The year is closing rapidly, and many new e-readers and e-notebooks came out in 2024. Amazon and Kobo refreshed most of their lineup, issuing their first color e-readers. Bigme released the Hibreak smartphone with two models: one color and one with a black and white screen. Remarkable finally released a new device after close to a four-year wait: the Remarkable Paper Pro with a Gallery 3 color e-paper display. Onyx Boox issued a bevy of new devices, including their new go lineup, and the Note Air 4C, Note Max, and Palma 2 are now shipping. Barnes and Noble had a quiet year, with no hardware other than a Lenovo co-branded Android tablet. Pocketbook had a massive 2024, with nearly five new e-readers in various screen sizes.
Viwoods made waves with its new AI Note and AI Note Mini. Many people are attracted to cutting-edge Carta 1300 displays and deadly hardware. Smaller, more regional players also released new devices. Hyread, iFlytek, Hanvon, iReader, and Readmoo had hardware that only came out in China and Taiwan. The Tolino Shine 5th generation Shine Color and Vision Color were mainly marketed towards a German-speaking audience.
The most significant releases of the year, at least from the perspective of the Western world, mainly came from Amazon and Kobo. Amazon issued a new 12th-generation Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, Scribe 2, and a new 11th-generation Kindle. The product that captured the most worldwide attention was the Kindle Colorsoft, the company’s first color e-reader. It wasn’t without controversy, with hardware defects plaguing early adopters, but the yellow-band issue seemed to have been solved.
Rakuten Kobo released their first color, E INK readers, with the advent of the Libra Color, Clara Color, and a new black and white e-reader, the Clara BW. Kobo had a better release with their hardware, with no quality and control issues.
What e-reader did you buy in 2024? This was a massive year with quality e-readers and e-notebooks. Or did you decide not to upgrade because an older book reader is more than sufficient? Finally, if you did not upgrade, are you eagerly awaiting anything new in 2025?
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
