If you have an ebook reader but struggle with finding light to read, get frustrated with slow page turns or low resolution, or merely hate how big your current device is, upgrading to a new one might be worthwhile.
The cheapest Amazon Kindle is also the best e-reader for most people. Its affordable price, portability, upgraded display, 16 GB of base storage, and USB-C charging compatibility check the most-important boxes, plus Amazon offers a massive ebook catalog that frequently offers better prices than the competition. Checking out ebooks from the library via the Libby app on a phone or tablet and then having them delivered to your Kindle is also fairly intuitive.
The base Kindle comes with double the base storage of the Kindle Paperwhite. If you have a huge ebook collection or like to listen to audiobooks on your Kindle, the 16 GB of storage in this model is a blessing. The Kindle Paperwhite comes with 8 GB; you have to pay more for 16 GB.
The Kindle ecosystem is huge. The collection of services that Amazon and its partners offer is a major reason we love Kindles in general. You can share purchased books with people on your Amazon Prime account; use X-Ray, which helps identify notable people and terms in your books; subscribe to the optional Kindle Unlimited service, which gives you on-demand access to a huge catalog of books for a flat rate every month; and opt for Amazon Kids+, which provides access to kids books, movies, TV shows, and more (a free, one-year subscription is included with the Kindle Kids model, which costs an extra $20 but also comes with a cover, a longer warranty, and no ads).
We have reached out to Amazon about adding clarity to the terms of service to reflect our discussions that automatic returns will not be available if 10 percent or more of a book has been read. We will also continue monitoring reports from authors about returns to evaluate the efficacy of these changes.
Update, January 19, 2023: As we reported in September, Amazon is changing its ebook return policy in response to concerns raised by the Authors Guild and independent authors. At the time, Amazon told us that the new policy would go into effect by the end of 2022. After Amazon missed that initial estimate for the rollout and we reached out to them, Amazon informed us that they are in the final stages of making these technical changes and will roll out the new policy in the U.S. before the end of January. We will provide an update when these changes are complete and the policy is rolled out.
Amazon Kindle is a series of e-readers designed and marketed by Amazon. Amazon Kindle devices enable users to browse, buy, download, and read e-books, newspapers, magazines, Audible audiobooks, and other digital media via wireless networking to the Kindle Store.[6] The hardware platform, which Amazon subsidiary Lab126 developed, began as a single device in 2007. Currently, it comprises a range of devices, including e-readers with E Ink electronic paper displays and Kindle applications on all major computing platforms. All Kindle devices integrate with Windows and macOS file systems and Kindle Store content and, as of March 2018, the store had over six million e-books available in the United States.[7]
In 2004, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos instructed the company's employees to build the world's best electronic reader before Amazon's competitors could. Amazon originally used the codename Fiona for the device.[8]
Branding consultants Michael Cronan and Karin Hibma devised the Kindle name. Lab126 asked them to name the product, and they suggested "kindle", meaning to light a fire.[9] They felt this was an apt metaphor for reading and intellectual excitement.[10]
Kindle hardware evolved from the original Kindle introduced in 2007 and the Kindle DX (with its larger 9.7" screen) introduced in 2009. The DX remained the only non-6" eink Kindle device until the 2017 introduction of the Oasis 2. The range included early generation devices with a keyboard (Kindle Keyboard), devices with touch-sensitive, lighted, high-resolution screens (Kindle Paperwhite), early generations of a tablet computer with the Kindle app (Kindle Fire), and low-priced devices with a touch-sensitive screen (Kindle 7). However, the Kindle e-reader has often been a narrow-purpose device for reading rather than being multipurpose hardware that might create distractions while reading. Active Content support was introduced in 2010 only to be dropped from new Kindle devices in late 2014. After the first three generations, the Kindle Fire tablet branding was changed to Amazon Fire in 2014; this name change reflected their wider capabilities as an Android-derived tablet. Other later developments include devices with larger eink displays such as the Kindle Oasis 2 (2017) at 7" and the Paperwhite 5 (2021) at 6.8", as well as a device with a 10.2" screen and Wacom stylus support called the Kindle Scribe (2022). In 2022 Amazon also introduced the 11th gen Kindle with a 300 PPI display, ending the use of the 6" 167 PPI display that had been on every basic Kindle since 2007.
Amazon has also introduced Kindle apps for use on various devices and platforms, including Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, BlackBerry 10 and Windows Phone.[11] Amazon also has a cloud reader to allow users to read e-books using modern web browsers.[12]
The device featured a six-inch (diagonal) four-level grayscale E Ink display, with 250 MB of internal storage, which can hold approximately 200 non-illustrated titles.[16] It also has a speaker and a headphone jack for listening to audio files.[13] It has expandable storage via an SD card slot. Content was available from Amazon via the Sprint Corporation US-wide EVDO 3G data network, via a dedicated connection protocol which Amazon called Whispernet.[16] Amazon did not sell the first-generation Kindle outside of the US.[16]
On February 10, 2009, Amazon announced the Kindle 2, the second-generation Kindle.[17] It became available for purchase on February 23, 2009. The Kindle 2 features a text-to-speech option to read the text aloud. It also has 6-inch screen and 2 GB of internal memory, of which 1.4 GB is user-accessible. By Amazon's estimates, the Kindle 2 can hold about 1,500 non-illustrated books. Unlike the first-generation Kindle, Kindle 2 does not have a slot for SD memory cards.[18] It is slimmer than the original Kindle.[19][20][21]The Kindle 2 features a Freescale 532 MHz, ARM-11 90 nm processor, 32 MB main memory, 2 GB flash memory and a 3.7 V 1,530 mAh lithium polymer battery.[22]
On October 7, 2009, Amazon announced an international version of the Kindle 2 with the ability to download e-books wirelessly. This version released in over 100 countries. It became available on October 19, 2009. The international Kindle 2 is physically the same as the U.S.-only Kindle 2, although it uses a different mobile network standard.
The original Kindle 2 used CDMA2000 for use on the Sprint network. The international version used standard GSM and 3G GSM, enabling it to be used on AT&T's U.S. mobile network and internationally in 100 other countries with Amazon offering free unlimited roaming.[24]
Amazon launched the Kindle DX on May 6, 2009. At 9.7 inches, this device had the largest Kindle screen until the release of the Scribe. The pixel density of 150 ppi was the lowest of any eink Kindle device. It supports displaying PDF files. It was marketed as more suitable for displaying newspaper and textbook content,[25] includes built-in speakers, and has an accelerometer that enables users to rotate pages between landscape and portrait orientations when the Kindle DX is turned on its side.[26] The device can only connect to Whispernet while in the U.S.[27]
On January 19, 2010, the Kindle DX international version was released in over 100 countries.[28] The Kindle DX international version is the same as the Kindle DX, except for having support for international 3G data.
On July 1, 2010, Amazon released the Kindle DX Graphite (DXG) globally. The DXG has an E Ink display with 50% better contrast ratio due to using E Ink Pearl technology and comes only in a graphite case color. It is speculated the case color change is to improve contrast ratio perception further, as some users found the prior white casing highlighted that the E Ink background is light gray and not white. Like the Kindle DX, it does not have a Wi-Fi connection.[29] The DXG is a mix of third-generation hardware and second-generation software. The CPU has the same speed as Kindle Keyboard's CPU, but the DXG has only half the system memory, 128MB. Due to these differences, the DXG runs the same firmware as Kindle 2. Therefore, DXG cannot display international fonts, like Cyrillic, Chinese, or any other non-Latin font, and PDF support and the web browser are limited to matching the Kindle 2's features.
Amazon withdrew the Kindle DX from sale in October 2012, but in September 2013 made it available again for a few months. Using 3G data is free when accessing the Kindle Store and Wikipedia. Downloading personal documents via 3G data costs about $1 per megabyte. Its battery life is about one week with 3G on and two weeks with 3G off. Text-to-Speech and MP3 playback are supported.
Amazon announced the third-generation Kindle, later renamed "Kindle Keyboard", on July 28, 2010.[30] Amazon began accepting pre-orders for the Kindle Keyboard as soon as it was announced and began shipping the devices on August 27, 2010. On August 25, Amazon announced that the Kindle Keyboard was the fastest-selling Kindle ever.[31] While Amazon does not officially add numbers to the end of each Kindle denoting its generation, reviewers, customers and press companies often referred to this Kindle as the "K3" or the "Kindle 3".[32][33][34] The Kindle Keyboard has a 6-inch screen with a resolution of 600800 (167 PPI).[35]
The Kindle Keyboard was available in two versions. One of these, the Kindle Wi-Fi, was initially priced at $139 and connects to the Internet via Wi-Fi networks.[30] The other version, called the Kindle 3G, was priced at $189 and includes both 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity.[30] The built-in free 3G connectivity uses the same wireless signals that cell phones use, allowing it to download and purchase content from any location with cell service.[30] The Kindle Keyboard is available in two colors: classic white and graphite. Both versions use an E Ink "Pearl" display, which has a higher contrast than prior displays and a faster refresh rate than prior e-ink displays. However, it remains significantly slower than traditional LCDs.[36] An ad-supported version, the "Kindle with Special Offers", was introduced on May 3, 2011, with a price $25 lower than the no-ad version, for $114. On July 13, 2011, Amazon announced that due to a sponsorship with AT&T, the price of the Kindle 3G with ads would be $139, $50 less than the Kindle 3G without ads.[37]
3a8082e126