Amazon was at the forefront of the creation of the mainstream e-book reader market; the other major players being Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo and Sony. There is now a lot of choice out there which can make it hard for a customer to decide on a product. I have written this article to help narrow the options available down to what I believe is the best product on the market.
The products that are available out there are the Amazon Kindle, Apple iPad 2, Barnes & Noble Nook, Kobo e-Reader and the Sony Reader. The Amazon Kindles are very competitively priced from $79 to $199. The recently launched Kindle Fire has proved very popular with e-book fans due to its full colour 7" multi-touch display screen as well as the Wi-Fi functionality. The Kindle Fire has proved to be a strong contender against the Apple iPad given that it costs approximately $300 less than the cheapest iPad without compromising on any of the major functionalities one would want in an e-reader.
A key advantage that the Kindle Fire has is its size; it is smaller and lighter than the iPad 2 making it more it more portable and less cumbersome to carry around. Please remember that a smaller screen doesn't mean that you have to strain your eyes as you can adjust the font size on the screen. The smallest and lightest e-book reader seen on the market to date is the Sony Reader Pocket Edition PRS-350, with a 5-inch touch screen and weighing in at 5.5 ounces. However, its shortfall is that it has no Wi-Fi or 3G functionality, therefore the user needs to drag and drop purchased books from a PC or Mac. The Sony Reader Pocket Edition is also dearer than Wi-Fi versions of the Kindle and Nook. Where the Nook is trumped by the Kindle is the fact that it has no video download service and it costs $50 more than the Kindle Fire.
In deciding whether to get an e-reader that has Wi-Fi or 3G functionality or both, consider price and whether you will be buying many books. A Wi-Fi model is more affordable whereas the 3G access can cost more upfront. The Kindle has both Wi-Fi and 3G versions available. Another great plus for the Kindle Fire is the free lending library that Amazon provides which is not offered by its rival Apple.
In conclusion, my top two recommendations on e-book readers are the Amazon Kindle Touch and Kindle Fire. They offer a sleek design with simple and easy to use interfaces plus they are hugely affordable compared to their Apple counterpart the iPad. I hope this article helps you as you make your purchasing decision, please fill free to leave a comment on which you think is a better product amongst the various e-book readers!