Your first e-reader

Start with the store you already have

The panel is not the first decision. The catalog is. If five years of purchases live in Amazon’s cloud, a Kobo will feel like a lateral move you have to justify every Sunday. If you borrow from a public library, OverDrive on a Kobo is the feature Kindle still treats as a rumor.

Sideloading EPUB is possible on both and pleasant on neither Amazon device. Kobo treats EPUB as a native file. That single fact splits the market in half.

Size is a hand, not a spec

6 inches disappears in a jacket. 7 inches is the new default because a page of nonfiction finally breathes. 10 inches is a tablet, even when the company says reader. Buy 7 if you are unsure. Buy 6 if you commute standing up.

Lights, water, buttons

Warm light is not a luxury; it is the difference between reading at 11 p.m. and deciding the phone was fine. IPX8 is the difference between a bath and a spreadsheet of regret. Physical buttons are the difference between a Libra and everything else. You only miss them after you have had them.