Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2024) review: Why fix what isn’t broken?

This Kindle Paperwhite is the first update in three years to one of our favourite e-readers. Its biggest issue is the 2021 version was so solid, there was only so much for Amazon to improve. So how does this Kindle measure up?

Sure, it does not have the colour display of the Kindle Colorsoft. But that is not a killer feature if you want to primarily read novels rather than graphic novels — and smaller e-readers like the Kindle Colorsoft are not ideal for that job anyway.

As long as you are fine with pure touchscreen-based operation, the 2024 Kindle Paperwhite should be the number one e-reader contender for many, if not most.

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2024) review: What do you get for the money?

There are two key versions of the Kindle Paperwhite, just as there were in the previous generation. The standard edition reviewed here has 16GB storage and costs £160 (£170 without lockscreen ads). The Signature Edition doubles that to 32GB, and adds wireless charging (dock not included) and an automatically adjusting front light. This model costs £190.

The only real reason you might buy the Signature Edition is the latter feature. Storage isn’t an issue for most people, since ebooks don’t take up much storage space, and wireless charging is of limited appeal when you only need to charge every few weeks.

As for the rest of the design and feature set, you’d struggle to tell the difference between Signature and non-signature editions. In fact the latest Kindle Paperwhite isn’t a huge amount different from the 2021 model. It has a slightly larger 7in E-Ink screen, up from 6.8in, and its case is a tiny bit bigger in each direction as well. It measures 127.5 x 7.8 x 176.7mm (WDH) compared with 125 x 8.1 x 174mm for the 2021 Paperwhite. Even side-by-side, though, it’s the slight change in curve contours you’d probably notice more over the size difference.

As before, the screen is flush with the screen bezels and the device is almost entirely touchscreen operated, with the only physical button in evidence on the bottom edge of the device to turn the thing on and off. The option of reducing the amount of blue light your eyes bathe in at bed time is still there from the previous model, but now you have the option to schedule it, so you don’t have to remember to enable it every night and disable it in the morning.

More important than that, perhaps, is that the Paperwhite has IPX8 water resistance. This means it can cope with immersion in water of at least 2m depth. It can’t officially withstand skin broiling 65-degree water temperatures and copious amounts of bubblebath, but the Paperwhite has a much better chance of surviving a bath-time mishap than the basic Kindle.

There’s also Bluetooth here, for streaming of Audible audiobooks to Bluetooth headphones. There is no speaker inside the Paperwhite itself, though. And, finally, it’s available in more colour options this time, with green “jade” and pink “raspberry” available, as well as standard black.

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2024) review: What does it do well?

Improved performance is easily the most noticeable upgrade for this generation. Amazon claims 25% faster page turns. And after directly comparing the Kindle Paperwhite 2024 to the most recent Kindle Oasis, sure, page turns are slightly swifter. This is not what you notice most, though.

The biggest difference is that browsing around the Kindle bookstore is far more pleasant. An E-Ink device is never going to feel as responsive as an LCD or OLED tablet or phone, but this e-reader just feels far less leaden and this extends to navigating around the e-reader’s interface and menus, too.

There’s no great way to benchmark a Kindle’s performance, however I tried the ancient Javascript benchmark, Sunspider 1.0.2, in the Kindle’s browser and it suggests the Paperwhite 2024 is up to twice as fast as both the basic Kindle of 2024 and the 2019 Oasis. Here are the scores (lower is better):

Interestingly, the Kobo Libra Colour trounced the lot with a score of 720ms, but this isn’t really an apples to apples comparison as the Kobo uses a different platform and web browser software.

What is clear is that flicking through those temptingly priced monthly and daily deals at the Kindle Store is more enjoyable now. And this, for those new to a Kindle, is also one thing Amazon gets right. There’s a certain vibrancy to the book-buying experience not replicated on a Kobo e-reader, although Kobo is more lending-library-friendly.

Improved contrast is another claimed improvement in the new Paperwhite. After looking, for quite some time, between the Paperwhite, the Oasis and an even older Kindle Voyage, there’s not a great deal in it, but it’s there. The grey-white page background is fractionally lighter this time around.

Similarly, blacks may appear fractionally darker if you use the dark mode that turns the background black. However, these differences are only noticeable when you switch the screen light off completely and there’s little reason to do this unless you’ll be away from a charger for weeks.

As with the 2021 version, the Kindle Paperwhite (2024) has a beautifully consistent front light, with no blooming or bleed-through to give a clue as to where the light is actually coming from. Amazon uses a light-guide layer that spreads the output of the side-firing LEDs across the screen with the evenness of a master plasterer.

It’s far from the brightest Kindle around, though, and lags behind both the standard Kindle and the 2019 Kindle Oasis. Here are a few test results, for a slice of comparative analysis, although do note that you probably won’t be using it at max brightness very much, if at all:

This is also a good time to note the Kindle Paperwhite will make text appear sharper and clearer than on-trend colour e-readers like the Kindle Colorsoft, Kobo Libra Colour and the Boox Go Color 7. While those models are better at displaying comics and graphics novels, their screens also exhibit a sort of fine diagonal line pattern that is, for now, part and parcel of the colour E-Ink technology.

The Kindle Paperwhite’s grey-white background is beautifully smooth and pure-looking next to the colour crowd.

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2024) review: What could it do better?

There’s a certain stinginess to the Kindle Paperwhite. It isn’t a cheap e-reader, and it also isn’t sold with a case, and the official cases are an overly expensive £37.

Locking out auto screen brightness adjustment to the Signature Edition Paperwhite does not leave the greatest impression, either. The Oasis, Voyage and 2021 Signature Edition had this feature – isn’t it time for it to become a standard Paperwhite feature?

At the time of review the Kindle Paperwhite has also failed to fill out the Amazon e-reader range in the way it might have. Since the Kindle Oasis was discontinued in early 2024, there’s now no Kindle with buttons. There’s no Kindle with a glass (rather than anti-glare plastic) screen cover. There’s no Kindle that actually feels expensive. While the Kindle Paperwhite has a pleasant soft-touch plastic back, it doesn’t have the dense feel of an Oasis or Voyage and that, for me, is a disappointment.

Does it matter in such a utility-led device? Perhaps not. But I miss the buttons, having spent the last couple of months switching between the Oasis, the Kobo Libra Colour and Onyx Boox Go Color 7. All have buttons, unlike the Paperwhite.

Long-time Paperwhite fans may also be frustrated by the lack of major upgrades in this 2024 generation. The Kobo Libra Colour, for example, supports a note-taking stylus. It’s not that much more expensive than the Signature Edition Paperwhite at around £199, and it has a colour screen, too. Is such a move antithetical to what is one of the few great single function tech devices left? We’ll leave you to decide that one.

Finally, as ever, a Kobo is better for anyone outside the US who wants to borrow library books on their e-reader. They support the popular OverDrive lending platform; Kindles do not.

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2024) review: Should you buy one?

One key crowd likely to be interested in the Kindle Paperwhite should probably not buy one: those who own the 2021 Kindle Paperwhite.

While the new model has a larger screen with improved contrast, the cumulative effect is minor. Faster performance is much more welcome, but you feel this more keenly when browsing the Kindle book store than you do when reading and, if you’re spending more doing the former, you’re doing e-readers wrong.

A 2024 Kindle Paperwhite is a much better buy for those new to e-readers, or upgrading from an older model. It has none of the problematic aspects of the first-generation Kindle Colorsoft, and it is a major design step-up from the (still lovely) basic Kindle.