The gift of reading is as traditional an Xmas gift you can give. This year, do it the high-tech way with these eBook Readers:
Best
Amazon Kindle DX, $US379
Aside from the ability to purchase books anywhere in the world with the integrated 3G connectivity, the Kindle DX stands out thanks to its huge 9.7-inch e-ink screen. You’ll have to purchase all your books in US dollars, but with the dollar around parity at the moment, that means some pretty big savings overall.
[Amazon]
Sony Reader Touch Edition, $299
Turning the page on an eReader generally involves pressing a button. Not on this Sony model, though, as it uses some paper-thin IR sensors on the side of the screen to let you turn the page with a swipe of your finger. You can also tap words to access their meanings with the inbuilt dictionaries.
[Borders]
Kobo eReader, $179
With the ability to sync up your reading using the Kobo software for smartphones and computers for free using some desktop software and a USB cable, Kobo offers as good a reading experience as you could hope for from a digital device. The quilted back feels funky too.
[Borders]
Budget
Kogan eReader, $189
It comes with over 1500 Gutenburg books preloaded, supports pretty much every file format you could imagine for eBooks, music and images and includes a free leather case. What more could you ask for?
[Kogan]
Amazon Wi-Fi Kindle, $US139
Amazon have taken the 3G out of their 6-inch Kindle device, which also means cutting out a heap of cost. At $US139, this is one of the cheapest ebook readers you’re ever likely to find, especially with the Australian dollar being so strong this Christmas.
[Amazon]
BeBook Mini, $189
Now available for $189, the BeBook Mini just cuts in to the budget category. With its scroll wheel for faster page turns and interchangeable battery, the Mini also offers text to speech and a five inch e-ink screen.
[BeBook]
Peter
Monday, November 22, 2010 at 11:40 AMSo what happened to the Nook?!
A 7inch b/w eInk can be bought on ebay for circa ~$200 and books can be bought at places like borders.com.au.
DR
Monday, November 22, 2010 at 11:54 AMPossibly getting one of these in the near future. While I appreciate this rundown, a comparison of each device could have made this a more useful guide, including actual size comparisons, battery life etc. The links are there though I suppose.
Rahul Khanna
Monday, November 22, 2010 at 5:48 PMI’m a bit surprised to see Kobo in the best category and the 6″ Kindle on budget – The prices work out to be the same or more for the Kindle once you include shipping (which was just over $30 when I got a 3G version).
As a guy who owns both a Kobo and a Kindle, the Kindle is by far a better experience with the faster page-turns and ‘experimental’ web browser which is very handy for a quick wikipedia look-up.
Highly recommend getting the case if you go for the Kindle though.. it makes it feel a lot more like a book which made a big difference for me :) The Kobo is still nice though.
Stew
Tuesday, November 23, 2010 at 10:42 AMI compared my 6″ Sony Reader’s page turns side-by-side vs a mate’s Kindle DX. The DX page turns (even just for plain text) were very, very slow – upwards of 3 or more times longer than the Sony Reader’s. At times I thought it hadn’t registered the button push, so I’d push it again and it’d turn 2 pages.
The DX is better for PDFs, and its screen, menu and controls are really nice, but is too huge & heavy & slow to read comfortably on. For gimmick-less book reading I’d definitely recommend the Sony Reader. I find I use the Reader’s instant dictionary all the time as well.
I haven’t tried any others (eg. the Kindle 3 which I assume would be faster than the DX) so this is just my $0.02, but I really like the Reader’s solid metal finish, size (minimal keyboard-less bezel), battery life, touch screen and most of all – EPUB SUPPORT :) I have a smart phone so no 3G / wireless is a moot point for me.