Kindle Paperwhite Review (2024): The E-Reader to Get

I don’t have many regrets, but buying the basic Kindle a few years ago is one of them. Ironically, I hadn’t done much research before purchasing it. I wanted to get back into reading and didn’t want to spend much—I was struggling to finish hard copies and thought an ebook reader would solve the problem. I marched onto Amazon and bought myself the basic Kindle from 2019.

Between the low screen resolution, slow performance, and short battery life, the frustrating experience kept me from using it as much as I wanted to. I should’ve bought the Kindle Paperwhite instead, even if it was marginally more expensive—buy once, cry once, right? I was convinced that the higher-quality screen and fancy lighting features would make it more enjoyable. Alas, I worried a Paperwhite would stay dead and dusty in a drawer, just like my Kindle, so I didn’t buy it.

And yet, a Paperwhite ended up in my lap a few years later. Amazon just announced a new version—the Paperwhite and the Paperwhite Signature Edition—which are thinner and faster and have longer battery life. I tested the latter, which has a few extra perks such as wireless charging and 32 gigabytes of storage (for an extra cost). After weeks of use, it’s easy to understand why this is Amazon’s most beloved Kindle—it’s Paperwhite or bust.

Photograph: Brenda Stolyar

Better, Faster, Stronger

Coming from a smaller Kindle, I was worried that the Paperwhite would feel too unwieldy, especially now that it’s slightly thinner than its predecessor (7.8 mm versus 8.1 mm) but heavier. It’s still easy to hold one-handed, but I sometimes feel my arm cramp during longer reading seasons—I quickly understand why so many people attach a PopSocket to their Paperwhite.

The display is now 7 inches (up from 6.8) thanks to slimmer bezels around the screen. It also has the highest contrast ratio of any Kindle, which more or less allows text and images to look sharper on the screen. While both changes are nice, these differences are incremental over the 2021 Paperwhite (8/10, WIRED Recommends), and no, you do not need to upgrade if you have that model.

Photograph: Brenda Stolyar