I recently discovered that my Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition has some light scratches on the screen, which is surprising since I keep it in a case all the time and rarely use it (the Kindle Scribe and Kindle Voyage are the two main Kindles that I use most often).
It must’ve gotten scratched while cleaning the screen with a microfiber cloth. Maybe there was a jagged piece of dirt that dug into the screen or something—I don’t know how else it could’ve gotten scratched.
The scratches aren’t visible under normal reading conditions, so at least there’s that, but the fact that it scratched at all under the circumstances is annoying. My Kindle Voyage is nearly 10 years old and it has zero scratches on the screen. My Kindle Oasis is going on 5 years old and it also has zero scratches, and I never even kept it in a cover.
The Voyage and Oasis both have glass screens, whereas the Paperwhite has a plastic-based front layer. I’ve always disliked the plastic layer because it’s not quite as clear as glass, and it shows fingerprints a lot more. In fact, the 10th and 11th gen Paperwhites with their plastic front layers have the most smudge-prone screens I’ve ever encountered on E Ink devices.
It’s not a huge deal since the fingerprints easily wipe off, but, apparently, you have to be extra careful not to scratch the screen while cleaning it.
It’s also a good idea to keep the Paperwhite in a case all the time, especially if you plan to put it in a bag with other objects. That’s good advice for any E Ink device, but it seems to be particularly important with Kindles if you want to avoid scratches.
The cheap plastic casing on the basic Kindle scratches very easily as well, even more so than the screen on the Paperwhite, so it’s kind of a trend with modern Kindles.
Both my Kindle Voyage and Kindle Oasis are still in pristine condition, but my 10th and 11th gen Kindles are scratched to hell and I barely even use them. The material on the back of the Paperwhite is also impossible to keep clear of smudges and marks. My Kindle Scribe is still in like new condition, though. It goes to show they can make things better if they want to, but they’d rather use cheap plastic on the Kindle and Kindle Paperwhite to cut costs.
No joke, the plastic easy to gash screen is why the device feels like a cheep product and not a premium product (like Oasis before it felt). I keep hoping they will release a legit premium ereader, cause I like their system and software, but the lineup of devices currently sucks. The Scribe is nice, but too big to be a primary reader.