Immersive productivity for Windows 11 is now available on the Meta Quest 3 and 3S with the latest release of Meta's Horizon OS. The feature, called Mixed Reality Link, was available on a limited basis after public previews began last year. The Windows virtual desktop experience is now rolling out to all users.
After installing Mixed Reality Link on their Windows 11 PC, users will pair the machine with their Meta Quest headsets. Mixed Reality Link also supports portable, cloud-based solutions such as Windows 365 Cloud PC, Azure Virtual Desktop, Microsoft Dev Box and others. The virtual environment, which displays the equivalent of multiple high-resolution monitors, is similar to the Apple Vision Pro.
The stark difference in cost between the headsets makes this a far more approachable virtual working tool for the average consumer. The Meta Quest 3S starts at $300, while the Apple Vision Pro comes out of the gate at a hefty $3,500.
Facebook parent company Meta has been investing heavily in virtual reality and augmented reality technology. The company recently teased a futuristic VR headset that it says will offer VR experiences “indistinguishable from the physical world” as well as Ray-Ban smart glasses with Meta AI live translation and 3K video recording.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/mixed-reality-link-for-windows-11-and-meta-quest-headsets-is-now-available-to-everyone-165545794.html?src=rss
On Thursday, Samsung launched a desktop version of its web browser. Why bother putting its mobile browser on Windows? Well, the company offers a hint in describing Samsung Internet as "evolving from a PC browser that waits for input to an integrated AI platform." So, surprise, surprise: It's about AI.
As one would imagine, Samsung Internet on Windows supports cross-platform syncing of data like bookmarks, browsing history and autofill. The company says it also prioritizes privacy and security, offering standard features like tracker blocking and a privacy dashboard.
But those aren't likely the main reasons Samsung is launching a desktop web browser in 2025. (Incidentally, Samsung briefly launched Samsung Internet for Windows in 2024, before pulling it from the Microsoft Store without fanfare.) Instead, this launch appears to be about positioning it in the rapidly emerging landscape of AI browsers.
AI browsers have been all the rage lately. Samsung's move follows the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT Atlas, Microsoft's Edge Copilot Mode updates, Opera Neon's early access and general availability for Perplexity's Comet browser. Samsung says its cross-platform browser will advance its "vision for ambient AI," anticipating your needs and offering more personalized assistance. If Samsung wants to be part of that fray, it makes sense for its software to be available on the desktop, too.
Samsung Internet is available (via a beta program) for Windows 11 and Windows 10 (version 1809 and up). You can sign up on the product page.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/samsungs-web-browser-arrives-on-windows-with-an-ai-future-on-its-radar-163526726.html?src=rss
Pinterest is adding a new way to find clothes, furniture and other sources of aesthetic inspiration through its app. It's called Pinterest Assistant, and it's an AI-powered search and recommendation tool that uses knowledge of your Pinterest activity to tailor its responses.
Whereas other search features work best when you have a specific thing you're looking for in mind, Pinterest says the Pinterest Assistant is meant to handle more open-ended requests. Asking for pillows that match your "living room decor" is supposed to be enough for the AI to surface interesting results. To do that, the Pinterest Assistant looks at the items you've saved and the boards you've created (for example, a board full of living room decor inspiration), compares it with the things Pinterest users with similar taste have saved and displays visual results tailored to you.
You start a search with Pinterest Assistant by tapping on the mic icon.
Pinterest
Pinterest appears to be specifically interested in the multimodal aspect of this new feature. The main way the company imagines you'll interact with Pinterest Assistant is via a mic icon in the Pinterest app that starts a voice search. The AI assistant then takes that audio prompt and uses it to filter and analyze visual content to find the best fit. Besides surfacing items you might not have found on your own, Pinterest says the whole process should be "closer to how people shop in real life."
Rolling out its own AI features puts Pinterest in an interesting place when it comes to AI content on its platform. Users have complained that the growing amount of AI-generated material on Pinterest has made it hard to find real things to buy or add to a board. In May, the company started labeling AI content in the app to make finding real items easier, and earlier in October it added a way to "dial down" the amount of AI generated content users see in the app. Pinterest Assistant isn't necessarily a solution for an AI slop problem the company is struggling to solve, but it might help users who are sick of sifting through AI content anyway.
Pinterest Assistant begins rolling out in beta today to users in the US who are 18 and over, with wider availability coming in the next weeks and months.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/pinterest-has-its-own-ai-assistant-now-160000183.html?src=rss
This particular model easily made our list of the best microSD cards for the Nintendo Switch 2. It even made our list of the best Switch 2 accessories. It just gets the job done. We loved the speed on offer here. It was the fastest of all the cards we tested when transferring games and loading games.
We also found that it performed admirably at just about every test we threw at it. The card was always consistently right near the top, thanks to outstanding sequential read and write performance. This was backed up by benchmark testing with PC tools like CrystalDiskMark.
The Switch 2 only works with SD Express cards, so this covers that. Luckily, this card isn't just for Nintendo's latest console. It'll work with just about everything, if you ever find it outstays its usefulness as a storage container for Mario and friends. Elsewhere when it comes to microSD Express cards on sale: PNY's 256GB card is down to $50, as is Lexar's Play Pro 256GB card, and Samsung's P9 512GB card is 25 percent off and down to $75.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/switch-2-black-friday-deals-these-microsd-express-cards-are-up-to-25-percent-off-151331318.html?src=rss
LG and Ubisoft have teamed up to bring the motion-controlled rhythm game Just Dance Now to LG Smart TVs. The game will be available from December in the LG Gaming Portal for LG TV users in the US and Europe running webOS 22 or later, with no additional hardware required.
Just Dance Now originally launched in 2014 as a mobile app for iOS and Android, before Ubisoft brought the game to Apple TV a year later. A main series spinoff aimed at people who don't own a console, Just Dance Now offers a library of hundreds of songs that span decades of music, which you'll be able to access for free for a limited time each day. If that just isn’t enough dancing time to satisfy you, you can subscribe to one of Ubisoft's paid plans or purchase song packs.
Just Dance Now was originally designed to be played using your phone as a controller, with your handset of choice functioning much like the Wii Remote did in the very first Just Dance game back in 2009. In the LG Gaming Portal version of the game, the motion-sensing LG Magic Remote becomes the peripheral, so you really don't need any extra gear.
Ahead of the December launch, the Just Dance Now app will be available in beta, allowing players to try three songs on the first day, followed by one daily for the remainder for the two-week trial. Ubisoft hasn’t announced the release date for the beta yet.
The LG Gaming Portal is gradually becoming a viable alternative to a console for people with a casual interest in games. The cloud version of Xbox Game Pass joined the platform back in April, and the new and improved GeForce NOW app introduced up to 4K 120Hz game streams on LG TVs a few months ago.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/just-dance-now-is-coming-to-lg-smart-tvs-140042944.html?src=rss
WhatsApp is rolling out passkeys for backups, which is great news for anyone who has been on the platform for years. This will add another layer of security to anything that's been backed up, including chats, photos, voice notes and more.
It's also convenient because passkeys don't force users to keep track of yet another password or encryption key. For the uninitiated, passkeys allow users to access personal data via biometric markers like fingerprints and face scans. However, these particular passkeys will also work with screen lock codes on certain devices.
The feature is rolling out today, but it'll take a few weeks to reach every user. WhatsApp is a gigantic global platform. Once updated, folks can get started by heading to the Settings tab.
This is just another layer of security for WhatsApp users, as these backups are already end-to-end encrypted. The platform has been doing that since 2021. It began offering passkey support just last year.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/whatsapp-will-let-you-use-passkeys-for-your-backups-130022640.html?src=rss
OpenAI has rolled out the capability to create character cameos of your pets, doodles, original personas or even objects in the Sora app, which you can put in your videos. You can start the process by going to your profile page in the Sora app, tapping on the "Create cameo" button and then uploading a video of the character (or pet) you want the model to generate. The company says just a few seconds of footage are enough, and you can even use old Sora-generated videos as reference.
You can then give your character a display name and describe how you want the model to animate it. In the example OpenAI uploaded, for instance, the description for a wicked green witch character reads: "She glides with a mysterious, whimsical grace, speaks in rhymes when casting spells, and her pointed hat always tilts as if listening to secrets on the wind." You can choose permissions for each character you create. Under the "Who can use this" permissions section, you can choose between several options: Only me, People I approve, Mutuals, Everyone and Everyone (excluding specific sets of users). Whenever you want to generate a Sora video with a cameo in it, you can just tag a specific character.
Sora 2 launched with a cameo feature that lets you create an avatar of yourself, but this is a new application of the capability. Cameo, the app that allows users to buy videos from celebrities, just sued OpenAI over trademark violation by using the "cameo" name. It said that OpenAI's use of the word is likely to cause consumer confusion and dilute its brand. OpenAI disagreed "that anyone can claim exclusive ownership over the word 'cameo.'"
In addition to character cameos, OpenAI has introduced "stitching," allowing you to stitch several clips together and connect videos. There's now also a leaderboard that shows the most cameod and most remixed videos.
How to create and use character cameos in the Sora app, as demo'd by lil crabby. pic.twitter.com/bLOH6M4Kt7
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openais-character-cameos-will-let-you-put-pets-and-original-personas-in-sora-videos-123043189.html?src=rss
Forget Samsung's $1,800 Galaxy XR, the Android XR device I'm actually intrigued to see is Xreal's Project Aura, an evolution of the company's existing smart glasses. Instead of being an expensive and bulky headset like the Galaxy XR and Apple Vision Pro, Xreal's devices are like over-sized sunglasses that project a virtual display atop transparent lenses. I genuinely loved Xreal's $649 One Pro for its comfort, screen size and relative affordability.
Now that I'm testing the M5-equipped Vision Pro (full review to come soon!), it's clearer than ever that Apple should replicate Xreal's winning formula. It'll be a long while before we'll ever see a smaller Vision Pro-like device under $1,000, but Apple could easily build a similar set of comfortable smart glasses that more people could actually afford. And if they worked like Xreal's glasses, they'd also be far more useful than something like Meta's $800 Ray-Ban Display, which only has a small screen for notifications and quick tasks like video chats.
Xreal One Pro smart glasses
Devindra Hardawar for Engadget
While we don't have any pricing details for Project Aura yet, given Xreal's history of delivering devices between $200 and $649, I'd bet they'll come in cheaper than the Galaxy XR. Xreal's existing hardware is less complex than the Vision Pro and Galaxy XR, with smaller displays, a more limited field of view and no built-in battery. Project Aura differs a bit with its tethered computing puck, which will be used to power Android XR and presumably hold a battery. That component alone could drive its price up to $1,000 — but hey, that's better than $1,800.
During my time with the M5 Vision Pro, I couldn't help but imagine how Apple could bring visionOS to its own Xreal-like hardware, which I'll call the "Vision Air" for this thought experiment. The basic sunglasses design is easy enough to replicate, and I could see Apple leaning into lighter and more premium materials to make wearing the Vision Air even more comfortable than Xreal's devices. There's no doubt it would be lighter than the 1.6-pound Vision Pro, and since you'd still be seeing the real world, it also avoids the sense of being trapped in a dark VR headset.
To power the Vision Air, Apple could repurpose the Vision Pro's battery pack and turn it into a computing puck like Project Aura's. It wouldn't need the full capabilities of the M5 chip, it would just have to be smart enough to juggle virtual windows, map objects in 3D space and run most visionOS apps. The Vision Air also wouldn't need the full array of cameras and sensors from the Vision Pro, just enough track your fingers and eyes.
I could also see Apple matching, or even surpassing, Project Aura's 70-degree field of view, which is already a huge leap beyond the Xreal One Pro's 57-degree FOV. Xreal's earlier devices were severely limited by a small FOV, which meant that you could only see virtual screens through a tiny sliver. (That's a problem that also plagued early AR headsets like Microsoft's HoloLens.) While wearing the Xreal One Pro, though, I could see a huge 222-inch virtual display within my view. Pushing the FOV even higher would be even more immersive.
In my review of the original Vision Pro, I wrote, "If Apple just sold a headset that virtualized your Mac's screen for $1,000 this well, I'd imagine creative professionals and power users would be all over it." That may be an achievable goal for the Vision Air, especially if it's not chasing total XR immersion. And even if the Apple tax pushed the price up to $1,500, it would still be more sensible than the Vision Pro’s $3,500 cost.
While I don’t have high hopes for Android XR, its mere existence should be enough to push Apple to double-down on visionOS and deliver something people can actually afford. If Xreal can design comfortable and functional smart glasses for a fraction of the Vision Pro’s cost, why can't Apple?
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/whats-next-for-vision-pro-apple-should-take-a-cue-from-xreals-smart-glasses-113000437.html?src=rss
Black Friday (which is now basically all of November) is one of the best times of the year to pick up things for yourself and for other people. But to say money is tight is an understatement this year. If Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days was any indicator, folks are spending more on essentials than anything else during these big sales. That, combined with the rising trend of holding on to big tech purchases for longer means that you may not have gadgets at the top of your to-buy list this year.
Even if that’s the case, I’d recommend not overlooking tech entirely this Black Friday. After all, all of us have essential tech that we use every day, and more often than not, you can avoid paying full price for most of those gadgets (and all of the rest of the best tech of the year) if you're looking to add to your repertoire or you need a replacement. Personally, I'm not eyeing a new smartphone or laptop this holiday shopping season, but there are a few tech purchases I’d like to make if the prices are right. This is the tech I’m hoping to save on this year during Black Friday.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-black-friday-deals-i-hope-to-see-in-2025-100014091.html?src=rss
Color is the buzziest feature in ereaders right now, but is it necessary? It makes the covers more fun, and readers of comics and graphic novels will appreciate the added hues (though they may be happier with an E Ink tablet for better image detail). Color is just one factor to consider when picking out the best ereader. The lights, screen quality, housing and buttons make a difference too. Then there’s the software: Do you want to stay in the Kindle ecosystem or get a device that can handle lots of apps? We tested more than a dozen ereaders to come up with our recommendations. This guide also points out ways to get the most out of your new e-book companion once you pick your favorite.
Best ebook readers for 2026
What to look for in an ereader
Plenty of apps, including the Kindle app, will let you download and read digital books on an iPhone, Android Phone or tablet. But what makes ebook readers different is the screen: nearly all of them use technology from a company called E Ink. It manufactures electronic paper displays (EPD) composed of three sheets: one containing millions of microcapsules filled with black and white ink particles sandwiched between transparent electrode layers. When a charge is applied, either the black or white particles shift to the top, forming letters and the whitespace around them.
Color ereaders add a color filter array on top of the standard black and white microcapsule layer. The result is two different resolutions on one screen — the color clarity is 150 dpi while black and white images and text are still 300 dpi.
Because these displays are so different from standard backlight LED panels, you can expect most good ereaders to do a number of things well. They’ll be easier to stare at for long periods of time and easier to read in direct sunlight. Also, since E Ink displays only require power to rearrange the ink, these devices have much longer battery lives than even the best tablets: we’re talking weeks on a single charge, not days.
The ereader market is not as saturated as, say, the smartphone market, but there are still plenty of options out there and they do have small but important differences among them. They tend to range from around $100 to more than $400, though usually the higher end options are stylus-enabled read/write E Ink tablets like the Kindle Scribe. Beyond price, you should consider physical properties like buttons, lights, storage and resolution, as well as how the software lets you find and access books.
Reading features
With any ereader, you’ll navigate the OS via taps and swipes, and some add physical page-turn buttons. Most with built-in buttons have an auto-rotating screen so you can press with your right or left hand.
As E Ink technology has advanced, resolution has greatly improved – even the budget Kindle ereader has a 300 ppi display. You can still find models with lower resolution, but we don’t recommend them.
Some ereaders have front LEDs that support light temperature adjustment. That means you can switch to a warmer light after the sun goes down, which will feel easier on the eyes. If you’re concerned about blue light, you should go for a reader with that feature. Finally, dark mode is available on most later model ereaders, allowing you to invert the black and white text and background, which some people find easier to read in low-light settings.
Other features
The capabilities of these pocket libraries have advanced considerably since the early days. In addition to storing books, some let you browse the web, run apps and play music. The screen’s frame rate can’t handle gaming, but it’s good enough to show you the Wikipedia entry for Striver’s Row while you read Crook Manifesto.
If you listen to audiobooks, you may want a Bluetooth-enabled ereader capable of playing them. Most of the models we tested have that ability, with the notable exception of the Nook ereader we tried. Keep in mind that audiobook files can take up more space than print files so you'll probably want a device with a higher storage capacity if you plan on doing a lot of listening.
Above all, you should consider where and how you intend to find books to read. Most ereaders make it easiest to shop through their own digital bookstores, but all of them (even Kindles) will now let you download titles from other sources, like libraries, unaffiliated ebook sellers and free public domain sites.
Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget
How to get books for your ereader
Kindle, Nook and Kobo all have their own stores that you access directly from each brand’s devices. Prices are the same among all sellers, too. Publishers set the price of an ebook, not the retailer, so a title will cost the same at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, eBooks.com and the Kobo store.
Amazon offers Kindle Unlimited for $12 per month, and it includes four million titles from which you can pick your next read. It includes audio and ebooks, but you won’t find many big, new releases or older bestsellers. Kobo has a subscription called Kobo Plus with about 1.3 million titles: it goes for $8 per month for ebooks only, $8 for audiobooks only or $10 for both.
Buying a book from a proprietary store instantly delivers it to your device, provided you’re connected to WiFi. It also syncs your reading across devices and apps, so you can pick up where you left off on your phone if you forgot your ereader at home. It truly is the most convenient way to go, but if you don’t want to be locked into one brand’s store, or if you opt for an ereader without its own marketplace, you do have options.
How to upload ePubs onto an ereader
Stores like ebooks.com and Google Play have millions of ebooks for sale as digital rights-managed (DRM) ePub files, which Kobo, Nook and PocketBook readers can read in their native ereader apps. Kindles don’t support DRM ePub files at all and Boox devices require third party reading apps (of which there are many) to read those files. Titles from Apple Books are only readable in iOS devices.
Titles from some publishers like Tor and public domain classics from sites like Project Gutenberg are also sold as ePubs, but without the added DRM. Consequently, Kindles and the Boox Neoreader do support those files. Books you get from third-party sources will look just like ones you bought from a proprietary store, thanks to the flowable, formatted nature of ePub files. While these device-agnostic ebook collections give you extra options for finding your next read, they require a few additional steps to get the files onto your ereader.
To do so, you’ll typically need a computer running a free program called Adobe Digital Editions (ADE). After buying and downloading the ePub file, open ADE and plug your ereader into your computer (all readers here have a USB-C port for charging and data transfers). Your device should pop up in the left panel. Drag and drop the ePub file from your downloads folder into the main panel in ADE. The file will display as an image of the book cover. Drag that image onto your device on the left panel. If the file includes digital rights management (which protects against unauthorized copying) you’ll need to authorize your ereader, which requires using or creating a free Adobe ID. Once you’ve finished adding files to upload, eject the reader from your computer to complete the transfer process.
Kindles use a web-based uploader instead of the ADE method. But since Kindle uses its own proprietary DRM technology instead of Adobe's, the only files it can accept from third parties are non-DRM files, such as from Tor Publishing or Project Gutenberg. After downloading a compatible ePub file, drag and drop it into your browser with the Send to Kindle page open. As long as you’re signed into Amazon, this wirelessly transfers the files to your associated device.
Boox also uses a browser uploader called BooxDrop (along with many other methods) to deliver ePubs to the device. Open it from the Boox App menu and you’ll see a device-specific url. Type that into your browser to access a file delivery portal that uploads to your library. Boox’s built-in ereader app, NeoReader, also doesn’t support files with DRM, so you won’t be able to read current titles from most publishers using that app. Fortunately, Boox devices run nearly every ereader app out there, Kobo and Kindle included, letting you access ePubs any number of ways.
Recently, Bookshop.org, the online seller of physical books that supports indie bookstores, started selling ebooks and up to 100 percent of the profits will go to local booksellers. The company uses a different rights management system than ADE so, right now, you can only read titles you buy from them on the Bookshop.org app, but the company is working with the makers of both Kindle and Kobo to extend compatibility to those ereaders.
How to read library books on an ereader
Your local library card lets you borrow audio and ebooks through a program called Overdrive and its companion app Libby. On a Kobo, you have have built-in access to Overdrive in a separate tab. Once you’ve linked your public library card, the search function will include results for titles available from your local library system; a few taps will upload your selections to your device for the length of the loan. I personally find it easiest to borrow the title I want through the Libby app on my phone. After that, the book pops up on my Kobo’s home screen once the device syncs.
To read library books on a Kindle, you can either go through the Libby app or the Overdrive section of your library’s website. Once you click Borrow, you’ll see the option to “Read now with Kindle,” which takes you to Amazon’s site to sign in. After that, the book will be delivered to your device the next time it connects to WiFi.
For other ereaders, you’ll go through your library’s Overdrive portal and download the ePub after clicking the Borrow button. You can then use the ADE process we described above. Devices that run external apps, like Boox's Page, Go Color 7 or Palma, allow you to read library books via the Libby app, just as you would on a smartphone or iPad.
You can also use the Libby app to borrow audiobooks, but you won’t be able to access them through your ereader. (The exception is an ereader, like a Boox device, that allows external apps). I found it was easier to listen to an audiobook on my phone anyway, regardless of whether I borrowed it through Libby or bought it from Kindle or Kobo.
Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget
How we test ereaders
When putting together any guide, the first thing we do is spend hours researching the field. We look at what’s available, what’s new, and what shoppers and professional reviewers have to say. Then we narrow a list to the best candidates for hands-on testing.
Over the course of the past three years, I’ve tested just over a dozen ereaders, representing five different brands: Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Boox and PocketBook. I bought, borrowed and uploaded books for each device using the methods above. I used each one for between a few days to a few months. I evaluated each one in the areas of book access, ease of reading, extra features and overall value. Here’s everything we tested so far:
Amazon’s first color Kindle impressed with its quick page-turns and load times, auto-adjusting front light and, of course, a decently striking color E Ink display. But at $280, it’s more expensive than all of the other color ereaders in its size range, including the Kobo Libra Colour and the Boox Go Color 7.
Also, some Colorsoft owners reported seeing a yellow band at the bottom of their ereader’s display. This issue did not affect our first review unit during the original testing period, but it eventually appeared. An Amazon spokesperson told Engadget: "A small number of customers have reported a yellow band along the bottom of the display. We take the quality of our products seriously—customers who notice this can reach out to our customer service team for a replacement or refund, and we’re making the appropriate adjustments to ensure that new devices will not experience this issue moving forward."
Amazon sent us a new Colorsoft ereader at the end of 2024 and it does appear that the fixes the company made resolved the yellow-band issue. The screen on our second review unit appears warmer overall, but not overly so. It’s more akin to the screen on the Kobo Libra Colour, and that’s a good thing.
Boox Go 7 stylus-enabled ereader
Boox recently released two new stylus-enabled generations of their seven-inch reader: The monochrome Go 7 and a color-screen Go Color 7 (Gen II). After trying out the stylus-enabled Go 7, I still like the standard, non-stylus enabled version better. True, I liked the Notebook app with its array of handwriting templates and I appreciated the low-to-no latency with the stylus. It also offers a good assortment of brush, pen and style options. But outside of the Notebook app, I didn’t find much use for the stylus.
I was able to doodle in the margins of DRM-free books in Boox’s native NeoReader, but it doesn’t work in other apps or on any rights-managed books. There's a FreeMark option that allows you to draw or write atop any app, but it saves your doodles as separate images, as opposed to allowing you to mark up the page itself. I also found enabling the stylus to be a little glitchy. If you plan to do a lot of writing, you’ll probably be better served by an E Ink tablet, but if you want an ereader that can mark up your books, I suggest going with the Kobo Libra Color, detailed above.
Ereader FAQs
What's the difference between an ereader and an e-ink reader?
Really, they are the same thing. E Ink is a company that designs and manufactures the paper-like screens found in most ereader devices. Technically, anything you read ebooks on can act as an ereader, so your phone, iPad or Android tablet could all serve that purpose, but they’re not considered dedicated ereaders. While there are some devices marketed as ereaders that have LCD or OLED screens instead of E Ink, they aren’t as common. One of the benefits of ereaders is the E Ink screen’s paper-like quality, which causes less eye strain for many people.
But there is a difference between ereaders and E Ink tablets. These larger e-ink devices also employ E Ink screens, but they have stylus input and are often used for note taking and other tasks in addition to reading ebooks. We have an entire guide devoted to helping you pick out an E Ink tablet.
Are there ads on my ereader?
The base model Kindle and Kindle Paperwhite come with ads by default, but you can opt to pay $20 to remove them, either at the time of purchase or after you start using the device. The ads are limited to the lockscreen and are typically for other books or Kindle services. Kobo and Boox ereaders don’t come with ads.
Which ereader has the longest battery life?
Of the devices we tested, the Boox Go Color 7 has the largest listed battery capacity at 2,300mAh (Amazon doesn’t list the capacity of its Kindle devices). But thanks to the nature of E Ink screens and the relatively limited processing power required to display e-books, nearly all ereaders can go for weeks before they need a recharge. That means battery life probably isn’t as much of a deciding factor in buying an ereader as it would be with a tablet or smartphone.
Which ereaders can read Kindle books?
Amazon’s Kindle ereaders are the obvious answer, but other devices capable of running apps can also read titles from the Kindle store. For example, you can download the Kindle app on a Boox ereader through Google Play (the store comes standard in the Boox app menu). You can then sign into your Kindle account and access all the books in your library — the same way you’d read Kindle books on your phone or tablet.
Can you buy Kindle books without a Kindle?
Yes. You can buy Kindle books through the Kindle app or through Amazon’s website via a browser. You can read those titles on a Kindle or any device that can run the Kindle app, such as a smartphone, tablet or computer. Just be aware that Kindle titles can only be read through one of Amazon’s ereaders or the Kindle app. The company uses proprietary digital rights management on all ebooks it sells that can’t be read by other ereader apps like Kobo or Adobe ADE.
What's the difference between Kindle and Kobo?
Both Kindle and Kobo are brands of dedicated ereaders that support searching, buying, downloading and reading ebooks from their own stores. Both also support borrowing books from your local library via Overdrive and Libby.
The difference is that Kindle is owned by Amazon and uses the Kindle store, whereas Kobo is owned by Rakuten and its books come from the Kobo store. Both stores come pre-loaded as a tab on their respective ereader and both carry most in-print books. Each store also carries their own exclusive ebooks as well, but Amazon’s library of Kindle-only books is much larger than Kobo’s. Amazon also offers Amazon Original stories to read on the Kindle, which are free short fiction and nonfiction reads that are free to Prime members.
Which ereader is best for library books?
Both Kobos and Kindles have simple systems for borrowing library books. Other ereaders, like Boox, let you borrow books after downloading the Libby App. Only Kobo ereaders let you search for and borrow books directly on the ereader, with a dedicated Overdrive tab. Kindles, on the other hand, utilize a convenient “read on Kindle” function from the Libby app or website. You can send a borrowed book to your Kindle just by signing into your account. Both methods are pretty easy, so which is the best for you probably depends on other factors than just the library-book feature.
Recent updates
January 2026: Added the Boox Palma 2 Pro as the best smartphone ereader.
August 2025: Included new frequently asked questions covering battery life, E Ink screens and ads on ereaders. Mentioned Amazon’s release of a cheaper Colorsoft Kindle.
July 2025: Added our impressions of the new stylus-enabled Boox Go 7 series. Updated our Boox Palma recommendation to account for the upgrades to the Boox Palma 2. Included text formats to our specs and the battery life of the Kobo Clara Colour.
March 2025: Added news about Bookshop.org getting into the ebook market. Updated information about price-setting by publishers.
January 2025: Updated the "Others we tested" section to include impressions of the second Kindle Colorsoft review unit we received.
August 2024: Replaced our Android tablet pick with the new Go Color 7 ereader from Boox. Updated book titles to current examples. Added an FAQ section to explain the difference between Kobo and Kindle ereaders and further detail library-book support on different models.
November 2024: Following the release of Amazon's new Kindle ereaders, we tested and reviewed the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, the base-model Kindle and Amazon's new color ereader, the Kindle Colorsoft. Accordingly, we updated our budget pick, added a premium pick and noted our experience with the Colorsoft.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/best-ereader-130013808.html?src=rss
