The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is the world’s most popular e-reader. Amazon has a stranglehold in the United States with an estimated 75% market share; in the United Kingdom, it is close to 90%. Amazon released their latest generation, Kindle Paperwhite, a week ago, and customers are already raving about it. How does this new model compare to the previous generation, and should you upgrade?
Kindle Paperwhite 11th Generation
The Kindle Paperwhite 5, or the 11th generation Kindle Paperwhite, came out in 2021 and is getting slightly old. The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 11th generation features a 6.8-inch E INK Carta 1200 touchscreen display with a resolution of 1236 x 1648 and 300 PPI. This e-reader has warm and cool lights for reading at night. The Paperwhite 5 has 17 white and amber LED lights, allowing users a candlelight effect.
Underneath the hood is an MT8113 SOC 1 GHZ processor, 512MB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. You can connect it to your MAC or PC via USB-C to charge or transfer digital content. One of the big draws of the Kindle Paperwhite 5 is purchasing Audible audiobooks right on the e-reader and connecting a pair of wireless headphones or an external speaker. This is because it is running Bluetooth 5.0. The sound quality is excellent, but it entirely depends on the quality of Bluetooth accessories. It is rated IPX8 to protect against accidental immersion in up to two meters of fresh water for up to 60 minutes and up to 0.25 meters of seawater for up to 3 minutes. This is useful if you are reading in the bathtub or spill something on the Kindle; you can run it under tap water to clean it without worrying about damaging it. What is interesting about the USB-C port is that it has moisture-detection capabilities. If the device is wet, a notification will appear on the screen, and you cannot charge your Kindle until it is dry. Amazon says you can still use your Kindle after getting a liquid detection notice, but you just won’t be able to charge it. The battery will last around ten weeks, which is solid for an e-reader. It is powered by a 1700 mAh battery, has a diameter of 124.6 x 174.2 x 8.1 mm, and weighs 205g.
Kindle Paperwhite 12th Generation
The Kindle Paperwhite 12th generation features a 7-inch E INK Carta 1300 e-paper display with a resolution of 1264×1680 with 300 PPI. The new e-paper display uses an oxide thin-film transistor that gives it the highest contrast ratio of any Kindle, so text and images pop on the screen. The device is 25% faster when scrolling through a library or zooming through pages. If you like to read at night, the front-light system has undergone a revision and now has 10 White LEDs and 9 Amber LEDs. If you buy the Signature Edition of this model, it comes with an ambient light sensor that will automatically adjust the brightness of the lights based on your environment. This is similar to the iPhone with its auto brightness. On max brightness, you should get around 24 nits.
The Kindle Paperwhite runs a Mediatek dual-core 1GHZ processor; the previous Paperwhite only had a single-core processor. Peter and I noticed that this is the fastest Kindle that Amazon has ever made. It has 512MB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. The Signature Edition has 32GB of storage. For those who like to read in the bathtub, it is rated IPX8 so that it can be submerged in freshwater for up to 60 minutes. If you have it in salt water, washing it underneath fresh water, such as a tap, is essential. It has Bluetooth 5.1 for listening to Audible audiobooks via wireless headphones or earbuds. Thanks to the wifi internet, you can buy and read Kindle books and Audible audiobooks on the device. It officially supports 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz networks with support for WEP, WPA, WPA2, WPA3, and OWE security using password authentication or Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS).
A USB-C port is available for charging; it is powered by a 1,900 mAh battery, suitable for up to 12 weeks of usage. The battery life heavily depends on how much you read daily, if the light is on, if WIFI is connected, etc. The previous Kindle Paperwhite had a smaller 1700 mAh battery and was only good for 10 weeks. The dimensions are 5” x 7” x 0.3” (127.6 x 176.7 x 7.8 mm) and weighs 7.4 oz (211g)
The Comparison
The Kindle Paperwhite 12th generation checks all the right boxes. It uses a better EINK panel, a faster processor, a larger screen and a more capable battery. The results are precise even with a recent firmware update for the 11th generation, which puts page-turn speed on even polarity. The Paperwhite 12th generation is the better buy, even if you are upgrading from the 11th generation, and it is a monumental e-reader if you have an older Kindle.
I like the larger screen and responsiveness of the new Kindle. I only read digital books on the Kindle; I don’t listen to audiobooks or read manga or comics. However, buying this content directly from Amazon will give you a better experience than sideloading this stuff as a PDF file.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.