Consumer Reports gives Kindle top scores again

I love the iPad despite its heft, and although I never warmed to the nook’s mini-LCD touch panel, I really like the look of the new full-color nook announced last month. That said, the venerable product testing nonprofit Consumer Reports says the Kindle is still the best all-around ebook device at the end of 2010. (It said the same thing in May.)

The latest review details are behind a paywall, but a reader on the Amazon discussion forums says these are the final scores as printed in the December 2010 issue of the magazine. (Higher is better.)

CR also has some good general advice for ereader shoppers. The magazine says that “Wi-Fi should suffice for everyone except bookworms who want the unlimited [3G] access,” and that you should “think twice about readers… that lack any wireless connectivity. Such models require a USB connection or use of a memory card to load new content, which is a significant inconvenience.”

Update 10 Nov 2010: The blog Me and My Kindle checked out the print issue as well as CR’s Electronics Buying Guide, and has posted a detailed summary for those of you who don’t have access to the issue.

E-book readers [Consumer Reports]
(Photo: SparkFunElectronics)