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I’ve been through many brands of ebook reader (iriver anyone?) but it’s really hard to fault the king of all readers, the kindle. I currently own the latest version of the kindle paperwhite, but how did I end up with one?
Well, first my previous paperwhite died. I know, it’s the first time I’ve heard of it too. It’s such a hardy piece of device that I was really surprised when it actually died. So began my research into the wonderful world of ebook readers. My final list of criteria to decide boils down to the following:
Now, I bring my ebook reader everywhere. It fits into my Bond Travel Gear (no longer available) AND it fits into my pocket. So fitting into these 2 places is a high priority for me. Despite the lighter and more feature packed Kindle Oasis, I ended up choosing the smaller more compact Kindle Paperwhite.
Amazon has a great selection of books. That’s why they still hold the top spot for reading on an e-ink based reader. However, I recently discovered Kobo, which integrates into my local library. So I can borrow a book, finish reading and return it, all on the same device without plugging it into my computer. This step alone will reduce the friction of getting a book onto your reader, and with a price tag of free, it’s a really hard deal to miss. There is a roundabout way to get it on Kindle, but less friction will always get you to read more and fiddle less. Most of the books I only read once anyway, so borrowing is quite the ideal situation.
I read during bedtime. I always set my kindle light to a very low setting but Kobo (at the time of purchase) included some night light version where you can even control the “yellowness” of the lighting. This Is a really good feature and when combined with the integration with the library, I found this the perfect device for my daughter to promote her love in reading. However, just when I almost got the same for myself, kindle paperwhite came out with a new version that has “inverted colours” function. This means that the words can be white on black background. This is even better for night reading (I change all my devices e.g. iPhone to this setting). That’s why I got the kindle paperwhite for myself in the end.
Since I’m looking to replace my existing kindle, I am always looking to increase the capacity so that it will last longer than what I currently have. You don’t have much to choose from actually. 8 GB or 32 GB. Only the Oasis / Aura One has 32 GB version, again until the latest kindle paperwhite came out. I got the 32 GB version. :)
And we come to finally the price. Despite being able to justify forking out the higher price tag for the most premium ebook reader I can find, the above factors led me to purchase the more common version. This is good when you think of “replaceability”. It won’t be too expensive to replace when it does kick the bucket again.
So this was how I ended up with the kindle paperwhite, and my criteria for choosing was in the above order, form factor being the first and price being the last. How do you choose your ebook reader?
