Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Signature Editon review: What does $50 more get you?
Our Verdict
The Kindle Paperwhite Signature Editon gives you some added bonuses for a lot more
For
- Automatic backlighting a plus
- USB-C and Qi charging
- Larger display
- Perfectly even backlighting
- Waterproof
Confronting
- No cellular option
- $50 more than than Kindle Paperwhite
Tom'due south Guide Verdict
The Kindle Paperwhite Signature Editon gives you some added bonuses for a lot more
Pros
- +
Automatic backlighting a plus
- +
USB-C and Qi charging
- +
Larger display
- +
Perfectly even backlighting
- +
Waterproof
Cons
- -
No cellular option
- -
$50 more Kindle Paperwhite
The new Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition sits betwixt the $139 Kindle Paperwhite and the $249 Kindle Oasis. Not only is the $189 e-reader pricier than the Kindle Paperwhite (2021), our option for the best Kindle, simply it'south got one feature that used to exist but available in the Kindle Haven. But should you lot really spend $189 on an east-reader that'southward incredibly like to one that'due south $fifty less?
That'south the question we're here to effigy out, because while I like ane of the Signature Edition'south signature features, I'g not sure everyone else volition call back it's worth spending an extra 36% to get. That said, this is nevertheless an excellent east-reader, particularly for those who live the Amazon Prime number lifestyle. The big benefits, wireless Qi-charging and automatically-adjusting light, are the kind of thing that benefit the folks trying to gain a more seamless, minimalistic experience. Information technology'south likewise got more storage and no ads.
And for those who feel like the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite hasn't evolved fast plenty over fourth dimension — gaining modest perks twelvemonth after year — this model may be perfect. Merely that same crowd may not like how much more than they have to spend.
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition review: Specs
| Kindle Paperwhite (2021) | |
|---|---|
| Price | $189.99 |
| Display size | half-dozen.8-inch |
| Resolution (points-per-inch) | 300ppi |
| Storage | 32GB |
| Battery life | Upward to 10 weeks (claimed) |
| Dimensions | vi.9 10 4.ix ten 0.3 inches |
| Weight | 7.iii ounces |
| Ports | USB-C |
| Wireless charging | Yes |
| Extras | Display warmth settings, automatically-adjusting light |
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition review: Price and configurations
The Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition starts at $189, $50 more than than the $139 Kindle Paperwhite 2021.
While this is a new model, the higher price, when compared to the Paperwhite 2021 is, reflective of Amazon's gradual price increases over the terminal years. Both the 2018 and 2021 Kindle Paperwhites were $10 more prior models.
The Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition shipped on October 27, 2021.
The default Paperwhite comes with 32GB of storage, 4 times equally much equally the Kindle Paperwhite 2021 (8GB). The Oasis starts at 8GB can be purchased with 32GB for an extra $thirty. The newly-appear Nook Glowlight four has 32GB standard and costs $149.
Unlike with the regular Paperwhite or Oasis, Amazon doesn't accuse y'all $20 to remove the lock screen ads that may annoy you (they annoy me). This means your Kindle screen is gratis to show the cover of the book you lot're currently reading.
As you may take noticed, Amazon'due south added two features (32GB of RAM and no ads) that it would ordinarily charge $50 for. Looking at the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition like this, the Qi-charging and automatically-adjusting lights are bonuses.
Amazon no longer offers a cellular-capable Paperwhite, a feature exclusive to the $249 Kindle Oasis.
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition review: Blueprint
The Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition looks but like the Kindle Paperwhite (2021), so much so that I kept getting them dislocated. Both feature a matte-black shell and vi.8-inch e-ink display, which is larger than the 6-inch screen in the previous Paperwhite. Barnes & Noble'due south new Nook Glowlight 4 has a six-inch console.
That larger screen comes at a slight price on size: the Paperwhite Signature Edition (just like the normal Paperwhite) measures half-dozen.9 ten 4.9 ten 0.three inches, making it slightly larger than the 6.6 ten 4.6 x 0.three-inch 2018 Paperwhite. I didn't find this made it harder to agree, but the slightly thinner bezels fabricated me have to hold it in different ways to avoid actuating the screen. If you desire more space to grip, you may prefer the Amazon Kindle Oasis' design, which has an asymmetrical pattern, with page turning buttons.
The Paperwhite Signature Edition weighs seven.iii ounces (a hair heavier than the 7.2-ounce Paperwhite 2021), a tad heavier than the 6.four-ounce Paperwhite 2018.
Looking across the lineup, the six-inch entry-level Amazon Kindle (6.iii ten 4.five x 0.three inches, half dozen.1 ounces) is smaller and lighter and the 7-inch aluminum Kindle Oasis (6.three x 5.6 ten 0.3 inches, 6.6 ounces) is shorter, wider and a little lighter.
And the Paperwhite Signature Edition also offers USB-C charging. This may be great for you — I'yard trying to consolidate around this relatively new cable and remove the crummy non-reversible micro-USB port from my life — or it may exist no big deal. One of my Kindle-loving relatives had no idea when I brought it upwards. No other Kindles offer USB-C, merely the Nook Glowlight 4 does.
Amazon isn't offer whatever claims of faster charging for USB-C charging vs micro-USB.
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition review: Durability
Only like the 2021 Kindle Paperwhite, the Paperwhite Signature Edition has a waterproof resistance rating of IPX8. Even though previous waterproof Kindles did well on their water tests, I put this model through its paces again. I dropped the Paperwhite Signature Edition in about five inches of tap h2o in my NYC apartment sink and letting information technology sit down for 20 minutes.
And when I took information technology out? The Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition worked as if nothing had happened.
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition review: Display
The Paperwhite Signature Edition's 6.viii-inch, 300 ppi display is nearly identical to that of the 2021 Paperwhite. Information technology'southward got amazingly evenly-lit backlighting (17 LEDs vs 2018's five LEDs), plus a perfectly crisp 300ppi screen, then that text looks keen at all sizes, which I noticed as I tried to start She Who Became The Sunday by Shelley Parker Chan (which didn't click with me). The resolution is no upgrade, as Kindles dating back to 2015 have had this abrupt screen quality. The entry-level Amazon Kindle has a 167 ppi screen, and Kindle Oasis and B&N Nook Glowlight 4 are likewise at 300ppi.
The automatically-adjusting brightness, still, is an upgrade. As I brought the Paperwhite Signature Edition around my apartment, I saw its brightness jump from five to 16 points of brightness, depending on the ambient lighting. Every bit someone who can get lazy enough to adopt his tech to take some of the work abroad? This is a nice touch. As I moved around on my sofa one night, I saw brightness shift a bit here and at that place to adjust. "Information technology'southward always thinking," I told myself.
As I noticed while reading How To Do Nothing by Jenny Odell late at night in my living room, I noticed that the Paperwhite Signature Edition's lighting is perfectly even. I tested this out at multiple settings, going as low as five points on the Brightness bar. Throughout, the lighting stayed fifty-fifty.
The Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition also features a Display Warmth setting, so y'all tin get a yellowy/amber hue. This isn't a bluish low-cal filter meant to aid you fall asleep easier, but just an artful change. I adopt the colder settings, as I'm trying to replicate newspaper.
You may (every bit I did while working on my Kindle Paperwhite 2021 review) discover that there's a small gap between the screen and the bezel. It's nix huge, and I got used to it. Only The reMarkable 2 has a much smaller gap.
When I brought the Paperwhite Signature Edition to my local park to read, I noted that the Paperwhite display stayed crisp and legible in direct sunlight (Again, I had more than trouble getting into She Who Became The Sun than actually reading it).
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition review: User feel and bonus features
In 2021, Amazon fabricated notable changes Kindle abode screen and smaller tweaks to the rest of the interface, and they information technology feels like they're for the better. At present, your habitation screen is now split up between "Home" and "Library" sections. The former shows you some of the books you have, forth with suggestions for stuff you might like, also every bit your reading lists. Merely want to see the stuff you take? Tap the Library tab.
Now, you accept a much wider Search bar at the tiptop of the home screen, and only there. The bill of fare bar that used to testify up when you lot tapped that area while reading now just shows you small buttons for font, bookmarks and search, and you tap a wide arrow at the summit to open the menu for plane mode, sync, Bluetooth, dark style and display brightness and warmth settings.
Amazon'southward made information technology slightly easier to remove Goodreads (its social network for readers up front end). Why would you? Well, I've never really plant it to exist a place where I've gotten much value, and it can take upwards parts of the menus and screen. I'm not lonely in my disapproval of Goodreads.
I wish the Kindle OS made it easier to remove all the other sorta-peachy (but non for everyone) interactive stuff in their reading experience. Tired of seeing pop highlights (this is my book, not the community's book)? You need to do this for each book: open up the book, open the top of screen carte and tap the Font push, tap More and turn off Popular Highlights (I as well disable Nearly This Book).
Amazon's as well recently added Bluetooth listening for audio books. It works fine in my testing, but I'd never use a Kindle for Audible. I don't demand an east-ink screen for an audiobook, and my phone is right there.
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition review: Battery Life
The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition has lengthy battery life to spare. Amazon claims it should last up to 10 weeks, but that'due south based on xxx minutes of reading per day, with Wi-Fi off and effulgence set to xiii out of 24.
In i twenty-four hours of testing, I read for approximately two hours with varying levels of brightness and downloaded a few books over Wi-Fi and kept Bluetooth off, and that knocked out 4% of battery life. Past the numbers, that would last me 25 days (and one% per half-hour would be lxx% in ten weeks, so, their math seems right).
That's withal a lot of time to remember to either plug information technology into a USB-C cable or identify it on a compatible wireless charger. Yes, different any other Kindle before it, the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition charges over Qi-based chargers, and information technology refueled that iv% I'd lost in 24 minutes.
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition review: Content
In the style that Arby'due south has the meats, Amazon has the books. The mega-retailer doesn't publish numbers of how many books information technology sells, estimates propose it stocks around 9 1000000 titles.
Kobo boasts that information technology offers "vi million eBooks and audiobooks," while Barnes and Noble, on the other hand, claims it has "millions of eBooks."
Amazon'southward as well got other ways to requite you books, such every bit the $9.99 Kindle Unlimited, a Netflix-for-books with "over two million titles and thousands of audiobooks." They even throw in three magazine subscriptions.
In case you're not made of money, the Kindle Paperwhite all the same supports borrowing books from public libraries for free, using the Overdrive service.
Prime members can take advantage of First Reads (formerly Kindle First), which grants early access to editor's picks. Members as well tin access ii free Kindle books per calendar month, and go admission to discounted print editions.
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition review: Verdict
I wish the Paperwhite Signature Edition was just the Paperwhite 2021. While USB-C and display warmth are nice updates, the ascent cost of the Paperwhite Kindle feels abrasive. All of these features combined would make for a compelling reason to upgrade, but the $189 Paperwhite Signature Edition delivers sticker shock for anyone who remembers the $129 Paperwhite (2018).
Yeah, Amazon's calculation a little here and there, and so the reason to upgrade to this model will vary greatly past employ case. Nosotros recommend the $139 Kindle Paperwhite to nigh, and I detest ads, so I've accustomed that $159 is the cost I'll probably pay for a Kindle. Is an automatically-adjusting light (which means more to me than Qi-charging) and 4x every bit much storage worth another $xxx? For me, even though I like the lighting to be adjusted for me? I don't think the answer is yep.
And so, I'll all the same send people to the regular Kindle Paperwhite, which has the right screen crispness and that waterproofing that yous'll love at the beach. The Signature Edition exists considering the $249 Kindle Haven may be too rich for some folks' blood, but they still desire a little more than the regular Paperwhite offers.
When yous add together up the extra storage space, the lack of ads, Qi-charging and automatic brightness? The Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition is kind of a bargain bundle that mixes and matches features of its more affordable and more expensive siblings. The question is "is this bargain withal besides much?"
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/amazon-kindle-paperwhite-signature-editon-review-what-does-dollar50-more-get-you
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