Today Amazon officially unveiled a new entry-level Kindle with an improved screen and a few other upgrades, and it’s set to get released on October 12th.
The biggest change with the new 11th generation Kindle is it has a 300 ppi E Ink screen instead of a 167 ppi screen like all the basic Kindles before it dating back to the very first model, and it still has a 6-inch screen like the previous versions.
Amazon also added a USB-C port and they doubled the storage space to 16GB so there’s plenty of space for ebooks and a few audiobooks.
The price of the new Kindle is $99 for the ad-supported version and $119 without ads. It’s available in black and they’ve added a blue version, called denim. There’s also a new version of the kids Kindle for $119 that comes with a cover and an upgraded 2-year warranty, along with a free 1-year subscription to Amazon Kids+ for kid-friendly content.
The new basic Kindle also supports Dark Mode for white text on a black background, and battery life has been upgraded from 4 weeks to 6 weeks, based on reading for 30 minutes per day.
It’s also quite a bit lighter than the previous version at only 158 grams, making it the lightest Kindle to date, and the overall size is a bit smaller as well at 157.8 x 108.6 x 8mm.
It’s good to see they finally upgraded the resolution on the entry-level Kindle, and it still has an indented screen so I wouldn’t be surprised if it has better contrast than most other Kindles with 300 ppi. I also like the fact they made it smaller and more portable now that the Kindle Paperwhite has a larger 6.8-inch screen.
What do you think of the new basic Kindle?
So looks like no big kindle. Weight is impressive, though K4NT was close and had page buttons too (though no frontlight). I realized after accidentally updating my paperwhite before jailbreaking that kindle’s shitty margins actually affect my purchase decisions.. I know there are ways in Calibre to fix margins in conversion but I have not found them to work consistently. I would consider something like this as a travel device but can’t imagine buying this without being able to fix margins.
Try to add at Preferences>Common Options>Look&Feel>Styling>Extra css something like this:
html {
margin-right: -70px;
margin-left: -70px;
}
This will shrink margins almost completely.
I would imagine that this is the only Kindle getting refreshed this year then. It’s a great upgrade for the basic line, but it’s curious that they still haven’t updated or replaced the Oasis yet.
Yeah, it looks like bad news for the premium Kindle line. The odds of them releasing another new model this year is slim to none. The Kindle Oasis makes no sense in its current state. They should at least drop the price if they’re going to keep selling it without upgrading it.
Interesting. Oasis is no longer included in The Compare Kindle E-readers chart.
Some pages it is and some pages it isn’t. I can’t believe the new basic Kindle has some upgrades the flagship Oasis lacks, and yet Amazon is still charging full price for the Oasis that’s now three years old. Things are really backwards in Kindleland right now.
Now I know what I’m getting as a New Year present for myself. 😀
Jokes aside, I will probably buy the new Kindle 2022 to be my Go Anywhere Device. By the time it reaches my country (spring next year maybe?) there should be enough feedback to see how it fares. Fingers crossed for Kids version! (I like Space Whale and Ocean Explorer cover options)
Make no mistake – I love my PW5 for just the right balance of screen size and portability. But having a smaller device would be a boon. Also – no additional screen layers! Don’t care about lighting – I don’t use it. Screen upgrade was long overdue, and switch to USB C is great and also overdue.
There were two main reasons why I originally switched from Kindle 4 to PW3
1) screen resolution – 300 ppi causes less strain for me. I could not go back to reading on K4 after trying PW3. I actually teared up when I realised there’s nothing wrong with my eyes, and it was K4 screen that made text seem slightly blurry.
2) auto-wake function – remember when it was limited to higher end Kindles like PW and Voyager?
In other news, looking at comparison of Kindles on Kindle 2022 product page and the slightly updated PW product page, there now seems to be an option of PW5 with 8GB OR 16GB memory on board.
Looking at that lineup I kind of get the feeling that prayers for new Oasis may not work. Something larger could be in the works, or Amazon may as well decide that buttons are last century and axe Oasis like it did Voyager.
Were I choosing which Kindle to buy today and choices were Kindle 2022, Paperwhite 2021 and Oasis, I would have gone with ordinary Kindle. It’s the least expensive and has all the features I actually need : 300ppi screen, two bands of wifi connectivity, 16GB of storage, and USB C.
A logical step for Amazon.
The previous basic Kindle sold 50% of the Kindles, according to the reviews, which includes the PW5 & PW5 Signature Edition. Kindle = 44,000 – Kindle PW5 & Oasis = 43,000.
Make no mistake, this is Amazon’s money maker. It gets people into the Amazon universe with all those books just waiting to get purchased.
This looks new and sharing since your post referenced Kids Kindle as ad free option.
Will my kid see Ads while using this device?
Kindle Kids is automatically set up for your kid to enjoy an ad-free experience. However if you exit Amazon Kids using a passcode, sponsored screensavers will be displayed on the device’s lockscreen
Thanks for the heads-up. For anyone else that’s wondering, Amazon added an extra question to the FAQ that’s not on the Kindle Paperwhite Kids FAQ that seems to indicate the kids version of this new Kindle does have ads outside of kid’s mode, unlike all the previous kids Kindles that were always ad-free, even when using them as a regular Kindle. I amended the article to remove the recommendation to get the kids version as an ad-free option since that no longer appears to be the case. I ordered one so I’ll be able to confirm if that is indeed a new change to the kids version with this particular model.
In Amazon Mexico they have the new basic model available for next day delivery. No preorders. And the old basic is also on sale with a discount for next day delivery. The PW5 is also shown to be available in 8 GB and 16 GB. Also for next day delivery.
Just rechecked on the delivery dates and I was mistaken. The new basic model has a delivery date of October 12. The delivery date for the PW5 with 16GB storage is set for November 11.
I love the fact that they made it indented screen. I also like 16 GB. It’s basically a PW3 with more storage. Hopefully they release a premium cover. Too bad it’ does not include comfort light. This will be a purchase for me
Will I be able to read in direct sunlight (examples: at a pool, or on a boat)?
Yeah, any E Ink ereader is great for reading outside.
Do you think this will use on-cell touch and the other eink improvements that arrived too late for last year’s Kindle or Kobo updates? If so, this could be the sharpest Kindle in quite some time and perhaps be a little better than the Kobo Libra 2 for clarity. Also if so, it means Amazon will have no excuse for blurry flush layers on more premium devices.
No, I highly doubt it. On-cell touch must not be very good or it adds too much extra cost because nobody is using it, as far as I know. Hopefully the new Kindle uses a newer Carta 1200 screen like the PW5 but who knows at this point since they never reveal technical details like that.
I know I’ve written before that i really don’t think Amazon has any intention of releasing a “Kindle Scribe” or a new version of the DX, but I still foolishly get my hopes up every time I see a headline about a new Kindle release.
Oh well, there’s always next year…
I know the feeling. I still can’t believe they continue to ignore the larger screen market. It’s absurd.
Considering that both Apple and Google have their own bookstores, I seriously wonder why they don’t sell their own dedicated eReader. Reading on a tablet (iPad)is garbage compared to an e-ink device. And knowing Apple, they can sell an e-reader for $500 and it’ll fly off the shelves, not to mention boost their e-book sales which is the ultimate goal.
Nathan,
As you mentioned in your post, I’m interested to see how the contrast/sharpness will be compared to the other Kindles given the indented screen design. Will you do any comparisons on this? Contrast is probably the biggest thing I look for in e-readers. So let’s say the entry-level contrast, alone, is better compared to the other models. Would you buy the entry-level over the other models (or even trade-in the Paperwhite or Oasis for the entry-level)?
Screen comparisons will be the first thing I post about when I get the new Kindle because contrast is one of the most important things for me too, and I’ve been critical of flush screens making things worse, like with the new Pocketbook Era how they went with a trendy flush front screen and botched it.
Man. The basic did need upgraded and this was a great one for that line, but was really hoping for an Oasis or similar news. The Basic released without mention of another device makes me think it won’t be this year now. Hard to say but…
Does it have light , I like to read in bed
Yes, it does.
It’s even lighter? Dang, the one I have in its case feels like a toy it’s so light, a tiny fraction of the weight of my previous Kindle which was already far lighter than my phone. I couldn’t imagine the new one being even lighter! Does it get moved by a stiff breeze??
Perhaps Amazon abandons the Kindle Oasis and makes the Paperwhite Signature the premium model. If they put a glass screen on it then it gets close to being a successor to the Voyage. Since the Voyage was at one point the premium model maybe they move back to that type of lineup.