The very first thing I did after I obtained Amazon’s new Kindle Paperwhite (2024) was to fireplace up my earlier technology Kindle Paperwhite (2021) and attempt to decide how a lot better the brand new model is. Whereas it has been three years for the reason that Paperwhite was final up to date, E Ink e-readers simply do not change that a lot from technology to technology — the expertise has plateaued to a sure diploma — so the upgrades are typically fairly modest. That holds true for the Paperwhite (2024), however not less than the enhancements are pretty straightforward to discern.
Learn extra: Greatest e-readers of 2024
Professionals
- Barely bigger 7-inch display screen
- Improved efficiency with 25% quicker web page turns
- Barely larger distinction
- Waterproof
Cons
- No devoted page-turn buttons
- A bit dearer than the earlier mannequin
- Prices $20 to take away the adverts
Professionals
- Barely bigger 7-inch display screen
- Improved efficiency with 25% quicker web page turns
- Barely larger distinction
- Waterproof
- Wi-fi charging
- Auto-adjusting front-light sensor
Cons
- No devoted page-turn buttons
- Considerably expensive
For starters, the display screen is barely larger — you get a 7-inch diagonal E Ink Carta 1300 e-paper show with a decision of 1,264×1,680 (300 ppi) as an alternative of the 6.8-inch 300 ppi show discovered within the earlier mannequin. Amazon says that show incorporates a brand new oxide thin-film transistor, which supplies it the best distinction ratio of any Kindle to this point and makes textual content and pictures pop a bit extra.
Additionally, the gadget itself, although it weighs a contact greater than the earlier Kindle (211 grams vs. 205g), is a tad thinner and has 25% quicker web page turns, in response to Amazon. Phrase is the brand new Paperwhite is powered by a Mediatek dual-core 1GHz processor, whereas the earlier mannequin used a single core 1GHz course of. Touted because the quickest Kindle to this point, the Paperwhite (2024) does really feel zippier general when scrolling and navigating. You may sense the distinction, although E Ink shows stay inherently extra sluggish than LCD expertise.
The Paperwhite (2021) on left, Paperwhite (2024) on proper. The brand new Paperwhite’s 7-inch display screen is barely bigger.
Followers of the now-discontinued Kindle Oasis, Amazon’s former high-end Kindle, might gripe that the brand new Paperwhite would not have the bodily page-turn buttons of that mannequin (some individuals do love that function). Additionally, Amazon nonetheless has the ability button on the backside of the gadget. Lots of people, myself included, would favor it if it was on the prime.
Word that the Paperwhite (2024) additionally is available in a Signature Version, which provides 32GB of storage as an alternative of 16GB, wi-fi charging and an auto-adjusting entrance gentle for $200. The Signature Version is ad-free, whereas the usual model reveals adverts on the lock display screen except you pay $20 additional to decide out of them. Each the usual Paperwhite and Signature Version are available in metallic raspberry, metallic jade and metallic black colours and are totally waterproof (IPX8). They’re rated for as much as 12 weeks of battery life based mostly on reasonable use.
I am unsure if any of those enhancements are fairly important sufficient to make you wish to ditch your Paperwhite (2021), particularly for the reason that new Paperwhite prices $160 (£160) or $10 greater than the earlier Paperwhite base mannequin. But when I had a Kindle that was a number of years previous, as many individuals do, I might definitely be tempted to make the soar to this new mannequin.
Barely quicker efficiency and better distinction
When Amazon says the brand new Paperwhite has 25% quicker web page turns and 20% higher general efficiency, that appears fairly substantial. However while you have a look at the previous and new fashions aspect by aspect and A/B check them with the identical content material, the features for the brand new mannequin are comparatively small. You faucet the display screen on every gadget to show a web page, and also you’re taking a look at a fraction of second quicker response time on the brand new Kindle. It would not actually change the studying expertise. As I mentioned, the gadget appears zippier general, and that additional display screen actual property that you just get with a 7-inch display screen (vs. the sooner mannequin’s 6.8-inch display screen) can add a few strains of textual content to a web page, relying on the font dimension you employ (now you can pinch and zoom on some textual content you are studying to shortly entry the font menu, which is sweet).
The distinction enchancment makes textual content seem a tad sharper, with the e-ink showing barely blacker, although not actually inky black. It is a refined distinction, however the barely improved distinction does make all the pieces look barely higher.
It is exhausting to see the distinction in distinction on this picture however the Paperwhite 2024’s (on proper) textual content pops barely extra. The bigger display screen additionally provides to strains of textual content to the web page utilizing the identical font dimension on each gadgets.
Amazon has additionally modified the lighting scheme. The front-light system now has 19 LEDs, 10 white and 9 amber (that is up from 17 LEDs within the earlier Paperwhite). After I matched the lighting settings on the Paperwhite (2021) and Paperwhite (2024), setting every at prime brightness and a shade temperature of 5, they appeared totally different, so you may see the lighting scheme has modified. The brand new Paperwhite’s gentle is much less blue at its coolest temperature setting.
The entrance gentle’s max brightness is now the identical for all the brand new Kindle fashions (94 nits), together with the smaller “refreshed” entry-level Kindle ($110) and Kindle Colorsoft ($280), Amazon’s first E Ink shade reader, and the $400 tablet-size Kindle Scribe (2nd Gen), which ships in December 2024.
Kindle Paperwhite (2024) vs. entry-level Kindle (2024)
The brand new Kindle Paperwhite (left) subsequent to the smaller entry-level Kindle (proper) in its new matcha shade (it additionally is available in black).
Except for the bigger display screen and extra superior lighting scheme than the entry-level Kindle, the Paperwhite is totally waterproof whereas the entry-level Kindle is not (it would not have a flush-front design for its display screen, a requirement for waterproofing). The entry-level Kindle has two foremost upgrades: barely quicker efficiency and that aforementioned front-light max brightness that now matches the Paperwhite’s max brightness. The entry-level Kindle’s lighting system would not assist you to regulate the colour temperature of the sunshine, however that is not an enormous deal.
Many individuals favor e-readers with larger screens, however I just like the entry-level Kindle’s extra compact dimension (it could possibly slot in a coat pocket). Ever since Amazon improved the sharpness of its display screen with a 300 ppi show and added a built-in gentle in 2022, it is kind of grow to be a Paperwhite mini (minus just a few options) that prices considerably lower than the actual Paperwhite.
At $110 (£95, AU$199), the brand new entry-level mannequin, which has 16GB of storage, prices $10 greater than the previous-generation Kindle. The value is creeping up a bit, but it surely’s nonetheless probably the most reasonably priced Kindle, and we should always see it dip to $90 or so throughout flash gross sales.
Kindle Paperwhite (2024) vs. Kindle Colorsoft
The Colorsoft and new Paperwhite share the identical chassis and weigh fairly near the identical quantity — the Signature Version Paperwhite is 215 grams whereas the Signature Version Colorsoft is 219 grams. And so they’re each totally waterproof with an IPX8 score, which suggests they are often totally submerged and survive.
Additionally they each have 7-inch screens. Whereas the Paperwhite has a 300 ppi monochrome show, the Colorsoft is supplied with an E Ink Kaledio shade filter, which is constructed right into a custom-made show stack, in response to Amazon. The brand new Paperwhite additionally has a custom-made show stack, but it surely’s optimized for black-and-white viewing and has barely higher efficiency for black and white. (The Colorsoft shows shade content material in 150 ppi).
The Colorsoft’s shade show is a pleasant plus, although the Paperwhite 2024’s black-and-white efficiency is a contact higher.
Amazon talks about how the Colorsoft and new Paperweight every have a smaller bezel across the display screen than the earlier Paperwhite. It additionally says the Paperwhite (2024) and Colorsoft are barely slimmer gadgets. That is true, but it surely’s not like Amazon took the earlier Kindle chassis and slimmed it down and made the bezels smaller across the total display screen to accommodate a 7-inch show (in comparison with the 6.8 inch show on the 2021 Paperwhite).
The bezel on the brand new Paperwhite and new Colorsoft has solely been lower down on the underside. The edges and prime have the identical dimension body surrounding the display screen, and the size of the brand new gadgets are literally barely bigger, so neither of them matches in my previous case for the Paperwhite (2021).
It is secure to say that the brand new, improved Kindle Paperwhite or entry-level Kindle are higher choices for most folk. However in the event you’re a Kindle aficionado and wish one thing actually totally different from earlier 7-inch Kindles, the Colorsoft is the one to get. I most popular it over the Paperwhite, regardless that the Paperwhite’s black-and-white efficiency is a contact higher.
Watch this: Kindle Colorsoft Evaluate: Amazon’s New Luxurious E-Reader
Kindle Paperwhite (2024) additional options and e-book ecosystem
As famous, the Paperwhite (2024) Signature Version provides wi-fi charging and that auto-adjusting gentle sensor that dynamically adjusts the entrance gentle settings based mostly in your surroundings. Past that, the Paperweight (2024) has the identical minimal extras because the earlier mannequin, together with Bluetooth connectivity (it is Bluetooth 5.1) for listening to Audible audio books with Bluetooth headphones or speaker. You can even use Bluetooth audio for the VoiceView display screen reader, which “supplies spoken suggestions permitting you to navigate your gadget and browse books with text-to-speech.” That function is accessible in English solely.
Whereas the net browser remains to be very restricted, it has improved and it’ll load easy web sites and blogs fantastic (any websites which might be extra graphic intensive are an issue). Devoted e-readers are alleged to have restricted function units so that you stay centered on studying e-books and the net browser was primarily there so you may log into public Wi-Fi that requires some verification through an internet browser. However it’s good to see that the built-in browser appears a bit extra practical.
The net browser is okay for viewing easy web sites.
You may nonetheless aspect load content material onto the Paperwhite. I have a tendency to make use of the Ship To Kindle function, however there are extra methods to do it, although you may want to search out the precise drivers and file conversion software program. The Paperwhite (2024) helps a wide range of file codecs natively, together with Kindle Format 8 (AZW3), Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI and PRC. Codecs together with DOCX, DOC, HTML, EPUB, TXT, RTF, JPEG, GIF, PNG and BMP are supported by way of conversion.
Most individuals will merely faucet into Amazon’s e-book ecosystem, which is probably the most in depth one on the market and Amazon Prime members can discover a honest quantity of content material that is included “free” with their membership. You could possibly additionally select to subscribe to Amazon’s Kindle Limitless service — consider it as Netflix for e-books — for $11.95 a month. A 3-month free trial is included with new Kindle gadgets.
Kindle Paperwhite (2024) remaining ideas
Each time a brand new Kindle Paperwhite comes out, I kind of really feel the identical means about it. Whereas I am barely upset that E Ink e-reader expertise simply hasn’t superior that a lot, I am pleased to see the modest upgrades, and I do suppose these upgrades are simply discernible on the Paperwhite (2024).
As I mentioned earlier, I am unsure if any of those enhancements are fairly important sufficient to make you wish to ditch your Paperwhite (2021). But when I had a Kindle that was just a few generations previous, I might be tempted to make the soar to this new mannequin, particularly when the worth drops to $130 or so throughout flash gross sales. It is definitely one of the best compact monochrome Kindle to this point.
