How To Pick The Right Amazon Kindle For You

4 minute read
Updated: | Originally published: ;

Amazon’s Kindle e-readers are designed to do one thing really well: make it easier to read on the go. While the Kindle’s purpose is clear, it can be hard to choose the right model for you.

Amazon now offers four different Kindle varieties. The newly announced Kindle Oasis joins the Kindle, Kindle Paperwhite, and Kindle Voyage in Amazon’s lineup.

All of them offer the same software features, like Whispersync, which saves and syncs the last page you read, your bookmarks and annotations across all your devices, and Goodreads, which provides reading recommendations. The differences mostly come down to two factors: hardware and price.

Here’s a look at how Amazon’s Kindles compare, ranked from most expensive to least.

Kindle Oasis

Price: $289.99, buy on Amazon here

Screen: Glare free 6-inch touch screen with built-in light, 300 pixels per inch, 60% more LED lights than the Kindle Voyage

Weight and Thickness: 4.6 ounces, 0.13 inches (at thinnest point)

Battery: Amazon claims more than nine weeks when paired with included cover

The biggest difference between the Kindle Oasis and its predecessors is its sleeker and lighter design. Amazon says the Oasis is roughly 30% thinner on average and 20% lighter than any of its other e-readers.

It has a sloped design, so it’s thicker where the battery and processor are stored and slims out toward the edges, vaguely resembling the binding of a book. This makes it ideal for one-handed usage. Each Kindle Oasis comes with a leather charging cover, which the company says adds around seven weeks of extra battery life to the e-reader. The Oasis also has a brighter screen than the Kindle Voyage.

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Kindle Voyage

Price: $199.99, buy on Amazon here

Screen: Glare free 6-inch touch screen with built-in light and adaptive sensor, 300 pixels per inch

Weight and Thickness: 6.3-6.6 ounces, 0.3 inches

Battery: Amazon claims up to six weeks on a single charge

The Kindle Voyage represented a modest yet appreciated upgrade from the Kindle Paperwhite. Amazon eliminated the plasticky bezels to make the device’s borders flush with the screen, creating a slimmer overall look. The Voyage also comes with an adaptive light sensor and page-turn sensors unlike the Paperwhite and standard Kindle.

Kindle Paperwhite

Amazon

Price: $119.99, buy on Amazon here

Screen: Glare free 6-inch touch screen with built-in light, 300 pixels per inch

Weight and Thickness: 7.2-7.6 ounces, 0.36 inches

Battery: Amazon claims up to six weeks on a single charge

Amazon updated its Paperwhite in 2015 to make its screen just as sharp as that of the Kindle Voyage. The most important differences between the Paperwhite and Voyage are physical: the Paperwhite’s screen is slightly recessed underneath its bezel, and it doesn’t come with physical page turn buttons. It’s also slightly thicker and heavier than the Voyage, although the average user probably won’t notice.

Kindle

Amazon

Price: $79.99, buy on Amazon here

Screen: Glare-free 6-inch touch screen, 167 pixels per inch

Weight and Thickness: 6.7 ounces, 0.4 inches

Battery: Amazon claims up to four weeks on a single charge

Amazon’s cheapest Kindle skimps out on some of the flourishes you’ll get with more expensive models, but still accomplishes its basic purpose. The $79.99 Kindle comes with a lower-resolution screen that doesn’t have a reading light and a lower battery capacity. In terms of design, it’s similar to the Kindle Paperwhite, with its thick bezels and recessed screen. The Kindle also uses an older type of E Ink technology known as Pearl, whereas the newer models use E Ink Carta. The latter is said to offer a 50% increase in contrast and smoother page turns than previous generations of ePaper.

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