Amazon has a new Kindle[1] with an old name. It’s an updated version of the Kindle Paperwhite, which is Amazon’s best-selling Kindle e-reader—likely by a large margin, though we’ll never know because Amazon doesn’t share Kindle sales numbers. The Paperwhite is a good Kindle. This new one, which you can now preorder for $130, is a little bit better.
It has the same six-inch, high-resolution display as the last Kindle Paperwhite[2]. The front has been updated so the display is no longer recessed below the bezel, leaving a totally smooth face. It’s 10 percent thinner and lighter—you can barely notice this, but Amazon says it’s thinner and lighter, and I believe that. It has an additional LED light, bringing the total up to five, for more uniform lighting around the bottom of the display. And it has a lot more storage than the previous Paperwhite, starting at 8 gigabytes and going up to 32GB.
Most importantly, the Paperwhite is now waterproof. It took ten years of Kindle for Amazon to waterproof any of its e-readers, but the company finally did it last year with the Kindle Oasis[3]. Now the less expensive Paperwhite will have this on its spec sheet, too. You can take your Paperwhite in the pool or the bathtub or the lake or the ocean and not worry about dropping it in. It can be immersed in up to 2 meters of freshwater for 60 minutes. (But if you drop it in the ocean, I don’t know what to tell you.)
Loving your Kindle? Here are 9 tips and tricks[4] that help you get the most out of Amazon's e-reader, from free books to playing games.
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