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Rakuten has a new, entry-level e-book reader out, and it compares favorably to the cheapest Amazon Kindle in several important ways.

The Kobo Nia is a 6-inch reader with a 1024x758 pixel, 212 ppi resolution touchscreen. It's equipped with Kobo's ComfortLight tech, which lets you adjust the display's brightness as you see fit.

The Nia is pretty sleek at 172 grams, with 9.2mm of thickness around the edges. Inside, there's a 1,000mAh battery, which offers "weeks" of reading on a single charge.

Other important features include 8GB of storage, and three available colors: blue, yellow and black.

Amazon's cheapest Kindle, an inevitable comparison for the Nia, starts at $89.99, but that's with Amazon's "Special Offers" ads; without the ads, the price goes up to $109.99. It also has a 6-inch display, but with a lower, 165 ppi resolution, and half the storage of the Nia.

All of this makes the Nia quite a compelling option for anyone looking for a cheap e-reader who isn't interested in being locked into Amazon's ecosystem. Stay tuned for our full review, which is coming soon.

Pre-orders for the Kobo Nia are now open, and the device is coming to stores and online on July 21 in the following markets: Canada, the US, the UK, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Japan, Spain, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, Belgium, Switzerland, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

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