Which Kindle to buy? A quick guide on Amazon Ebooks
The Kindle reader is often considered a pinnacle of ebooks. The most important feature of Kindle is it’s screen made with using E-ink technology. It allows you to read books in much more comfortable way, comparing to tablets or smartphones. E-ink technology emulates the look of paper books, that is the most natural way to read.
Family features
1 – All Kindle family is notable for it’s great power efficiency. As the Amazon website says, one battery charge is enough for weeks of reading. This due to the fact that E-ink devices mostly use power to redraw the screen. If you don’t read the book, power usage is minimal.
2 – They are suited for comfortable one-hand reading. The usability is simply great with Kindle devices. They have great touch control and comfortable buttons in hi-end models. Also they are very slim and light, meaning it’s easy to carry your book around.
3 – Great selection of books in the Kindle store. It’s truly vast and has cheap prices. Just a couple of clicks and you have needed book with no hustle and bustle.
4 – Great fonts. Amazon knows how to make them beautiful. And not only in English and other latin languages. If you’re into Russian or Chinese language, you will be pleased with how well the fonts are made.
5 – Superb screen. That’s right. That’s the point why people buy ebooks in the first place. Kindles have great screens with black color of fonts. Also, they have no glare and make it easy on your eyes with delicate light, which is build-in starting from Paperwhite model. The lightings is nicely crafted, has great color and much easier on the eyes, comparing with tablets or smartphones.
Amazon ebooks became so popular that now the company has a whole product line of Kindles. In this guide we will discuss which Kindle to buy, considering your goals and budget. But first let’s cover the basics, which are common for the whole family: the Kindle, the Kindle Paperwhite, the Kindle Voyage and the Kindle Oasis.
Amazon Kindle
6-inch screen, 167 ppi
No lightning
Wi-Fi only
Starting from $79.99
This is the basic model and it is cheapest among all of them. The price starts from $79.99 on the “Special offer” version. Special offer basically means that you will see some advertising on the screen while a device is in a sleep mode. The Kindle has 6-inch touchscreen display with E-ink Pearl technology. It’s glare-free with 167 ppi. What it means is that letters would be quite sharp and easy to read, but a little bit worse than with more expensive models, the contrast just simply wouldn’t be as high. Also, it has no illumination, so be ready to get your lamp to read in the dark. The device has built-in wi-fi, which means you don’t have to have a computer to download your books. But there is always an option to connect it with USB cable to your PC or Mac. It has 4GB of storage, meaning that you can download literally thousands of books and have them with you everywhere. Of course, if those are not audio books. Speaking of which, the Kindle has Bluetooth and you can connect it to Bluetooth headphones or speakers to listen to audio books.
Pros:
Cheap
Lightweight
Compact size
Great quality
Audible for audiobooks
Cons:
Nice but not perfect screen
No Built-in light
No page turns buttons
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite
6-inch screen, 300 ppi
Lightning
Wi-fi or Wi-fi + 3G
Starting from $119.99
When it comes to the Paperwhite, the best thing about it is the Built-in light and better display. The thing about the 4 LEDs illumination is that it’s not straight-into-your-face like with smartphones or tablets. It made in the way to light across the display to highlight it, so you could see it clearly in the dark. More so, it comes really handy in bright daylight, making screen even more contrast and easy to read. This 6-inch E-ink Carta screen has 300 ppi which means that blacks would be darker and whites would be brighter than with the standard Kindle model. It also has touchscreen controls so in that sense it is similar to the Kindle model. The Paperwhite has 3G version, which means you can download your books from everywhere. The thing is that the 3G version costs more because of the built-in cellular module. Sadly, no Audible for audiobooks. The cheapest version of the Kindle Paperwhite costs $119.99 and comes with the “Special offer” once again.
Pros:
Great 300 ppi screen with built-in light
Lightweight
Still compact size
Great quality
Cons:
No page turns buttons
No Audible
Amazon Kindle Voyage
6-inch screen, 300 ppi
Adaptive lightning
Wi-fi or Wi-fi + 3G
Starting from $199.99
This is the development of the Paperwhite model. The same 6-inch E-ink Carta display with 300 ppi is still great. But this time it has adaptive lighting that means that in darkness it shines a little less automatically, making it even easier on the eyes. Also, lightning is improved with 2 additional LEDs which makes 6 LEDs in total. The Voyage is a little slimmer than the Paperwhite, but you can easily not notice this. The thing that you will notice for sure is page turn buttons. These buttons are sensor with pressure sensitiveness. That means that you don’t have to tap them — just press a little bit and a page would turn. Nice feature to have, no doubt. Design in whole is more slicker and expensive-looking. There are also Wi-fi and 3G versions — the same is with the Paperwhite. The Voyage is more expensive with $199.99 — a big leap from the Paperwhite. That’s partly because there is no “Special offer” of the Voyage.
Pros:
Great 300 ppi screen with built-in light and auto-brightness
Page turn buttons
Lightweight
Compact size
Great quality
Cool design
Cons:
Somewhat expensive
No Audible
Amazon Kindle Oasis
7-inch screen, 300ppi
Adaptive lightning
Waterproof
Wi-fi or Wi-fi + 3G
Starting from $249.99
This is a premium model of Amazon ebooks. The screen is just mind-blowing with 7-inch E-ink Carta 300 ppi. It’s one of the best in the game with 12 LEDs and adaptive lightning — improving the one in the Voyage. Unfortunately bigger screen means that the Oasis is bigger than its brothers. Still it’s pretty slim and had just astonishing asymmetric design with aluminium body. The important this is the page turns buttons. They’re only on the one side this time — a compromise for one-hand-reading and compact side. The big feature that Amazon markets is that this e-book is waterproof. Feel free to read this baby in your bath. Audible makes it’s comeback — now you can once again listen to audiobooks, same is the Kindle model. But this time it makes even more sense with the bigger storage. The Oasis has 8GB and 32GB version, which is just huge for an e-book. As usual, there is Wi-fi only and Wi-fi + 3G models. The most expensive of the bunch is 32GB + 3G. The cheapest model costs $249.99 which is more than most of the people are ready to spend on this kind of device. That’s just what premium is, guys.
Pros:
Superb 300 ppi 7-inch screen with built-in light and auto-brightness
Page turn buttons
Lightweight for it’s size
Superb quality
Beautiful design
Waterproof
Big storage
Cons:
Expensive
Which Kindle is best for you?
That wraps it up. If you into casual reading, I would recommend you to stick with the Paperwhite as the best thing for its price. If you have some extra cash, try the Voyage or even Oasis. Nevertheless, any of the Kindle family is great and worths every cent you would spend on them. Check the links to the Amazon website below.
