In the digital reading world, kindle holds the dominant position for a very long time, no matter as the digital reading device, digital reading app or even digital distributor. But Kindle is not your only option. There are some excellent kindle alternatives out there. Here you will find the 5 best Kindle alternatives.
1. Kobo Aura Edition 2
As the strong competitor of Kindle paperwhite, Kobo Aura Edition 2 occupies the mid-point in the kobo product line and boasts the strong features of backlighting, long battery life and good file type compatibility. It is also kobo's least expensive eReader.
Price: $119.99
Screen: Kobo Aura Edition 2 features a 6-inch E-Ink Carta display with a resolution of 1024 X 768 and 212 PPI display. Its screen comes at a lower resolution than its peer -- kindle Paperwhite that has a resolution of 1430 * 1080 and 300 PPI.
Storage: There is 4 GB of internal memory that holds over 3000 books and with no option to enhance it via an SD card.
Light: Thanks to Kobo's Comfort-Light technology, it comes with a great front-lit display that you can manually adjust. This makes reading in different light conditions more comfortable.
Supported file Type: It supports tons of file formats, including EPUB, EPUB3, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF, CBZ, CBR and many text based formats. It enables you to upload pretty much any book that you already own.
Battery life: It claims the battery life will last two months, but from experience you will be lucky to get around a month of constant usage.
2. Sony DPT-RP1/B
If you are looking for an easy way to read and mark up digital documents, Sony DPT-RP1 can be a perfect choice. It is a large screen reader at higher price but perfect for drawing, note-taking and manga reading. So, if you are legal or educational professionals who live in PDF, Sony Digital Paper can be your best choice.
Price: $513.99
Screen: It features a 13.3-inch E-Ink Carta screen with a resolution of 2200 x 1650. At 207 PPI, it isn't as sharp as the 300-ppi display as kindle paperwhite. And you can tell that when trying to read very tiny font or look at maps.
Storage: 16GB internal memory provides storage for approximately 10,000 PDF files. There is not sd card slot.
Light: Unlike Amazon's backlit Kindles, there is not a back or front light in the Digital Paper but just the slightly gray background, so you can't use it in darkness.
Supported file type: Non-DRM pdf is the only supported file format. If you want to read other formats, such as kobo format, kindle on sony reader, please convert kindle books to pdf or convert kobo books to pdf for reading on Sony Reader.
Battery life: Sony claims this tablet has about three weeks of battery life. But actually, the battery life depends on how many pages you flip and how many papers you annotate. If you use this reader a lot, you will charge it every 3 or 4 days.
Special features:
1. The Sony Reader includes a stylus to mark up your documents or take notes.
2. The price for the stylus is $79.99.
3. Even after you have transferred your pdf to your computer, the markups and notes will still be included in your PDF files.
3. Barnes & Noble Nook Glowlight Plus
If you are a manga lover, but don't have enough budget, Nook Glowlight Plus is the best alternative. It is a waterproof eReader which has great hardware, but selling at a competitive price. Glowlight Plus is a nice ebook reader overall if you're just looking at the hardware.
Price: $199.99
Screen: It features a E Ink Carta HD 7.8 inch display with a resolution of 1404*1872 with 300 PPI. The 300PPI exactly matches the display on the Kindle Paperwhite.
Storage: The device has 8GB of storage. No card slot.
Light: It has a front-light with adjustable color temperature. It has 10 blue LEDs and 9 yellow LEDs. It also features color-changing front light that goes from blue to yellow. You can change it manually, or have the device change it on a timer.
Supported file type: Epub and PDF
Battery life: It is advertised to have four weeks of battery life, but the battery life is difficult to measure.
Special features:
1. The page button makes your reading is more comfortable.
2. With the waterproof design, you can take your eReader to the beach.
3. It also supports Adobe DRM. This means you can load in ebooks that you borrow from the library.
4. It’s one of the least expensive 7.8-inch ebook readers on the market.
4. Kobo Forma
If you are looking for alternative to Kindle Oasis, just check out the Kobo Forma. It features large screen, light weight, water-resistance and so on. If you are a fan of manga or comics, you should never miss out the Kobo Forma.
Price: Discounted price: $ 249.96/Original Price: $279
Screen: The Kobo Forma has an 8-inch display E INK Mobius and Carta HD screen, making it the biggest kobo reader. It has a resolution of 1440*1920 and 300 PPI.
Storage: The Kobo Forma ereader comes with either 8GB or 32GB storage. It has no SD card.
Light: This device has 17 LED lights, half of them are white and the others are red. The Forma lighting system is better than the Kindle because it employs a color temperature system. The Forma also has a Natural Light feature that automatically adjusts the light's temperature based on the time of day.
Supported file type: EPUB, EPUB3, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF, CBZ, CBR.
Battery life: It has a excellent battery, which should last around three weeks on a single charge.
Special features:
1. The Forma is still lightweight! It is less than seven ounces! It’s also an IPX8 certified waterproof device.
2. With Kobo’s OverDrive, you can also connect your Kobo Forma to, say, the local public library and search for the eBooks before picking them up.
5. Boox Nova Pro
If you want to more choices on digital reading, I will recommend the Boox Nova Pros. It is the first versatile eReader that contains dual touch and front light. With the android system, you can download apps from Google play store or write notes on it. It is the best eink tablets for many ebook lovers.
Price: $319.99
Screen: It features 7.8 inch flush glass-based screen with high resolution 1872 *1404 which enable it be viewable without glare from any angle to the screen.
Storage: It is a high-performance Android eReader with 1.6G of Quad-core, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.
Light: With an adjustable color temperature system, you can read in the dark via the front-lit display.
Supported file type:
Documents format: PDF, EPUB, TXT, DJVU, HTML, RTF, FB2, DOC, MOBI, CHM, plus more via apps.
Images format: PNG, JPG, BMP.
Audio format: WAV, MP3.
Battery life: An epic battery life for seamless performance on several weeks. It is surprisingly that the battery life can last so long because it’s running full Android system.
Special features:
1. Dual Touch: Both electromagnetic touch and capacitive touch are supported that it is easy to manage with stylus and fingers.
2. Onyx’s software is especially good with PDFs and you can write directly on PDFs using the Wacom stylus.
Final Thoughts
After checking out the 5 best Kindle alternatives, now it's your turn! Which eReader is your taste? All these eReaders are the kindle competitors but also the best alternative to kindle eReader from some aspects. All of them have their own advantages. So just check them carefully to see whether they can meet your reading requirements.
Iris Yan has been a passionate member of Epubor since 2017. Her mission is to enhance your ebook reading experience by sharing insightful tips and tricks. Join her on a journey towards reading excellence today!
