Ever since I bought a Kindle, sooner or later, people will come to me asking if I recommend buying a Kindle. The short answer is always: no. The longer answer is: it depends. I’m not writing this post to influence you to buy a Kindle. Quite the opposite, actually. I don’t want you to buy one. While handy, there can be better options than buying a Kindle.

So why did I buy a Kindle?

I bought my Kindle back in 2017, and it wasn’t an impulsive decision. At that time, I was doing blog tours for upcoming books, which meant I was reading a lot of ebooks. I would read them on my phone, my computer or even on my iPad Mini (a fossil I received from my mother, but to read works just fine). However, it can get really tiring to read from a bright, glossy screen over time. I didn’t have any plans to stop reviewing books, so investing in a Kindle was like a business decision. And this is primarily why I never recommend anyone to buy a Kindle. It was a decision that made sense in my case. And I know that I’m the exception, not the rule.

At the time, the new Kindle Oasis had just come out, and I was considering it instead of the Paperwhite version. It was a bit more expensive, but the reviews looked good. Although that decision was made for me. Since there isn’t an Amazon Portugal (I buy from Amazon Spain), I could only get the Kindle Oasis with ads.

If you don’t know, there are two versions of every Kindle: with and without ads. What this means is that every time you lock the screen, it shows publicity for books in the Kindle store, and you can’t turn it off. A Kindle without ads can show the cover of the book you are currently reading when locked, or some random pictures that come with the Kindle.

I wasn’t going to willingly have ads being pushed on me constantly. So I had to go for the Paperwhite version without the ads. It was 10€ or so more expensive than the other one. Amazon really pushes people toward the options they want them to buy. I’ve also seen some comments online that in the US, there isn’t a Kindle version without ads. So experiences with a Kindle can vary depending on which country you are buying it from. Keep that in mind when making this decision.

Before even thinking about buying a Kindle, I also used the Kindle app on other devices. And I couldn’t recommend doing that enough. That should always be your first step. Use the devices you already have to read ebooks. Only after that should you think about investing in an e-reader. Every single e-reader out there has an app that you can download to your phone. The e-reader was a product developed after, so you don’t have to use your phone, tablet or PC (and for the company to profit a little more). Although the ebooks don’t need an e-reader. They are not exclusive to the device, but to the brand. In this case, Kindle/Amazon.

What it’s like to use a Kindle

Holding a Kindle in your hands and looking at it will always be different from any image or video that you can see online. Whenever anyone asks about using a Kindle, if I don’t have mine at hand, I’ll make sure the next time we see each other, I’ll take it with me for that person to hold it. We are already so used to LED screens that looking at a Kindle seems like sorcery. It’s mesmerising! There is no glare. No bright light. You can read in the dark without feeling like your eyes are being permanently burned. It looks like an interactive piece of paper. It’s extraordinary!

However, it’s slower than a Nokia 3310. There are decades-old technologies that respond quicker than the Kindle. That can be either a positive or a negative. The world is very frantically fast right now, so slowing things down doesn’t have to be all that bad. But it’s something to keep in mind. Under the hood, there are snails running the engine, not horses. I’ve gotten used to it. It’s about embracing the slowness instead of fighting it, and the experience becomes less annoying.

Another advantage of having a Kindle, which I don’t give it much credit for, is the portability. The battery lasts a long time, and you can take with you dozens of books weighing about 200 grams total. The fact that you can read anytime, anywhere, even in the pitch black, is great. Any downtime you have, you can fill it with reading a book thanks to the Kindle. Although you can do the same thing with your phone. With the Kindle app, your phone becomes a Kindle. Yes, it has distracting notifications, a very bright screen, and lots of glare if you try to read outside, but the portability advantage is the same. You can already take your library in your pocket without having to buy a new device.

Kindle vs Kobo

With the conversation of “Amazon bad”, a lot of people are making the jump to a Kobo, the e-reader from Rakuten. I don’t own a Kobo, nor do I plan to have one in the future. I can’t do side-by-side comparisons, but I’m guessing it works somewhat in the same manner. One of the arguments in favour that I’ve seen is the question of publicity. Apparently, it doesn’t force ads down the users’ throats, and that becomes a positive against the Kindle. However, it’s very important to keep in mind that Kobo is equivalent to Kindle, and Rakuten to Amazon. Different names, different companies, different countries, but they have the same objective: profit. You don’t own your books in Kobo more than you own them on Kindle.

For some, Kobo is the only option or the better option. As I said above, I bought a Kindle because I receive eARCs (ebooks of Advanced Reader Copies) in English, and a lot of the time I can send the ebooks directly to my Kindle. And if I had a Kobo, I would have had to do it manually if the file was supported. Although Kobo is really big in Portugal. Since we don’t have an Amazon Portugal, any Kindle book I buy needs to be from the US store. And that store doesn’t have any Portuguese titles. Barely any Amazon stores have Portuguese books (from Portugal, there is the Brazilian one, of course, which I can’t buy from either).

With the growing popularity of ebooks, Rakuten realised there was a possibility of investment, so they invested in Kobo in Portugal. They have partnerships with FNAC Portugal, where you can buy the Kobo and even a partnership with one of the biggest publishing houses in Portugal, which means that any book published by that house will have a digital version available on Kobo. It’s a Kindle alternative, but in some countries, it might be the only option. If I want to read in Portuguese, I need a Kobo.

When deciding between a Kindle and a Kobo, it’s really important to understand what you want to use it for. For the use I want, a Kindle is what made sense then and still makes sense now. Although before committing yourself, keep in mind you can always try the ebooks through the respective apps on your phone. Kobo also has a subscription service to access hundreds of books the same way Kindle does. For that, you also don’t need an e-reader. You can use your phone.

Other options to consider

One thing that I need you to understand is that ebooks are locked to brands. You can’t open an ebook you bought in the Kobo store on your Kindle and vice versa. You can’t even open that book in other apps like a PDF reader or an epub reader. The files are locked to their respective app or e-readers. This can go on to another conversation about ownership of digital goods that goes beyond the world of literature. But for now, I’m going to stay on the topic of e-readers.

The biggest improvement an e-reader brings, in comparison with an app on your phone, is the screen. However, there are tablets with the same type of screen. ReMarkable, for example, is one of those brands. While marketed towards a work or school environment, focusing on note-taking and writing by hand, it can also be turned into a more powerful e-reader. Here’s the thing. A reMarkable tablet runs an Android operating system. It’s just like your phone or tablet, except the screen is different. Which means you can have all the ebook reading apps you like. You don’t need to have a Kindle to read your Kindle books and a Kobo to read your Kobo books. You can have them both in the same place. Just like in your phone, except the screen is the same as that of an e-reader.

Although a ReMarkable tablet is more expensive than any e-reader. It’s not an accessible alternative for everyone. But it’s important to keep in mind that any device with a paper-like screen (e-paper), where you can install and open the Kindle app, will do the same job as the Kindle. You don’t need to buy one to have that experience. And with the growing market of e-readers, ebooks, the uprising of the analogue life, and now the addiction to colour to these types of screens, in a year or two years from now, who’s to say there won’t be more tablets and phones made this way? Some even more affordable. Search for devices with paper-like screens. Understand if you will only buy books from a certain brand. And only after understanding all your options and your intentions should you make the decision to buy a Kindle.

How I feel about my Kindle after almost a decade

While it’s new, the Kindle has an effect that you just want to read with it. The freedom it gives to read anywhere without carrying something heavy or even reading at night without glaring light straight at your face, it’s new and exciting. The look of the paper screen is amazing to contemplate. So I just want any excuse to use it. But now, after some years, I kind of dread picking it up. I still love looking at the screen, and there is nothing in its functionality that is creating any sort of aversion. It just doesn’t give the same feeling as holding a book.

After almost a decade, my problem with the Kindle has nothing to do with it. Instead, it’s about the consumption of ebooks. The practicality continues to be the best thing about them. I can be at the bus stop waiting and read a few pages without having to juggle anything else I might be holding. Although there’s something about feeling the weight of a book with your hands. How the weight shift as you progress through the book. Holding it, flipping the pages is also a big part of the reading experience. And only when you lose them, do you realise how much they mean to you.

While the Kindle is new, there is some novelty. It’s like a new toy you want to play with constantly. And I still want to go back to it, although I know it doesn’t satisfy the craving of reading a book, of holding and touching. That tactile part disappears. It’s like a floating story. So while ebooks are practical and accessible for people with low hand mobility or visual impairments (you can enlarge text or use text-to-speech), they don’t offer the same reading experience. And over time, you might see yourself reaching less and less for your Kindle, as I do, and it will die locked away in a drawer somewhere.

Meanwhile, my Kindle is where I have access to eARCs. So as long as I continue to review upcoming books, I’ll continue to use my Kindle. And this is why, just because I bought and use my Kindle, I don’t recommend it to other people. Try the app first. Indulge in ebooks on a regular basis. And question really hard if you really need a Kindle (or a Kobo). Amazon doesn’t need more money. They aren’t a small store trying to live by. So make the right choice for YOU.