Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2018) review: The best got better
Our Verdict
Now that information technology's waterproof, the Kindle Paperwhite is the simply eastward-reader you need to know nigh.
For
- Waterproof
- Bluetooth for audiobooks
- Same great e-reader
- Screen is now affluent to bezels
Confronting
- Power adapter sold separately
- $10 toll bump
Tom's Guide Verdict
Now that it'southward waterproof, the Kindle Paperwhite is the simply eastward-reader y'all need to know about.
Pros
- +
Waterproof
- +
Bluetooth for audiobooks
- +
Same bully e-reader
- +
Screen is now flush to bezels
Cons
- -
Power adapter sold separately
- -
$ten price bump
Kindle sales!
For a express time, the Kindle Paperwhite is down to $95 at Amazon ($35 off). Also, the normal Kindle is back on auction, marked downwards to $65 at Amazon. Other deals include the Kindle Kids Edition is $79 at Amazon ($xxx off).
The day earlier Amazon announced the new Kindle Paperwhite, I asked a colleague if the due east-reader was "done." Not that e-readers are inherently bad, but I wondered if Amazon had already fabricated the best affordable midrange e-reader that it could.
And so Amazon one-upped itself by giving the Paperwhite ($129/£119) some of the best features from its high-end Kindle Haven: waterproofing, more storage and a display that'due south flush to its bezels. While it may not make every Paperwhite user run out to upgrade today, this Kindle Paperwhite review will testify why information technology sat atop our best Kindle folio.
Editor's note: Amazon has a new version of this model, so cheque out our Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2021) review to acquire more about information technology.
- How to cheque if your Kindle volition lose internet access
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2018) review: Price and configurations
While I'thou not happy to come across that the Paperwhite costs more than it used to — see below for more — right now Amazon's got a $thirty off deal, and so the Kindle Paperwhite is now just $99. Take advantage of this bargain now, equally information technology might non last long.
The one downside virtually this yr's Paperwhite is that it costs $10 more than it used to, at $129/£119, although the waterproofing is well worth it. Everything else is business every bit usual, or improved.
The default Paperwhite comes with 8GB of storage: twice equally much every bit the previous Paperwhite packed. Want 4 times that much, so y'all never e'er take to recollect twice about downloading all the audiobooks and graphic novels you lot want? A 32 GB Paperwhite costs $xxx/£30 actress, at $159/£149. LTE connectivity with free cellular connections (for when you desire a book, but yous're away from Wi-Fi) costs an extra $70/£70, just that option is bachelor for just the 32GB model, which makes for a $249/£219 Paperwhite.
Of all these upgrades, the simply one I'd consider is spending $20/£10 to remove the Special Offers(aka ads) from Amazon for other books. Amazon doesn't have the user's reading habits into consideration, and merely spams you with popular novels.
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2018) review: Design
The new Paperwhite is most identical to the previous model. Its soft-touch matte-black case looks and feels merely like its predecessor's, though the Kindle logo is now a light gray that contrasts with the case instead of a matching black.
The new Paperwhite is 0.32 inches thick and weighs 6.iv ounces, making it a slimmer version of the 2015 Paperwhite (0.36 inches, 7.ii ounces). Amazon's $79 Kindle is thicker and lighter, but it doesn't pack a backlight, which ways it's a no-no for nighttime.
The new Paperwhite is closer in size to the graphite-aluminum Kindle Haven (0.33 inches, 6.7 ounces), while the Barnes & Noble Nook GlowLight 3 (0.35 inches, 7.0 ounces) is slightly thicker and heavier. The Nook, however,also offers buttons for turning the page, which the Paperwhite could stand to add. Rakuten, a Japanese electronics company that recently partnered with Walmart, merely announced the Kobo Clara HD, a similarly priced e-reader that we're looking to test before long.
The Oasis's larger size (a 7-inch display vs. the Paperwhite's half-dozen-inch screen) is still a point in its favor, but the Paperwhite has caught up in one cardinal style. The Paperwhite's screen is finally flush with the bezel effectually it. This looks a lot nicer than the previous Paperwhites, which framed the screen with a mesomorphic, shadow box-like bezel that stood out.
Handing the new Paperwhite to my mom, who doesn't spend more a couple of hours away from her own Paperwhite, I got a surprising reaction. She said she likes the chunky bezel considering it's a skilful identify to rest her fingers, but this new model'southward screen puts your fingers as well shut to the touch screen. Accidental page turns weren't an issue during my testing, though I do understand the reaction.
Then I remembered why I prefer the Oasis' design over the Paperwhite'south. Different the Paperwhite, the Oasis is asymmetrical, with one thin bezel on one side, and clickable buttons and a wider bezel on the other side. This makes it easier to hold. The Paperwhite'southward slightly curved behind is as well much simpler than the Oasis', which offers a bump meant to exist cradled with your gripping fingers.
1 positive blueprint modify is that in that location's no hump on the dorsum where the power button and microUSB port rest. They're just a office of the bottom edge.
Both Kindles charge over microUSB, don't offer headphone jacks (Bluetooth is needed for audiobooks) and feature a pocket-size power button that you lot'll take to squint to detect. Annoyingly, Amazon doesn't include a USB power adapter. Sure, you've probably got one lying around, but for $129, Amazon should have included one.
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2018) review: Durability
The biggest new feature of the 2018 Kindle Paperwhite is its waterproof blueprint, which earned an IPX8 rating. That's up to hour of submergence in 2 meters of h2o. You don't need to worry about it falling into your bath, the pool or fifty-fifty the ocean at a embankment (though that'due south riskier, as saltwater is more corrosive).
Not just did I splash water on the Paperwhite during a photoshoot; I dropped the Paperwhite in a human foot-alpine bucket of tap water, so removed it after 20 minutes. The device continued to piece of work and offering responsive page-turning, as if it had been dry the whole time.
Technically speaking, the IPX8 classification means we could accept waited another 40 minutes, and dunked it fifty-fifty deeper.
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2018) review: Display
The Paperwhite's 6-inch, 300 ppi display is just as abrupt and like shooting fish in a barrel to read as its predecessor'due south: a true example of "If it ain't broke, don't set it." The screen'south anti-glare display is also still not bad for reading in a variety of lighting situations.
Our calorie-free gun rated the screen for a maximum of 78 nits, which is slightly lower than the 92-nit 2015 Paperwhite, and well beneath the 137-nit Oasis. This Kindle packs five LED backlights, one more than the 2015 Paperwhite (which packed iv), and seven fewer than the Oasis (which packed 12), every bit well as an adaptive sensor.
As I devoured a especially tense section of Stephen Male monarch'due south The Outsider on the Paperwhite, I noticed a small gap between the screen and the bezel. This gap is also in that location on the Kindle Oasis, and it's the kind of affair that many smartphones used to accept. It'due south a small thing, and non that important, but it's an surface area in which E-ink displays can still advance.
Reading Andrew Sean Greer'due south novel Less in Bryant Park i sunny morning, I noted the Paperwhite's super-legible display. Even in direct sunlight the page was easy to read.
The Paperwhite is even suitable for reading graphic novels, I establish as I paged through Kieron Gillen's The Wicked and The Divine. The e-reader'southward grayscale display is a flake unfriendly to color publications, though.
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2018) review: User feel
Overall, the Paperwhite is still a joy to use. Pages refresh and searches load with a prompt speed that's limited only by the Eastward-ink itself. Contrast that with the slow, sluggish performance of the Nook GlowLight 3, and you'll empathize why the word "Nook" became an reconsideration in the e-reader market.
As I turned the lights off in my bedroom, getting ready to read a chapter of Jennifer Egan'southward Manhattan Embankment before I went to sleep, I noticed the Paperwhite's lack of automatically adjusting backlighting. It'southward not the biggest effect — it took two taps to get to the brightness carte du jour, and some trivial to get it right — but I missed the Haven, which knew when I'd entered a dark room and compensated without prompting.
Per a question from Tom'due south Guide forum member derek87, I compared the 2018 Paperwhite's lighting in pitch-dark lighting to that of the 2015 Paperwhite. The newer model provided a more even, uniform lighting, even at the lower end of the effulgence settings (set between five and viii). Also, the 2018 model was brighter at 1 notch of effulgence than the 2015 model was at five notches. And don't worry, this 2015 Paperwhite wasn't burned out, it'south a pretty contempo purchase, caused in July 2018.
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2018) review: Battery Life
Amazon rates the new Kindle Paperwhite as lasting up to six weeks on a accuse. That'south based on 30 minutes "of reading per day with wireless off and the light setting at 13." The über-retailer says your time may vary, due to use of wireless connectivity, Bluetooth and lighting.
Based on my experience, I believe that gauge. Afterwards three days of using the Paperwhite rigorously for a few hours every twenty-four hours, including multiple hours at full brightness, too as using Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and LTE, I knocked the on-screen battery life estimate downwards to 50 percent.
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2018) review: Content
Judging past raw numbers, you'd take a hard fourth dimension going incorrect with Amazon's library, which the company claims has "millions" of books (Tom'southward Guide editor Marshall Honorof pegs it at "about 4 meg"), including "over 1 million Kindle exclusive titles." Barnes and Noble on the other manus, claims its library is around four.5 million books.
Of form, though, nosotros're all unique individuals, and nosotros each take tastes that can detect the holes in an online library. For example, neither the Kindle shop nor the Nook store sells the hardcover book currently on my bedside table, I'one thousand Sorry, I Love You, a recently released history of pro wrestling by Briton Jim Smallman.
Amazon's also got Kindle Unlimited, a $9.99 Netflix-for-books with "over 1 million titles and thousands of audiobooks." Authors whose piece of work appears in Kindle Unlimited include Michael Crichton, Neil Gaiman and George Orwell. Graphic novels, including Saga and Captain Marvel, too appear. For a limited time, a Paperwhite purchase includes a six-month costless trial.
In case you lot're not made of coin, the Kindle Paperwhite nonetheless supports borrowing books from public libraries for free, using the Overdrive service.
Prime members can take reward of First Reads (formerly Kindle First), which grants early on access to editor's picks. Members tin can also become two Kindle books a month for $ane.99 each, and get discounts on hardcover books, which knock pricing down to $9.99 or less.
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2018) review: Audiobooks
Amazon has as well added audiobook support to the Paperwhite. This choice comes via Bluetooth headphone support, and was once restricted to the other Kindles (both the cheaper $80 Kindle and the $250 Oasis), or customers willing to shell out $20 for Amazon's micro- USB-to-headphone-jack adapter.
As I listened to Emma Galvin read Edan Lepucki's post-global disaster-human relationship novel California over my AirPods, I wandered effectually my living room with no loss in sound quality. Only when I reached the far end of my medium-size loft did the audio crepitation with disruption.
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2018) review: Verdict
This Kindle Paperwhite review tested the durability of Amazon's mid-range e-reader and showed why it's a winner.
With water-resistance and a flush-to-screen brandish, Amazon's taken the Paperwhite and made information technology even more compelling. The only downside is that it costs $10 more now.
The metallic Kindle Oasis offers concrete buttons and automatically adjusts to your lighting conditions, simply its $250 price is mighty high. But we're betting that at $129, the new Kindle Paperwhite is the best east-reader for most readers. And as to whether or not existing Paperwhite owners need to upgrade, that depends on how much time you spend effectually h2o.
Credit: Tom's Guide
- More: How to cheque if your Kindle volition lose internet access
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/us/amazon-kindle-paperwhite-2018,review-5913.html
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