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The e-reader looks like a small touch pad that can accommodate novels, manga, comics, newspapers or even PDF documents, for example.
The majority of readers are in black and white, some offer color, very practical for reading comics.
They have many advantages: very long battery life (sometimes up to a month), the bookmark is automatic on all open books, you can click on a word to get its definition, highlight passages, place bookmarks .
There are several models of e-readers on the market, the best known being Amazon's Kindle and Fnac's Kobo.
Each with their advantages, their specificities or the formats they can read.
To help you find the e-reader that suits your needs and desires, here is a selection of ten products to guide you:
The Kindle PaperWhite: Best entry into the subject
The Kobo Clara HD: The direct competitor at Fnac
The Kindle: Classic and less expensive model
The Kindle Oasis and its display with adjustable lighting temperature
The Kobo Nia: The simple and effective reader
The Kobo Libra 2: Responsive and fluid
The Kobo Sage with its very large 8" screen
The Vivlio Color and its color screen
The Vivlio InkPad 3: The talking reader
The Vivlio Touch Lux 5: The French essential
The Kindle PaperWhite, the best entry into the subject
The Kindle PaperWhite is an Amazon product with a 6.8" screen. It is available in several versions: 8 GB or 32 GB of memory, and with or without advertisements. With the 8 GB model you can already store several thousand If you plan to read larger files, consider the 32 GB model.Advertising is displayed on the screen saver and on the home screen of the tablet, to suggest new features. In return, you pay less for your Kindle.
Its autonomy is about 10 weeks, it is IP68 certified and therefore resistant to slight immersion.
It reads several formats, including the proprietary Kindle 8 AZW3 format, but also TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, native PRC, HTML, DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF or even PNG.
And it connects via Wi-Fi directly to your account and the Amazon store to make it easier for you to acquire and download new books.
Most :
Brightness adjustable;
It weighs only 205 grams;
Real reading comfort.
The lessers :
The proprietary format;
Some latency in non-read navigation.
See the price on Amazon
The Kobo Clara HD, the direct competitor at Fnac
The Kobo Clara HD is Fnac's answer to Amazon.
This is an equivalent e-reader with a beautiful 6" screen, 8 GB of memory and absolutely no integrated advertising. It is equipped with e-Ink technology allowing for on-screen rendering close to that of a page of a book. So you don't feel at all the eye fatigue that can occur when you are too long in front of a screen. Comfort is absolute.
It reads formats such as EPUB, EPUB3, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF, CBZ or even CBR.
Autonomy is approximately several weeks, although this may vary depending on whether or not Wi-Fi is activated or even the intensity of the backlight.
It weighs only 166 grams and can hold up to 6,000 "classic" books purchased on the Kobo store.
Most :
Very good ergonomics;
Advanced settings for all users;
ComfortLight Pro technology.
The lessers :
No sealing;
Does not support audiobooks;
No on/off button.
See the price at Fnac
The Kindle, a classic and less expensive model
Offered at less than €100 for its cheapest version, Amazon's classic Kindle is the e-tailer's entry-level model.
We find the 8 GB of memory to store books by the thousands, with always a backlight of the most comfortable for reading day and night.
The difference with the Paperwhite version is in the screen.
Indeed, the classic model has 4 LEDs for backlighting where the Paperwhite offers 17. The resolution is 167 dpi against 300 dpi.
But that does not at all prevent it from being extremely comfortable to use, especially since we find this substantial autonomy allowing you to leave for long weeks without the need for a charger.
Most :
An affordable price;
A beautiful 6" screen.
The lessers :
Disappearance of the tightness;
A slightly dimmer screen.
See the price on Amazon
The Kindle Oasis and its display with adjustable lighting temperature
The Kindle Oasis is Amazon's top model.
With a very nice 7" screen for a resolution of 300ppp, it is available in three versions: 8 GB, 32 GB or 32 GB with cellular data. This last option allows you to put a Sim card in the reader in order to have access Internet everywhere, even without Wi-Fi.
The screen temperature is changeable, with an amplitude ranging from white to amber.
Just as it is possible to modify the backlight.
It is IPX8 certified and therefore water resistant, ideal for baths or swimming pools.
You can also turn it in the reading direction that suits you: the screen will automatically detect it and rotate accordingly.
Most :
A superb finish;
A screen that does not tire the eyes;
Good grip.
The lessers :
The screen marks easily (fingerprints);
His price.
See the price on Amazon
The Kobo Nia, the simple and effective reader
With the Kobo Nia you have a very simple little e-reader that does what it is asked to do.
It has a 6" anti-reflective screen with 8 GB of internal memory. You can take advantage of E-Ink technology for rendering close to a real book, change the size of the letters, change the font, etc.
The Kobo Nia is 15.9 x 11.2 x 1 cm in dimension and can possibly fit in a pocket.
The screen is backlit to facilitate night readings.
Be careful though, the reading light is not waterproof so avoid swimming pool areas.
Most :
Very light ;
The ComfortLight.
The lessers :
The lack of sealing.
See the price at Fnac
The Kobo Libra 2: responsive and fluid
Among the Kobo models, the Libra 2 impresses with its large 7" screen and above all the fluidity with which you will browse the pages of your novels. You benefit from a very beautiful latest generation E-Ink Carta panel with, in plus, the possibility of enjoying audio books in addition to written novels.
Natively it offers 12 GB storage, which allows you to store several thousand books but above all a good amount of audiobooks.
Its autonomy is also estimated at several weeks, it all depends on your intensity of use.
And it is equipped with a fast charge allowing to find several days of battery in a very short time.
Most :
The quality of the screen;
Support for audiobooks;
Fast charging;
It is waterproof.
The lessers :
A little imposing;
The raised edges of the screen.
See the price at Fnac
The Kobo Sage with its very large 8" screen
If you read a lot, the Kobo Sage might be a great choice.
It shines in front of its competitors with its large 8" screen allowing very good readability. The Kobo Sage displays E-Ink HD Carta technology at 300dpi for a resolution of 1,140 x 1,920 pixels. Its autonomy is several weeks and, with 32 GB of storage, you will be able to carry thousands of novels.
It is compatible with EPUB, EPUB3, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF, CBZ and CBR formats.
The little extras?
Support for audio formats as well as note taking.
This e-reader is slowly approaching a touch pad, while maintaining its reading comfort.
Most :
Its large format;
The ability to take notes;
It is waterproof (IPX8).
The lessers :
No automatic brightness;
Autonomy because of the multiplicity of functions;
His price.
See the price at Fnac
The Vivlio Color and its color screen
Among the leading brands in terms of e-readers, we find the Vivlio models.
The Color model has the particularity of offering a color screen, which is very practical if you read graphic novels or comic books.
All displayed on a 6" surface with E-Ink Carta technology.
It works under Linux and has 16 GB of memory for 1 GB of RAM.
It is compatible with FB2, EPUB, DJVU, CHM, DOCX, PDF, TXT, RTF, DOC, HTML, PRC (Mobipocket), CBZ, CBR, MOBI, ACSM and HTM formats as well as some still image formats.
Most :
The color screen;
Voice synthesis;
Multi-compatibility.
The lessers :
The size of the screen, too small for comics;
Very (too) powerful brightness.
See the price on Cdiscount
The Vivlio InkPad 3, the talking reader
Still at Vivlio, the InkPad 3 model is just as interesting, with a classic black and white screen but above all the presence of voice synthesis.
It has a jack port to connect headphones and allows you to listen to your audio books, your songs or even your eBooks.
A synthetic voice comes to read your novel and therefore allows you to transform any book into an audiobook.
Certainly, you will not find the intonations of a narrator, but it can help you to read faster or follow a certain rhythm.
The touch screen measures 7.8" diagonally, you are entitled to 8 GB of internal memory and the autonomy can go up to 1 month.
Most :
The headphone jack;
The screen has a blue light filter.
The lessers :
It is not waterproof.
See the price at Boulanger
The Vivlio Touch Lux 5, the French essential
The Vivlio brand is of French origin and has several ranges of reading lights.
The Touch Lux 5 is a complete and efficient first prize.
With its beautiful 6" monochrome screen at 212 dpi, it has 8 GB of memory for 512 MB of RAM. You will therefore be able to store around 6,000 books like its counterparts.
We note on this model the presence of a port to put a microSD card and thus increase the memory of the device at a lower cost.
A very rare asset that can tip the scales in its favor.
Most :
The microSD card reader;
Very light ;
Open to many libraries.
The lessers :
Lack of sealing;
The screen gets dirty easily.
See the price on Cdiscount
How important are the formats supported by an eReader?
Depending on the readers, you will not always be able to read all eBook formats.
This of course applies if you want to import personal files to the eReader.
If you only go through the blind(s) linked to your eReader, you should have no problem.
On the other hand, if you already have a library of eBooks on your computer to import into a new reader, you will have to check if it can read them.
If not, there are online or downloadable tools to convert e-books.
What is PPI resolution for monitors?
The screens of e-readers (and other tablets for that matter) have their diagonal size expressed in inches.
Image resolution is expressed in pixels and DPI.
DPI stands for Dots Per Inch, or Pixels Per Inch.
Besides, you can sometimes find the French abbreviation PPP.
To put it simply: the higher the number of PPI, the more you will have a good quality image.
If you mostly read graphic novels or comics, this is something to consider.
For classic eBooks, make sure you have a minimum of 72 DPI and you can take full advantage of it.
E-readers are truly the future of reading. Compact and light, they allow you to take all your favorite books with you, everywhere, all the time.
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