Best eBook Readers

The Amazon Kindle 2 easily tops reviews

The current scope of e-reader reviews reflects a battle for dominance between two manufacturing heavyweights: Amazon.com and Sony. However, things are about to get even more interesting in the e-reader market as Barnes & Noble is set to release the Android-based Nook ebook reader (*Est. $260) at the end of November -- just in time for the holiday shopping season. Until the Nook is released and starts to accumulate reviews, the Amazon Kindle 2 still reigns as the best ebook reader available.

Amazon's Kindle 2 has steadily dropped in price throughout 2009, off $100 from its high of $360. In October 2009, Amazon launched an international version of the Kindle 2 that includes wireless support outside the United States; that version has now replaced the U.S.-only Kindle 2. The new version uses AT&T's 3G network instead of Sprint's network, but otherwise the latest generation is the same as the model it replaced. Those who already have an Amazon Kindle 2 will continue to use the Sprint network, as will owners of Amazon's Kindle DX.

Overwhelmingly, reviewers favor the Amazon Kindle 2 (*Est. $260) over all other ebook readers. The Amazon Kindle 2 earns top rankings at CNET, TopTenReviews.com, MobileTechReview.com, Wired and PCMag.com. The e-reader measures 5.3 inches by 8 inches and weighs 10.2 ounces. Available only in white, it has a 6-inch grayscale screen and its 2 GB memory can hold approximately 1,500 books. Unlike the original, there isn't a memory card slot to expand the available memory, but few reviewers miss this feature. Battery life isn't clocked in hours or days, but weeks (as much as two weeks with minimal usage).

Most experts say the Amazon Kindle 2's screen offers excellent contrast, renders black-and-white images beautifully and truly resembles a page in a physical book. However, there are critics who say the drab gray screen is depressingly dull. The Amazon Kindle 2 has no on-board lighting options -- external light is necessary to read in the dark -- and reviewers generally agree that the unlit display reduces eye strain. In theory, text-to-speech capability allows Amazon Kindle 2 users to treat their ebooks as audio books, but the application's robotic voice gets mixed reviews. "It's an obnoxious robot reading to you -- we couldn't stand to listen to it for more than a few seconds," says Charlie White at Dvice.com. Users posting to Amazon.com acknowledge that the voice can be quite mechanical, but most owners love listening to their ebooks in the car.

Praise is heaped upon Amazon for the inclusion of free wireless connectivity via AT&T's 3G network. The Amazon Kindle 2 comes loaded with a basic web browser, but reviewers warn that it isn't anything to get excited about. In addition, international users can only access one website, the English-language version of Wikipedia.org, according to Wired. In the past, reviewers have noted that Internet and download speeds were slow, and Wired's Charlie Sorrel finds not much has changed in that regard in the move from Sprint to AT&T. Sorrel notes slow download speeds with the new international Amazon Kindle 2, and it takes him several minutes to download a relatively small ebook.

An undeniable benefit to the Amazon Kindle 2 is access to Amazon.com's ebook store, which boasts more than a million books, periodicals and other print materials. In terms of file support, the Amazon Kindle models are somewhat limited -- aside from the Mobipocket format, it reads only the proprietary Amazon file format. The Amazon Kindle 2 can download Audible.com audiobook files, but it is unable to natively render PDF or Microsoft Word files. These complaints aside, most experts agree that the Amazon Kindle 2 is the most comfortable, convenient and user-friendly e-reader on the market.

Sony is the Amazon Kindle 2's biggest competition (for now)

Until the Barnes & Noble Nook hits store shelves, the Kindle's biggest competition comes from Sony's new line of ebook readers. Sony released two new e-readers in August, the Sony Reader Touch Edition PRS-600 (*Est. $300) and the Sony Reader Pocket Edition PRS-300 (*Est. $200), discussed later in this report. The Sony Reader Touch Edition PRS-600 replaces the PRS-700, Sony's first touch-screen ebook reader, which received mixed reviews for bad glare and poor contrast. Most reviewers say the Sony Reader Touch Edition is a much better e-reader than the PRS-700.

While experts prefer the Amazon Kindle 2 overall, a number of reviewers praise the Sony Reader Touch Edition PRS-600. Unlike the Kindle, the Sony offers a touch screen on its 6-inch display and dual memory card slots to expand the e-reader's onboard storage. Because E Ink screens don't support touch-screen technology, Sony's solution was to layer a touch screen on top of the screen, letting you use your finger to turn pages instead of pushing a button. Further, the touch screen eliminates the need for an on-board keyboard and other controls, making the device smaller and sleeker.

Sony's e-reader also supports more file formats than the Amazon Kindle 2, including native ePub and PDF, so readers can download ebooks from Google Books, which boasts hundreds of thousands of free titles. Partnerships with local libraries also allow users to borrow ebooks for a limited time using Sony's Library Finder application. For these reasons, some experts say the Sony Reader Touch Edition is a worthy alternative if you're not already attached to the Amazon Kindle 2. "Even some Kindle folks might consider defecting given Sony's more open format support (PDF, ePub, TXT and RTF are native), easy touch screen [user interface] and advanced note-taking features," says Lisa Gade at MobileTechReview.com. Other advantages include a two-week battery life and a built-in dictionary. Sony also announced in October that it would be transitioning all books in its ebook store to ePub format; that process is expected to be complete by the end of 2009, according to Brad Stone at The New York Times.

The biggest drawback to the Sony Reader Touch Edition PRS-600, according to some experts, is a glare-prone screen that doesn't show contrast as well as the Kindle. "You'll notice a clear difference between this screen and that of the Amazon Kindle and Sony's Reader Pocket Edition PRS-300 -- which offers slightly better contrast than Amazon's e-reader," says David Carnoy at CNET. Even though he is impressed with the Sony overall, Mark Hattersley at PC Advisor has to agree, calling the display "heart-breakingly unusable."

Other reviewers have more favorable opinions -- Lisa Gade says the contrast has been improved over previous Sony e-readers, and Matthew Miller at ZDNet.com is "very impressed" with the touch screen's clarity. Sony includes a stylus for taking notes onscreen, but James Rivington at TechRadar.com says this function is "fairly hopeless" due to the screen's slow response time. Unlike previous generations of Sony e-readers, the new lineup is compatible with both Macs and PCs. The Sony Reader Touch Edition doesn't include Wi-Fi, so you'll have to connect it to your computer with a USB cable to download a new ebook.

Sony will be adding Wi-Fi to its lineup with the upcoming Sony Reader Daily Edition PRS-900 (*Est. $400), which is due to be released in December. The Daily Edition ebook reader will include a 7-inch touch-screen display and access to AT&T's 3G network, although only for connecting to Sony's ebook store. It will support the same file formats as the Touch Edition, and it will also offer free borrowing downloads from local libraries. The lack of Wi-Fi has always been a notable shortcoming of Sony's ebook readers, so reviewers are eager to review this latest model. We won't know how this e-reader performs until it launches in December.

The Barnes & Noble Nook: A potential Amazon Kindle 2 killer?

Amazon's Kindle models have thoroughly dominated the e-reader market since it launched in 2007. However, the announcement of Barnes & Noble's Nook (*Est. $260), due to be released at the end of November, has many tech experts proclaiming it a potential Amazon Kindle killer. Since none of these experts have actually tested the Barnes & Noble Nook, these proclamations are based strictly on feature comparisons. Once the Barnes & Noble Nook hits store shelves, these opinions may be vastly different.

On the surface, however, experts agree that the Barnes & Noble Nook has some significant features that will make it an attractive alternative to the Amazon Kindle 2. "The Nook is already starting to look like the real Internet compared to Kindle's AOL," says Charlie Sorrel at Wired. Dan Nosowitz at Gizmodo.com agrees, saying you get more features for your money with the Barnes & Noble Nook. For one, the Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader includes a 3.5-inch color touch screen for navigation, in addition to the primary 6-inch reading display (which is not touch-sensitive). Another notable feature is the Barnes & Noble Nook's lending functionality, which allows users to share select ebooks with friends for free for 14 days. Only some books will be available for lending, and there's no word yet on how many titles will be included. Unlike the Amazon Kindle 2, the Barnes & Noble Nook includes a memory card slot to increase the available storage to 16 GB, and it supports native PDF and ePub files.

There are a few areas where the Amazon Kindle 2 continues to reign supreme. The Barnes & Noble Nook's stated battery life of 10 days is lengthy, but shorter than the Amazon Kindle 2's stated 14 days; both estimates decrease dramatically if wireless is activated. The Barnes & Noble Nook lacks a web browser, although it does include built-in AT&T 3G and Wi-Fi for downloading ebooks. It also doesn't include the Amazon Kindle 2's text-to-speech feature. Professional test-based reviews of the Barnes & Noble Nook will be included in a future update to this report, but it's already clear that the e-reader wars are about to get very interesting.