It used to be easy to choose an ereader. If you bought your ebooks from Amazon, you ordered the latest Kindle model that was available. If you downloaded EPUB books, you considered Sony, Kobo, Tolino, or a cheap Chinese product. Now, Amazon has so many Kindle ereaders on sale that it maybe difficult to pick up the right one that suits your needs. Fortunately, we can help you choose.
The first criteria is budget. If your budget is less than $100, you get an entry level Kindle ereader that is probably the best product in its price range, but it lacks an important feature: front light.
Ereaders are built on special display technology called E ink. The technology doesn’t use light (like LCD and LED displays) to display information on the screen. That’s why an ereader without a built-in front light requires daylight or other external light source for you to be able to read the display.
Ereaders with front light are priced above $100. Amazon offers two Kindle models, Paperwhite and Voyage, with front light and all the necessary features that a book lover needs. Which one is better, Voyage or Paperwhite?
Here is a video comparison of Kindle Paperwhite 2, Paperwhite 3 and Voyage by Kindle Chronicles:
A comparison of Paperwhite 3 and Voyage by the ebook reader blog:
Kindle Voyage specifications
Display: 6″ display, Carta e-paper technology. Front light, 300 ppi, 16-level gray scale.
Storage: 4 GB on device.
Battery Life: A single charge lasts up to six weeks. Wi-Fi and front light affect battery life the most.
Charge Time: Fully charges in approximately 3 hours from a computer via USB cable
Wi-Fi: 802.11b, 802.11g, or 802.11n standard. WEP, WPA and WPA2 security.
Documents formats: KF8 (AZW3), Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, DOCX.
Size: 6.4″ x 4.5″ x 0.30″ (162 mm x 115 mm x 7.6 mm).
Weight: Wi-Fi: 6.3 ounces (180 grams); Wi-Fi + 3G: 6.6 oz (188 g).
Kindle Paperwhite 3 specifications
Display: 6 inches, Carta e-paper technology. Front light, 300 ppi, optimized font technology, 16-level gray scale.
On-Device Storage: 4 GB.
Battery Life: A single charge lasts up to six weeks. Wi-Fi and front light affect battery life the most.
Charge Time: Fully charges in approximately 4 hours from a computer via USB cable.
Wi-Fi: 802.11b, 802.11g, or 802.11n standard. WEP, WPA and WPA2 security.
Ebook and document formats: KF8 (AZW3), Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, DOCX.
Size: 6.7″ x 4.6″ x 0.36″ (169 mm x 117 mm x 9.1 mm).
Weight: Wi-Fi: 7.2 ounces (205 grams) Wi-Fi + 3G: 7.6 ounces (217 grams).