Best E-Books: Which One To Buy And 11 Recommended Models

While traveling, in a waiting room, before bed, sunbathing, or simply on your couch: reading is a pleasure. And doing it in an electronic book has great advantages over the paper format: it is lighter, you can fit hundreds of books, we can download and read works for free … what’s more, some models have an integrated light to read at night and are even waterproof!

If you are thinking about making the switch from your usual book to an eBook, in this e-book purchasing guide we help you choose the model that best suits your needs and we propose a selection of outstanding models.

Choosing an e-book: factors to take into account

When choosing an e-book it is essential to know how much we are going to use it… or in other words: how avid readers we are. And a person who devours a book a week is not the same as someone who barely reads a couple of books a year. Logically, this will determine issues such as the size and quality of the screen, the capacity, or even the model, since depending on what we choose we will find services that offer very cheap books, as is the case with Amazon’s flash offers.

• At a design level, they have the great advantage of being able to store hundreds of books in very small dimensions and weight so that we can read both on the sofa and while mobile. However, not all of them are equally ergonomic, light, and manageable for, for example, use with one hand.

• The queen of the electronic book is the screen. Here not only does its size matter – the most common is 6″ – but also its quality, resolution, and brightness delivery, the latter being essential if we are going to read outdoors. Taking into account the diagonals of these devices, the resolution More suitable for a good experience is about 300 dpi.

• The formats that the electronic book supports, among which are PDF, AZW3, AZW, TXT, PDF, MOBI, PRC, HTML, DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG or BMP, EPUB… be careful because the latter is not supported by the popular Kindles, although we can always go from one format to another thanks to software like Caliber.

• In this sense, it is important to take into account where we are going to obtain the files and if we are willing to have them go through the computer to manipulate them before putting them in the eBook. Beyond what we can find online, we will pay attention to which online stores sell compatible works, their book catalog, or even if they have offers or subscription services. For example, with Kindle Unlimited you access more than a million books for 9.99 euros/month, although it has a two-month free trial.

• In the previous point, we talked about the possibility that the books we are going to read go through the computer first, since in the most basic models they are transferred through a USB port, but there are also models with Wi-Fi connectivity to download them independently or even with LTE to do it wherever we are.

• The consumption of electronic books is very low, which means that we can go without charging them for weeks, but it is always good that they have the more autonomy, the better.

• If we plan to take the e-book to the beach, river, or pool, it is better to look for models with relative water resistance. As with mobile phones, it is measured using the international standard IEC 60529 to which the IP protection degree refers. It must be taken into account that these tests are carried out in laboratories, so it is better not to put them to the test in real life unless necessary, but as a reference, if the second figure is a 7 or more, our device would tolerate a water accident. Of course, if we go to the beach, be very careful with the salt.

• Finally, it is interesting to opt for models that allow customization and protection through compatible accessories. In this sense, the popularity of the Kindle works in its favor, since many manufacturers sell accessories.

Featured models

Kindle 2022

With the 2022 revision, this new generation of the Kindle maintains its basic essence and remains a cheaper Amazon e-book (although considerably more expensive than before), but with a higher resolution screen, more internal storage capacity, and is passed to the USB-C connector.

In any case, it maintains its main assets with an illuminated screen, an autonomy of weeks, and the muscle of the Amazon environment in terms of software and literary offerings. A great option for readers who like the Amazon ecosystem and are not going to read near water

Woxter Scriba 195 Paperlight

If we want something cheap, simple, compact, and light, the Woxter Scriba 195 Paperlight ( 64 euros ) is a great option for its autonomy, settings, and lighting of the screen and its microSD slot to expand its capacity. Its exterior has a rubber coating to make it more resistant. Its screen is not touch, so we will have to operate with the buttons on the front.

PocketBook Touch Lux 5

Light and compact, this POCKETBOOK Touch Lux 5 ( 127 euros ) goes up a notch in terms of screen quality and lighting options. With the versatility of a Linux-based operating system, it will allow you to read up to 19 different formats.

Kobo Clara HD

The Kobo is, along with the Tagus – which we will see imminently – the great alternative to Amazon’s Kindle, and this Clara HD ( 139 euros ) is its current entry model. Its strong points are the quality and resolution of its screen with automatic gradual lighting, its large storage space, and the Kobo environment, which allows you to continue reading the same book on different devices.

Kindle Paperwhite (2021)