So I have this shitty tablet that's a little old, too big and horribly slow that been just pissing me off lately. Then today I had to go work an all day event and the damn thing could hardly boot and then was dead and shut down once it finally did. I used the thing mostly to read at these work events where I have a variance of downtime that is never set. Trial and error has taught me that in this regard bigger is not better as when interrupted (or if I just hear something that distracts me) I seem to have more trouble finding my place again. So today I simply bought a book on amazon on my phone. Didn't have much time for reading today sadly, but I much enjoyed reading on the phones kindle app overall. Larger text on a smaller screen made it easy to follow and easy to find my spot on page again even with a full scan, but my phone screen is definitely too small. The tablet is a 10" ish display and the phone is a phone.

So I was browsing eReaders and tablets just now on amazon when I realized there is more to this than I had anticipated. Im not entirely sure of the functional differences between the 2 for starters aside from the obvious 'dis one for reedin' vs 'dis one for all' so I figured I'd ask my largest known resource who have experience with these devices. My book buying experiences have all been through Droid systems via amazon/ kindle and read using the Kindle app. I don't know if that makes a difference. There is color vs e-ink displays. There are back lighting options. Memory options. Sizes. Store catalog availibility and pricing. Online checkout (wtf that sounds cool) as well as other things yall are aware of with use that I haven't even considered.

Kinda kicking myself for not trying these out when there were a few floating around my house for a week... but oh well. Let me know your experiences good and bad if you can, I would appreciate it a great deal.

For the closest to "reading from a book" experience, my favorite way to read is with e-ink, and particularly, the kindle paperwhite. I like E-ink in general because it is so nice in daylight -- the brighter it is, the better it looks . I like the paperwhite because the backlight can be set just right for reading in the dark, or in the shade. Yes, it is more expensive, but I find so many people then buy a cover with a built in light, or clip -- so it's worth it to me, although I can see people getting the normal kindle. Battery charges last weeks (or more/less depending on how much you have wifi running). Fonts can be small to huge, I'm a big fan of bookerly. Storage wise, I don't think I've ever paid attention to it on my kindle(s). Books are small, so you really don't run out on a dedicated reader. You can buy books from the kindle store, load them yourself via USB (or email them), or rent from your local library. I'm a fan of the Amazon ecosystem, they've made it pretty easy to share book purchases with the rest of my family. The readers themselves are pretty rugged -- I beat the hell out of mine, and it's stood up to much more than a tablet would.

I'm not a big tablet person, so I don't really have much to add here. I bought those $39 fires for my kids with foam bumpers so they can try and destroy them while using kindle freetime without having a panic attack. They work for that. I also bought a couple fire HD8s, mostly to watch Netflix/hulu/amazon prime (they are sublime for that, particularly with Bluetooth headphones) -- the reading app does look nice on there, and the tablet size is nice for reading, but its just the same one amazon uses on any android tablet.

But yes, I'm kind of an amazon whore at this point, just too easy to stay invested in their ecosystem once you have the prime. :/

I'm with Mzoga. Amazon won the ereader war. They have the best ecosystem and best range of devices.

I prefer ereaders for reading because they are front lit. The light is bouncing off the screen so it is much softer and easier on the eyes.

I recommend starting at the Kindle Paperwhite. I do not enjoy looking for ambient light to read anymore, so I recommend starting there.

I personally have the Kindle Voyage because I'm lazy and don't like adjusting light levels myself, but it is more of a luxury purchase.

If you've already bought into amazon, get the Paperwhite. It should last a couple years.