Amazon introduces waterproof Kindle Paperwhite with better display, audiobook support

Posted:
in General Discussion edited October 2018
One of Amazon's dedicated e-readers, the Kindle Paperwhite, received a major upgrade on Tuesday, gaining features like waterproofing, an enhanced display, and audiobook support.

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2018


The new e-paper display is still black-and-white, but sharper at 300 pixels per inch, with a flush design. As usual the signature feature of the Paperwhite is its built-in lighting, which makes it easier to read indoors or at night than basic Kindle models. That feature has been tweaked to be 10 percent brighter at its highest setting.

Customers of Amazon's Audible can finally listen to synced audiobooks, as long as they have Bluetooth headphones or speakers. One perk is that progress will sync with the Kindle edition of a book, so people can switch back and forth between text and audio.

Accordingly the Paperwhite now comes in 8- and 32-gigabyte versions. Amazon is simultaneously updating its OS with additions like up to five profiles, each of which can have their own font and orientation settings. While these can be used for separate people, they're mainly intended for different scenarios, for example making text easier to read when using gym equipment.

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2018


Preorders for the 2018 Paperwhite are underway, with an expected Nov. 7 ship date. Prices can vary considerably -- the base model costs $129.99, but is limited to Wi-Fi and 8 gigabytes of storage, and comes with lockscreen ads. Removing ads costs an extra $20.

A top-end $249.99 model is not only ad-free with 32 gigabytes of storage, but includes free LTE cellular for remote sync.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    dunksdunks Posts: 1,254member
    It looks like a nice device. Add some physical page turn buttons and it would be perfect. It's annoying that audiobooks and Libby are only supported in the US region. Geo-blocking, ruining life since forever.
    williamlondonireland
  • Reply 2 of 10
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,714member
    Another item to add to my Black Friday watch list.
  • Reply 3 of 10
    As far as dedicated book reading hardware goes, these are pretty nice.
  • Reply 4 of 10
    irelandireland Posts: 17,799member
    dunks said:
    It looks like a nice device. Add some physical page turn buttons and it would be perfect. It's annoying that audiobooks and Libby are only supported in the US region. Geo-blocking, ruining life since forever.
    Wait... no audiobooks? WTF is up with that? How about text to speech, can it read a text book to you like Kindles of old? I have a 3rd gen Kindle, a Kindle keyboard, and was wondering in what ways might this version differ and improve upon it. I’m somewhat dyslexic, so I would certainly need text to speech when I get tired of reading. Improved over years, but still need the feature. If it has said feature what might the quality of speakers be like for this feature compared to my Kindke keyboard in terms out of clarity and output? And is battery life improved or worse? Backlight real world use UX? Downloads of backlight feature of other features? Other improvements?
    edited October 2018
  • Reply 5 of 10
    MercFredisMercFredis Posts: 1unconfirmed, member
    Your article states: "The new e-paper display is still black-and-white, but sharper at 300 pixels per inch, with a flush design." The last generation of Kindle Paperwhite was also 300 ppi; there is no increase in resolution.
    irelandwilliamlondon
  • Reply 6 of 10
    zimmiezimmie Posts: 651member
    dunks said:
    It looks like a nice device. Add some physical page turn buttons and it would be perfect. It's annoying that audiobooks and Libby are only supported in the US region. Geo-blocking, ruining life since forever.
    I quite like the strain sensors used in the Voyage. They also wouldn't compromise the sealing.

    ireland said:
    dunks said:
    It looks like a nice device. Add some physical page turn buttons and it would be perfect. It's annoying that audiobooks and Libby are only supported in the US region. Geo-blocking, ruining life since forever.
    Wait... no audiobooks? WTF is up with that? How about text to speech, can it read a text book to you like Kindles of old? I have a 3rd gen Kindle, a Kindle keyboard, and was wondering in what ways might this version differ and improve upon it. I’m somewhat dyslexic, so I would certainly need text to speech when I get tired of reading. Improved over years, but still need the feature. If it has said feature what might the quality of speakers be like for this feature compared to my Kindke keyboard in terms out of clarity and output? And is battery life improved or worse? Backlight real world use UX? Downloads of backlight feature of other features? Other improvements?
    The Kindle Touch (launched in late 2011) was the last Kindle with internal speakers. As far as I am aware, the Kindle Keyboard was the last one with a headphone jack. There is an "Audio Adapter" for the Paperwhite 3, Oasis, and later models which plugs into the USB port and activates the device's text-to-speech interface. It can't be used for audiobooks. The Kindle 8, Oasis 2, and Paperwhite 4 have Bluetooth both for text-to-speech and for audiobook playback.
  • Reply 7 of 10
    irelandireland Posts: 17,799member
    zimmie said:
    dunks said:
    It looks like a nice device. Add some physical page turn buttons and it would be perfect. It's annoying that audiobooks and Libby are only supported in the US region. Geo-blocking, ruining life since forever.
    I quite like the strain sensors used in the Voyage. They also wouldn't compromise the sealing.

    ireland said:
    dunks said:
    It looks like a nice device. Add some physical page turn buttons and it would be perfect. It's annoying that audiobooks and Libby are only supported in the US region. Geo-blocking, ruining life since forever.
    Wait... no audiobooks? WTF is up with that? How about text to speech, can it read a text book to you like Kindles of old? I have a 3rd gen Kindle, a Kindle keyboard, and was wondering in what ways might this version differ and improve upon it. I’m somewhat dyslexic, so I would certainly need text to speech when I get tired of reading. Improved over years, but still need the feature. If it has said feature what might the quality of speakers be like for this feature compared to my Kindke keyboard in terms out of clarity and output? And is battery life improved or worse? Backlight real world use UX? Downloads of backlight feature of other features? Other improvements?
    The Kindle Touch (launched in late 2011) was the last Kindle with internal speakers. As far as I am aware, the Kindle Keyboard was the last one with a headphone jack. There is an "Audio Adapter" for the Paperwhite 3, Oasis, and later models which plugs into the USB port and activates the device's text-to-speech interface. It can't be used for audiobooks. The Kindle 8, Oasis 2, and Paperwhite 4 have Bluetooth both for text-to-speech and for audiobook playback.
    The Kindle keyboard has a speaker. Source: I own one.

    Does this new Paperwhite have any speakers? How dumb can Amazon be. “Keep your story going when your cooking”. People love on-device speakers and despite them typically not being surperb, having them there for when you need them is completely necessary. Also, they want extra money for a power plug? €20. That’s Apple-level cheeky.

    Thats some product they are shipping: plastic construction, no power plug, no headphone jack, no speaker and ads on the home screen. Garbage.

    Pay to get rid of ads and add a power plug and this little plastic book reader costs €181, and it has no speaker? What a shitty deal. That explains why Bazos is the richest man in the world, I guess.

    I wouldn’t mind, but Amazon don’t have the first clue how to do good software and their hardware is only passable. Looks like I’ll keep going with my Kindle keyboard. It has a handy speaker and it will cost me €0 to do so.
    edited October 2018 claire1
  • Reply 8 of 10
    claire1claire1 Posts: 510unconfirmed, member
    I think Kindle is secretly being abandoned. been waiting too long for a good update and we get this crap.

    Boy I wish the next iPads have an e-reader mode.
  • Reply 9 of 10
    irelandireland Posts: 17,799member
    claire1 said:
    I think Kindle is secretly being abandoned. been waiting too long for a good update and we get this crap.

    Boy I wish the next iPads have an e-reader mode.
    It would be awesome for Apple to address this problem going forward. I know it might be expensive to have a document and reader e-ink type mode iPads could switch to, for the pages of a novel, for example. To be able to switch to reader mode and be able to have the battery last days, they too would be amazing.
  • Reply 10 of 10
    19831983 Posts: 1,225member
    Amazon’s Paperwhite Kindle’s are an excellent design for what they are. An Amazon original like the iPhone and iPad are to Apple. 
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