2011's Best... E-book Readers
For lovers of literature
Xmas Gift Guide World+Dog might fancy a glossy, colour tablet, but for the more literary inclined an e-book reader will likely prove a more suitable option. Yes, they're not as flash as fondleslabs, but their screens are legible both indoors and out, and their batteries last an age between charges. And, to please the canny gift buyer, they're relatively cheap too.
Reg Hardware would recommend any of the following five e-book readers, but if we had to pick one... well, you'll find our Editor's Choice product on the next page. So, in reverse order of rating we have...
Bookeen CyBook Orizon
Bookeen's Orizon is getting long in the tooth, is bigger then most 6in readers, not only in size but also in price. But it has the requisite Wi-Fi connection, unnecessary Bluetooth and - for folk who were hoping to get a tablet this Christmas - has a touchscreen and accelerometer-driven screen rotation. Its 2GB of book storage is expandable too with Micro SD cards of up to 8GB capacity.
Amazon Kindle Keyboard 3G
Keen to be able to buy a book anywhere? Then the third-generation Kindle - now renamed the Kindle Keyboard - is for you, thanks to its built-in cellular connectivity. If you can get a mobile phone signal, you can access the Amazon ebook shop and buy. And you don't pay any extra for the service beyond the cost of the reader and the price of the book. It has Wi-Fi too. The only snag: it's a mite more bulky than the higher scoring 6in readers, though it does have 4GB of book storage on board.
Next page: WHSmith Kobo Touch
COMMENTS
Weird
And here I was thinking that reading improved your general literacy...
Kindle Tied to Amazon?
Well, sort of, in that you can only make purchases/automatic downloads from there.
You can copy DRM-free MOBI files on through a variety of means though, and get most eBooks into that format via Calibre. So it's not a very tight tying.
"Ahh.. The Amazon astroturfer is out again I see."
@John Bailey: "Astroturfer"? "again"? You mean I could be getting paid for this? And I've done it before? Damn, it seems you know things about what I'm doing that I didn't even know myself - I'm so impressed!
No idea why you're quite so fixated on Amazon being teh bad, and anything that's not actively hostile to them being misleading (even if, somehow, it's also correct - I notice none of your comments actually say anything I posted was wrong), but I'm sure in your head you're right. Keep up the paranoid work.
Re: Yeah but....
Sounds like FUD.
I've taken Kindles through X-ray scanners to Europe, Australia and the US, and back again with no screen damage.
Airport staff inspecting bags without taking care of your kit? Now that I can believe.
I can't believe you said....
I can't believe you said 'simples'.
Go stand in the corner and think about what you've done.
