Best for all-round reading

Amazon Kindle $279 (£175)

Amazon is making its reader available for export to UK customers from October 19. Its 6in display is the best E Ink screen on test, capable of showing images that look like photographs. It’s the easiest reader to use too, thanks to a mobile-phone connection that lets you download digital books, magazines and newspapers from Amazon without a computer. The UK’s Kindle lacks the wider web access of the US version, but Amazon says it will soon be upgraded for browsing selected sites such as Wikipedia.

Verdict Simple to use — but you can buy books only from the US, and must pay shipping and import costs on the Kindle, a total of about $65 (£41). Amazon promises more UK-centric services “in the coming weeks and months”. Hold off buying until this happens.

www.amazon.com/kindle

Best for ebook beginners

Sony Reader Touch Edition PRS-600 £250

The slim, all-metal Sony is the first E Ink reader with a touchscreen, letting you flip pages naturally and add handwritten notes to books with a small stylus. The screen is very easy to read, with attractive fonts and the ability to resize images. It works well with PDF files, and playback of MP3 tunes is slick. Like the Kindle, you can search books for specific words or look them up in a dictionary. Unlike the Kindle you can’t download books direct to the device, but must connect it to a PC, which is fiddly.

Verdict Superb value and easy to use but lacks the Kindle’s online access.

www.sony.co.uk

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