Kindle Paperwhite | Waterproof, 6" High-Resolution Display, 8 GB—with Ads—Sage (Previous generation)

Been using the Paperwhite now since Dec 2018, and can say I absolutely love it. I never really was one for buying hard copy books, and my husband and I have gotten rid of so many physical books, leaving tons more space in our house. The Kindle feels quality (especially with the Amazon case) built in light is good, battery life is super, the screen is easy to read, you can change font size etc, and it's easy to navigate. The parchment screen is great too as I don't feel it affecting my eyes. It's a good weight and just a really nice reading experience. I don't miss paper books at all. Being really really picky - the parchment screen with all backlight turned off can be quite dull - much more so than a real book. And I do prefer to read with all backlight off as I believe it's better for my eyes. So in that case you sorta have to be reading in a bright light. I prefer to do this. The 'lock' button happens to be exactly where my pinky rests when I'm holding it, so I just have to make sure to avoid it but it's no big deal. Sometimes when you're moving forward a page, it glitches and moves back a page and you get a little lost. Again, it doesn't happen often and I've found this can be mitigated by swiping instead of tapping on the right hand side of the screen. These are really minor issues and don't change the fact that I love it. I definitely read more since purchasing it. Have recommended to many people.

OK Folks, The first Kindle I bought was great. It was fantastic. Perhaps the only reason it froze after about 2 years was because I had not yet written a review of it. What a fantastic idea! And I, at least, continue to rather prefer buying Kindle books and reading on a Kindle to reading all except older books. It surely must be more ecologically viable to not have to print hundreds of books. And convenient, to be able to have a portable library at your fingertips. The electric charge also keeps very well in Kindles. If this one is waterproof, then that is an improvement, but I would not want to throw it in the bath to try it to its limits. For anyone who suffers with sight problems the ability to change the Font is great. A formerly Dyslexic relative of mine told me that because he did not feel the pressure remembered from school of having a heavy book in front of him he just instead had to cope with a page at a time that he does so, and first did so and could hardly believe that after a while he had managed to complete his first book ever. Not only that, but I do have to say that before the Kindle came out the Book Industry as led by the Publishers was highly exlusive in a rather prejudicial manner: less that it was exclusive, but that its intention was often to exclude. I like Jeff Bezos from what I have seen of him (the Boss of Amazon). It is my theory he was never given enough credit for the magnificent invention of the Kindle. It may be that he went into overdrive as a result of this oversight. I admit that I have been in overdrive also to an extent, and am currently in some circles known as one of Amazon's "wildest customer". It may be that with the outbreak of Coronovirus people are going to be wanting to order more from Amazon and expect intrepid parcel deliverers to treck out to meet all their demands. I myself DID intend to try to stop using Amazon for anything other than Kindle books, and perhaps to listen to Albums before I order them from HMV. The problem is sometimes I have found that HMV has refused to acknowledge an Album of great worth and refuse to scout it into its stock. So, maybe I will use it for Music a little if necessary. I am hoping NOT to use it to watch films because the Carbon Footprint of Streaming both on Amazon and competing services like Netflix is said to be high....and if I am going to stream video I would prefer to keep it to YouTube. For now, I am hoping to be able to continue my Prime Membership to show for a while how grateful I do feel towards what Amazon has done for me. But Jeff Bezos has come out himself now as someone who is really concerned about Climate Change and the Environment....and it may indeed have been this initial concern which led him to invent the Kindle...as it was my concern also that led me to buy one in the first place.

The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 4 (2018 – Tenth Generation) is a welcome update to the Paperwhite. Whilst externally, the new Paperwhite 4 has a similar look to the previous Paperwhite 3, there are some subtle and not so subtle differences that mark this Paperwhite as a device to be reckoned with. Most of the changes are under the hood, and include a new 1500 mAh battery, upgraded LPDDR rom and a more powerful 1gb Cortex Processor. This brings the Paperwhite 4 in line with last year’s (2017) Oasis 2. And this is not the only thing in common the two devices have; The new Paperwhite 4 has the same IPX8 water resistance rating as the Oasis 2. For those not savvy on what the different IP water resistant ratings mean: this Kindle can survive an accidental dunking in water, or having a drink spilled on it. You can sit in the bath and use it. You can sit in a swimming pool and read from it. It can stand getting a little wet – BUT, it is not designed to be used underwater. So those hoping for a Paperwhite they can use whilst diving, or in the shower will be disappointed. But then, why would you want to read a book whilst you were diving or in the shower? The IPX8 rating is welcome, and frankly should be a standard on all future Kindles. I have suffered the annoyance of a Kindle being killed by a glass of water, thanks to the family cat. Whilst I keep all three separate these days, it’s nice to know that a little water isn’t going to kill the device. Audible integration has become a standard for Kindle eReaders since the launch of the Oasis 2 in 2017, and for those Kindles that have a Bluetooth chip installed. There hasn’t been an audio jack on a Kindle since the Third Generation Kindle Keyboard. The new Paperwhite 4 is no exception, this means you have to pair Bluetooth headphones with it to listen to your Audible books. The device is fully Bluetooth compliant, and I had no problems connecting any of the Bluetooth headsets I own. Audible integration works well on those eBooks where you opted to purchase the Audible narration, allowing you to switch between reading or listening to your book. Immersion reading is not supported however, but that makes perfect sense given the display is eInk. Switching from Audible to eBook will take you to the page you are on, rather than highlight the word. It’s not too big a problem. For those Audible books you own without the accompanying eBook, you can listen to them as normal. The Audible controls are basic, Amazon need to introduce a few more control options – such as the ability to stop at the end of a chapter, or a timer to stop playing after a set time. These are minor things that would improve the Audible experience on all the Kindle eReaders that support it. However, it is nice to have all your books – eBooks or Audible, on one dedicated device. Like the Oasis 2, the Paperwhite 4 has two storage options; 8gb and 32gb. This is a major improvement over previous generations which have 4gb. Kindle OS does use some of that storage, normally about 1gb to 1.25gb – but that’s still allowed the user to have around 1-2,000 eBooks on their Kindle. Storage has never been a big deal as Kindles have always had enough storage space for the most avid of readers. 8gb (minus the amount used by the OS) allows for storage of around 6-7,000 eBooks, depending on size per book. It allows for 30 or so Audible books – or a mix of the two. If you have a lot of eComics, then I would suggest opting for the 32gb version as they tend to be larger than eBooks or Audible files. Storage management is dealt with very nicely and has been since the 5.10 OS update that more modern Kindles received. So how does it feel and how does it perform? The Paperwhite 4 is lighter and thinner than the previous Paperwhite 3, at 181g it’s comfortable to hold. The rubbery non-slip back feels nice and has a natural warmth to it, it’s not as cold or as hard as a full metal or hard plastic back. Some people have said it feels “cheap” – but I counter that by pointing out how practical it is to have a non-slip back, that it sits well and holds well against your fingers. It adds to the comfort when holding the device. It adds some protection to the device against drops and will prevent corners being chipped or damaged by accident. The screen is flush this time, there is no raised bezel. Gorilla-glass covers the entire front of the device, and thanks to coatings is antiglare so reading in direct sunlight is not a problem. The display is still as crisp as the Paperwhite 3 – it is in fact the same 6 inch 300ppi E Ink Carta screen as used on the Paperwhite 3; this is one area that Amazon has not touched (and didn’t need to). Reading is a joy, and thanks to recent OS updates now offers numerous settings to customise the display to suit how you want to read. There is a built-in option to invert the screen, white text on a black background. This is particularly nice when reading before bed, as it puts less strain on the eyes. The flush bezel around the screen looks chunky but is designed well. It allows the device to be held without accidently touching the capacitive touch screen. It’s nice to see thought like this being put into the design. The touch screen is very responsive and allows for two-point touching, handy for the pinch and zoom options for text – and for PDFs and eComics. The screen is lit evenly by 5 LEDs, an increase from the 4 used on the Paperwhite 3. Lighting is evenly distributed across the entire screen. This is one area where there are very few issues these days as uniform lighting is something that has been mastered since its introduction in 2012. The LEDs are a different hue from previous Kindles. They are not as overtly blue as previous versions, but more a warmer colour. This is a nice change and gives the screen a more “paper like” look. There is no comfort light option, in fact there is no automatic light adjustment sensor at all. Like previous Paperwhites, the screen light has to be adjusted manually. This is – again – no change from the Paperwhite 3. Automatic light adjustment sensors and the like are a staple of the Flagship Kindle, the Oasis 2. It’s no surprise this option wasn’t included on what is now Amazon’s mid-level eReader. Out of the box, the device comes installed with Kindle OS 5.10.1.1 – which is the version used on more recent Kindle eReaders (Oasis, Oasis 2, Paperwhite 3). As soon as you connect to Wi-Fi you will be updated to 5.10.1.2 – an update that applies only to the Paperwhite 4, which adds to the overall performance of the device. This includes a new low power mode for when the kindle is switched off for more than an hour. It’s toggled on by default and will mean that if you leave your Kindle off for more than an hour is will take a little longer to wake up, as the device enters a hibernate mode when not used for more than an hour. Speaking of battery life; I got this on the day of release. I have charged it once. I don’t leave Wi-Fi on, or Bluetooth for that matter (I only toggle Bluetooth on when I want to use Audible). I have the screen light set to 10, the font size set to 5. I read a couple of hours a day, I have listened to an Audible book, which does hit the battery. But I have 63% left on the battery as of typing this. Given this includes setting the device up and leaving it to index the 500+ eBooks I downloaded onto it, I’m impressed. This bodes well for future battery life. Something a lot of people forget – or don’t know - when you load an eBook onto your Kindle, the device “indexes” it. This is all part of how any Kindle handles any eBook and allows you to search through it. All Kindle eReaders do this. So, if you dump 500+ eBooks on it, it’s going to take a few hours to index all those books and will cause a slow down on the device until it’s done. Even with a new processor and more ROM, the Paperwhite 4 is not a super-computer or high-end tablet. It’s a dedicated eReader. Give it time to do its job (2-4 hours if you dump 500+ ebooks on it) and then use it. You’ll get the best out of the device then and see just how well it does perform. Like previous Kindles, no wall socket adapter is included in the box, just the device and a Micro USB data/charging cable. It’s disappointing that Amazon haven’t taken the opportunity to make this the first Kindle eReader to have a USB-C port, rather than the old Micro USB. Of course, there would be no performance advantage in doing this, but rather make it more convenient in terms of making it easier to plug the cable in, and mean you only have to carry one cable with you when you go on holiday, as most modern phones use a USB-C type charging cable. But until it has an impact upon performance, I can’t see Amazon making this leap to changing the cable type needed. If you’re looking to upgrade your Kindle – or looking to get your first Kindle, but don’t have the budget for the Oasis 2, then this is a good device to go for. Remember, that if you opt to purchase a device “with special offers” you are going to have ads. They do not impact on either the device performance, or overall reading enjoyment. Overall, I’m going to give this 5-out-of-5. This is an amazing upgrade to the mid-range Kindle. It’s not a massive upgrade, but a welcome and recomended one.