I'm Matt Smith, and I live breath and sleep tech, especially the latest devices such as tablets and laptops. Here are my tips and tricks about what to look for when buying your next tablet or laptop.
It turns out that our favorite reading books can be downloaded onto a tablet via apps such as Amazon or Apple books instantly, and many comment that reading using the latest tablets is actually quite enjoyable!
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Why carry around a myriad of books when an ebook reader can provide you with a library of options all in one small tablet.
It’s convenient, it’s light, you can read in the dark, and having a small library in your pocket means you will never tire of things to read. With an increasing amount of tablet choices now emerging in the market, how do you decide which device is best to read on?
It can be a bit daunting to decide on a tablet that you feel comfortable reading. With multiple choices from Amazon, and many new tablet options available from other brands, it’s easy to become confused.
Some tablet screens, for instance, aren’t good enough. That’s why we have done the research for you and come up with the 7 best tablets for reading.
Top Rated Reading Tablets
1st Choice
Kindle Oasis Reading Tablet
Our best 7″, 300 ppi flush-front paperwhite display.
Adjustable warm light to shift screen shade from white to amber.
Waterproof (ipx8) so you can read in the bath or by the pool.
Let me walk you through our in-depth review of each tablet, or reading pad. For the sake of reference, treat our overviews as a 7-page book where your choice will primarily depend on your needs. Afterward, I’ll back you up with knowledge so you can independently decide on the right type of tablet for you.
The E-Ink technology implemented in this display gives the same vibe as real paper. Combine that with 35 LEDs for warm-to-white light optimization and the high pixel density of 330 PPI, and you’ll say goodbye to jagged texts.
In addition to the regular finger swiping, you get two page-turning buttons for an effortless, one-handed grip.
This reading tablet can withstand accidental splashes if you’re reading by the pool, for instance. Thanks to the IPX8 rating, the Kindle Oasis is destined to survive up to 60 minutes if immersed in freshwater.
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On our first page, we have the Amazon Kindle Oasis. This reading tablet is specced at its peak and one of the best compared to its peers in the Amazon lineup and I instantly fell in love with its enormous 7-inch display, which means it’s our top choice as the best tablet for kindle.
What’s innovative about the display’s light guide is that it renders the tablet’s display front-lit, allowing it to adjust the light according to the ambient light around you. You can also turn on the adjustable warm light to get the same sensation of reading a printed book.
The Kindle Oasis packs 8 GB of internal storage, undoubtedly sufficient for storing thousands of books. However, I think that the price doesn’t comply with this tablet being ad-supported.
The Kindle Oasis promises customizability with the ability to change the font size, style, and density. Also, if you’re not happy with swiping the screen for page turns, this tablet has dedicated buttons for that job.
If you’re into audiobooks, this device is compatible with Audible, so you can pick up where you left off when switching between reading and listening. What makes reading tablets, especially this one special, is the overwhelming number of reading books you’ll have access to.
You can charge the Kindle Oasis via micro USB, and it’ll give you the juice to keep it powered for weeks. I don’t even charge my Kindle Oasis that often since the battery is optimized to last.
Despite the price cut, the Kindle Paperwhite still maintains the same PPI as the Oasis. The built-in 5 LEDs adjust the brightness for an eye-pleasing reading experience.
A 4-hour charge cycle produces six weeks’ worth of power. Notice that battery life will vary according to your usage since activating wireless connectivity will affect the screen-on time.
Say goodbye to wet paper, for the Kindle Paperwhite is nearly invincible to water splashes. It’s safe to let this tablet accompany you for a read in the bathtub. Quite relaxing, right?
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The Paperwhite is the second highly-specced tablet in the Kindle lineup. Being a scaled-down version of its elder sibling, it boasts a 6-inch display with 300 PPI. I’d think of this one inch smaller screen as an advantage since there’ll be more pixels crammed into it.
The Paperwhite tablet offers 8 GB of storage for storing a ton of e-books without any issues. Like the Oasis, it has options for customizing the text’s font, size, and density when you read Kindle-exclusive books.
Not to mention, I was overhyped when I noticed that it provides free cloud storage where you can save your favorites.
In case you didn’t notice, the absence of warm amber light support accounts for the price cut here. Luckily, the Paperwhite is still waterproof, and the display is anti-glare to block any annoying sunlight from rendering the text unreadable.
Furthermore, you get access to Audible’s audiobooks when you pair your Kindle Paperwhite tablet with a Bluetooth playback device, and Kindle’s boundless library of new releases and classic reading books.
I only wished this tablet would get rid of these sizable bezels or maybe place some page-turning buttons in them! Another downside to the Paperwhite is the curse of ads. When you turn off the screen, ads are displayed untill you turn the tablet on again.
The large Retina display is synonymous with colossal chunks of text per page. Pair this with the high resolution and the text sharpness, you won’t be disappointed. Also, Apple’s True Tone Technology enhances the ambient light sensor’s performance to adjust both the brightness and color levels.
Unlike Kindles, the iPad Mini features a headphone jack, to which you can resort when you feel like listening to an Audiobook without bothering everyone else in the room.
The fingerprint sensor allows for seamless authentication in all your book purchases without worrying about someone messing around with the tablet.
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I bet you didn’t expect the iPad Mini to show up amid the army of e-readers we have on our list. However, many bibliophiles are fond of this iPad Mini’s mesmerizing screen. This 7.9-inch Retina display runs at a higher resolution than the Kindles at 326 PPI meaning it’s one of the best iPads for reading books, especially pdf files.
Powered by the A12 Bionic CPU (found inside the iPhone X series), this tablet runs at the speed of thought with great file format support. Not only will you be able to read books and use as a speedy note taking tablet, but you’ll browse the entirety of the App Store, granting you access to countless libraries, especially with the Apple Books app.
I let out a sigh of relief knowing that Apple didn’t commit the headphone jack massacre with the iPad Mini—the headphone jack gives you another power-efficient option for listening to audiobooks instead of being restricted with Bluetooth. Speaking of power, the battery can last up to 10 hours, great for a smart tablet, yet low-performing for an e-reader.
If you’ve got an iPad, you’ve got a kindle! Even if you’re accustomed to the Kindle ecosystem, you can still download its app. You can also still mess with your all-time favorites in a stand-alone Audible app. For that, you’ve got 64 GB worth of ample storage capacity that you can fill however you’d like, which makes it the best tablet for reading and web browsing.
Front LightImmersive ControlsPersonalized Text Style
The inbuilt 4 LEDs in the top bezel perceive the ambient light and do some minor tweaks to the brightness levels for a painless reading experience.
The Kindle 10th Generation vanquishes distraction with intuitive, instant controls that involve gestures for highlighting texts, translating words to your native language, or even looking up ambiguous terms on Wikipedia. No excuses to opt out!
With the ability to customize the font’s weight and style, you’ll end up with the desired text format you wish your physical book would feature.
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Meet the original Kindle tablet in its fresh appeal. I’m glad they decided to refurbish the Kindle of the previous generation and introduce a new one with front LEDs for adjusting the color tone and brightness. The display here is still based on the E-Ink technology, made specifically for e-readers.
The Kindle 10th Generation has a pixel density of 167 PPI. You won’t notice any pixels unless you look meticulously at the 6-inch display. Still, the display is glare-free to cut down on eye fatigue. With 4 GB of onboard storage, you’ll be able to download and save offline the titles you’re keen on reading.
With this reading tablet, you’ll enter the Kindle-exclusive realm of libraries, especially when you get into the Kindle Unlimited subscription that offers over a million reading books at your disposal and the audiobooks from Audible.
Though affordable, this reading tablet still holds a reliable 4-week battery life that’ll satisfy your bibliophilic urges as if it’s challenging you to get through the month with a 30-minute reading session every day!
It’s worth noting that you’ll have 2.8 GB of usable storage out of 4 GB, meaning that if you’re concerned about audiobooks, this one may not be for you due to the low storage capacity. Other than that, you’ll definitely be happy with the on-page controls!
Not only will Fire OS let you experiment with the Kindle ecosystem, but it also unravels a wide range of apps that you can rely on for finding potential reads in other apps.
You can count on Alexa in web surfing for your books, conducting book purchases, and giving commands to play audiobooks.
With expandable storage up to 512 GB via SD cards, you’ll be able to store a mind-boggling number of books or audiobooks if you’re not satisfied with the already ample 32 GB internal storage.
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In case you’re disappointed with the iPad Mini’s price tag, we’re here with the most affordable tablet on our list, the Amazon Fire 7. This reading tablet’s display boasts a resolution of 1024 x 600 with a pixel density of 171 PPI, higher than the original Kindle but still falling behind that of the iPad Mini.
While the display isn’t one of the strengths of the Fire 7, it has a handy Blue Shade mode, which reduces blue light levels to eliminate eye strain.
Compared to the Kindles, this reading tablet packs more storage capacity, 32 GB worth of internal memory. This accounts for more versatility if you’re all about audiobooks. Speaking of audio, this one still maintains a headphone jack.
This tablet runs on Fire OS, an operating system based on Android Pie 9.0, yet still provides the same reading ecosystem. After powering it on, you’ll see the home screen flooded with apps, most relevant of which are the Kindle Store and Audible app.
The battery is on the low end, scoring 7 hours based on your daily usage. For that humble battery life, the reading tablet takes around 4 hours for a full charge. Another thing that I find inconvenient is the absence of an ambient light sensor. However, you can adjust the brightness manually.
Kindle’s X-Ray always keeps you on track with information about the characters, places, definitions, and subsections of your read by long-tapping the word that triggers your curiosity.
Enjoy distraction-free reading sessions with PressPage, a haptic feedback sensor that feels the touch of your thumb to turn the page. It also generates minimal vibration when a page turn is executed to create the illusion of holding a real book.
The terms you lookup using the WiseWord feature are saved for later revision. You can also choose to sort them as flashcards or see their usage in context. Our top picks for tablets for toddlers will also reveal some younger child-friendly options. On activating Kindle FreeTime, rest assured that your kid won’t accidentally commit to purchases in the Kindle Store.
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As the name implies, the Kindle Voyage is the most compact tablet for reading on our list. This tablet is merely 7.6 mm thick, making it very convenient to hold. I’m also happy we’re back to the 300 PPI tier for displays since the E-Ink screen here, which is subtly different from our top choice regarding the number of LEDs involved in the front light.
This reading tablet has 4 GB worth of storage, enough for downloading a plethora of books. Similar to most Kindles, this tablet also allows you to customize the text to your liking with Kindle-exclusive fonts like Bookerly and Caecelia, in addition to eight text sizes. Note that these customizations are optimized for the best compatibility with the screen’s resolution.
Unfortunately, we don’t have the Kindle-Audible collaboration in the Kindle Voyage. However, you can still download your favorite audiobook from the Kindle app and join a community full of intellectuals with Goodreads.
The Kindle Voyage promises a robust battery life per a 4-hour charging cycle. Aside from technicalities, this reading tablet is loaded with productive features, like the Family Mode, you can share books on the same account but with different users for every Kindle Voyage.
Additionally, you get a kid-friendly WiseWord feature that displays the definitions above every advanced word. You can expand the definition by tapping on the word and then collapse the pop-up window to carry on reading.
In addition to changing the brightness levels, the ComfortLight PRO technology boasts the ability to change the color tone from the average white background to the warmish, restful yellow.
Kobo collaborates with Overdrive so you can enter your library ID number and download the books you want to borrow on-the-go.
TypeGenius is a proprietary engine that fulfills similar text customizations to the Kindles. You can choose from 11 fonts and 40 font styles and various options for font weight and size.
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Last on our page is the Kobo Clara HD, introducing a new ecosystem other than the Kindles, Fire OS, and iOS tablets. One look at the Clara HD, and you’ll be facing the high-resolution E-Ink display with 300 PPI of pixel density.
Kobo doesn’t compromise on brightness adjustment with its e-reader since it features a similar front light methodology to the Kindles. Unlike most e-readers, you won’t be trapped in one color tone with this one, thanks to the embedded LEDs in the top bezel that adjust the color tone according to the ambient light.
If you’re used to the Kindle ecosystem, the Clara HD may not suit you. However, you’ll enter a new world of e-books in the Kobo Store app, and since most libraries now upload their massive collections of books to Overdrive, you’ll be happy to know that you can download and borrow e-books from the Overdrive app.
The 8 GB internal storage is a blessing since it’ll accommodate thousands of books. Regarding dependability, the high-end battery life promises weeks of uninterrupted reading.
The best part about this tablet for reading is that, finally, we have no ads on this one, unlike the majority of Kindles. The crossover between this and the Kindle tablets regarding the reading experience is the ability to highlight text, look up terms, and add bookmarks.
However, you won’t be able to download any audiobooks on the Clara HD due to the lack of an audio output port.
Reading tablets should have a robust lifespan and provide you with a long reading life. So, you wouldn’t want to make an irrevocable (or expensive) mistake just because you’re not well-versed in reading tablets. There are plenty of reading apps for tablets to choose from but of course you’ll want to choose the best device for reading books as well as pdf textbooks. We won’t leave you baffled—I’ll guide you through some key points in the best tablets for reading (which also apply to our top tablets for seniors).
Display
The display on a reading tablet is the most determining factor in a tablet for reading. Without any tech jargon, the panels incorporated in reading tablets fall into two categories: IPS panels and E-Ink displays.
1. IPS (In-Plane Switching)
IPS panels conquer the overwhelming majority of tablets on the market. They’re characterized by their high-resolution display, wide viewing angles, and excellent refresh rates. IPS panels are LCD-backlit, meaning they emit glare from the innermost layer for generating light to provide the highest brightness possible.
Owing to being backlit, the downside to IPS panels is that they generate a lot of glare, and you may be susceptible to eye fatigue if you are a person who tends to read for prolonged periods.
2. E-Ink Display
E-Ink panels use reflective panels to illuminate the display on the tablet. Purpose-built for e-readers, the E-Ink technology uses built-in front light LEDs to capture the ambient light and adjusts the brightness accordingly. This type of panel is mostly found in e-readers, like the Kindle tablets.
Bottom Line
Our eyes tend to see naturally lit objects better than self-illuminated ones. Since E-Ink displays are glare-free, they’re better for extended reading sessions.
Storage
Although books can take up just tiny megabytes of the internal storage, you should pay attention to the usable storage capacity specified by the manufacturers before buying a tablet for reading. For instance, a 4 GB model will only provide you with half the advertised storage capacity owing to the preinstalled operating system.
Most reading tablets come with humble storage capacities compared to smartphones, typically between 4 GB and 32 GB. If you consume a lot of audiobooks, I’d recommend you opt for tablets with 8-32 GB.
Ecosystem
The ecosystem has a significant role in determining your reading experience. Although most operating systems introduce a similar ecosystem, each one leaves you with some minor restrictions regarding purchasing reading books from third-party sources.
For instance, the Kindle tablets are designed to run e-books formatted with MOBI, meaning you won’t be able to download EPUB-formatted books on a Kindle e-reader. However, most ecosystems provide you with comprehensive coverage of what every seasoned bookworm needs, including audiobooks, book libraries, and book suggestions.
We all get baffled looking at a spec sheet, but consider taking a glimpse of the formats supported by your future tablet for reading.
Ease of Use
A reading tablet shouldn’t give rise to distracting pop-ups every time you power it on for a reading session. Instead, these tablets are always loaded with a multitude of interactive gestures to help you focus without leaving the page.
Some of these controls include looking up advanced words, translating words, tapping at ambiguous terms for displaying definitions, bookmarking pages, saving quotes, and highlighting passages.
A remarkable thing to mention here is that the Kindle e-readers have ad-free versions at an extra cost. If you don’t want to be a moving advertisement campaign, consider opting for these versions.
Since tablet screens emit a lot of glare, you may be prone to eye strain in the long run if you read on a tablet daily. This applies to most backlit panels like IPS panels. However, E-Ink displays emit little to no glare. So, they’re more kind to your eyes.
Which Is Better for Reading: a Kindle or a Tablet?
Generally, Kindle e-readers are better than tablets since they boast eye-inducing E-Ink screens compared to a tablet’s multipurpose screen for gaming or multimedia consumption. Also, Kindle holders are provided with unique book offers from the manufacturer, whereas tablets are multi-functional regarding their usage.
What’s the Difference Between a Tablet and an E-Reader?
E-readers are powered by a glare-free E-Ink screen that is front-lit, meaning they depend on front-light LEDs instead of backlit LEDs in tablets. Also, e-readers run on a special OS primarily built to provide a reading environment compared to a tablet’s OS that can accommodate different apps for listening to music, for instance.
Conclusion
The good news is there are plenty of choices when deciding on the best reading tablet for you. These portable devices are great for increasing your reading quota and lightening your backpack. Even if you’re not a bookworm, the best tablets for reading that we reviewed prepare you to get immersed in untold libraries and you will do well with any of the devices on our list.
In conclusion, here are our top 3 recommended reading tablets:
