Amazon Announces ‘Completely Redesigned’ Kindle Lineup

In a post published last week, Amazon announced what it described as a “completely redesigned” family of e-readers.

The post was written by Kevin Keith, Amazon’s vice president of devices.

“The team redesigned the new family of devices from the ground up, beginning with a newly designed reverse stack display construction—a first for the e-reader category,” Keith wrote in the announcement on Thursday. “Every device now features a flush-front display—no raised border interrupting the reading surface. Just a seamless edge-to-edge display for an uninterrupted page and thinner, more portable device. The physical color of each device now wraps seamlessly from front to back. That means the color you choose is visible whether the Kindle is on a café table, a nightstand, or tucked in a tote bag. The lineup introduces stylish new colors: Ube (a rich purple), Alpine Sky, Seaglass Green, and Graphite, and brings Fig to e-readers for the first time.”

Of the models, the Paperwhite is most interesting to me. Amazon says the new version, which comes with 16GB storage and costs $199, is thinner and lighter than the model it replaces and features an astounding 12 weeks of battery life. On the display technology, the company notes it uses “an oxide-thin film transistor backplane and is the largest Kindle Paperwhite display with the highest contrast ratio—delivering deep blacks and crisp text, and images that pop off the screen, whether you’re reading in bright sunlight or under the covers at night.”

The Paperwhite Signature Edition, with 32GB storage, is priced at $249.

My last experience with a Paperwhite was using the 2018 10th generation. I liked it a lot, and the battery life was tremendous, but eventually switched back to Apple Books on iPadOS because of the sharper and more colorful—albeit wholly different technology—display. In fact, reading books is one reason I’m so very excited for the new OLED-equipped iPad mini that’s purportedly launching next week. As someone who primarily uses my 13” M4 iPad Pro for reading, it should be a real treat to have an OLED screen in a form factor I truly adore. In my experience, the iPad Pro, meanwhile, is just too unwieldy for me to hold during relaxed, prolonged reading sessions sitting on the sofa.

Kudos to Amazon for giving accessibility a shoutout on its new Kindle page.