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Others have commented on how the display looks like paper but I will add that the battery life is incredible, the devices are very lightweight, and because they're only designed to display books you don't get any distractions from notifications or any other things you might do with your cell phone.

E-ink screens are amazing, they looks very different to normal displays, they actually look almost like paper, and does not strain you eyes like a phone or computer display.

After understanding that the rest is easy, an ebook reader is small, lightweight, has a battery life of several weeks of active use, and can hold vast ammounts of books.

Books are awesome, but ebooks are more conveniet in the modern world.

I have a Kobo eReader, it's mostly because the display is way closer to an actual sheet of paper than anything else. I can read for longer without having a headache, and I even send long web articles to it using the Pocket service.

The battery life is also incomparable to our phones, which can be measured in weeks on a single charge. It's nice when travelling, no need to worry about wasting your phone's battery and spare it for emergencies.

Wow, this post is 5 months ago.

The whole point of kindle and other ebook readers are its screen. All smartphone/tablets shines bright backlit light to your eye and casuing eye strain (most people do it so long that they don't tend to notice it anymore). First generation e-link screens doesn't have light, and it tends to be more paperlike than your screen. Also unlike your smart phone/tablets, it is distraction free. The hardware specs are low and you can't switch to chatting, surfing the web, turn on music or watch a video. Books and only books. Also, with phones, I always need to watch the battery and ebook readers can last months if not weeks on one charge (depends on how much you use it).

Newer readers (like for the last decade), all have frontlit screens, which is unlike the backlit smart devices. Light shines from the top to the bottom, through layers of screen and reflected back at the bottom, thus diminishing its effect and lessen eye strain. Ebook readers strives to achieve the quality of reading on paper with the ease of taking it everywhere (try log around a doorstopper around for few days.

The main lure of Kindle or any other e-link device is its screen. ~~E-Link, unlike your standard LED/OLED screens on your phone/computer/tablets has lightbulbs pointed DOWN, there's a mirror that reflects the lgiht back up, because of this, the light that hits your eyes are much weaker and thus cause less strains (I would imagine Paperwhite and Voyage are worse with eye strains than Keyboard as Keyboard does not have lights)~~. (This actually applies to the LED Kindles, such as Paperwhite and on, rather than the general e-link display)

I have Kindle KB, Kindle Paperwhite and the Kindle Voyage, aside from KB where the battery is dead, both Paperwhite and Voyage are still in service and it is my best purchase to date.

That said, there are still times when I miss the weight of physical book on my hand, so I still borrow physical books from libraries and purchase physical books. Through the years I saw many arguments that tends to pose this "problem" as "either/or" situations, as if having one format is a distain for the other. That is simply not true, I devour ebooks, breathe physical books and seek articles on my computer.

As to why have a dedicated device for one purpose? Because it is the best at what it does. Phone/tablet computers possess too much distractions, even unprovoked I'm bombarded with notification popups. Kindle, just read. No distractions.

At the risk of making it sound like a cult, I didn't understand either until I got one (although in my case, I didn't understand why people would want one instead of an actual book, not instead of a phone).

Honestly it's really handy. Super lightweight so I don't get a wrist pain from holding it up at an awkward angle. Battery lasts for months so I can just pick it up and throw it in a bag for a holiday and never think about it. All of my books neatly organised. No notifications interrupting like you would end up with on a phone. Much bigger screen than a phone despite being much lighter, so more text on one page. All of that on top of the reduced eye strain, it's a no-brainer for me.

I have one of the backlit, touchscreen ones these days and the light is useful I keep it on warm light and the dimmest possible for use at night. But I have to admit the older version with the side buttons was better than the touchscreen, I often find myself accidentally skipping pages with the newer one.

1- Kindle generally has a smaller attack surface for reading books compared to an Android tablet. The Kindle's operating system is more specialized and focused on reading, reducing potential vulnerabilities compared to the more multifunctional and complex Android operating system.

2- If you have dealt with representational trauma in cyber warfare, the Kindle would be a refuge psychologically speaking as it wouldn't cause much disorientation and have a lesser impact on your brain chemistry, of course, there are valid reasons you have fallen victim to consumerism here too, so learn to secure all your devices rather than scapegoating!

I just got rid of my Kindle after accidentally turning on the wi-fi after 4 years. The new "updates" pissed me off. I recreated my old Kindle experience on an Android mini. Even have the same wallpapers!

My Kindle is more than 10 years old, one of the ones with physical buttons to turn the Pages. No crappy software/spyware, enough storage to hold tons of books, and one of those E ink screens that don’t shine at you. When the battery on this one finally dies I will be performing surgery on it and replacing the battery rather than buying a new one

The main thing is that it has an e-ink screen, which doesn't hurt your eyes and doesn't trick your brain into staying awake.

Also, I don't have a tablet, and my phone is too small to read comfortably on.