E-Reader Advice??

I am looking for some, hopefully, easy advice from our esteemed members here. I am looking to buy an "E-reader" of some sort, and I need some help selecting the right one. If this were extreme scientific diagnostic equipment, hardcore computing and/or storage, or virtualization/A.I. type gear I'd have no problems, but what I'm looking for is the opposite of all these things...and I'm lost. Several years ago I bought a Kindle device for my wife and she seems to like it despite a few notable quirks

TLDR - Ultimately, I'd like to ask members here what "E-reader" device they would recommend. (?)

Longer version - In my research of this subject, here are the items I've found which seem to be the most relevant decision factors (for me), but if I've missed some please don't hesitate to point them out. They are:

1. Size - physical form factor, ease of transport, comfort to read

2. Content source - Subscription based service, library, Google, other? (more options is better)

3. Subscription required? - Does the device become a brick if you don't subscribe to a specific service? Proprietary?

4. Content loading - What methods can be used to get content loaded onto the device? (i.e. Flash drive?, WiFi only?, PC Dock?, etc.)

5. Audio - Is the device capable of playing audio books (not video, just audio)

6. Budget - Less than $200 - This is not intended to be a computer replacement and therefore shouldn't break the bank.


Here are some items which are NOT important to me:

- Don't really care if I can watch movies on the device; I don't watch many movies just in general. Also don't need the ability to do any video editing, video capture, or really even pictures or other multi-media content beyond a simple book.

- Don't really care if the device can access online music content, or play music (i.e. spotify, I-heart, i-tunes, etc). I'll use my phone for this if need be.

- Don't really need to mark up documents (i.e. highlight, annotate, make notes, etc.)

- Don't need the device to perform an laptop-like functions like running other engineering / business applications, Not trying to have the device double as a computer.


Here are some of my assumptions:

- I assume all modern device screens today are color-capable LCD, or OLED type technology (and not monochrome)

- I assume, once downloaded, all content is pretty much the same (i.e. pages of text with maybe some graphics).


Summary - All I really need is a decent quality e-reader which I can use to read books (and possibly listen to books in the future). That's it. Not trying to replace my phone or laptop.

What should I buy?


Thanks in advance for any input!

I have a samsung Galaxy Tablet, A7 lite 9"

I know that barnes and noble, amazon, ect have free ereader apps. I use both of them, since I used to have a nook and didn't want to lose all my books.

Really happy with it. I can get on line and do other stuff with it, but I mostly just use it for reading.

My e-books are from Amazon.
I use their e-reader as well. Easy to use, especially on kindle. Not so easy to use on desktop, not a fan of book reading looking at a big screen.
Not a fan of the kindle paperwhite that only is a reader. Regular kindles with internet access is a better product IMHO.

You can customize to an extent, font type and size, page colors, lines spaces....and like that.
Read many dozens of books this way.

a reply to: chiefsmom

How to you get content onto the device, WiFi, Bluetooth or external drive?. I've been looking at the A8 with the 10.5" device (similar, just a bit larger).

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Which device do you use? The Amazon Fire type devices, or paperwhite?

I assume when you say you're using Kindle you mean the Kindle application, right? Or, are you referring to a device?

I recommend an IPad. My dad lost his IPad and went to the local CostCo and got the same one he had for 50% off. It's the 2021 9th Gen with 256gbs of RAM. Super snappy reaction, you aren't going to be waiting changing pages etc. If I were you I'd run to CostCo and see if those are still on sale. It wasn't too long ago. They may be trying to get rid of them in stock. If it isn't I still would go for an IPad over all the other tablets (e-readers) on the market. I've used all of the, the Galaxy Tab, the Fire, the Kindle. There is NO comparison.

IPAD 2021 GEN

This is perfect. Hands down for the price range (might be a little more). You will have 0 regrets.

ETA: Ha! I found an old review I did on this. Has 600 ups on it:



Here is a nice pic of me using it to read on the beach. I actually like to sit out on the beach and I can read 2, 3 hours around sunset before I take a walk with my wife.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Wifi.
I buy the books on the site, and they download. When installing the apps, you set up your reader, with email or whatever, (been a while since I did it) and they show up (the books).

I will say, barnes and noble app isn't very good. There are lots of complaints about it online. It takes up to 24 hours sometimes for my books to show up, whereas Amazon is instant.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I have a Kindle Fire tablet. I think it was $50 at the time I bought it.

The only thing I would recommend is a decent case if you intend it to be portable. A lot of these large slim profile devices will break if they do so much as fall over.

It has access to apps for a bunch of things, though it's more limited than a straight up Android tablet. I have an standalone PDF reader app because the Kindle app isn't great for them and a lot of what I read is scanned materials. I use the Kindle app for regular book formats though.

Audio is more than sufficient for audio books and the wireless is fast enough for streaming video. For adding materials I either browse to where I need to download them from Silk (not my favorite browser, but all there is for this device as far as I can tell) or transfer with Bluetooth. It has a USB-C charging port that I expect works as a data transfer as well. Kindle also has a send to Kindle address that you can forward things to add to your library. I don't have an SD slot and I don't know if they have that option.

I actually do watch a lot of videos on it and it has remarkable battery life. It has sat unused for a week or more and held charge. Unless you need a bright screen you could read all day and still have plenty of battery left, probably a week or more of casual reading for most people.

There's no subscription, but I do have ads that appear on the splash screen when you bring it out of sleep. You just swipe it away like you do to open any other tablet or smartphone and it's gone. I don't even notice them, it's like the lock screen.

For reading and even steaming I can't think of many drawbacks. The audio can be crappy if you turn it up loud (specifically bass), but I don't think you can escape that in small slim profile tablets unless you want to spend many times the amount. Most reviews of even the more expensive devices usually complain about the speakers too, in my experience. Even TVs are the same way.

a reply to: randomuser2034

Thanks, but I probably should have indicated in my OP, I'm not much of an Apple fan, and one of the biggest reasons for this is their price point is usually 2x or more than competing android and non-Apple based systems. The other thing is Apple products aren't just products, they're a whole culture where nothing is compatible with anything else but Apple. I need more flexibility than this.

Thank you though. (I do mean that)

edit - Nice pics! Looks very relaxing (a term I'm not real familiar with, but I'm getting there...and this is my first step).

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: randomuser2034

Thanks, but I probably should have indicated in my OP, I'm not much of an Apple fan, and one of the biggest reasons for this is their price point is usually 2x or more than competing android and non-Apple based systems. The other thing is Apple products aren't just products, they're a whole culture where nothing is compatible with anything else but Apple. I need more flexibility than this.

Thank you though. (I do mean that)

edit - Nice pics! Looks very relaxing (a term I'm not real familiar with, but I'm getting there...and this is my first step).

My dad had the same objections when I went up to visit him and he was asking me for suggestions. More for my mom than him, so she could read her Bible on it at the meetings (through the JW.ORG app). And he had like not kidding, 7 or 8 tablets sitting around on in his office.

If you do get other family members with Apple products, like you said, the whole ecosystem is already set up. I FaceTime my parents a couple times a week. Just for that I'm glad they got the purchase. My dad liked the IPad much he went out on got another one (aside from the one he lost). And I FaceTime with my kids, and a couple of my brothers now on the regular as well.

I can testify that this is hands down the best tablet/ereader. I've tried them all. I actually used to think like you and avoid Apple products. But they did a really good job on this. I don't think you'll find anyone that has any knowledge of the matter that would deny it.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

What phone do you have? Is it smartish? I use the kindle app, no need for extra device , yes it requires a subscription to access the kindle library and then you may want paid for books on top, but for me as a daily reader it is perfect. It does allow access to other sources also. If not kindle I’m sure there are other more “open” e reader apps.

That’d be my suggestion , no need to get a separate device look for an app instead.

a reply to: Nealthefourth

I wondered about doing this. My phone is an old Galaxy 10, but it actually works pretty well. It's a little small for doing much heavy reading though, but that would definitely be an option if it works.

I bought my wife a Kindle Fire several years ago and she likes it, but she's had a lot of issues downloading stuff to it. Her's is one of the ones with the 8" screen (don't recall the model). When I started looking into this she was suggesting I try to get the next size up which looks to be 9-10", that way we could have both sizes. My phone isn't nearly as big as her 8" kindle, so that would be the wrong direction. The opposite end of the spectrum is I have a collection of laptops and 2-in-1's (which can be used like a tablet) which I use for work. I suspect I could use one of those also, but that's on the bulkier end of things. I'm just looking for something simple. But good to know the phone would also work.

Thx.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

The Amazon fire type. Basically a small notebook kind of thing. You can even get keyboards for some of them!
I also have a paperwhite.....almost never use it. Screen is too small for my old eyes, the 10 inch kindle is primo...but the size just below that is very nice.

a reply to: ksihkahe

The Fire HD 10 tablet has an SD slot, and you can also transfer data via the USB cable. I use one for my reading needs, either in the Kindle app or Aldiko. I use Audible for audiobooks and Podcast Addict for podcasts. I have used it for video, but it's not its primary function. I've tried other e-readers out there, but none of them have been particularly great. I love the 10 for the size, I know many people prefer the 7, but I do some textbook reading on it, so the larger size is beneficial. One without ads on the lock screen and with 64 GB of internal storage and an SD capable of 1 TB of storage is $140 right now. Cannot recommend it enough.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

You're looking for a tablet. You can go apple or android. My "e-reader" of choice is
A. Largest screen I'm comfortable with
B. Best processor, memory
C. MUST HAVE LTE/5G.
D. Do NOT skimp with the cheapest - don't make my mistake with el-cheapo.

That said, my latest "e-reader" is a Samsung S9 FE 5G, T-mobile, cost $500.

Thanks everyone for all the great input and advice! It is much appreciated.

I have decided to go with the Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 with a 10.5" screen, 128GB memory, 1.8GHz processor, USB/BT/WiFi

Cost wound up being $219 OTD, so $19 bucks over my initial budget, but I think it's the right choice.