I like reading, I've usually got a couple of books and a magazine or three on the go at once. I travel with my work and we (the family) like a weekend away. Carting books all round the place isn't very convenient and travelling light family trips preclude multiple books.
Step in the Kindle! It's a digital reader with a 150mm screen, 11.5GB of usable storage, a backlight & a battery that lasts for months.
This my second Kindle, I upgraded from the original Kindle with the keyboard at the end of 2024. Kindle 1 still works fine, but I often read in bed so the lack of a backlight was a chore.
The library screen on my Kindle. I'm pretty sure everyone knows what a Kindle is, so there's no point me going over that.
The screen is an e ink LCD so it's slower than your phone screen but it's primary purpose is as a reading device, so it's fine. It's a touch screen and the only physical button is the power button. I miss the physical next/previous page buttons from Kindle 1, swiping or clicking the screen is fine, but a button is better. That's progress I guess.
Kindle screen.
The screen is nice and clear, the edges of the text on screen are crisp and the screen is free from stray e ink blobs unluss you zoom right in. The backlight has 25 levels, so it's simple to find a level that suits the reading environment. The backlight does reduce battery life at high brightness. In my bedroom level 6 is the perfect brightness, and my battery lasts for months. Plus it's USB C rechargable, so there's always a cable handy.
Kindle screen up close.
The device will happily read books you purchase from Amazon in their proprietary format, if you have a book in another format, then Amazon provide a send to kindle site which allows you to upload books to your device. It's a bit of a faff that it's locked to the Amazon ecosystem and you have to upload books that way rather than a cable. But needs must.
Amazon send to Kindle.
Overall I like the device, I wish it was less faffy to upload books in other formats and I wish it had physical page turn buttons. Unfortunately my device has a version of firmware which has yet to be cracked, so I'm stuck with the Amazon interface. I keep it in airplane mode in the hope that one day winterbreak will work for it.
Pros Great reader · Clear backlit screen · Battery life
