I’ve always been a bit old-school when it comes to reading; there’s somthing about the heft of a book in your hands, the scent of the paper, and the sound of turning pages that’s just so comforting. But I have to say, the new Kindle Paperwhite has completly won me over. The screen is a real standout feature. It’s bigger than the older models, which means less page-turning and more continous reading. Plus, the backlight has this warm tone that’s really easy on the eyes—I’ve spent countless nights reading without any strain. It’s also super thin and light, which means I can throw it in my bag and not even notice it’s there. And since it’s waterproof, I don’t have to panic if I’m caught in the rain or if I want to read by the pool. But the battery life is what really blows me away. I charge it once, and it lasts for weeks. It’s perfect for someone like me who’s always forgeting to plug things in. And the books—oh, the books! There are so many to choose from, and it’s so easy to download them. I’ve been branching out into genres I never would have considered before, all because they’re right there at my fingertips. I have to admit, I’m pretty hooked on my Kindle Paperwhite. It’s just so convenient and user-friendly. I can change the font size, look up words as I read, and carry a whole library around with me. It’s not just a gadget; it’s a treasure trove of stories waiting to be discovered. Looking back, I can’t believe I waited so long to get one. It’s not just an e-reader; it’s been a gateway to rediscovering my passion for reading in this busy, digital age. If you’re on the fence about getting an e-reader, I can’t recommend the Kindle Paperwhite enough—it might just turn you into a bookworm, like it did for me. I’ve since bought two more, one for my mom and one for my dad.

Everyone has a smartphone these days, so at this point the Kindle is for one very particular audience: people who want to read a lot of books, and read them with a minimum of distractions. With this version, Amazon has refined the Kindle to the point where it's just about ideal for this purpose. I've owned several previous Kindles, including an early Paperwhite, and currently own a couple of iPads, an iPhone, and a MacBook. For the purposes of long, immersive reading sessions, this Kindle is my best option. The battery life is long enough so that even with constant reading you only have to recharge once or twice a week (you can extend that by turning off wireless). The Kindle also has by far the best screen for immersive reading: it's sharp and clear, with many options for different lighting conditions ranging from bright sunlight (Kindles leave tablets in the dust as far as bright-sun reading is concerned) to pitch black (the dark mode format is ideal for this). You can choose whether to read with a vertical orientation or a horizontal one -- and this option of a horizontal orientation allows you (among other things) to read poetry on a Kindle without imposing premature line breaks. This Kindle is also extremely light and easy to hold for hours on end (my iPad mini is too heavy for that). And as with all Kindles, you can adjust the type size and font so that reading is comfortable for you - I love paper books, I really do, but I need bigger type. In a way, though, what's best about this Kindle is what it doesn't have. You can't read your email. You can't go on social media. Amazon's Kindle browser is perpetually "experimental" -- good! I pick up the Kindle when I want to read books, not when I want to lose my afternoon down an internet rabbit hole. That said, you do get just enough of the internet to assist in your reading. From within any book you can look up unfamiliar names/places on Wikipedia, and there's a great built-in dictionary too. (You can download dictionaries for any language you read, and set them as your default in settings). But apart from those features, the internet might as well be on Mars. Fine by me. If I want to look at videos of puppies or lose my temper about politics, I have my phone (and several other machines, unfortunately). When I look at my Kindle, I can feel my blood pressure go down. More to the point, I can hide my phone under a cat and read books for hours and hours. That might not be your idea of an ideal afternoon. If it is, and you know who you are, this Kindle is pretty inexpensive and much lighter and easier to carry than tablets or physical books. It allows you to carry thousands of books around with you and then sit and read them without distractions. It's limited in its other functions - and that's exactly what makes it ideal. As you can probably tell from the above review, I have the patience of a gnat when it comes to content I don't want to see, and for that reason I opted for the ad-free version. This allows me to have the lock screen be the cover of the current book I'm reading, which is extremely endearing. That said, the version with ads does not insert ads into your books; they're not obtrusive in that way. So you can definitely save a few bucks by getting the version with ads - it won't mess with your reading experience.

THIS WAS THE BEST THING I EVER BLUGHT MYSELF. I love reading and I always read on my IPAD with the kindle app. I never thought I would need a kindle because I have so many devices. I recently noticed it’s hard to read at night in the dark with my iPad because my eyes get tired and my iPad is heavy so my wrist hurts. I decided to just do it and get a kindle and it was so worth it. I used to charge my iPad everyday because it would drain my battery to read for hours. I now charge my kindle once a week or every other week. The size is great and it’s so lightweight. It fits in my little purse and I can bring it everywhere. So easy to set up and use. It sinks with your other kindle apps so you can pick up where you left off reading. The book selection is endless for kindle unlimited as well. The screen looks like paper and I feel like the kindle is less harsh on my eyes so I don’t get fatigue while reading in the dark. You can also customize the font, page color, display. The best thing I ever got myself. I didn’t think I could love reading more than I already did. I look forward to my kindle reading.

It’s super easy to set-up, especially if you link the kindle to your account before checkout. It arrives around 65% so you can set up then charge and it updates. It charges SUPER fast which is amazing. I did notice though- and it’s in other reviews so I had the heads-up- it can drain quick if it’s connected to internet. So I disconnected it and it basically went into battery saver mode. That’s one of the noticeable things so far that is kinda lame about it at this point, not being able to keep it online and keep highlights up-to-date, but not a deal breaker for me. Super light weight and pretty small which makes it easily portable, but can be a problem for folks with bigger hands and/or lose things easily. This is the first kindle reader I’ve had and I sat on making the purchase for almost two weeks before I made the leap. So, far it’s been awesome and super cute. When doing research, the flashing of the page before it turns pages or screens was something I was worried about but it wasn’t actually all that bad when I first used it. I haven’t noticed any lag that other folks mentioned in other reviews so I wonder if it’s just the screen change? Also, my little guy connected to internet easily so I’m hoping it stays behaved. I have the 2017/2018 Kindle Fire which basically works like an Amazon tablet. I’d use it but I wanted something specifically for books/textbooks because I easily get distracted in the kindle and Amazon store because the colors and book covers. With the kindle, it feels like business and I stay on track; I also knew the books I was going to buy so that helps. So, far I’m enjoying my little guy.

fits in my palm nicely and very light weight, can hold it all day easily. Good screen and easy to read. Adjustable font size which is also nice. Good battery life, can go a whole day of reading and more.

The Amazon Kindle with its 6” display is a fantastic device for avid readers who value portability. It's incredibly lightweight and compact, making it easy to slip into a purse or large pocket. The display is crisp and clear, offering a comfortable reading experience without glare, perfect for long reading sessions. However, the Kindle does have a notable shortcoming. Despite its Bluetooth capabilities, it doesn't support reading and listening to audiobooks simultaneously. You have to switch between reading and listening, which can disrupt the flow. In summary, this Kindle is an excellent choice for those seeking a portable, long-lasting e-reader. Its ease of use and readability are top-notch, though the inability to simultaneously read and listen to audiobooks is a drawback.

I have very limited space for psychical books so I finally caved and bought the kindle. It has changed my life! It is so easy and comfortable to use. It’s easy to travel with, without the worries of damage like you would with a physical book. It has a light and dark mode on it. You can adjust the font and the size of the text to your liking. The battery lasts a long time. The only thing I don’t like about it, is that it lags when I scroll through looking for books, and also it sometimes takes a long time to load. Other than that, the pros outweigh the cons in my opinion!

Getting a kindle was hands down, one of the best decisions I've ever made. I read for several hours 99% of days, and am addicted to my kindle. The battery in this little thing is great, and you can read for a entire day and still be at 70%. The pages "turning" doesn't take me out of it. The storage is great. I am happy with the lighting, font, size, and other customization options while reading. I love the size as well. It feels like you are holding a adorable tiny square novel. Despite the size, its not hard at all to read on. The no glare screen is so nice to look at as well. It's wonderfully light. I can hold it for hours with no problem. My downsides are blutooth, loading, screen freezing, and durability of the screen. The bluetooth works well, but is kinda a pain to turn up or down. Looking for new books on the device and waiting for them to load is a bit of a hassle. And clicking links, or clicking to read about a book can take quite a few seconds to work. The screen sometimes holds the faint outline of a word or imagine once you got past it. But this is normally resolved quickly, and is barely a problem while actually reading. The no glare screen is a blessing and a curse. It scratches SO easily. But, is easy on the eyes. Ultimately, none of these issues are big for me. I don't use the kindle to listen to audio books, I search for my books on the app on my phone (this also helps greating with the image freezing issue. And the app is great! I love it!), and just make sure I close my cover on my kindle case. If you don't think you could ever read on a screen (I used to be a paper book purest too) then I suggest you try Libby (a free library app) to read a book or two. If you like it and will read often, a kindle is 100% worth it! I used to read verociously when I was a child and teenager. I somehow lost my habit, and struggled for years to get it back. Physical books were just hard for me to get into again. I discovered Libby, and immediately was killing my phone battery multiple times reading on it. I got my kindle, and it was a step up for non-interrupted, comfortable reading. I have well gotten my moneys worth out of it in just a few months. I do recommend getting Kindle Unlimited with this device, though it isn't required. You can download books from Libby as well (through the Libby app on your phone), but KU has helped me pick books quick enough for my reading habit!

If you’re considering this, and reading this review, you’re probably considering your first foray into Kindle reading. Good choice. A few things to note about this. The ads are not pop ups. I know some dead tree fans would have you believe, right in the middle of a tense scene, an ad will interrupt the page. That’s not how this works. What happens is, when you put the device in sleep mode, rather than say the cover or the portrait of a famous author, you see an ad. If you use the physical cover to turn on and off the device, you won’t see much if any of the ads. And yes, you can dog ear a page. I have no idea why memes keep popping up to say you can’t. Actually, the things you can do with a print book that you can’t with a Kindle book are: Donate them to the library if the library starts taking books again, give used copies to a friend, sell used copies, have a bookmark accidentally fall out, and use them for, well, kindling. Kindle can do everything else. Things you can do on a Kindle and not a print book are: read in the dark, search for text, carry dozens of books in your pocket, create notes of virtually unlimited size (you run out of room in the margin of a print book), pick up a new book nearly anywhere, anytime, and instantly convert your entire library to large print. Most library systems can send any borrowed e-book directly to your Kindle. And your place and notes are stored in case you borrow the book again or buy a copy. You don’t get that with print. Amazon recently improved their send to Kindle features with a drag and drop web page that makes moving your own documents to the device extremely simple. This comes with a USB-C cable, but not a charger (aka wall wort) so if you don’t have one lying around (I think the expectation is most of us do) you will need to pick one up. 16 gig might not sound like a lot, but most books fall under 2K. I’ve seen public libraries (I’m looking at you, Florida) with fewer books than this can hold. Audible eats the memory a bit more, but I find this to be more than enough. You don’t get cellular connectivity with this, but that’s only with the premium Oasis line now. Scribe even missed out on that. I find it convenient, but I understand wifi is ubiquitous enough these days it’s not a big deal for most users. I have an annoying habit of finishing a book on the crosstown bus, then needing the next in the series. Yes, the cell phone tether works. No, that’s not as convenient as built-in cellular. It has fewer LEDs than most, but that’s not a big deal. Four lets you read in the dark. The scribe has 35. Guys, it’s an e-reader, not a disco, no one needs that many separate lights on that small a device. The absence of a warm light and auto adjusting lights are a bigger issue here. The warm light makes a big difference when you’re reading before bed. It doesn’t have the waterproofing, which I thought was a bigger deal when that first came out, but in all the time since I’ve yet to (knock wood) get a Kindle wet. It’s a nice to have, not a have to have. The size can throw people at first. The screen approximates two things – an index card turned portrait and a mass market paperback page. The occasional “ghosting” mirrors the see-through element of the cheaper mass market paperbacks, except on the device it refreshes quickly, and the ghosting goes away. There were some studies done that suggest memory is improved from reading from print rather than e-book. I want to point out a few issues and cite my own experience. First, all the studies I could find cite pop ups and other distractions as the primary issue. That is, the test is on a general-purpose tablet, not a single purpose e-reader. When they either do a study on an actual e-reader or compare with pop ups on the tablet vs someone coming over just as often and tossing brochures on their print book I’ll believe it. Unless all factors are equal, the study is inherently flawed. To my experience, my ability to absorb and either use the information (if it’s non-fiction) or retain it over time (if it’s fiction) is nearly identical in both, with the slight advantage of the e-book being able to search back in the text for prior information. It drives me nuts when a quote resurfaces in a print book, and I can’t find the prior mention again. Or when I need to find a code snippet in a shelf full of computer books rather than just search on device and have it in seconds. So, if you’re comfortable with the mass market paperback format, the size, the quality, then this is a huge step up. If you want to lay your hands on information quickly, then this is a huge step up. If you want portability, then this is a huge step up. I just had to help an elderly woman move into assisted living and the loss of space cost her nearly all of her much-loved library. I find it comforting that nearly all of mine fits in my purse. No more culling the library for space, then finding you need to buy a new copy. If you delete an e-book from your Kindle, you can download it again for free. I remember, in the dark days before the Kindle was invented, being stuck on a flight from Arizona to New York with nothing to read but the most misogynistic, worst written mystery novel I’d ever encountered. If I had a Kindle, I’d have had at least a dozen better choices at hand, not to mention rereads. The downside here is twofold. First, Dune and The Great Gatsby look the same size on the reader, so it’s hard to eyeball that one is a super-fast read and the other a meaty novel. It’s also a little too easy to build up a massive TBR pile, given it takes no physical space, the device memory is ample, and Amazon keeps offering free books to Prime members every month, sometimes more than one, and a crazy number of deeply discounted books Prime or not. If you are concerned about the environment, then this is a matter of economics of scale. On the last study I checked, the magic number was 20. At 20 books the manufacture and transport impact of the e-reader ties the impact of manufacturing and transporting print books. At 21 and beyond, the e-reader has almost no further impact as compared to the printing and transporting of physical books. E-readers have boasted substantial improvements in reducing their carbon footprint since that study, but I can find no more recent information. Even at 20, the worst number, it’s clear that e-readers are a pure win for the environment. It’s a great device. If you want to go with this one as the entry level, you won’t be disappointed.

If they ever stop making kindles, there will be a revolution!!! I recently lost my small paper white that was purchased in 2017 and needed to replace it. I was surprised to see all the new kindle choices they have now. After reading all the reviews and scrutinizing each of the kindle products, I chose the basic one and was not disappointed. The screen is still the same same as the original paper white, but the overall size of the kindle was so much smaller that it now fits in my pants pocket!! Instead of buying a thick case to cover the whole kindle, I was able to purchase a screen protector. It is overall so much easier to hold and read for a long time. It has all the usual Kindle advantages that makes it the quality device that it is....lighted screen from the side instead from the back, easy to read in the dark and bright sunny days, dictionary to find words quickly at the touch of your finger, translation abilities from other languages, wifi and blue tooth connections( ! ), access to the web and use as a browser (not as fast as your computer or cell phone but works regardless if needed), holds thousands of books if you care to, you can take off the ones you read so that it is not cluttered and you have access to all your purchases to download again anytime you want. It is easy to go on to Amazon's site and review all of your books easily and move them around to your other owned kindles for your family. I dont see any reason to get the larger version since it is heavier and bulkier. If you need larger words, you can make the words as large as you want even on the small screen kindle. I am not an employee of Amazon nor do I have any invested connection with them whatsoever except that my wife and I both own a kindle. It is simply the best way to read a book that is pure words. It is not meant for color photos and quick fix articles with tons of images. It is meant for serious book readers...period!! And it's only $99. It's a steal. For those who still say they prefer holding a paper book and the smell of the pages, you need to do what feels right for you. Personally I prefer to drive my 2024 comfortable and fast automobile instead of the old covered wagon. I really don't need the smell of the horses and covered wagon canvas and the feel of the bumpy road under me.