The holiday season is here, and with it advice for folks who love to read. What sort of gadgets can you get for readers?
With the holiday season upon us, so too is the buying season. You may already know who you’re thinking of buying for, but what about the thing? What are you going to buy?
If that person loves to read, you have some choices, many of which saw updates this year. Between Kindle and Kobo and even an iPad offering, readers have choices if they want to tackle books and tech.
Amazon Kindle with a $25 Kindle gift card
Price: $199 for the Kindle, optional $25 gift card
We’ll start with the basics first, and a literal basic: Amazon’s starter Kindle.
This year, the entry level Kindle is very much like the previous generation, but a little bit faster and a little bit brighter. It also comes in a green variety, because not everyone wants a black eBook reader.
It’s still about as solid an entry to the world of eBooks as it gets, missing out on some features given to the more expensive models, such as water resistance and warm lighting. You do get some front lighting, which is handy, it’s just a white light as opposed to one that feels warmer and easier to acclimatise to when the room colour temperature changes.
If you’re buying for someone who has never had a Kindle before, you may want to consider grabbing a gift card with the eReader, that way they can buy some books, too.
Kobo Libra Colour
Price: $360
One of the surprise pieces of hardware this year, 2024 saw the release of not one, but two colour eBook readers, bringing a splash of colour to the eBook world.
Colour e-ink technology isn’t technically new; the tech has been around for quite a while, but we’ve not seen it on devices in most of the world, Australia included.
Kobo’s Libra Colour brought a solid water resistant eReader with a colour screen to Australia, and it even supports an optional pen for writing notes or scribbling down the side of books.
It’s also one of the few colour eBook readers in Australia to let you borrow from local libraries in full colour, if the book supports it. While most books are fine in black and white, kids books, picture books, and plenty of others still come with colour visuals, and that’s one thing the Kobo Libra Colour is especially well suited for.
Apple iPad Mini
Price: $799
We saw a few new iPads this year, one of which was an update to the compact iPad Mini. While it’s not technically much bigger than Apple’s 6.9 inch iPhone 16 Pro Max, the 8.3 inch iPad Mini gives you a screen size more like that of a trade paper or large novel, and does so much more.
It can run eBooks and connect to local libraries, letting you buy books or borrow, depending on where you get your titles from. It will also play just about any and every iPad app, albeit on a smaller screen size, with many iPhone apps playing nicely, too.
Apple also supports notes and scribbles by pen or Pencil (Apple’s Pencil, specifically), but you may need to buy a new one: the old Apple Pencil isn’t supported here, only the Pencil USB-C and 2024’s edition in the Pencil Pro.
ReMarkable Paper Pro
Price: $999
Not quite a Kindle or a Kobo, the ReMarkable takes the idea of an eReader to a more premium new level.
The only model we’ve not been able to review yet, ReMarkable’s Paper Pro is an 11.8 inch premium eBook reading experience that delivers one of the largest screens of any e-ink variety, complete with up to two weeks of battery life.
Like the Libra Colour, the Paper Pro is a colour eReader, though it’s one focused on both the act of writing and reading, complete with note taking on the cards. There’s even an optional extra in the form of a keyboard, so you can take your notes to go on a tablet-style device with weeks of battery life.
Gift card to their favourite book store
Price: from $25
If these reading gadgets still don’t solve the present-day present-buying dilemma, you may want to stick to a tried tradition of gift cards, focusing on a gift card for their favourite book shop.
Local book sellers in Australia could do with some foot traffic, and chances are there’s one near the person you’re buying for. Failing that, there’s always online or a gift card for the local mall.
