Last week when Amazon started rolling out the new Display Cover feature that gives Kindles the option to show book cover images on the lock screen, a new webpage was added to Amazon’s website describing how the new feature works and what models it’s available on.
Under the list of compatible Kindle devices it says, “Or shop our latest devices below”, and there are pictures and names of each current Kindle model. You can see the pictures on the Unlock a new lockscreen page at Amazon.
However, one thing I noticed is the picture they are using for the entry-level Kindle (shown above) is not accurate. In fact that’s definitely not what the current 10th-gen Kindle looks like. It clearly shows a border around the front frame, which the current Kindle most certainly doesn’t have.
Is it possible that this is a picture of a new entry-level Kindle that Amazon hasn’t released yet?
Looking closely at the pictures, the Paperwhite 4 has a similar border around the frame, but it looks a little different and the Kindle label is colored differently so they are definitely different devices in the pictures.
The mystery device in the picture looks really familiar, though, doesn’t it?
I started comparing it to other models and I think it’s most likely a picture of a Kindle Paperwhite 3. Even though it’s labeled as the entry-level “Kindle” on Amazon’s webpage, I think it’s more likely they got the pictures mixed up.
It would be neat if it did turn out to be a picture of a new upcoming entry-level Kindle, but unless they’re reusing the design of the Paperwhite 3 I doubt that’s the case. The Paperwhite 3 is one of the models that gets the new book cover feature, but that doesn’t explain why they’re using a picture of one to represent the current base Kindle.
I bet they messed up. They need a new graphic artist.
“It would be neat if it did turn out to be a picture of a new upcoming entry-level Kindle[…]”
No, it wouldn’t be neat. Thicker bezels and a larger forehead is not an improvement over the current design, unless the goal is to make the device feel aesthetically even more outdated.
See Betteridge’s law of headlines at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines
😃
More easily explained as a mistake instead of clever marketing. Why would they even do that intentionally? Except for a small handful of hardcore Kindle enthusiasts nobody would notice that they used the wrong model. To most people they all look the same. A black slab of plastic with a rectangular screen.
I personally think that Amazon has abandoned the the Kindle altogether, At least for the time being. I highly doubt they will be seeing any new devices in the near future.
Give me a $200 or less ad free (book cover or custom screensaver) kindle….paperwhite/voyage that has the current feature set of the paperwhite….plus the orange light option of the oasis 3 and we can call it a day.
I was just thinking the same thing this morning. It seems like the Kindle team has disbanded or something. I really wish other companies were allowed to make ereaders that support Kindle ebooks. Onyx is about the only other viable option these days thanks to Android, but their prices are really high and they don’t like page buttons for some reason.