There are so many opportunities during the summer to be outdoors having fun or just relaxing. That makes it one of the most popular seasons for reading, and e-readers are so conveniently portable they make that so much easier. But there can be issues related to outdoor e-book reading that come up, and it helps to know how to address and solve before you head out the door. Here are some tips that can make summer reading even more pleasant and portable.

Enjoy Lightweight Portability

You can install an e-book app on a smart phone and use it as an e-reader gadget. That way if you’re traveling light you don’t have to carry your larger, dedicated e-reader device. Just put your phone in your pocket and you’re good to go. Since Kindle e-readers let you easily synch them to other devices, you could then have your Kindle communicate with that e-book app. That way, whatever you read on one device is logged onto the other one. When you read a few pages on one, but later switch to the other, your bookmarked page is already synched.

Take Your Library with You

As you probably know, USB stick memory devices are about the size of your thumb…which is why they are called “thumb drives.” What you may not know is that Free-ebooks.net offers three different specialized USB stick library bundles, to suit your particular reading preferences.  These libraries carried on a thumb drive are called “E-Go” because they were designed for e-book readers on the go. They don’t require a Wi-Fi connection. Just plug it into the USB port of your tablet or laptop from anywhere, anytime. One holds 1,250 e-books…enough to keep you reading for years. The other two are loaded with audio books, and one of those has 125 audio books for children. The  other holds 550 audio books for readers of all ages – with titles ranging from Alice in Wonderland to V for Vendetta and everything in between.

A Trick for Sunglass Wearers

If you wear sunglasses, you may know that some of the best ones have polarized lenses that dramatically reduce glare. Those are ideal for wearing outdoors in the summertime. But polarized lenses don’t always play well with LCD screens, and can make the page you’re trying to read appear too dark. Sometimes, though, it helps to rotate the device. The reason that may make it much easier to see the screen is because the polarized glass lenses line up differently with the pixels of light that create the image on the screen. So just rotating your device, like from vertical alignment to horizontal or “landscape” position, may brighten up the page while you’re wearing a pair of polarized sunglasses.

Better Solutions for Glare

While you are outside at the beach or lake catching some rays, your e-reader will also be catching those same sunbeams. If it reflects them back into your eyes, that creates an annoying glare that can make it harder to read unless you can cast some shade over the device. To get the very best possible outdoor performance under conditions of glare, use a device that features electronic ink or “e-ink. These e-ink readers like the Kindle, Kobo PocketBook, Kobo Aura H20 2017, and Nook do much better than LCD screen tablets and iPads that don’t offer the non-glare quality of e-ink.

Charging and Protection from the Elements

LCD devices also consume a lot more juice, so they may run low on power within a day or less. But usually you’ll also find that e-ink devices can keep going strong, for a week or even as long as a few weeks, on just one battery charge. That may give you option of leaving the bulky charger and charger cord behind. But don’t leave behind a protective cover for your electronics, especially if you are going to be outdoors near water and sand. There is a wide selection of affordable and attractive covers, and you can find one designed to fit your particular device. There are even covers that include a charger, and e-readers like the Kobo Aura H20 that are water-resistant. In a pinch, you can also protect your e-reader by dropping into an ordinary plastic ziplock bag. To be extra safe, enclose inside two of them. That might save it from getting wet if someone spills a drink on it, or it gets splashed while on a poolside chair when you’re using the diving board.