There’s a lot of negativity surrounding Amazon these days, especially when it comes to some of the changes they’ve made to the Kindle ecosystem over the past year.
Instead of complaining about something Amazon did again, I wanted to post an article with all the positive things about Kindles that makes them the most popular ereaders in the world.
If I forgot something, feel free to leave a comment saying why you think Kindles are the best ereaders (but please save the negativity for another post because we’re staying positive here).
Best Things About Kindles
E Ink Screens – First and foremost, the best thing about Kindles is their E Ink screens. They have high contrast, they’re outdoor readable, they are very energy efficient, they’re easy on the eyes, and E Ink looks more like paper than LCD screens.
Lowest Prices – Excluding the new overpriced Kindle Scribes, Kindles are the most affordable ereaders on the market, especially when they’re on sale. Plus Amazon is the only company that offers a trade-in program to get a 20% discount on a new Kindle.
Send to Kindle – Amazon allows you to send non-Kindle ebooks and documents to Kindles using Send to Kindle, and you even have the option to add them to your account for free backup. Then you can wirelessly download them to your Kindle devices and apps, and everything syncs just like purchased books. This is a feature that none of the other ereader companies offer, and it’s a big advantage for Kindles.
Battery Life – Kindles have really long battery life that can last up to 3 months between charges, and they drain very little battery when not in use. I haven’t done any scientific tests, but after using countless ereaders over the past 15 years it seems like Kindles have the best overall battery life. The batteries tend to hold up longer as well. I have a couple Kindles that are over 10 years old now and the batteries still work and hold a charge.
Solid Build Quality – Kindles are cheap but their build quality is solid, better than most other brands. E Ink screens are notoriously fragile, but Kindles are engineered to account for that. I gained more respect for the build quality of Kindles after seeing this teardown video of the Colorsoft where the reviewer was trying to break the Kindle’s screen by hand and couldn’t do it.
Free eBooks for Prime Members – Every month Amazon gives away one or two books from First Reads, and Prime members also get access to Prime Reading to borrow ebooks from Amazon for free (it’s basically Kindle Unlimited lite).
Kindle Unlimited – Amazon’s monthly subscription service grants users unlimited access to over 5 million ebooks, along with thousands of audiobooks and some comics and magazines. KU is something that doesn’t work on other ereaders unless you’re using the Kindle app on an Android device. A lot of the ebooks available through KU are exclusives that aren’t available to purchase anywhere else.
Dark Mode – Amazon does Dark Mode better than other brands for white text on a black background. They invert everything on Kindles, including the menus and library (except on the Colorsoft), and there’s less visible ghosting when turning pages.
Panel View for Comics – Amazon has a panel view feature for comics that zooms in to each panel as you page forward for better readability.
Built-in eBook Store – You’d think that all ereaders would have a built-in ebook store for easy access to books, but that isn’t the case. The bookstore on Kindles is very convenient to use, and Amazon’s selection is unmatched.
Easy to Use – Kindles are simple devices that are easy to pick up and use. The learning curve is much easier than an Android-based ereader, for instance. There are some advanced settings and some things that aren’t clear at first about the interface, but overall Kindles are one of easiest devices to learn how to use.
Faster Software – The software is probably the number one thing that people complain about, but the fact is the software is faster and better optimized than other brands. I’ve directly compared Kindles to other brands many times and page turns are always faster on Kindles, and opening books and general navigation is usually faster too. Kindles also have the fastest boot times by a wide margin.
More Features – Amazon offers a wide range of software features, most of which aren’t available on other brands of ereaders. There’s a vocubulary builder, word wise, popular highlights, X-Ray, reading themes, system-wide search, and they recently added an assistive reader feature to read ebooks aloud.
Best Color Screen – I don’t know what Amazon is doing differently, but the Kindle Colorsoft has the best looking color E Ink screen on the market. I’ve reviewed a lot of color ereaders over the years and the Colorsoft has the best color screen with the least amount of ghosting (afterimage effects).
Kids Mode – Kindles have a mode for kids that restricts certain features and gives parents more control over the content available to kids, and parents can keep tabs on how much they’re reading. Plus Amazon offers content tailored for kids through their Kids+ library.
Kindles are doing something right if they converted me from a dedicated print book reader to a dedicated Kindle reader. I was very dismissive of e-readers and ebooks in general until Borders, the only easily accessible bookstore in my area, went under. Then a couple of authors I follow declared they would only publish ebooks going forward. Fearing Barnes and Noble would go under like Borders did, I bought a Kindle Paperwhite Gen 2, thinking hopefully a giant company like Amazon won’t go bankrupt any time soon.
I’m glad Barnes and Noble is still around, and a few independent bookstores opened in my area, but it is rare for me to read a print book now, compared to daily on a Kindle device or the app.
Very good summary. I fully agree. For all these reasons, Kindle remains one of the best options on the market.