8 Of The Best E-Readers With Color Displays

E-readers have gone through many evolutions over the years, and adding color displays might be the best idea yet. Granted, there's nothing quite like the smell of a brand new book or the feel of fresh, crisp pages on your fingers as you turn each page. But classic experience aside, there are plenty of things that e-readers get right. They're highly portable, compact, and give you the option to carry your entire library with you on the go. Plus, you don't have to worry about paper cuts.

Adding a color display to the classic e-reader is the cherry on top for many readers. It makes the reading experience more immersive and enjoyable, especially if you're into graphic novels or comics that rely on rich colors. The text is clearer, certain features like text or images stand out stronger, and you can fully appreciate the cover art of each book in your library. They're a far cry from the early days of Kindle and Nook, and e-readers just keep getting better. We scoured the web in search of the best e-readers with color displays and chose these eight devices based on features, reliability, price, size, and user reviews.

Truth be told, there are better non-color e-readers on the market than the Meebook M6C. But if having a color display is a non-negotiable, this e-reader serves as a viable option. A six-inch screen size is a little smaller compared to the average paperback book, which could be seen as a downside. But this also adds to its portability, making it easy to stuff in a backpack, laptop bag, purse, or even a large pocket. It's powered by E-Ink technology, which users say takes some getting used to. It's not instantaneous like your smartphone screen, so there's a bit of "lag" when turning pages. On a brighter note, it does include a glare-free screen so you can read in different lighting conditions, and it supports 4,096 colors to give you vibrant visuals.

The Meebook M6C runs on the Android operating system and has access to the Google Play Store, so you can use it with third-party reading apps. It also supports audiobooks and includes a headphone outlet as well as Bluetooth connectivity. A single charge will last you up to 60 hours, depending on factors like screen brightness or whether you're using audio. Pricewise, the Meebook M6C is affordable compared to some of the higher-end color e-readers, with a retail price of $189 on Amazon.

Kobo has developed an impressive lineup of e-readers, including the waterproof Kobo Aura H20, the Kobo Aura HD, and the Kobo Sage, which has a big advantage Kindle doesn't offer. But its Kobo Clara Colour adds an element that the Aura versions don't have — color screens. Similar in size to the Meebook M6C, the Clara Colour also includes a six-inch, glare-free screen and E-Ink technology. Along with seeing your favorite book covers and graphic novels in full color, this e-reader lets you highlight passages in your books in a variety of colors, too. You can change between colors, erase highlights, and view all of your highlights in a chapter or a book.

The Kobo Clara Colours includes ComfortLight PRO, which is bluelight-reducing technology to make screen reading gentler on your eyes. There's also a dark mode feature for those who like to read in bed, no unique book light required. Compared to other Kobo products, this one is on the smaller end. But its size and waterproof design makes it a good option for those who travel. If you're on the fence between the Kobo Clara Colour and the Meebook M6C, a lower price of $165.99 on Amazon might tip the scales in Kobo's favor.

Most e-readers are made for one purpose — to let you take your favorite books wherever you go and enjoy a paper-free reading experience. The Bigme S6 Color +Lite does this too, but its usefulness doesn't end there. It's also an e-notepad (you might have heard them called paper tablets) that lets you take notes, edit written content, and transform text into speech. It uses the same Kaleido 3 display that the Kobo Clara Colour and MeeBook M6C use, but on a slightly bigger device of 7.8 inches.

AI features let you record audio and handwritten notes that you can convert into editable text in seconds. The paper-like screen lets you handwrite content with a similar look and feel as using paper and pen, with the option to adjust the pen's thickness. Its reading features are standout, too: take notes as you read, highlight words and passages, use the built-in dictionary to look up words, and customize your fonts. It supports more than 19 ebook file types, such as PDFs, .txt files, and AZW3. There's a lot of value here beyond casual reading, and this device could become a daily workhorse if your job involves a lot of written content. The Bigme S6 Color +Lite retails for $419.

The reMarkable Paper Pro is another example of the next generation of e-readers. This paper tablet offers much more than the ability to read books on the go, though that's reason enough to consider it. The device spans nearly 12 inches and has a distinctive paper-like texture. For reading, you can make annotations as you go and keep your notes organized via built-in apps.

Many e-readers use the E-Ink display, but the reMarkable Paper Pro takes a different approach. Its Canvas Color display includes millions of colored ink particles to create richer visuals. Because of its papery texture, this e-reader may feel more like reading an actual book compared to other e-readers. You can adjust the screen brightness to suit your reading conditions, and a low-glare screen and light reflection makes it more akin to natural reading. The reMarkable Paper Pro starts at $579 and includes a 100-day risk-free trial.

Some e-readers go all out with extras like journaling and note taking. But if you want a color e-reader that does one job – and does it phenomenally — the PocketBook InkPad Color 3 is worth a look. The 7.8-inch screen is slightly larger than most color e-readers and uses E-Ink Kaleido 3 technology that gives books a paper-like look. It picks up over 4,000 colors to closely match the book covers and graphics you'd find in a bookstore.

The SMARTlight feature lets you adjust the screen brightness and color temperature to suit your surroundings. There's also a night mode in case you want to read in bed without straining your eyes. Unlike some color e-readers, the InkPad Color 3 also supports audiobooks, with your choice of a headphone jack or a Bluetooth connection. Text-to-speech will also read aloud any book or passage and can read in more than 20 different languages. It's a good mid-grade option — not a budget-friendly device by any means but also not the most premium. You can get the PocketBook InkPad Color 3 on Amazon for $339.

There are legit alternatives to Amazon for buying books online, but the enormous retailer remains an excellent choice for its vast selection and competitive prices. Its flagship e-reader, the Kindle, has seen several iterations over the years, including the full color Amazon Kindle Colorsoft signature edition. The 7-inch display is pretty standard for color e-readers (though many black and white e-readers come in significantly larger sizes). Aside from viewing book covers and in-book images in color, the device also includes multiple colors of highlighters to help you save your favorite quotes. A glare-free screen and auto-adjusting front light are optimized for reading in color.

One of the perks of getting a Kindle is the instant access to the Kindle store, a massive library of titles, and the Colorsoft edition is no different. You can add a Kindle Unlimited subscription to get access to millions of books for one price on a device with a battery that lasts for up to eight weeks on a single charge. The Kindle Colorsoft signature edition is on Amazon for $279.99 and comes with three months of Kindle Unlimited.

Kobo has left a deep mark in the e-reader space, as evidenced by its Libra Colour. The 7-inch glare-free screen uses the Kaleido 3 E-Ink display that lets you read books in full color. You can use the Kobo Stylus 2 (sold separately) to markup your books, highlight quotes, take notes, and make the occasional doodle. It's a comfortable size for reading, especially given its slightly larger screen compared to the MeeBook M6C and the Kobo Clara Colour. Yet it's still very lightweight and compact enough to travel with. Similar to the Clara Colour, the Libra Colour is waterproof and made of recycled plastic.

Unlike some e-readers that merely store your books, the Libra Colour doubles as a journal, planner, notepad, and more. You can connect to your Google Drive or Dropbox account to access more than just books (think work documents, that novel you're working on, etc.). So far, it's earned an average 4.3-star rating on Amazon across more than 1,500 user reviews. Buyers tend to agree that the color quality on the Libra Colour is top notch and the curved edge gives the device a book-like look and feel. The Libra Colour is also a companion for outdoor reading, with sharp text and clear images. The Kobo Libra Colour is on Amazon for $249.99.

There's a lot to get excited about with the Boox Go Color 7. Let's start with a super lightweight device that's as effortless to hold as a book. It's one of the few e-readers that has generous storage as well as a micro SD slot for extra space (in case you have a serious book hoarding problem). As with many color e-readers, the Boox Go Color 7 uses a blend of the Kaleido 3 display with Boox's own technology, giving it a more natural feel compared to tablet-style e-readers. A textured back is easy to grip and feels comfortable in your hands.

The Boox Go Color 7 also gives you multiple ways to customize your reading experience beyond light and contrast. For starters, it can respond to either landscape or portrait orientation, depending on how you prefer to read. You also have options to adjust the sharpness and colors of your content, which can be helpful in certain lighting conditions. You can access the Google Play Store from the device to download new books, magazines, or reading apps. And for those who want to read hands-free, the Boox Go Color 7 uses text-to-speech to become your own personal storyteller. You can get the Boox Go Color 7 for $249.99 on the Boox website.

Not having the opportunity to test every color e-reader out there, we relied on other (reliable) sources of information to learn what makes these e-readers best in class. A basic search on Google and Amazon helped us to discover multiple color e-readers on the market. Reading real customer reviews on these e-readers provided direct insight into their features and quality. We also read multiple device-specific reviews from trusted publications for a deeper dive into how they work (not just how they look). Consistent themes in these reviews were key, as they represent the general sentiment of whether these e-readers were worth mentioning in this round-up. There are tons of other great e-readers with color screens out there, but we focused on these eight options due to consistent reviews and features.