The kings of the ebook readers, Amazon, are back with an update to the Kindle. From the outside things might be the same but don’t judge an ebook reader by its exterior, ok that saying doesn’t translate well to the Kindle. Let’s not mess about and jump into the review.
Design
Not much has changed in the design of the kindle. If you had a kindle before you might even ask, what has changed? And you would be right. The bezels are raised from the screen which gives you a bit of grip to hold on to. Personally as a user of the Paper White, I prefer having the slightly raised bezels, it gives you a clear indication of where the screen is. It also prevents you from making accidental swipes. Having said that, the look may not be for everyone.
The body has a more plasticy feel to it. It also feels even less like a unibody than the paper white, because it has this join on the side of the device. This was a bit of a letdown as while holding the device one handed you can definitely feel it.
Display
This is the area with the biggest change in the latest Kindle. The base model Kindle is now backlit. This was previously reserved for the more expensive options such as the paper-white and the oasis. However since the paper-white increased the LEDs to 5, the Kindle has joined the backlight party by including 4 LEDs. Neither 4 or 5 LEDs come close to the 12 found in the Kindle Oasis, but is a lot better than having none.
The brightness of the screen does not have any kind of auto settings, this is only restricted to the Oasis. As I am not much of a LED fan in e-ink readers, this isn’t much of a problem. While not the brightest backlight, it gets the job done in situations when you absolutely need it.
The 6″ screen’s resolution is at 167 ppi, which is the same as the previous generation of Kindle. No improvements there. It isn’t that great since the 300 ppi in the paper-white and Oasis blows this one out of the water…
Other Features
There is no water proofing in the 10th Gen Kindle, but is available on the pricier models. This does make sense as the point of the Kindle is to be super cheap. Don’t read in the bath or by the pool and you should be fine.
With the price options in mind, there is only one variant of the Kindle: Wifi only and 4GB Storage. There are no other options available. In some markets the Kindle has a cheaper model which allows you to be subjected to ads in order to pay less for the device, this option isn’t in the UAE. You can choose between white or black, so take your pick.
One thing that is missing pretty much on all kindles is that the devices still use the micro-USB port. In 2019, new products should move to USB-C format even if they don’t support fast charging or any of the other features. This to me is a huge miss, and it doesn’t even exist in the flagship Oasis. Strange omission from Amazon.
The Kindle does come with bluetooth capability, which is a pleasant surprise. You can listen to Audible books if you prefer instead of reading. While I have tried it previously, I am not a big fan of this since you can either listen to a book or read it but not do both at the same time. Which is something I do, but that might just be me. Not sure why they didn’t give a headphone jack instead, might have been a better option. Another point to consider is that the storage doesn’t really allow you to have many audio books on the Kindle, so you would have to keep deleting old audio books.
The rest of the Kindle is the same, the interface and software is as you would expect. Loading books on is as simple as buying on amazon or sideloading via email.
Battery Life
Amazon claims the battery life of the Kindle is 4 weeks. This might be true if you only use the device within the parameters set by Amazon (30 mins per day, 50% brightness, WiFi & Bluetooth off). This is not realistic at all and so a more realistic 1.5 to 2 weeks of battery life seems plausible.
My personal usage is usually without WiFi, no browsing and around 1hour reading every 2 or 3 days. I prefer to not have the brightness on very high as I prefer the backlight-free reading experience. Still the battery lasted me enough to never be a bother.
Sync your books, turn of WiFi & Bluetooth, charge it to 100% and then head on for your 2 week trip, it should last you well. Whatever your usage, the battery will not disappoint.
Verdict
The Kindle is still a great product, with the introduction of the backlight and bluetooth its a solid upgrade. If you are new to the world of e-ink readers and want to explore ebooks, it’s hard to find a better entry. However, if you have the previous Kindle, there isn’t enough compelling features for the upgrade. The USB-C is a big miss to me, not a dealbreaker because its a very very low cost device, but would have made this much easier to recommend. My personal favourite is still the Paper White.
Check out my video review of the 2019 Kindle by Amazon.
