Now that Amazon has discontinued the Kindle Oasis, this is the first time in the past decade where they haven’t offered a premium Kindle. The Kindle Voyage was the first. Then it was followed up by three generations of the Kindle Oasis, and now I guess the Kindle Scribe is supposed to be the premium Kindle but a lot of people don’t want a large 10-inch Kindle for reading ebooks, so it’s kind of in a category of its own.
Amazon has found a way to sell about a dozen different variations of the Kindle Paperwhite, and now it’s pretty much the only good option if you want to buy a new Kindle ereader in 2024 that doesn’t feel like a cheap toy like the basic Kindle or isn’t huge like the Kindle Scribe.
Looking at the current lineup of ebook readers from other companies, Amazon is falling way behind in the number of devices offered, and they also release new devices less frequently so that doesn’t help either.
Hopefully a new Kindle or two will get added to the Kindle lineup in 2024, especially since no new Kindles were released at all last year, and the current Paperwhite dates back to 2021 so Amazon is due to spice things up a bit.
Current Kindles
Basic Kindle
Kindle Paperwhite
Kindle Scribe
Current Kobo eReaders
Kobo Nia
Kobo Clara 2E
Kobo Libra 2
Kobo Sage
Kobo Elipsa 2E
Plus it looks like Kobo plans to release 3 new devices this year.
Current PocketBooks
PocketBook Basic Lux 4
PocketBook Verse
PocketBook Verse Pro
PocketBook InkPad 4
PocketBook InkPad Color 3
PocketBook Era
PocketBook InkPad X Pro
PocketBook InkPad Lite
Onyx Boox Lineup
Boox Palma
Boox Page
Boox Poke5
Boox Note Air3 C
Boox Note Air3
Boox Tab Ultra Mini C
Boox Tab Ultra C Pro
Boox Tab X
*They sell additional models in other markets; that’s just their international lineup.
Nooks
Nook Glowlight 4e
Nook Glowlight 4
Nook Glowlight 4 Plus
Nook Lenovo Tablet (OK, so it’s a tablet but at least it’s called a Nook)
Not sure if having many options is good either. I frequently read on Reddit of people that are always confused with the current line up of kindles. I would thing their heads would explode if they had to choose between 7 models. I would think that having just a few models will make updates easier to do. So, I don’t think having a few models is a bad thing. Better to have them focus on ensuring quality of a few models than scrambling to support a bunch of models.
Over the history of kindle I have sampled just about all of them. From the keyboard kindle, touch , Voyage, Oasis, PW, and Basic. I now have the PW and Basic, both models that I prefer. I did love my Voyage and would prefer it if Amazon brought it back. I totally hated the Oasis, I could not get comfortable with holding it, and without a cover it would slip out ov my fingers. Like I said I loved the Voyage but did disable the the page buttons as to me they were inconvenient. I personally believe my dislike of the Oasis is due to be left handed.
I’m left handed and I can use Oasis just fine. It sits perfectly in my hand and never slips out of it. I think it’s probably more about hand size, because many many people complain about this and I don’t think they are all lefties 🙂
To me iťs Paperwhite that feels like cheap toy, Kindle Basic feels much more premium design wise. I hate the glossy finish of PW which is a finger print magnet and also the cheap feeling rubber back. Overall it’s one of the ugliest devices out there right now (my opnion, others obviously like it). Scribe looks okay, but it is huge. The entire Kindle lineup right now is horrible. I really hope they will step up their game and bring something new this year.
Maybe Amazon wants to reduce their Ereader/Ebook footprint, but if not their cost cutting measures is costing them long time loyal customers.
It seems like Amazon gives up quickly on premium/quality options – future iterations tend to feel less quality, bulkier, etc. I have also seen this with the Fire Tablets line up over time. I am fortunate that my Voyage still works and still hold out hope they will bring out something similar soon! The Paperwhites are bigger and don’t feel as nice in my hand as the Voyage.