this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2023
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There’s a nice comparison table here: https://ereaders.ewritable.com/e-reader-comparison-table/
Pro of Kindle: Amongst the cheapest devices.
Con: the UI kinda sucks (though I don’t have a comparison to others)
If you go Kindle, get the Kid’s edition. It’s the same as the normal one, but doesn’t have ads. I’m also not sure if you can fully set it up without an Amazon account. Oh, and wait for a sale. Those happen very often.
Kindle devices are nice but not at all FOSS, and not very open either. Although you can sideload books, EPUB files are still not directly supported, you have to convert them. Converting is easy with Calibre but it's still a hassle that is not needed on any other ereader.
There's a vibrant jailbreak community on MobileRead, however Amazon keeps blocking jailbreaks.
After my Kindle died I got a Kobo instead. Costs about the same as Kindle (maybe slightly more?). Still not fully open, but supports EPUB and its MobileRead community is just as vibrant (and Kobo doesn't block you from doing this).
OP specifically asked for kindles, so I replied regarding kindles. Note that kindle support epub as well, now.