I am by no means purchasing some other Kindle, and neither must you

I’ve carried a Kindle in my bag for over a decade. Via each and every {hardware} iteration, from the bodily keyboard proper as much as the most recent Paperwhite, a Kindle has been with me all over the place — be it on an plane, a educate journey, the physician’s workplace, or my bedside. My all-time favourite guide reader is, arms down, the Kindle Oasis. For years, I’ve defended the ecosystem as it used to be handy and the monitors had been the gold normal for e-ink readers. However issues have modified.

Having a look on the present state of my virtual library in 2026, that long-standing loyalty to Amazon’s readers is now not a factor. The new announcement that Amazon is sunsetting older {hardware} used to be the general straw, and it’s modified the best way I have a look at Kindles. If truth be told, I’d pass so far as pronouncing that it’s a serious warning call for somebody who values virtual possession.

If the writing wasn’t already at the wall, for Amazon, the e-reader is obviously now not a device for readers; it’s somewhat merely a portal for a storefront. In an international the place we’re increasingly more pressured to hire our virtual lives thru subscription products and services, our books must be the only position the place possession nonetheless issues. On the other hand, Amazon’s contemporary strikes turn out that possession is now not a concern for the logo, and because of this I’m in any case strolling clear of the Kindle for just right. This is why you must imagine doing the similar.

For those who’re now not stuck up on the most recent within the Kindle global, right here’s what you wish to have to understand. For those who personal a Kindle launched earlier than 2013, your instrument is successfully on demise row. Amazon just lately showed that beginning Would possibly 20, those older fashions will lose all get right of entry to to the Kindle Retailer. Whilst you’ll technically stay studying books already at the instrument, the true kicker is the manufacturing unit reset limitation constructed into the tool. For those who ever wish to reset your instrument or attempt to sign up it to a brand new account after the closing date, it turns into a literal paperweight. As an archivist and fan of older Kindle {hardware}, this transfer is actually surprising.

If anything else, the transfer is a pointy reminder that while you purchase into the Kindle ecosystem, you’re successfully renting get right of entry to from Amazon. The corporate is the use of safety updates as a justification to transport customers towards more recent {hardware}, however the truth is that many of those units are nonetheless completely useful for studying textual content. Via chopping off the facility to re-register them, Amazon is growing a large wave of e-waste and forcing an improve cycle that many customers merely are not looking for or want.

There’s the staggering environmental price of the transfer, in fact. However what issues me extra is the truth that some of these Kindles have completely useful e-ink monitors and batteries that might closing years of sunshine studying. As a substitute of offering a trail for long-term give a boost to or open-sourcing the legacy tool, Amazon is opting for the landfill. And I’m now not pleased with that. No longer from an organization named after a literal rainforest.

Distinction this with the means taken by way of Kobo. Amazon’s largest rival within the e-reader area has shaped an legitimate partnership with iFixit to offer restore kits and guides for its newest fashions. The Kobo Libra Color and Clara are designed to be opened and repaired. While you purchase a Kindle, you’re purchasing a disposable product with a predetermined shelf existence. In the meantime, while you purchase a Kobo, you’re purchasing a device that may be maintained for a decade or extra.

For an organization that nearly invented the trendy e-reader, Amazon has grow to be remarkably lazy with its tool. For those who have a look at a Kindle from 2018 and a Kindle from 2026, the person interface is just about an identical. We’re nonetheless coping with a house display that prioritizes ads and promoted suggestions over your precise library. Navigating a big number of books stays a chore, with gradual animations and a loss of tough folder control that has been a regular characteristic on rival units for years.

In 2026, the Kindle UI assists in keeping shifting additional clear of that specialize in the library to the storefront. The newest updates make it tougher to seek out your individual sideloaded books whilst conserving Kindle Limitless suggestions entrance and heart. Glance, I am getting it; Amazon’s function used to be all the time to subsidize {hardware} prices by way of earning profits on books. However it has reached some extent the place Amazon has successfully grew to become your instrument right into a billboard. You’re paying for the privilege of being advertised to each and every time you get up your instrument — until you pay up.

Amazon’s 2026 roadmap could also be closely serious about AI studying assistants and cloud-based summaries. That is necessarily a data-mining operation. Amazon isn’t just monitoring what you purchase; it’s monitoring the way you learn. It is aware of how briskly you flip pages, which sections you skip, and precisely what you spotlight to feed its massive language fashions. Sure, you’ll put your Kindle in plane mode, however it doesn’t alternate the info concerning the route the corporate is taking.

This degree of telemetry is invasive for a tool this is meant to be a personal studying revel in. Nor did I ever join it. Competition like Kobo be offering an offline-first revel in that doesn’t require a continuing heartbeat to a central server to serve as because the default. In other places, on a Boox instrument, you may have general keep an eye on over which apps can get right of entry to the web. With Kindle, it increasingly more seems like the privateness trade-off is the hidden price of the {hardware}, and I’m now not pleased with it.

The reality of the topic is that the Kindle is now not your best, or perfect, choice. There are many possible choices to be had if you wish to have a devoted e-reader that respects the speculation of possession. Kobo is the logical subsequent step. Units just like the Kobo Libra Color be offering {hardware} this is steadily awesome, or on the very least identical, to the Kindle Paperwhite at identical value issues. The standout characteristic is local OverDrive and Libby integration. On a Kobo, you’ll browse, borrow, and go back library books immediately at the instrument with out ever wanting to the touch a telephone or a pc, supplied you’re in a supported nation.

Kobo additionally makes use of the industry-standard ePub layout. This implies you don’t seem to be locked into one retailer. You’ll purchase books from Google Play, Kobo, or quite a lot of impartial bookstores and easily drag and drop them onto the instrument by the use of USB. Kobo units additionally characteristic significantly better typography settings. For individuals who favor bodily buttons, Kobo has saved them as a regular characteristic on its mid-range units, one thing that the Amazon Kindle seems to be allergic to.

One of the crucial largest causes to stick with the Kindle used to be the full revel in it presented. Satirically, Kindle’s revel in benefits are now not actually a factor. For those who actually need without equal no-compromise revel in, Onyx Boox has been often converting the sport. Units just like the Boox Palma 2 or the Move 10.3 don’t seem to be simply e-readers. As a substitute, those units are e-ink pills operating a complete model of Android that dramatically open up alternatives for personalization.

For my part, this must be the highest choice for somebody who desires to go away Kindle {hardware} however stay their Kindle books. As a result of those units have the Google Play Retailer, you’ll merely set up the Kindle app. You get some great benefits of the Amazon bookstall and your present library, however you get to apply it to {hardware} this is sooner and higher designed.

The use of the Kindle app on a Boox instrument in fact supplies a greater revel in than the use of a Kindle. You get smoother scrolling and the facility to make use of third-party fonts with none restrictions. Plus, you’ll run different apps like Spotify for background track or Perception and Goodreads for e book monitoring. You’re now not restricted to what Amazon thinks you must be doing together with your instrument. As a substitute, you’re in complete keep an eye on of the tool revel in.

Some other space the place Amazon used to guide used to be show high quality, however that hole has closed. The latest Kobo and Boox units are the use of the most recent e-ink Carta 1300 panels. Those panels be offering a lot better distinction and sooner refresh charges than the older Carta 1200 present in maximum Kindles. This implies just about non-existent ghosting and textual content that appears completely crisp.

Having used a spread of Boox {hardware}, I will be able to say the Boox Move 10.3 is a in particular spectacular piece of {hardware}. Between the high-resolution display and a panel that sits nearer to the skin, you get a remarkably paper-like revel in. Plus, the stylus integration is going above and past what you’ll in finding on identical Kindle {hardware}. For those who do any quantity of note-taking, the Scribe seems like a toy in comparison to the a lot more feature-packed Boox pills. As I discussed previous, the Kindle actually isn’t the epitome of a high quality studying revel in anymore.

The largest concern folks have when leaving at the back of the Kindle is that they are going to lose get right of entry to to books. This can be a delusion. Whilst Amazon does have some unique self-published titles, the majority of mainstream books are to be had on each and every platform. Kobo, Google Play Books, and Apple Books all have catalogs that rival Amazon in dimension. In lots of instances, you’ll in fact in finding higher offers on those platforms.

Even Amazon appears to be acknowledging that it may’t take its target audience without any consideration. Beginning in January 2026, Amazon has begun permitting customers to obtain DRM-free variations (Virtual Rights Control) of make a selection ePub and PDF recordsdata immediately from their control web page. This best applies to books the place the writer has opted out of DRM, however this can be a huge shift. It proves that even Amazon is aware of the proprietary codecs are turning into a legal responsibility in a marketplace this is shifting towards open requirements.

For the books you already personal that also have DRM, you do not need to go away them at the back of. There are methods to regulate your virtual library the use of equipment like Calibre and a couple of plugins that mean you can import your Kindle purchases right into a central database. This permits you to convert them to ePub and transfer them to any instrument you select.

The function isn’t simply comfort. Virtual preservation is very vital to me and hundreds of thousands of different customers. If Amazon comes to a decision to delete a e book from its servers or close down your account, you continue to have the report you paid for. Having a neighborhood, DRM-free backup of your library is the one option to be sure that your assortment survives the whims of a multi-trillion-dollar company. As soon as your books are in Calibre, you’ll use robust equipment to mend metadata, upload high-resolution covers, and browse them on no matter instrument you wish to have.

The e-reader marketplace in 2026 is probably the most aggressive it has ever been. We now have reached some extent the place Amazon’s ecosystem now not provides sufficient distinctive worth to justify its restrictions. Mix that with Amazon’s transfer to brick older {hardware}, to me, it is only the general signal that the client isn’t the concern for the corporate. Between the seamless library integration of Kobo and the uncooked energy of Android-based readers from Boox, there is not any explanation why to shop for some other Kindle.

If you wish to have the most productive studying revel in, purchase a Kobo. If you wish to have a formidable e-ink pill that does the whole lot, purchase a Boox. If you wish to in fact personal the books you pay for, use Calibre. However till Amazon turns the send round with its virtual and {hardware} insurance policies, I don’t plan to offer Amazon some other cent for a tool that it may remove from me with a unmarried server-side replace. My library merits higher than that. And so does yours.