WIRED’s Best E-Readers, Tested and Reviewed (2025): Kobo, Kindle, Boox

2 hours ago7 min read3 comments

In the grand, sprawling library of human innovation, the humble e-reader occupies a fascinating niche—a device that promised to revolutionize reading and, against all odds, actually did. WIRED’s latest roundup for 2025, putting Kobo, Kindle, and Boox through their paces, isn't just a consumer guide; it's a snapshot of a quiet cultural war over the future of how we consume text.Having fallen down a Wikipedia rabbit hole on the history of the codex, I can't help but see the parallels. The transition from scroll to bound book was a revolution in accessibility and organization, and what we're witnessing now with these devices is a similar, seismic shift.The Kindle, Amazon's undisputed champion, is the iOS of the e-reading world—a walled garden of impeccable polish and seamless integration. Its ecosystem is a marvel of user experience, making the act of buying and reading a book as frictionless as a single click, a testament to a corporate strategy as formidable as any in tech history.Then you have Kobo, the plucky contender often seen as the Android alternative. With its stronger support for open formats like EPUB and its direct integration with public libraries in many countries, Kobo appeals to the reader who values sovereignty over their digital bookshelf, a philosophical stance against the monopolistic tendencies of its larger rival.And then there's Boox, the wildcard. These devices, running a version of Android, aren't just e-readers; they're pocketable computers for text.You can install the Kindle app, the Kobo app, Google Play Books, and read PDFs with a level of interactivity the others can't match. It’s the choice for the power user, the academic, the person who sees a reading device not as a destination, but as a portal.Testing these isn't just about screen clarity or battery life—though, for the record, the Carta 1300 screens are stunningly sharp, like reading from a high-quality paperback, and battery life is measured in weeks, not hours. It's about choosing your philosophy.Do you want convenience and ecosystem lock-in? Do you value open access and local library support? Or do you demand the flexibility of a full-fledged, albeit monochrome, tablet? The stakes are deceptively high. This isn't just about gadgets; it's about the curation of knowledge and the architecture of our attention.As I compared the warm, adjustable frontlight on the Kobo Libra Colour against the stark, clinical efficiency of a base-model Kindle, I was reminded that the vessel for words profoundly shapes our relationship with them. The best e-reader, then, is the one that disappears, allowing the author's voice to speak directly to you, whether you're on a beach in Thailand, a subway in London, or simply curled up on your couch, carrying a library of thousands in one hand.

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