A year with an e-reader

I bought my e-reader a year ago, mainly because my bedroom shelf had run out of space. It cost about two and a half million dong, which is cheap for a device like this, and I expected to regret it. Twelve months later, I've read forty-one books on it. That's more than I managed in the three years before.

The screen is the main reason it works. It doesn't glow like a phone, so it's easy on the eyes even after an hour. Outdoors in the sun, it looks like real paper. I've read on the bus, at the beach in Vung Tau and in a café with the window open. The battery lasts about a month with daily reading, so I only charge it when I remember.

It's not perfect, though. The touch screen is slow, and turning a page sometimes needs two taps. Buying books is awkward if you want Vietnamese titles, because the store's selection is limited. I get around that by loading files from other sites, but it takes a bit of patience. Anyone who wants a smooth experience should look elsewhere.

What surprised me is how much it changed my habits. Before, I'd pick up my phone at bedtime and lose an hour. Now the e-reader sits on the table next to my bed, and there's nothing on it to distract me. No messages, no videos, no notifications. If I want to read ten pages before bed, I can, and I usually fall asleep faster.

There are small extras I now rely on. You can look up any word with a long press, and the device saves the words in a list. I've used that list to review vocabulary on the train. You can also change the font size, which my father loves. He borrowed it at Tet and hasn't given it back.

Verdict: four stars out of five. If you read more than a book a month, it'll pay for itself quickly. If you only read a few times a year, a library card is a better deal. For me, it's the best money I've spent on a gadget, and I'd buy it again tomorrow.