As it stands, Amazon’s Kindle is a near-perfect device—a palm-sized tablet that can bring your full library on a weekend trip and has a month-long battery life. Maybe that’s why it’s taken Amazon so long to improve on it. For the first time since 2018, Amazon is announcing an upgrade to the Paperwhite—or actually, three.
As of today, Amazon’s step-up e-reader will now have three versions: a standard model for $140, a signature edition for $190, and a kid version for $160. All current Kindles are getting an updated interface, too, which you may have already seen if you own one. Not only is this 14-year old product sticking around, we’re anticipating that it will be an even better e-reader than before.
Bigger and Brighter
All three of the new Paperwhites will have 6.8-inch screens, which is slightly larger than the original 6-inch model, if still a fraction smaller than the top-tier 7-inch Kindle Oasis. However, the new screens will have the Oasis’s adjustable warm white lighting mode, as well as a dark mode. Plus, the screen will be up to 10 percent brighter when on max lighting.
The base model gets a stunning 10 weeks of battery life—4 weeks more than the old version—and the long-awaited fast USB-C charging port. But possibly the most exciting new feature is that the pages will be 20 percent faster to turn. When I tried a Kindle for the first time, I nearly put it in a drawer forever; who knew that turning a digital page could have a much more annoying lag than turning an analog one?
If you spring for the signature Paperwhite, you get all of the above, plus an additional 32 gigabytes of storage instead of the current measly 8. The signature version also has an auto-adjusting light sensor, which will be helpful for reading outside, as well as wireless charging capabilities.
The 2018 Paperwhite version is rated IPX8, which means that it can withstand immersion for up to 60 minutes in two meters of fresh water. All three versions in the lineup also have an IPX8 waterproof rating, which means that your kids can now read by the pool, too. As with the original Kindle Kids edition, you get a free 1-year subscription of Amazon Kids+, which is Amazon’s platform subscription for kid movies, books, and games. You also get a two-year worry-free guarantee and a protective cover.
