The market of e-books has an actor who dominates the scene and his name is turn on. However, as the popularity of these devices grew, other brands caught on among the voracious readership and began challenging the Amazon brand for its place.
For its practicality, the fidelity offered by electronic ink – which is very similar to paper – and the number of books that can be carried on it, but above all due to the price difference with traditional booksTHE readers are becoming increasingly common among readers. And, in this context, the Kindle is the best known, but it’s not the only one.
Although a few years ago there was a wide range of options, today the local market is contract, as well as getting expensive. That didn’t stop Kobo, Boox, Noblex, or even Eudeba, who released one in Argentina called Boris -discontinued-, they have released models that can be purchased locally.
In this scenario, it’s hard not to fall in love with a Kindle, due to the ease of getting it in relation to its price. But if you’re looking for alternatives, these are some of the alternatives available in the country, along with their average monthly price February 2023.
Kindle Paperwhite 11
he is the voter most popular in the world. Created by Amazon as a response to internal disputes that the company founded by Jeff Bezos had with publishers, it revolutionized the market.
In addition to allowing the purchase of books directly within the Kindle ecosystem, they can be purchased on the web and sent via an email that the Amazon account activates for the user, under the function Send to Kindle.
Besides being very useful, this already supports the EPUB formatwhich is one of the most popular in the world, since August last year.
Among its most useful functions, it has its light for low light environments (configurable) and is splash resistant (something that may seem minor but is crucial for anyone reading in the bath or pool). As against, comes with ads (although they only appear when the ebook is off or in the main menu).
It has had several models over the years and this is a point that needs to be clarified: nowadays it is no longer necessary to go much higher than the Paperwhite 10, although there is little difference in price with the 11 (between 50 and 54 thousand pesos).
For the most refined is the version Oasis, bigger, more resolution (300 dpi) and 32 GB of storage space, something totally excessive for the little space that digital books occupy. Coast near 115 thousand pesos in the country.
supported formats: EPUB, AZW3, AZW, TXT, PDF, MOBI, PRC, HTML, DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, PMP.
Kobo ClaraHD
The direct rival of the Kindle: Kobo, an ebook that has always been popular in the world of free culture.
As a main advantage, it has no ads as if it had the best-selling version of the Kindle. Furthermore, the light it brings is configurable with colors Heat.
As against, Not the best option to read the PDF format. And the transfer of books is done by USBunlike Kindle which allows you to send them via e-mail.
The latest versions come with a pencil to be able to take notes and also allows you to synchronize the contents of other applications such as Pocket to, for example, read a long note from the web on the device.
The problem is how outdated the price is – the “Clara HD” version costs approx 130 thousand pesos. And there’s also a premium 32GB version (Sage) that costs around $210k, which is ridiculously high for an e-reading device.
Supported Formats: EPUB, EPUB3, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF, CBZ, CBR.
Noblex Er6a15
with display of 1024×758the national option has everything you need: front light, good image quality and 4GB of storage space.
They all come with a good amount of space for books, which take up almost no storage space compared to other file types (an estimated 6,000 books will fit on an average ereader).
It also supports the format EPUB.
The problem is that, with a reference price of 33,000 pesos, It is not listed on the official page. from Noblex and, on e-commerce sites, there are hardly any offers.
Supported formats: Adobe DRM, PDF, EPUB, FB2, TXT, RTF, HTML, MOBI.
Boox Nova Air – the premium option
To understand why an ebook can exceed 300 thousand pesos, it is necessary to clarify that it has more functions than “read only”. However, it still feels out of proportion.
The big distinction is that it’s a color device that comes with a stylus that allows you to work and take notes on top of documents.
The plus of color makes it ideal for those who want to read graphic novels, comics and other types of content that require more detail than a traditional book.
To a large extent what makes it more expensive is its processor snapdragon 662 eight cores, something excessive for any traditional ebook, which is combined with 3 GB of RAM and 32 of internal memory. It comes with Android 11 and Bluetooth 5.0.
All of this is done by a premium gadget with extras that lean more towards the world of work than play, even if it can make the two compatible.
Supported formats: AZW,AZW3,BMP,CHM,DJVU,DOC,DOCM,DOCX,EPUB,FB2,FBZ,HTML,JPG,MOBI,MP3,ODT,PDF,PDF (editable),PNG,PPT,PRC,RTF, SWX, TIFF, TRC, TXT, WAV.
Boris (Eudeba) – “Waiting”
Boris he is the national elector of Eudeba, the publishing house of the University of Buenos Aires. It comes with 512MB RAM, 4GB internal storage and allows expansion with a card Microusb up to 32 (although usually not necessary).
It is compatible with all known online stores. The problem is that the official page lists it as currently out of stock and, as Clarín has discovered eudeba“the project is open but in standby”.
It came with 20 free ebooks, headphones (for audiobooks) and USB cable, but only a used copy appears in Mercado Libre.
Supported formats: PDF and EPUB DRM, TXT, HTML, CHM, PDB, MOBI, FB2, DJVU, PDF, EPUB, DOC, MP3, WMA, JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF.
Why use an ereader
Beyond these differences, why buy an electronic reader?
In the first place because the screen is in front of a tablet or mobile phone it lacks the brightness characteristic of these gadgets that we use every day. And which, over time, damage your eyesight and cause discomfort.
Second, there are other associated benefits, ranging from dimly lit displays for reading in darker environments to features like underlinesave notes and quickly search for words and chapters. But one of the strengths is the price difference.
While a physical book for mass consumption can cost 5 thousand pesos, there are cases where the digital version costs 1,500.
And also, for copyright-free booksereaders let you pass formats like MOBI and EPUB, which are available online, free of charge, or even on pages dedicated exclusively to downloading books that meet these conditions. There is another no less advantage: the battery lasts a long time.
We can read with intensity for 2 weeks without charging it, or up to a month if you read more moderately.
E-readers are also excellent companions, not only for travel, but also for thedaily reading.
Source: Clarin
Linda Price is a tech expert at News Rebeat. With a deep understanding of the latest developments in the world of technology and a passion for innovation, Linda provides insightful and informative coverage of the cutting-edge advancements shaping our world.