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Switch, Xbox, and the portable future of games

The Switch 2 is a hit (and a supply chain success story). Microsoft is starting to show off its plan for the future of Xbox. And everywhere you look, there are reasons to think we're headed toward a very different kind of gaming device. Maybe it'll be even more modular and portable. Maybe it'll be even more like a Windows PC. Maybe it'll be all that a bunch of other things besides.

On this episode of The Vergecast, Nilay and David are joined by The Verge's Jake Kastrenakes to talk all about the future of gaming. We'll have more of a Switch 2 review on the show next Tuesday, but for now there's a lot of Xbox Ally stuff to talk about, and 3.5 million Switch 2s to reckon with. Before we get into that, though, we talk a bit more about this year's WWDC, why Apple executives spent so much time apologizing for and explaining Siri, and why F1 seemed to be what the company actually wanted to talk about.

After that, we run through some AI news. Because there's a lot of it. Disney is suing Midjourney; Google Zero is rapidly approaching; Alexa Plus is apparently actually out there; and the Dia browser has some big ideas about chatbots. And it all uses some water, says Sam Altman, c …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Google just released the first major Snapseed update in years

Google has completely revamped its Snapseed image editing app on iPhone and iPad. The change, spotted earlier by 9to5Google, is Snapseed’s first big update on iOS since adding dark mode in 2021.

Snapseed was originally only available on iOS before Google acquired it in 2012 as part of a bid to compete with Instagram. Google later launched Snapseed on Android and made the app free to use. Along with several tools for tweaking RAW and JPG files, Snapseed also offers several filters, including some new vintage ones added with this latest update.

The new 3.0 update gives Snapseed a new look on iOS, bringing a new “Faves” option to the center of the bottom toolbar and allowing you to save specific tools. The “Looks” tab stays in the same spot on the left side of the toolbar, while Google replaced the “Export” option with “Tools” on the right. As noted by 9to5Google, the “Export” is now in the top-right corner.

“We’re bringing a whole new look and feel to Snapseed on iOS,” Google spokesperson Michael Marconi said in a statement to The Verge. “There are so many people who have loved using Snapseed to edit their photos over the years, so we’re giving it a fresh look with a more intuitive layout and a few new features.”

It doesn’t appear that the update is coming to Snapseed on Android at the same time as iOS, as Marconi said Google doesn’t “have anything to share yet.”

Google is shutting down Android Instant Apps over ‘low’ usage

Google has confirmed that it plans to shut down Android’s Instant Apps later this year, attributing the decision to “low” usage of the functionality.

Instant Apps were introduced in 2017, and allow developers to create mini versions of Android apps that load, well, instantly. Users can try apps and demo games from the click of a link, without having to fully install them. That makes the experience easier for users to navigate and provides developers with more ways to find new audiences.

Android Authority first reported that Google is moving on from the feature, which came to light after developer Leon Omelan spotted a warning about the change in Android Studio:

“Instant Apps support will be removed by Google Play in December 2025. Publishing and all Google Play Instant APIs will no longer work. Tooling support will be removed in Android Studio Otter Feature Drop.”

Google spokesperson Nia Carter confirmed the decision to The Verge, explaining that Instant Apps simply haven’t been popular enough to continue supporting.

“Usage and engagement of Instant Apps have been low, and developers are leveraging other tools for app discovery such as AI-powered app highlights and simultaneous app installs,” Carter says. “This change allows us to invest more in the tools that are working well for developers, and help direct users to full app downloads to foster deeper engagement.”

Tesla’s minor Model S and X refreshes cost $5,000 more

Tesla is relaunching its Model S and Model X with minor changes as the EV maker struggles to address plummeting demand. The updated vehicles are launching in the US today with a $5,000 price increase applied across the All-Wheel Drive (AWD) and high-performance Plaid versions of both models, but judging by the comments on the announcement Tesla posted to X, customers aren’t particularly impressed by the upgrades.

Prices for the Model S now start at $84,990 for the AWD version, or $99,990 for the Plaid. The Model X AWD and Plaid have jumped to $89,990 and $104,990, respectively. These are Tesla’s latest vehicle updates since launching the refreshed Model Y earlier this year.

Tesla says the highlights of the Model S and Model X refresh are:

• Frost Blue paint color (which costs an additional $2,500)
• Quieter cabin noise
• New wheel designs and improved aerodynamics
• Front fascia camera for better visibility
• Dynamic ambient lighting along the dash and doors
• Redesigned bushings and suspension
• Adaptive driving beams

The Model S Long Range can now drive up to 410 miles when equipped with 19-inch wheels, according to Tesla, but that’s only a five-mile improvement compared to the previous version. The Model S Plaid also has some minor exterior styling tweaks that are “optimized for high-speed stability,” and the Model X has an additional 2.5 cubic feet of space for third-row passengers and cargo. The ambient LED lighting along the dash and doors mirror the same feature that’s available on Tesla’s more affordable Model Y and 3 vehicles, but Tesla says the Model S and X versions provide “unique animations” upon entry.

The update also comes with some downgrades: the Model S Plaid is now 26 pounds heavier than its predecessor, and its top speed has been reduced from 200mph to 149mph. The Model X Plaid is even more egregious, weighing 183 pounds more than before, but the advertised top speed remains the same. The controversial yoke steering wheel is no longer available on the base AWD versions of either model, and can only be purchased as a $1,000 add-on for the Plaid package.

The refresh seems to have people fired up, but not in a way that benefits Tesla. “Go look at what Rivian, Lucid, Escalade IQ and EV9 are doing and copy that,” one commenter said on Tesla’s X post. “People want real 3 row SUVs with more range and tech and this isn’t that.” 

There was some expectation for Tesla to bring the steer-by-wire and 48-volt electronic architecture technology it had introduced on the Cybertruck to its flagship Model S and X cars. Tesla is currently struggling to sell all three of these pricey vehicles, not helped by the political crisis surrounding the company.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is getting a fifth and final season

We’re still over a month away from the premiere of season three, but Paramount has announced that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is getting a fifth season — and that it will be its last.

While Strange New Worlds’ first four seasons are (or will be) all ten episodes long, the fifth will run for just six. Still, executive producers Akiva Goldsman, Henry Alonso Myers, and Alex Kurtzman said in a joint statement that they’ll “complete our five-season mission, just as we envisioned it.”

“From the very beginning, Strange New Worlds set out to honor what Star Trek has always stood for — boundless curiosity, hope and the belief that a better future is possible,” the statement reads. “And to the passionate fans who’ve boldly joined us on this journey — thank you. With three more spectacular seasons ahead for you to see and enjoy, this adventure is far from over.”

The prequel, which follows the USS Enterprise under Captain Pike (portrayed by Anson Mount), complete with younger versions of a few members of the original crew, was renewed for a fourth season in April 2024. That’s now in production, with the fifth set to follow later this year, but before either airs the series will return to Paramount Plus with a two-part season three premiere on July 17th. The other Trek series on the way right now are Starfleet Academy and an untitled live action comedy.

PCIe 7.0 is coming, but not soon, and not for you

The PCIe 7.0 specification has now been released, while many of us are still waiting for PCIe 6.0 to materialize in consumer products. The PCI Special Interest Group (PCI-SIG) announced on Wednesday that PCIe 7.0 is now available to members of its organization, delivering a theoretical maximum bandwidth speed of 512GB per second in both directions, across a x16 connection.

“PCIe technology has served as the high-bandwidth, low-latency IO interconnect of choice for over two decades and we are pleased to announce the release of the PCIe 7.0 specification, which continues our long-standing tradition of doubling the IO bandwidth every three years,” PCI-SIG President Al Yanes said in the announcement. “As artificial intelligence applications continue to scale rapidly, the next generation of PCIe technology meets the bandwidth demands of data-intensive markets deploying AI, including hyperscale data centers, high performance computing (HPC), automotive, and military/aerospace.”

You may have noticed that consumer computing devices weren’t included in that statement — the specification is targeting data-driven applications like cloud and quantum computing datacenters for now, and will take some time to even appear in those markets. PCI-SIG says that PCIe 7.0 will be backward compatible with previous PCI Express versions, but there’s no mention of plans to bring it to everyday desktop SSDs or GPUs any time soon. That shouldn’t be surprising, given the PCIe 5.0 spec that launched in 2019 only started trickling into consumer hardware two years ago, and is still fairly uncommon.

Meanwhile, PCI-SIG says that pathfinding for PCIe 8.0 is “already in progress.” With any luck, PCIe 6.0 will have made its consumer debut by the time the next-gen specifications have been finalized in 2028.

Meta is paying $14 billion to catch up in the AI race

Meta is paying $14.3 billion to acquire 49 percent of Scale AI and hire its CEO, Alexandr Wang, to revamp its troubled AI efforts.

As part of the deal, Wang will report directly to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and remain on Scale's board of directors, both companies announced on Thursday. Sources say Wang will lead a new AI lab at Meta tasked with building "superintelligence." Meta spokesperson Ashley Zandy says the company "will share more about this effort and the great people joining this team in the coming weeks."

Zuckerberg has been actively recruiting a new team of researchers from rival firms to join Wang's team, according to people familiar with the matter and other press reports. The Meta founder has reached out to potential recruits directly - usually via a cold email or WhatsApp message - and lured some of them away from companies like Google with seven- and eight-figure compensation packages.

Scale works with Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, and others to help train their models by having humans annotate and label the data that feeds them. Most of that work is done through low-cost labor outside of the US, and it has become a critical component of AI development. With Wang …

Read the full story at The Verge.

The Steve Jobs Archive shares stories, videos, and notes of his famous commencement speech

Thursday marks the 20th anniversary of Steve Jobs’ famous Stanford commencement speech, and the Steve Jobs Archive has marked the occasion by uploading an HD version of the speech, publishing notes Jobs emailed to himself, and sharing details about the leadup to the speech. You can see everything on a page on the Steve Jobs Archive’s website and watch the HD video on YouTube.

The website’s page about the speech is a little saccharine, but there’s no denying that the address has been very influential – LeBron James used the speech to help inspire the Cleveland Cavaliers during their championship NBA Finals run in 2016, for example – so I found it pretty cool to read some of the history of it all.

I particularly liked reading Jobs’ emailed notes with various outlines, themes, and drafts he was trying out. The website also has the interesting detail that Jobs “read his text verbatim” – given the confidence he had in his many famous presentations for Apple, I figured he might have ad-libbed parts of it. It’s all worth checking out, if you have a few minutes.

Jobs’ friends and family launched The Steve Jobs Archive in 2022 as a place to share things like photos, documents, and stories of the Apple co-founder.

It could be 2026 before all your Thread border routers work together

There’s finally some good news for anyone battling multiple Thread networks while using Matter devices in their smart home — as long as you’re the patient type. According to Matter Alpha, the tvOS 26 beta announced at WWDC this week adds Thread 1.4 to Apple TVs. And, as Apple’s smart speakers use a fork of tvOS, it’s likely that the upcoming HomePod OS 26 will include 1.4 as well.

Thread 1.4 brings a standard way for Thread border routers, such as Apple TVs and HomePods, to join an existing Thread network, fixing the problem where border routers from different manufacturers set up separate networks when they join your smart home. “We’re seeing a great shift toward Thread 1.4 among some major device, platform, and border router vendors,” Thread Group VP of marketing Ann Olivo told The Verge. 

But, with tvOS 26 not arriving until the fall, and Google and Amazon’s adoption of Thread 1.4 coming next year at the earliest, those of us who like to mix and match our smart home hardware — maybe you have an Apple TV, an Eero router, and a Google Nest Hub — will have to wait until at least 2026 for a more stable and speedier smart home.

Released in September 2024, Thread 1.4 is the latest specification of the smart home protocol that Matter runs on. Thread offers a low-power, low-bandwidth mesh networking protocol designed specifically for IoT devices like lights, locks, sensors, and more. The 1.4 spec dictates that when a border router is added, it will join the existing Thread network versus creating a new one — regardless of brand or platform. So, for example, your new Echo Show 8 would join the network already created by your Apple TV.

Thread-powered devices require a Thread border router to connect to the internet. Today, there are several options for border routers, including the newest Apple TVs and HomePods, higher-end Echo and Google Nest smart speakers, and some Wi-Fi routers, including Eeros. If you have a few of these devices, they may set up separate Thread networks, which can cause issues. The biggest being that you lose the extended range and reliability benefits of a unified mesh network.

I currently have nine Thread networks running in my home. Samsung SmartThings has created three. My Nest network includes most of my HomePods and my Google TV streamer; my Apple network has a newer Apple TV and a Nanoleaf border router in it. I have three separate Eero networks, one with Eero devices in it and the other two with Echo devices in them. While my setup is not typical (I test smart home devices for a living), it does demonstrate what a mess this can create. 

Older versions of Thread are being sunsetted to speed up the transition. “Thread 1.3 certification applications for Thread Border Routers will close December 31, 2025,” Olivo confirmed. “As of Jan. 1, 2026, Thread 1.4 will be the only specification available for Thread Border Router certification.”

With Apple poised to implement Thread 1.4 this fall with tvOS 26, I checked in with Google, Amazon, and Samsung to see where they were at. All are still on 1.3. However, Mark Benson, head of SmartThings US, said Samsung’s border routers will be on 1.4 “later this year.” Amazon spokesperson Melanie Garvey said they will bring support for 1.4 “across compatible devices next year.” Alex Sakhartchouk, a software engineer at Google Home, confirmed that they are actively working toward adding support for Thread 1.4 “in the future.”

Sakhartchouk added that Google Nest Thread border routers already “do our best” to join existing networks by integrating with mobile Thread credential storage APIs on Android and iOS. Meaning, when you set them up with your smartphone, they should share credentials with an existing border router using the phone. “We share our credentials via these same mobile APIs to allow others to join our networks,” he said. This worked for me — when I set up the Google TV streamer, it joined my existing Apple Thread network.

While mobile credential sharing helps today, and the Wi-Fi router-based solution put in place by the Connectivity Standards Alliance in Matter 1.4 could help at some point, the most straightforward fix is border routers communicating with each other. This should have been the approach from day one — but it looks like we’ll have to be patient a while longer.

The best ereader to buy right now

Any ebook reader will let you cram a Beauty and the Beast-sized library’s worth of books in your pocket, but so will your phone. An ebook reader offers a more book-like reading experience, with fewer distractions and less eye strain, and many include extra features, like adjustable frontlighting. Some really are pocketable. Others are waterproof or offer physical page-turning buttons, while a few even let you take notes.

I’ve been using ebook readers for nearly a decade, and I’ve gone hands-on with dozens, from the Kindle Paperwhite to lesser-known rivals like the Pocketbook Era. Whether you want something your kid can throw against the wall or a waterproof, warm-glow Kindle that won’t ruin your spa ambiance, these are the best ebook readers for everyone. 

Featured in this article

The best Kindle

Dimensions: 7 x 5 x .3 inches / Weight: 211 grams / Screen area and resolution: 7-inch screen, 300ppi resolution / Storage: 16GB / Other features: IPX8 waterproofing, Bluetooth audio support 

If you mostly buy ebooks from Amazon, you’ll want a Kindle, and the 12th-gen Kindle Paperwhite is the best choice for most people. Starting at $159.99, it’s cheaper than the Kobo Libra Colour — my top non-Amazon ebook reader, which I’ll dive into later — while offering many of the same features. Those include a spacious 7-inch 300pi display with rich contrast levels and an adjustable warm white frontlight, which make for a clear and enjoyable reading experience. The latter also conveniently improves sleep by cutting down on blue light that interrupts melatonin production. 

That warm white frontlighting is an advantage over the cool white of the $109.99 base-model Kindle, and unlike the base Kindle, the Paperwhite has IPX8 water resistance. The $ 199.99 Signature Edition Paperwhite also has an auto-adjusting frontlight and no lockscreen ads. It has wireless charging, which is a rare feature to find in an e-reader.

Amazon is the largest online retailer in the world, and it dominates the US ebook market, so Kindle owners have access to advantages owners of other ebook readers don’t. Much of Amazon’s hardware strategy depends on offering cut-rate discounts to pull you into its content ecosystem. If you have Prime and buy a lot of Kindle ebooks, the Paperwhite is the best choice because Amazon makes it incredibly easy to buy and read its stuff. Its ebooks and audiobooks are often on sale, and Prime members get more free content through Prime Reading. Rivals like Kobo offer sales, too, but it’s hard for them to offer discounts as steep as Amazon.

There are downsides, though. The Paperwhite has lockscreen ads unless you pay $20 extra to get rid of them. It’s also too big to hold comfortably with one hand. Perhaps the Kindle Paperwhite’s biggest flaw, though — which it shares with all Kindles aside from Fire tablets — is that it’s not easy to read books purchased outside of Amazon’s store. Kindle ebook formats are proprietary and only work on Kindle. Unlike Kobo and other ebook readers, Kindles don’t support EPUB files, an open file format used by pretty much everyone except Amazon. So, for example, if you often shop from Kobo’s bookstore (or Barnes & Noble or Google Play Books or many other ebook stores), you can’t easily read those books on a Kindle without using a workaround. There are ways to convert and transfer file formats so you can read on the Kindle and vice versa, but it’ll take a couple of extra steps.

However, if you don’t buy your books elsewhere or you don’t mind shopping from Amazon, you’ll be more than happy with the Kindle Paperwhite.

Read our Kindle Paperwhite review.

The best non-Amazon ebook reader

Dimensions: 5.69 x 6.34 x 0.33 inches / Weight: 199.5 grams / Screen area and resolution: 7-inch screen, 300ppi (black-and-white), 150ppi (color) / Storage: 32GB / Other features: Physical page-turning buttons, waterproofing, Kobo Stylus 2 support, Bluetooth audio support 

The Kobo Libra Colour is an excellent alternative to Amazon’s ebook readers, especially for readers outside the US or anyone who doesn’t want to tap into Amazon’s ecosystem. Kobo’s latest slate offers many of the standout features found on the 12th-gen Kindle Paperwhite — including waterproofing, USB-C support, and a 300ppi display — along with a few perks that make it more helpful and enjoyable to use.

The color display is the most obvious. The Libra Colour uses E Ink’s latest Kaledio color screen technology, which provides soothing, pastel-like hues that still pop in direct sunlight. It’s not as sharp as reading in monochrome — the resolution drops to 150ppi when viewing content in color — but it’s a nice touch that makes viewing a wider range of content more pleasant. Book covers and comics, while still muted, have an added layer of depth, even if the colors are nowhere near as vivid as that of a traditional LED tablet or as vibrant as the Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition.

However, unlike the Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition, the Libra Colour works with a digital pen — the Kobo Stylus 2 (sold separately) — which lets you highlight text in various colors or take notes using Kobo’s integrated notebooks. You can also take advantage of some of the more advanced capabilities found in the Kobo Elipsa 2E, allowing you to solve math equations, convert handwriting into typed text, and insert diagrams. This lets the Libra Colour function as a mini notebook of sorts, though I wouldn’t use it as a primary note-taking device since the seven-inch display can feel cramped to write on.

The color display is only part of the appeal, though. The Libra Colour doesn’t have the lockscreen ads on the base Paperwhite — and packs physical page-turning buttons, which feel more intuitive to use than tapping either side of the display as you have to do on Amazon’s modern e-readers. The speedy e-reader also supports more file formats, including EPUB files, and makes it much easier to borrow books from the Overdrive library system. Native support for Pocket, meanwhile, means you can read your articles offline if you’re someone who uses the long-standing bookmarking app.

However, at $229.99, the Libra Colour costs $70 more than the entry-level Paperwhite — and that’s without Kobo’s $69.99 stylus, which is required for performing certain tasks. That gap widens further when the Paperwhite is on sale, which happens more often than the Libra Colour. The Kobo can’t easily tap into Amazon’s vast library of ebooks, which can be frustrating if you’ve amassed a collection of Kindle titles over the years. It can be done, but you have to convert file formats using third-party apps, which is tricky and can take time.

But if those things don’t matter or apply to you, the Kobo Libra Colour will give you the best digital reading experience of all the e-readers on our list. It’s my personal favorite.

Read our Kobo Libra Colour review.

The best cheap ebook reader

Dimensions: 6.2 x 4.3 x 0.32 inches / Weight: 158 grams / Screen area and resolution: 6-inch screen, 300ppi resolution / Storage: 16GB / Other features: USB-C support, Bluetooth audio support 

The base-model Kindle ($109.99 with ads) is the best cheap ebook reader. Its 300ppi resolution makes text clearer and easier to read than the lower-resolution screens on other ebook readers in its price range. Plus, it has USB-C for relatively fast charging. 

Reading on its six-inch screen feels a little more cramped than it does on the larger displays of the Kindle Paperwhite and Kobo Libra Colour. However, the flip side is that its small size makes it pocketable, light, and easy for small hands to hold. Combined with its relatively affordable price, the Kindle is also the best ebook reader for kids — especially the Amazon Kindle Kids Edition which costs $20 more. The kid-friendly version shares the same specs but is ad-free with parental controls, a two-year extended replacement guarantee, and a case. It also comes with six months of Amazon Kids Plus, which grants kids access to thousands of children’s books and audiobooks for free. After that, though, you’ll have to $79 per year (or $48 with Amazon Prime).

The base Kindle doesn’t have extra conveniences like the waterproofing you’ll find in the entry-level Kobo Clara BW and Paperwhite. You also don’t get the physical page-turning buttons found on Barnes & Noble’s entry-level e-reader, the Nook GlowLight 4e (though the Kindle is a lot snappier than the Nook). And because it’s an Amazon ebook reader, you’re also locked into the Amazon ecosystem and have to pay extra to remove ads. But if you can do without that, the Kindle delivers the essentials for under $110.

The best ebook reader for taking notes

Dimensions: 7.6 x 8.94 x 0.30 inches / Weight: 390 grams / Screen area and resolution: 10.3-inches, 227ppi resolution / Storage: 32GB / Other features: Handwriting to text conversion, magnetic stylus, Bluetooth audio support 

Of all the large ebook readers I tested, the Kobo Elipsa 2E stood out the most because it’s a good e-reader with solid note-taking abilities. You can write directly on pages just as on a physical book. The Kindle Scribe lets you annotate book pages as well, but it’s complicated involving resizable text boxes that mess up the page formatting and prevent you from doing basic things like circling words. In contrast, taking notes on the Elipsa 2E feels far more intuitive and natural.

The Elipsa 2E offers other helpful note-taking tools and capabilities. Like the Kobo Libra Colour, it’s capable, for example, of solving math equations for you. You can also insert diagrams and drawings, and it’ll automatically snap them into something that looks cleaner and nicer. You can also sync your notes with Dropbox or view them online and convert handwriting to typed text. The Kindle Scribe offers the latter capability, too, but again, Kobo does it faster and better within the original notebook document as opposed to on a separate page. The only thing missing from the Elipsa 2E is the Scribe’s note-summarization feature, but that’s a trade-off I am okay with given how much easier it is to take notes.

Finally, the Kobo Elipsa 2E comes with twice the storage (32GB) for the same price as the base Kindle Scribe. You can step up to the 32GB Kindle Scribe for $20 more or upgrade to 64GB for $40 extra. Yet given the Scribe’s limitations, I still recommend saving the money and buying the Kobo Elipsa 2E instead.

Note-taking capabilities aside, the Kobo Elipsa 2E is also a good e-reader with the same strengths and weaknesses as other Kobo devices. There’s support for a wide range of file formats, but you can’t easily read Kindle books without converting them first. Its 227ppi display is also slightly less sharp than the 300ppi screen found on the Kindle Scribe and the Kobo Libra Colour. However, the 10.3-inch screen balances things out a bit and makes text easier to read, so it’s not a noticeable drawback. Plus, the Elipsa 2E comes with an adjustable warm light for nighttime reading. That’s a feature rival e-readers with more advanced note-taking capabilities — including the $409.99 Onyx Boox Go 10.3, which lets you insert links to notes — lacks.

Other ebook readers that didn’t make the cut

There are some other ebook readers my colleagues and I have tested that I didn’t feature above but are still worth highlighting. Here are the most notable:

Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition

The Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition is the first Kindle to feature E Ink’s color screen technology and it stands out from other color e-paper devices with customizations. It offers improved contrast, more vibrant colors, and faster screen refreshes. With a $279.99 price tag, it’s the most expensive Kindle model currently available that doesn’t support a stylus for note-taking, and it includes premium features like wireless charging that are convenient but not really necessary for a device with months of battery life. Amazon doesn’t offer a cheaper version of the Colorsoft like it does with the Paperwhite, which is available in standard and Signature Edition versions, but if you want a color screen and want to stick with Amazon, the Colorsoft is your best option. – Andrew Liszewski, Senior Reporter 

Kobo Clara Colour

If you’re looking for a non-Amazon alternative that’s more affordable than the Kobo Libra Colour, the Kobo Clara Colour — the successor to the Kobo Clara 2E — is worth a look. At $159.99, the ad-free e-reader costs more than the Kobo Clara 2E, but I think it’s worth the extra $10. It continues to offer the same six-inch display and IPX8 waterproof design, but the e-reader now offers color. Plus, it’s noticeably faster — something I was happy to see, considering the occasional lag on the Clara 2E sometimes got on my nerves. You don’t get the Clara Colour’s physical buttons or stylus support, but that’s a fair tradeoff at this price point.

Boox Palma 2

Despite all the advantages of E Ink display technology, your smartphone is probably still a more convenient device for reading given how pocket-friendly it is. The Boox Palma 2 is a smartphone-sized E Ink device that’s just as easy to slip into a pocket, but with more capabilities than an e-reader. Its 6.3-inch E Ink display is great for reading books, but the $279.99 Palma 2 also runs Android 13 so you can install productivity apps like email and messaging — assuming you’ve got access to Wi-Fi, of course, because the compact e-reader lacks cellular connectivity. If you already have the original Palma, the sequel isn’t worth the upgrade. But if you’re looking for a smaller alternative to Kindles and Kobos, the Palma 2 could be worth the splurge. – Andrew Liszewski, Senior Reporter 

Boox Go 10.3

The $409.99 Onyx Boox Go 10.3 is another ad-free ebook reader you can use to take notes. It’s excellent as a note-taking device, and it offers an impressively wide range of writing tools and more prebuilt notebook templates than Kobo’s Elipsa 2E. Jotting down notes using the built-in notebook felt more akin to writing on paper as well, and its slim design makes the device feel more like a traditional notebook. Like all Boox devices, it also provides quick access to the Google Play Store, so you can download multiple reading apps — including both Kindle and Kobo apps. The slate’s crisp 300ppi display is sharper than that of the Kobo Elipsa 2E, too, which is a plus.

However, in comparison to the easy-to-use Elipsa 2E, the Go 10.3 lacks a front light and comes with a steeper learning curve. Notes you take on a Kindle or Kobo device won’t transfer over (and vice versa), and you can’t annotate books in either app using the Boox. I also felt like access to Google Play can be a double-edged sword as it grants easy access to distracting apps, including games, streaming services, and TikTok. It’s too slow to use the latter, but it’s fast and comfortable enough that I found myself playing around with the Word Search app far too often. For me personally, I need my e-reader to be devoid of such distractions — it’s one of the biggest things that distinguishes it from a tablet, after all. But if you’ve got more self-control than I do, the Go 10.3 could be worth a look.

Nook Glowlight 4 Plus

In 2023, Barnes and Noble released the Nook Glowlight 4 Plus. If you own a lot of digital books from Barnes and Noble, this could be a good Kindle alternative. Otherwise, I’d still recommend the Kobo Libra Colour to everybody else. The $199.99 Nook Glowlight 4 Plus is a good e-reader with a lot to offer, including a lovely 300ppi screen, waterproofing, physical page-turning buttons, and even a headphone jack. However, it’s just not as snappy, which makes setting it up, buying books from the device itself, and navigating the interface a slow ordeal. It didn’t help that the screen sometimes froze, too, which meant I had to restart the device while in the middle of a book.

What’s coming next

• Boox recently introduced two new e-readers: the Boox Go 7 and the Go Color 7 Gen II, which retail for $249.99 and $279.99, respectively. Both devices are water-resistant, support note-taking, and feature 300ppi resolution — though the Go Color 7 Gen II drops to 150ppi when displaying color content. Like other Boox devices, they also run on Android, giving you access to a wide range of apps and online bookstores through the Google Play Store. A stylus isn’t included, so you’ll need to spend an extra $45.99 for Boox’s pressure-sensitive InkSense pen if you want to take notes.

Update, June 12th: Adjusted pricing / availability. Andrew Liszewski also contributed to this post.