Amazon Kindle Vs Paperwhite: Which is Better Budget E-reader?

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This is the comparison between Amazon Kindle and Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. Here, you will get a detailed review of both the E-readers and we hope, you can easily decide which one is the better budget E-reader.

amazon kindle (2)amazon kindle paperwhite (1)
Amazon KindleAmazon Kindle Paperwhite
BUY NOWBUY NOW
PROSPROS
New front light makes the basic Kindle more versatile than ever.
Audible support via Bluetooth.
Massive Kindle library.
Lightweight.
Great screen.
Improved design.
Waterproof.
Audible support.
Slim, light and durable.
CONSCONS
Lowest PPI Kindle display.
Front light is a bit too blue.
No inverted colour accessibility option.
No physical buttons for turning pages.

SPECIFICATIONS:

MODELAMAZON KINDLEAMAZON KINDLE PAPERWHITE
BrandAmazonAmazon
ModelKindleKindle Paperwhite
DISPLAYAMAZON KINDLEAMAZON KINDLE PAPERWHITE
Screen Size6-inch6″ glare-free
TechnologyE InkPaperwhite
Pixel Density167 PPI300 PPI
MISCELLANEOUSAMAZON KINDLEAMAZON KINDLE PAPERWHITE
Features4 LEDs, Built-in front light5 LEDs, IPX8 waterproof, flush-front design
ColorBlack, WhiteBlack, Twilight Blue, Sage or Plum
MEMORYAMAZON KINDLEAMAZON KINDLE PAPERWHITE
Storage8 GB8 or 32 GB
E-BOOK READERAMAZON KINDLEAMAZON KINDLE PAPERWHITE
Supported Text FormatsAZW, AZW3, DOC, DOCX, HTML, MOBI, PDF, PRC (Mobipocket), TXTAZW, DOC, DOCX, HTML, PDF, PRC (Mobipocket), TXT
Supported Still Image FormatsGIF, JPEG, PNGBMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG
Featuresbuilt-in LED reading light3G wireless, Wi-Fi, Touch screen, now with audible
CONNECTIVITYAMAZON KINDLEAMAZON KINDLE PAPERWHITE
Wi-Fi ConnectivityWi-FiWi-Fi or Wi-Fi + Free Cellular Connectivity
DIMENSIONS & WEIGHTAMAZON KINDLEAMAZON KINDLE PAPERWHITE
Width4.5 in4.6 in
Depth0.3 in0.4 in
Height6.3 in6.7 in
Weight6.1 oz6.4 oz
POWERAMAZON KINDLEAMAZON KINDLE PAPERWHITE
Battery Life28 daysSix weeks
FEATURESAMAZON KINDLEAMAZON KINDLE PAPERWHITE
FeaturesPurpose-built for reading with a 167 ppi glare-free display that reads like real paper, even in direct sunlight.

Adjustable brightness lets you read comfortably – indoors and outdoors, day and night.

Unlike a tablet, a single battery charge lasts weeks, not hours.

Read distraction-free. Highlight passages, look up definitions, translate words, and adjust text size – without ever leaving the page.

Kindle Unlimited provides access to millions of books, newspapers, and audiobooks.
Great for travelling with it.

Now waterproof, so you’re free to read and relax at the beach, by the pool, or in the bath.
Now available in Black, Twilight Blue, Plum, or Sage.

Now with Audible. Pair with Bluetooth headphones or speakers to listen to your story.

The built-in adjustable light lets you read indoors and outdoors, day and night.

Detailed Review

INTRODUCTION:

Amazon Kindle

If you love reading then the chances are that you either already own a Kindle or you’re planning on buying one. This Amazon Kindle is the most inexpensive or cheap model of Amazon E-readers. As for the price, this device offers many features for reading. 

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite

The Kindle paperwhite is not only by far the most popular version of all Kindles but also the most popular of all E-readers currently on the market. You can get a basic Kindle for about 90 dollars but the paperwhite will run you about $40 more at just under 130 dollars. Is it worth spending more money on paperwhite?

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DESIGN:

Amazon Kindle

The screen size is 6 inches which I find quite comfortable to read. It’s actually the size of a small ruler. Apart from that, it fits perfectly in the hand and it’s very lightweight. The build quality is also good like the other models of Amazon E-readers. The design is very simple, it’s comfortable to hold, the build is also equally good, there are some good features and I think these all are enough for the price range. 

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite

The Kindle Paperwhite looks and feels slightly more higher-end. The bezels are flush with the screen, this is really nice. Many others including the basic Kindle have raised bezels which adds a bulky plasticky feel. The flush bezels give the Paperwhite a closer look to that of high-end tablets.

The plastic screen is both shatter and scratch-resistant and is able to survive small drops. Now, you can safely read on the beach, poolside, or in the bath and not have to worry. Also, this also means your Kindle will likely survive the occasional accidental drop which happens to all of us, no matter how careful we are.

DISPLAY:

Amazon Kindle

The screen size of this E-reader is 6 inches and which is also glare-free, so you cannot get any glare even you’re reading under the sun. The display is very smooth and accurate to use. For this price range as a budget model, this one works well. 

It has low resolution, so the basic model has comparatively less resolution than its other variations. This one has just 167 pixels per inches. I felt that while reading the book you are not going to feel any such thing, the texts are completely and clearly visible but if you look on to any image like the cover page of any book, then is when you actually feel the resolution.

Kindle does not put so much stress on your eyes. So, Kindle uses an E-ink technology unlike the LCD one which is used in mobile phones, so it does not emit so much light and so it’s not painful for your eyes. Also, there is a front-light feature that makes the basic Kindle a step forward. 

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite

The Kindle Paperwhite has 300 pixels per inch, that’s on the high end of the spectrum for E-readers. When you turn the Paperwhite on, you immediately see how sharp the screen is. The text looks crisp and closer to how it would appear printed on paper which can be how the paperwhite quote-unquote got its name. Anyways, the difference is really noticeable when you’re reading comics or other color graphic novels but if you’re just looking at the text, the higher resolution won’t be as noticeable but it’s always good to have a better screen.

There are five LED built-in lights which means you can read in any kind of lighting situation and you don’t need an external light source to be able to see the words. The LED lights are adjustable to your comfort level, use it in full brightness or you can also turn the lights down until they are all the way off. Normally, when you’re outside, the sun’s glare makes screens on your devices really tough to see but the beauty of the kindle touchscreen E-ink display is that it is completely readable in direct sunlight. There is no more squinting or tilting of your device to try to read the screen. This along with the added LED light feature works really well to handle almost any reading environment you can throw at it.

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FEATURES:

Amazon Kindle

This is the budget version of all the Kindle E-readers. Besides this, E-books on Kindle Store are approximately priced half than the price of the normal paperbacks, so you actually save a good deal on that. So, looking onto that it’s a total value for money.

Kindle comes with a very interesting feature for those who wish to enhance the vocabulary and that is vocabulary built. Why are you reading an e-book on Kindle? You can make easy simultaneously take a look at its meaning because Kindle has a pre-installed oxford dictionary. Vocabulary builder creates an inventory of all search words that you have looked for in the past reads and once you are done, you can actually access that inventory anytime and that really builds up on your book.

Also, there is a function called ‘highlight’. This function also allows you to highlight a set of words, a line, or a paragraph that you like while reading the book. But what sets it apart is, there is a document created of all those highlighted paragraphs and lines and you can take a look at them later. So, I feel that this allows you to create a good inventory of all the codes that you liked.

Another cool feature by Amazon Kindle is the voice screen reader. So, this one is like any other audio technology wherein the software reads whatever is written on the screen including any book that you have opened but one point here, unlike mobile phones Kindle does not have a speaker of its own. So, if you want to listen to a book you would have to connect a speaker with your Kindle through the Bluetooth function. So, next time you don’t feel like reading a book you can listen on to one.

There are some things that are not enough in this basic model and that may be the reason why you would want to get an updated model instead. This basic one only has 8 GB as storage and even that is not completely available to you. So, there may be a point when you have downloaded a lot many books and you would have to delete some from your inventory. It is not water-resistant, especially for people like who keep on spilling liquids here and there, it will be a great problem. Also, there is only a Wi-Fi model and there is no cellular network.

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite

The base storage is 8 gigabytes with the option for a 32-gigabyte model. If you want the 32-gigabyte model, it’ll run you an extra $25 but we don’t think memory will be much of a problem since E-book files are usually tiny and if you’re buying from Amazon, they can be stored in the cloud when you’re not actively reading them anyway. However, the storage space may become more of a concern if you plan to listen to audiobooks through Audible.

The great thing about Kindles is that if you’re using audible, you can switch seamlessly between reading and listening to your Bluetooth enabled speakers or headphones. You can read if you want and when it’s not convenient, you can just choose to listen to your audiobooks. Another major upgrade you can get with a Paperwhite is the addition of cellular connectivity. For most people, this probably isn’t worth it but if money isn’t an issue then having cellular data does mean you can buy and download E-books anytime anywhere and you won’t be limited to only just Wi-Fi.

The extremely useful feature you’ll love about the kindle paperwhite is it’s also waterproof. It’s IPX8 rated meaning it can survive being submerged up to two meters deep for up to sixty minutes. Although we wouldn’t recommend you go swimming with it, it’s good to know it can take a drop into the water and survive.

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PERFORMANCE:

Amazon Kindle

The performance of this E-reader is also great considering the price. Everything is the same as the Kindle Paperwhite other than some extra features like more resolution, waterproof features, and many more. But the E-readers performs well, It’s excellent for reading in this price range. Each feature in this device works well and it’s very easy to use. 

All in all, I felt that this one is a great buy and if you can actually overlook three shortcomings, then you can also go for the budget one because this one is a great blend of budget pricing along with the good features.

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite

There are lots of extra features if you compare the Paperwhite with the basic Kindle model. Every feature works great and summing up all these, this device worth the price. As an E-reader, this Paperwhite screen is great to read unlike normal tablets or mobile phones. The resolution is also higher than the basic Kindle which is also a plus, it gives good clarity and clear texts.

This E-reader is more like a paper than the normal device. The text and image are more clear and great for reading. Each and every feature of this E-reader like changing fonts, fonts size, and many more things work great. As this is light and regular size, it fits easily in the hand. Overall, performance-wise, it’s worth the price. 

BATTERY:

Amazon Kindle

Kindle is known for its long-lasting battery life. Even if you are a very regular reader, then you can easily do with charging the battery once in a week which is pretty good. Even the high-end model of Amazon Kindle uses the Micro USB for charging, so obviously this one uses the same thing for charging.

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite

If you forget to turn it off or maybe you just fell asleep reading, the Kindle will go to sleep to preserve battery. The battery, this is where all Kindles shine but especially the paperwhite. Technically, it’s about 28 hours of total use per charge. So, if you read about 30 minutes per day, you’ll get up to six weeks of reading on a single charge.

We want to point out that Amazon no longer includes a power adapter just a cable but you can use any USB phone charger and since you only need to charge it up every few weeks, we don’t think the omission of a charger here is a big deal.

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WHICH TO BUY?

The Amazon Kindle basic model is the cheapest model in all the Kindles and the Paperwhite is middle of both the Basic Kindle and Oasis. I think the Kindle Paperwhite will be better to buy and it’s worth the extra dollars but if you don’t have a little bit more budget then basic Kindle is also good to buy without any extra features. The Kindle Paperwhite cost about 120 dollars which is about $40 more than the basic Kindle or similarly priced competitors but you get a sharper screen, more storage, a slightly higher-end design, water resistance, a better front light, and potentially cellular connectivity if you opt for the top model.

If you like to read in the bath around the pool or any other body of water the waterproofing makes the Kindle worth the investment. The same goes if you’re a big audible user and want a dedicated device that’s not your phone. No other company out there can match Amazon’s massive library of content. If you don’t own a Kindle already or are upgrading from a much older or entry-level Kindle, the Kindle Paperwhite is easy for us to recommend.

 

Expert Reviews of Amazon Kindle:

By Techradar
It’s by no means the best ereader money can buy, but introducing a backlight to the cheapest Kindle means it’s now much more difficult to justify buying a more expensive, top-end ereader. If you’re always reading, the Kindle Paperwhite…

By Businessinsider
The entry-level Kindle is a fine choice for people who are looking to save some money and those who are trying ebooks…

By Wired
In terms of giving you a pleasurable reading experience, reading on the new Kindle feels a lot like reading on my old Paperwhite. No, it’s not waterproof, which is possibly the most exciting feature to have come out on a Kindle…

By Theguardian
With the Kindle 9, Amazon has stripped away another reason to buy the more expensive Paperwhite. The frontlight makes the basic Kindle more versatile than ever, meaning you can read in pretty much any lighting…

By Trustedreviews
If you simply can’t put a good book down, night or day, the new Kindle is the best budget e-reader available…

Expert Reviews of Amazon Kindle Paperwhite:

By Reviewed.com
Great eReader, but battery life is a concern. Overall, a very impressive fielding from Amazon in the eReader department. Not only does the Kindle Paperwhite enjoy all the same content availability and support as the other Kindles, but it is the…

By Techradar
It’s a conservative upgrade but the new screen makes this the best Kindle Paperwhite yet, with a brilliant balance of price and…

By Tom’sguide
The all-new Kindle Paperwhite retains the great features of its predecessor, but sports a sharper screen and advanced typesetting that makes reading easier than it ever has…

By Expertreviews
Finally, it’s worth noting that as usual there are both Wi-Fi and 3G models available. With the increased proliferation of Wi-Fi and smartphone-created hotspots I’m not sure who really needs the 3G version and at £150 it’s an expensive convenience. Both…

By Theverge
Here’s how I read on a tablet: I open the Kindle app. I read for somewhere between four and nine seconds. A notification pops up: I have a new email or someone tweeted a funny link at me. I tap on that notification, and check out whatever’s come in. I…