Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2024) review: slightly larger, slightly faster, slightly better

It’s been three years since Amazon last updated its flagship e-reader, and this year’s Kindle lineup seems to be focused on Amazon’s first color productPaperwhite still has some Improvements welcome. With a higher contrast screen and faster performance, the 12th generation Kindle Paperwhite remains the best e-reader on the market.

I tested the $199.99 Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, which is $40 more expensive than the $159.99 base Paperwhite. The screen and internals are the same, but the Signature Edition includes an ambient light sensor for automatic brightness adjustment, 32GB of storage instead of 16GB, no locked-screen ads, wireless charging, and a metallic finish on the back. The metallic jade version I received looks great (metallic black and raspberry are also available), but feels slightly less grippy than the base Paperwhite’s plastic.

The new Paperwhite is equipped with a 300ppi screen, ranging in size from 6.8 inches to 7 inches. Although it is not eye-catching enough, it is enough to let you squeeze a few extra lines of text on the page. Due to the smaller bezels, the new Paperwhite is only a few millimeters larger than the previous version, while also being slightly thinner; in use, it feels almost identical. This year’s styles are also available Make the display flush with the bezelalthough this is another subtle improvement.

What yes Of note is the increase in contrast. Thanks to the use of oxide thin-film transistors in the screen, the new Paperwhite has the highest contrast ratio of any e-reader I’ve tested. The benefits aren’t immediately obvious when you’re reading plain text, but the deeper blacks make the screen look closer to an actual printed page. It gives illustrations, pictures, and book covers more pop and presence, and makes comics and comic panels look sharper. New footage occasionally appears with some beautiful text by Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto Ultimate Spider-Man: Married with Children Makes it bolder and easier to read without zooming in.

It’s not as flashy as a color e-ink screen, but it’s easily the best upgrade over the new model, and it’ll make it hard for me to go back to my Kobo Libra 2.

Amazon has also improved the lighting on the new Paperwhite, giving the screen a more neutral tone at default settings. The previous-generation Paperwhite’s screen was a little cooler, but with the warmth slider turned up on both Paperwhite models, the difference is indistinguishable.

This is also the first Paperwhite to use a dual-core processor (RIP Oasis, Has a dual-core processor back in 2017). A 1GHz MediaTek CPU would be painfully slow for a device with an LCD screen, but it makes a huge difference for an e-reader. Amazon’s claimed 25% faster page turning wasn’t noticeable when I was reading text – the refresh rate of the e-ink screen is the limiting factor there – but I was really surprised that it turned on half a gigabyte , how fast a large number of images can be processed. On the 11th generation Paperwhite, there was a hiccup that made me wonder if the device would get stuck with files, but the new Paperwhite opens them instantly and flips through pages almost as fast as it does with plain text.

The user interface also feels faster. It’s still not as fast and responsive as a smartphone or tablet, and zooming in and out of comics and photos still feels sluggish, but scrolling through book lists, browsing Amazon’s bookstore, and popping in and out of various menus is satisfyingly fast. Or at least as fast as possible within the limitations of e-ink.

Amazon claims the new Paperwhite can last up to 12 weeks on a single charge, but only if you read for 30 minutes a day, with the screen brightness halved and wireless turned off. After an hour of reading with the screen brightness set to 75%, jumping back and forth between books and PDFs, and browsing other books on Amazon’s online store, the new Paperwhite drained 5% of its battery. On this daily schedule, I expect the Paperwhite’s battery to drain for about three weeks, maybe even longer if I’m not so hesitant about what I’m reading.

If you’re a Kindle user who’s upgraded in the past few years, the features of the new Paperwhite will feel familiar. If you switch from a competitor like Kobo, you may find yourself running into some frustrating limitations. Sideloading files such as PDF or ePUB files is more difficult than it needs to be because the Kindle device is no longer connected to the computer as an external drive. You’ll need to use Amazon’s online service or a desktop app to download ebooks and other files to the Paperwhite, and both options are clunky.

Text customization in Kindle OS is also limited compared to Kobo devices, which allow for more granular adjustments to font size, line spacing, and margins. While I find the Paperwhite’s format options to be oversimplified, I can see the appeal to those who want a very easy-to-use device. I like that you can save adjustments as custom themes – a feature I wish Kobo would add – but I don’t understand why Amazon limits it to just five custom themes per device.

Borrowing library books is also easier on Kobo. The new Paperwhite still requires you to use the Libby app or website on a separate device to browse and borrow books. Kobo’s e-readers have Overdrive built-in, although they have Confusing the lending processyou can do this without taking out your phone.

But these days Kobo seems to be focusing on color e-readers and larger e-ink note-taking devices, with its black-and-white e-reader options now limited. The $129.99 Kobo Clara BW uses the same E Ink Carta 1300 screen as the new Paperwhite, but it’s only 6 inches and the contrast doesn’t look that great. Its all-plastic body and sunken screen are also cheaper than the new Paperwhite. While the $269.99 Kobo Sage has page-turn buttons and stylus support, it’s more of a hybrid e-reader and note-taking device; I found the eight-inch screen too large to be a portable e-reader device.

While it’s not a major upgrade, the new Kindle Paperwhite is still the best e-reader you can buy, with a beautiful black-and-white screen that’s closer to printed paper than any e-reader I’ve tested, and UI speed Faster and more responsive than previous versions. If you’re looking for your first e-reader, the new Paperwhite should be at the top of your list.

While the base model of Amazon’s Kindle is cheaper at $109.99, the better screen, adjustable warm lighting, and water resistance—extra insurance if you read in the bathroom or at the beach—make the new Paperwhite Good value for money.

Is the Signature Edition worth the extra $40? Wireless charging isn’t necessary given the Paperwhite’s battery life, and getting it aligned right can be frustrating. However, if you carry your Kindle with you (the warm setting doesn’t automatically adjust), the ambient light sensor can save you the swiping and clicking required to manually adjust screen brightness, and is always welcome on a device without a memory card slot Extra storage space. When you consider that Amazon charges $20 to remove the lock screen ads from the base Paperwhite, the Signature Edition is the best option.

Unless you read a lot of large PDF files and are frustrated by sluggish performance, the new Paperwhite isn’t a necessary upgrade over the 2021 models. But if you have an older Paperwhite model or another older Kindle, the situation is different. When you add up the improvements over the past six years, including USB-C, color-temperature adjustable lighting, larger screens with better contrast, and better performance, it might be time to consider an upgrade.

Photography: Andrew Liszewski/The Verge