It’s hard to believe, but there has never been a 6″ Kindle available with the option to use a warm frontlight. All the 6″ Kindles have only ever had basic frontlights without temperature control or no light at all.
Never having a 6″ model with a warm frontlight is an odd fact that only applies to Kindles. Literally every other ereader company I can think of sells a 6″ model with a warm frontlight. Even obscure Android ereaders from China like the Musnap Neo and OBOOK6 have warm frontlights, and both of those devices are actually cheaper than the basic Kindle without ads.
It took Amazon a lot longer to start using warm frontlights compared to other companies. Kobo was the first with the Kobo Aura One in 2016. Then everyone started releasing ereaders with warm frontlights after that, but it took Amazon until 2019 to release the first Kindle with a warm light with the Kindle Oasis 3. But the Paperwhite would be stuck with a basic frontlight for another two years.
In 2021, Amazon finally released the first Kindle Paperwhite with a warm light, but they also increased the size of the screen to 6.8″ when all previous Paperwhites had 6″ screens.
It might not sound like a lot on paper, but there’s actually a pretty big size difference between ereaders with 6″ and 6.8″ screens, especially when it comes to portability and pocketability.
With the latest Paperwhite, Amazon increased the screen size yet again to 7″. Meanwhile the basic Kindle still has a 6″ screen, but it’s still not available with a warm frontlight after all these years. Other companies have been selling 6″ models with warm lights for a long time, so what is the hang-up? Kobo has been selling a 6″ Clara with a warm light since 2018.
Amazon is still stuck in the past with their 6″ Kindle. It’s crazy there’s never been a 6″ Kindle with a warm light. Some people have taken their basic Kindles apart to color the LED lights with a marker to make them warmer. It took until 2022 for the basic Kindle to finally get an upgraded 300 ppi screen. Maybe in 2026 it’ll finally get a warm frontlight too.
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