If you’re thinking about buying the new Kindle Paperwhite, here’s something to think about before pulling the trigger so you don’t make the same mistake that I did.
If you’ve seen my review of the new Kindle Paperwhite you know that I’m a big fan of the upgraded screen with better contrast, but there two things that are making me seriously consider sending the new Paperwhite back, for reasons that you probably wouldn’t guess.
My number one problem with the new Paperwhite is the simple fact that I bought the cheaper ad-supported version, and I should have known better.
I absolutely cannot stand the obnoxious screensaver ads, and what I hate most about them is the added requirement to swipe the screen every single time you turn the Kindle on. It’s ridiculous. I also miss seeing book covers on the sleep screen; seeing the cover of the book I’m currently reading entices me to read more.
I could just pay Amazon $20 to get rid of the stupid ads since they no longer remove them for free, but at that point in only costs an extra $20 to get the upgraded Signature Edition model.
The thing is I don’t care about the upgrades on the Signature Edition in the slightest. Wireless charging on something that only needs to be charged once a month isn’t useful to me at all, and I’ve always found auto-brightness sensors to be distracting. And the extra storage space is beyond pointless when I don’t care about audiobooks or having more than 10,000 Kindle books downloaded on my Kindle at one time.
However, one thing about the Signature Edition I do like is the metallic finish on the sides and back. The Kindle Colorsoft has the same metallic finish, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I like it a lot more than the rubbery coating on the base Kindle Paperwhite.
The metallic finish has a nicer feel to it, and it doesn’t show smudges and marks as easily as the rubber coating. After less than one month’s use, the rubbery coating on the back of my ad-ridden Paperwhite already looks like it’s been handled for five years by a herd of grubby-handed kids. Trying to wash it off somehow makes it look worse; it just pushes the smudges around and streaks up the back even worse.
For those reasons I’m seriously considering upgrading to a Signature Edition model instead. Also, I kind of like the new jade green color, but I’m not sure if the color that surrounds the front border of the screen would be distracting to the eye or not. Sometimes my eyes are easily distracted by stuff like that when reading (seeing dust or fingerprints on the screen totally bugs me).
One thing that’s holding me back is the fact that I really like the frontlight on the Paperwhite I have. It’s very clear and even, with a subtle yellow tone that’s easy on the eyes. Frontlights are always a bit of a gamble, and there’s a slight risk of getting one with a worse frontlight if I send it back.
Anyway, those are a couple of things to consider if you’re thinking about getting the new Kindle Paperwhite. If you prefer to keep your Kindle in a cover all the time the smudge-prone rubbery back might not matter, and if you don’t mind having to look at an advertisement while swiping the screen every single time you turn your Kindle on or open the cover then that might not matter either. But if you’re like me and get annoyed by those kinds of things then it’s probably worth sending the extra $40 up front for the Signature Edition model.
I think they’ve also gotten more strict about not taking the ads off for free.
I would assume that the screen would be constant across the Paperwhites.
Have you noticed inconsistencies lately? Colorsoft aside.
Yeah, they seem to have a new policy where they don’t remove ads for free anymore, but there has always been a lot of inconsistencies when it comes to frontlights. I’ve seen people posting pictures of the same Kindles with frontlights that look totally different. The frontlight on my Colorsoft has a whiter tone than the frontlight on my Paperwhite, and considering they share the same design you’d think they would look the same.
Here in Brazil all the kindle models are ad-free.
“Wireless charging on something that only needs to be charged once a month isn’t useful to me at all, and I’ve always found auto-brightness sensors to be distracting.”
Although it should be normal but it isn’t anymore:
I find it SOOO refreshing to read your reviews: someone who still has a functioning brain capable of connecting the dots – instead of regurgitating PR nonsense for (consumer) zombies…
i don’t like to criticise, but “heard” should be “herd”.
Thanks for the useful site, and please feel free to delete my comment after you make the correction.
I spotted it as well, Greg. Pedants unite!
Ahh, it was a last minute edit that got me! Considering I use a basic text editor without spellcheck I’m surprised that was the only error. 😀
Absolutely. The front light is a lottery.
I returned my day-1 PW and replaced with a new one because battery was awful, sometimes it wouldn’t charge beyond 75% and had the yellow band at the bottom.
Anyway, new one arrived, put them side-by-side, same brightness and no-warm light and they looked COMPLETELY different.
I thought returned one was already dim/too grey compared to my old 2013 PW but replacement is even dimmer/yellower. Completely different look and feel.
However replacement’s screen seemed more uniform (I guess it is all yellow) so no band at the bottom.
A lottery. My old 2013 PW was so much whiter.. This is more like a PaperGREY
Hopefully I’ll eventually settle with the replacement unit which I still love.
PS: Also agree on the ads, it’s stupid. I paid for the ads-free one but it should just be ads-free period.
It would be nice if there was more consistency with frontlight LEDs. There’s too much variation. I don’t understand why they don’t just use standard color temperatures within a specific range. Like 5000k for cool LEDs and 2200k for warm.
I’d probably go for the Signature because of the removed ads and 32Gb (it matters to me). Since the SE is a 2024 model, I assume Transfer via USB is no longer available?
Yeah, D&T is unavailable on all new models now, but if you have an older Kindle it’s not really going to matter.
I agree about the wireless charging, auto brightness and storage. For me the biggest selling point of SE is the lack of rubber on the back. I’ve been hating on it for years so that is a very good change. However I probably won’t replace my PW5 with PW6 only for that 😅
PS: The auto brightness works exactly the opposite way than what I want (and how it works on my smartphone). In a dark room I want to lower brightness but my Oasis always go for maximum, which is ridiculous. I don’t need 100% when reading in the dark, it will burn a hole through my skull with that light 😅 That’s why I always have it turned off…
The auto brightness will learn what settings you prefer after using it for a while, but anytime it adjusts on its own I notice it and it takes me out of the book.
Oh, I didn’t know that. I used it for a little while and then turned it off because of that. I might give it another try then, thank you for the info. But yeah I get how that can be distracting.
Agreed. Even though I have no use for the upgraded features of the Signature Edition, I still got it for that “metallic” back. I just hate how the rubbery coating looks after only a few days/weeks of use.
I wish the auto brightness on the Signature would work but it doesn’t, at all. I deactivated it. I will never use the wireless charging, and I will never have use of the 32Go of storage which represents far more books that one can read in an entire life.
So yeah, Amazon made me pay more for a different back 🫠
What kept me from getting the Signature edition instead of the Paperwhite when the last generation came out is the added weight of the Signature edition. I like my devices as light as possible.
With the 20% discount trade-in and going ad free – the price difference isn’t that bad.
PW 159.99 – 20% = 127.99 + 20= 147.99 ad free PW
PWS 199.99 – 20% = 159.99 ad free PW Signature
When you put it that it it doesn’t seem as bad, and when Amazon does sales they usually take more off the SE than the base model so the price might be even closer then. At any rate, I decided to keep the one I had, but it might be hard to resist the Black Friday sales with the combination of a trade-in.
So I took your advice and went for the SE and couldn’t be happier. I had the 11th gen before with the rubber coating and the metallic finish is just so much better. It almost doesn’t show any smudges and most importantly nothing really gets stuck to it, so it can easily be wiped clean if needed.
As a bonus the extra storage might end up being useful after all as I’m planning to read more manga in the future.
I was worried about the frontlight as well, but I gotta say it’s nice and clean. Has a subtle yellow tone to it compared to the previous gen and I quite like it.
I wonder if you ended up getting the SE and if so, are you liking the new metallic finish?
I decided to keep the one I had, but I do like the metallic finish a lot more than the rubber. It’s on the Colorsoft as well so I got to try both, but what annoys me the most is the screensaver ads on the non-SE models. I’m not paying another $20 to remove them for like the 5th time now. It’s ridiculous. I’ve been using kids mode as a workaround to avoid seeing the ads.