The best reading tablets of 2025: Expert tested

Amazon’s Kindle units are well-known for a purpose, and the brand new Kindle Paperwhite launched this fall is our favourite. It has all of the acquainted options of a Kindle (300 ppi e-ink display screen, lengthy battery life, and adjustable heat gentle), together with noticeably quicker efficiency — Amazon claims it options 25% quicker web page turns and 20% of an total quicker expertise, whether or not you are searching e book titles or downloading an audiobook. 

The Paperwhite additionally will get as much as 12 weeks of battery life (in comparison with 10 weeks from the earlier Paperwhite technology. Employees author Maria Diaz examined the Kindle for 2 weeks and by no means needed to cost it. “After two weeks of every day studying on a single cost, some days for as much as three hours a day, my Kindle Paperwhite’s battery continues to be at 32%,” she wrote in her evaluate. 

Evaluate: Probably the greatest E Ink readers I’ve examined is not made by Boox or Kobo

The brand new Paperwhite additionally has a bigger, 7-inch show (the earlier technology was 6.8 inches) and is thinner, making it much more snug to carry whereas studying for hours. It is also waterproof (what number of tablets can say that?), so you’ll be able to learn by the pool or within the bathtub with out worrying about stray splashes.

There may be nonetheless a Signature Version to the Paperwhite, and for $40 extra it affords wi-fi charging, 32GB of storage as an alternative of 16GB, and an auto-adjusting entrance gentle sensor. 

In fact, that is undoubtedly extra of an e-reader than a pill, as you’ll be able to’t actually browse the net and there’s no stylus appropriate with it. Nonetheless, in case your major use of a pill might be for studying, the Paperwhite is a good choice. 

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite tech specs: Show: 7-inch 300 ppi e-ink display screen | Storage: 16 GB | Colours: Black, raspberry, jade | Weight: 7.4 ounces | Dimensions: 7 x 5 x .30 inches | Connections: USB-C, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | Battery life: As much as 12 weeks 

The TCL Nxtpaper 11 Plus is the proper nexus between a studying pill and an everyday pill. TCL’s Nxtpaper expertise helps you to swap from common mode to paint paper to ink paper (probably the most much like what you’ll be able to anticipate from an e-reader). Its show helps scale back eye pressure whereas decreasing blue gentle, omitting a traditional backlight, and eliminating flickering, making it simple on the eyes than conventional screens whereas displaying the several types of content material you’d anticipate from a pill or smartphone.

Diaz went hands-on with the TCL pill and mentioned it was excellent for on a regular basis use, particularly for decreasing eye pressure. “I exploit my MacBook Professional and iPad every single day for work, so I discovered a giant distinction when utilizing the TCL Nxtpaper 11 Plus as an alternative of my iPad every night time,” she wrote, including, “By the tip of the night time, my eyes weren’t straining or exhausted, and my rigidity complications even grew to become milder, which is a giant plus.”

Evaluate: TCL Nxtpaper 11 Plus

You may also set Studying Modes and allow Adaptive Brightness to additional scale back the prospect of eye fatigue. It comes built-in with Android 15, so you’ll be able to browse the net, obtain studying apps, watch movies, and extra. 

The stylus (which is offered individually), has AI-powered handwriting recognition, and handwriting-to-text conversions. 

TCL Nxtpaper 11 Plus specs: Show: 11.5-inch NXTPAPER 4.0 show | Battery life: 8000mAh | Weight: 17.28 oz | Storage: 256GB

The Kindle Scribe is the perfect choice to fulfill your studying and note-taking wants. It has the identical features you’ve got come to know and love in a Kindle (like a 300 ppi glare-free display screen, weeks of battery life, and adjustable heat gentle), nevertheless it’s additionally appropriate with Amazon’s Primary or Premium Pen, so you’ll be able to take handwritten notes or underline essential quotations within the e book you are studying. 

Your notes are mechanically organized in a single place for each e book in an effort to browse, evaluate, and export them through email–an glorious characteristic for college students or professionals citing a number of sources. The Kindle Scribe additionally comes with preset templates that will help you create notebooks, journals, and lists, and you may create sticky notes in Microsoft Phrase and different appropriate Phrase paperwork. 

Evaluate: Amazon Kindle Scribe

ZDNET contributing author Matthew Miller referred to as the Kindle Scribe “near excellent” when he went hands-on throughout testing. “I exploit my Kindle Scribe every day as my major note-taking machine, and the behavior of carrying it has additionally resulted in me studying extra books than I’ve in years,” Miller wrote. “It is a superb e book machine whereas additionally serving as a succesful working pill.”

The Kindle Scribe comes with the Primary pen, however for the extra superior options like a devoted eraser and the shortcut button you will want the Premium pen, which prices $30 additional. Nonetheless, Amazon prospects who’ve reviewed the Kindle Scribe say that the premium pen is value paying for, particularly because it has an eraser and a button that allows you to swap the nib from writing to highlighting.

Kindle Scribe specs: Show: 10.2-inch 300 ppi Paperwhite show| Battery life: As much as 12 weeks (at half-hour per day) | Weight: 15.3 ounces | Storage: 16 GB, 32 GB, or 64 GB

In fact, you do not have to get a devoted e-reader with the intention to learn on a pill. The iPad Mini serves as a fantastic studying machine along with an app-toting pill because of its light-weight and sharp display screen. It has an 8.3-inch liquid retina show with 326 ppi, which is the next decision than the Kindles. Consequently, textual content appears to be like particularly sharp on display screen, and Apple’s True Tone expertise (which adjusts the colour and depth of your show to match the ambient gentle) ensures you’ve got a pure studying expertise. 

Evaluate: Apple iPad Mini (seventh technology)

Diaz additionally examined the Apple iPad Mini and mentioned, “The iPad Mini 7 is compact and quick, and its Apple silicon processor is constructed to final for years.” She advisable customers to “purchase the iPad Mini 7 for the leisure pill it’s.”

Apple’s anti-reflective display screen coating additionally reduces the probability of catching a glare when studying exterior on a sunny day. And, since it is a conventional pill, you’ll be able to learn articles or weblog posts on the internet, obtain the Kindle app and skim historically, or obtain different apps to borrow library books or discover unbiased authors. 

With the iPad Mini, you are additionally getting Apple’s highly effective A17 Professional chip, an ultra-wide 12 MP entrance digicam, help for the Apple Pencil Professional to take notes, Apple Intelligence capabilities, and extra.  

Apple iPad Mini specs: Show: 8.3-inch Liquid Retina show (326 ppi) | Battery life: 10 hours | Weight: 10.4 ounces | Storage: 138GB, 256GB, or 512GB

Amazon’s Hearth HD 8 Children pill is a wonderful kid-friendly studying machine. It has a kid-proof case constructed to face up to use by kids aged 3 to 7, and comes with a free one-year subscription to Amazon Children+. The subscription offers you entry to 1000’s of kid-friendly, ad-free books and films, video games, and different academic content material your baby will love.

Evaluate: Amazon Hearth HD 8 Children Pill (twelfth technology) 

ZNDET author Maria Diaz had her youngsters examined the Hearth HD 8 Children pill and referred to as it “an ideal first pill” constructed with youngsters in thoughts. “Endurance is the principle purpose why any dad or mum can buy the Amazon Hearth HD 8 Children,” Diaz wrote. “I am unable to inform you what number of occasions my preschoolers have dropped (or thrown) their [Amazon] tablets and stepped on them ‘by chance’ over the previous three years, but the screens have remained intact.”

Mother and father can use parental controls constructed into the pill to regulate display screen time and set academic objectives for his or her kids, which ensures that your child is definitely studying or studying one thing throughout use. Plus, it has 2 MP entrance and rear-facing cameras with 720p HD video recording and the flexibility so as to add themed filters and enjoyable frames to images. 

General, 95% of consumers who bought this studying pill at Greatest Purchase would advocate it to different dad and mom, giving it an total score of 4.7 out of 5 stars.

Amazon Hearth HD 8 Children Pill specs: Show: 8-inch HD show, 1280 x 800 (189 ppi) | Battery life: As much as 13 hours | Weight: 1.14 kilos | Storage: 32GB or 64GB