from the task at hand.
Remarkable currently sells a UB e-reading app that allows you to use 25,000 different colors. It primarily focuses on freehand drawing, taking notes, and viewing/editing two products: the capable Remarkable 2, which has a black-and-white e-paper display, and the Remarkable Paper Pro, which has a Gallery 3 e-paper display capable of taking a break and reading a book. However, Remarkable hardly ever advertises this feature.
One of Remarkableβs most controversial aspects is its subscription program, Connect. Connect gives you unlimited, secure cloud storage for all your documents, ensuring they are always instantly accessible and ready to use on your paper tablet and in our companion apps on your other devices. Capture a thought on your phone, develop it in detail on your paper tablet, and finish it on your computer. Build the workflow that works for you with Connect, which gives you full access to the power of our apps. It costs around $4.99 monthly and has a free 100-day sub on new devices.
Remarkable sells its products directly on its website. It also offers an extensive array of first-party cases, styluses, and keyboards. The company sells on Amazon to a limited degree. The Paper Pro is only available with a bundle deal, but the older Remarkable 2 is more widely available. The company has also established partnerships for retail in Europe, so buying at a physical store is more manageable now.
Recommended Products
reMarkable Paper Pro Bundle β Includes 11.8β reMarkable Paper Tablet, and Marker Plus Pen with...
- THE ULTIMATE PAPER TABLET β For the first time on a reMarkable paper tablet, you can write, sketch, and read in color. Ultra-slim and portable, but with a full-size 11.8β color display, adjustable reading light, and an unmatched paper-like writing experience.
- WHATβS IN THE BOX β Youβll find reMarkable Paper Pro, a digital notebook for unprecedented paper-like writing with 11.8β Canvas Color display; Marker Plus, the reMarkable pen with built-in eraser; 6 spare Marker tips; and USB-C cable.
- PAPER-LIKE WRITING β Designed to work exclusively with the groundbreaking color display to deliver realistic friction and natural writing feel, the included Marker Plus offers precise control, incredible responsiveness, and all-day comfort.
reMarkable Starter Bundle β reMarkable 2 is The Original Paper Tablet | Includes 10.3β...
- THE ONLY TABLET THAT FEELS LIKE PAPER β With a paper feel never before experienced on a digital device, reMarkable 2 redefines note-taking, reading, and reviewing documents. At just 4.7 mm thick, you can take it anywhere.
- WHATβS IN THE BOX β Youβll find reMarkable 2, a digital notebook for paper-like writing with 10.3" display; Marker Plus, the reMarkable pen with built-in eraser; 9 spare Marker tips; and a USB-A to C cable.
- ALL YOUR WORK, ORGANIZED β Sort your notes and documents with folders and tags, write directly on PDFs, and convert handwritten notes to typed text. Everything's in one place and easy to find.
Wrap Up
Those companies I recommend if you want to get away from Amazon and switch to another brand that has been around for a long time and has an established track record. I left Barnes and Noble primarily because it is only available in the United States, making buying digital content in another country tremendously challenging. I also left off Bigme because they focus on AI software that canβt be uninstalled but also runs Android and Google Play.
Amazon is the worldβs largest e-reader company and sells the most e-books in North America and Europe. I always get asked what you do, and nobody knows what I mean when I mention I write about digital book readers. I then say, βLike the Kindle,β and everyone has heard of it, if not knows someone who owns one. In the wild, all I see are Kindle e-readers; I hardly see anything else, and I live in Canada, the home of Kobo.
Amazon does not let you genuinely own your books; it only licenses them for you. This allows them to remove any book, anytime, without reason. Barnes and Noble and Kobo have similar policies and ditto with app-based platforms such as Google Play Books and audiobook platforms such as Audible. These companies have some form ofΒ DRM, which protects the content. However, it is far easier to back up your books locally, and more solutions to strip the DRM from the books, providing actual ownership of the books you buy.