Product test
Small, robust, good: the fifth Tolino Shine almost passes my test with flying colours
by Martin Jungfer
Our editorial team’s favourite e-ink tablets for spring 2025
11.3.2025
Translation: Megan Cornish
There are a lot of e-ink tablets on the market. Here are our editors’ recommendations for different uses.
Whether you devour books by the stack, need a digital notebook, or are looking for the best value for money, here’s an overview of the best e-ink options for your needs.
For budget-conscious bookworms: Tolino Shine 5
The handy Tolino Shine 5 features a six-inch black and white display. It responds quickly and has more than enough storage (16 GB) for your e-book library. With its sturdy waterproof case, you can easily take the Tolino Shine 5 to the beach or into the bath. The display’s brightness offers welcome relief in strong sunlight.
In addition to common e-book formats, it’s also compatible with PDFs. Otherwise, the software still has room for improvement. For example, hyphenation doesn’t always work, and some fonts were displayed incorrectly.
Overall, the Tolino Shine 5 is a classic e-reader for a small budget.
- Size: six inches
- Display: black and white (300 dpi)
- Lighting: yes
- Pen-compatible: no
- Battery life: about 20 hours of pure reading time
For bargain-hunters keen on long battery life: Pocketbook Verse Pro Color
The Pocketbook Verse Pro Color boasts a great battery life of around 50 hours. The physical buttons make page-turning so much easier. It’s also very lightweight and easy to handle – perfect when you’re on the go.
Despite the colour display, I wouldn’t recommend it for comics – it’s too small. Nevertheless, the colours freshen up the overall look.
- Size: six inches
- Display: colour (150 dpi) and black and white (300 dpi)
- Lighting: yes
- Pen-compatible: no
- Battery life: around 50 hours of pure reading time
For colourful travellers: Kobo Clara Colour
The Kobo Clara Colour is an affordable, easy-to-handle e-reader with a long battery life. So, it’s great for travelling. The colour display gives you a good overview of your books, allowing you to quickly see all the covers. It’s also easier to distinguish between highlights, but the six-inch screen’s too small for comics.
An additional feature is the audiobook function, so you can simply close your eyes and enjoy your book. Unfortunately, this only works with audiobooks from the Kobo store. To make matters worse, browsing the internet’s very slow.
- Size: six inches
- Display: colour (150 dpi) and black and white (300 dpi)
- Lighting: yes
- Pen-compatible: no
- Battery life: about 20 hours of pure reading time
For manga fans and creatives: Onyx Boox Note Air 3C
The Onyx Boox Note Air 3C offers a generous 10.3-inch colour display. Combined with the stylus provided, it’s much more than an e-reader. You can also use it for taking notes, doing colourful sketches and highlighting e-books. The colours on comics are a bit paler than you’ll be used to on your smartphone, but it’s still a good option.
You could even watch videos, but they don’t run smoothly. The e-reader often stutters with more complex drawings too. However, you can download numerous apps with Android 12. While not exactly inexpensive, the Onyx Boox Note Air3 C is a solid overall package.
- Size: 10.3 inches
- Display: colour (150 dpi) and black and white (300 dpi)
- Lighting: yes
- Pen-compatible: yes
- Battery life: 10–20 hours of pure reading time (10 in video mode)
For people who don’t compromise: Remarkable Paper Pro
At 11.8 inches, the Remarkable Paper Pro is ideal for note-taking and PDFs. The clean user interface ensures you’re not distracted. With its fast response time, pleasant feel, and well-designed pen, it’s ideal for writing and sketching.
Converting handwriting to print is quick and reliable. And if you want to share your thoughts, there’s a screen-sharing feature. This lets you wirelessly transfer the Remarkable’s screen to a desktop. While you can read on the it, due to its size, I recommend using it at a table rather than on the sofa, so you can also put it down. The Remarkable Paper Pro does what it does very well, but it’s not cheap.
- Size: 11.8 inches
- Display: colour (150 dpi) and black and white (300 dpi)
- Lighting: yes
- Pen-compatible: yes
- Battery life: around 20 hours of pure reading time
Unlike the e-readers above, the Remarkable Paper Pro is only available through the manufacturer’s website.
Header image: Davide Arizzoli
In my world, Super Mario chases Stormtroopers with a unicorn and Harley Quinn mixes cocktails for Eddie and Peter at the beach bar. Wherever I can live out my creativity, my fingers tingle. Or maybe it's because nothing flows through my veins but chocolate, glitter and coffee.
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