Kindle Paperwhite 2024 Review: Great, But Upgrades Are Incremental

The Kindle Paperwhite 2024 is an excellent e-reader and an easy recommendation for first-time eBook device buyers – but the justification for those upgrading is less clear.

Pros	Cons
Faster page turning	E-Ink is still the speed constraint on Kindles
Good backlighting	Only comes in black for the regular version
Good battery life (so far)	Comparatively poor value against Signature Edition

Score: 4/5

	Buy The Kindle Paperwhite 2024!	Buy On Amazon

	Buy The Kindle Paperwhite 2024 Signature Edition!	Buy On Amazon

In this review

Kindle Paperwhite 2024 Specifications
Kindle Paperwhite 2024 Design
Kindle Paperwhite 2024 Performance
Kindle Paperwhite 2024 Battery
Kindle Paperwhite 2024 Conclusion

The Kindle Paperwhite 2024 – AKA the 12th Generation Kindle Paperwhite if you want to get generational about it – is… well, it’s a Kindle Paperwhite.

Ever since the line’s inception, it’s been about providing a backlit Kindle with slightly better specifications than the entry-level Kindle, and gradually increasing screen sizes and refresh rates.

The big hook for the 12th generation Kindle Paperwhite is meant to be faster page turning/refresh, and while this is true, making it technically the best Kindle Paperwhite to date… that might not be enough of a reason for existing Kindle owners to update to it, though it does make it a very nice option for anyone replacing a broken Kindle or buying their first eBook reader.

I have, by the way, not been able to test out the entry-level Kindle 2024, but Leigh Stark over at Pickr has; I recommend you go and read his review if you’re more keen on Amazon’s entry-level model:

Also Read
Amazon Kindle 2024 Review (Pickr)

Also, a necessary disclaimer: Amazon provided the Kindle Paperwhite 2024 used in this review by way of providing an order code through Amazon itself, which means I’ve effectively “purchased” it.

As always, whether a product goes back or stays makes no difference to my appraisal of it, but I prefer transparency in these matters to avoid any appearance of impropriety.

Design

Amazon produces two variants of the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite; there’s the entry level model which I’ve tested, which comes in a simple black plastic finish, or the “Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition”, which comes in either a Metallic Black or Metallic Jade finish.

The basic Kindle Paperwhite 2024 comes in black or... black.

Framing aside, both models feature a 7 inch 300ppi display screen, a slight tick up from the 6.8 inch screen found in the 11th generation Kindle Paperwhite models.

The 7 inch size is quite good for displaying text and images on its screen, though there’s no getting past the fact that this is still a device with some quite significant bezels around its display.

E-Reading is convenient, but there's still something truly magical about actual BOOKS.

While I haven’t had issues using it as an e-reader (because, shock horror, it’s an e-reader), I could see an argument for some readers that the width of the Kindle Paperwhite 2024 might be a little much for those with smaller hands.

The Kindle Paperwhite 2024 has only the one button for power, with every other function handled from the touchscreen; this is clearly the way Amazon’s going forward with Kindles as there doesn’t seem to be a new model of the Kindle Oasis on the horizon any time soon.

The Kindle Paperwhite 2024 is also water resistant, with a rating of IPX8, which suggests that you could immerse it in clean lab water and expect it to survive.

I could leave the Kindle Paperwhite 2024 out in the rain. I won't... but in theory I could.

I’m not sure why you would, but the wider point here is more around accidental splashes and the like; this isn’t the Kindle to take on your next scuba diving trip, because such an e-reader does not yet exist at all.

Performance

Amazon’s Kindle is a very well established category, but just in case you’re totally new to it, it’s an e-reader platform primarily designed as a front-end for Amazon’s Kindle eBook store. Outside of importing PDFs, officially speaking Kindles in Australia only really take books from the Kindle store.

Alex’s Aside: Yes, I know, services like Libby can talk to Kindles, but only in the USA; outside of the States while many Australian libraries have Libby support (excellent stuff, by the way, support your local library!) that doesn’t extend to being able to send Libby books to Australian Kindles. I can guess that’s a matter of local lending rights more than anything else.

The idea behind any Kindle is that instead of taking a few kilograms of books on holiday with you, you instead drop the 211g Kindle Paperwhite 2024 in your bag with potentially thousands of books on board. Even more if you opt for the Kindle Paperwhite 2024 Signature Edition, as that doubles the Kindle Paperwhite 2024’s 16GB to 32GB of onboard storage.

The Kindle Paperwhite 2024 also has a rudimentary web browser on board. That’s long been a Kindle feature, and it’s long been a very limited browser, and in 2024 little has changed here.

Can I load AlexReviewsTech on the Kindle Browser? Yes, I can, but it’s not the optimal way to read my content, and if you try more complex web sites, you’re very likely to hit serious problems.

The web browser... functions. Yeah, let's say that.

The key upgrade here is meant to be faster page turning, which essentially comes down to faster refresh of pages. That’s a slightly tricky matter to manage depending on the content you’re looking at; a straight text document will be easier to write than a more complex greyscale comic book will.

However, the Kindle as a device category has some 16 years of history, and that did give me scope for a little side-by-side testing.

A little scurrying around in my device shelves unearthed a Kindle 10th Generation (2019), Kindle Paperwhite 7th Generation (2015) and, because I rarely throw anything out if it’s still working, a Kindle Keyboard (2010).

Kindle family gathering. They always bring books as gifts.

Admittedly, the Kindle Keyboard is quite long in the tooth now; it no longer connects freely to mobile networks or indeed even Wi-Fi ones (believe me, I tried!), but it does take a charge that lasts a couple of days at least, and I can side load compatible books to it with Calibre, so it still counts as “functional”, even though it’s not as functional as it used to be.

Is the Kindle Paperwhite 2024 the best of that bunch? Yes, clearly; the lighting is warmer and nicer and in side-by-side tests – I only have so many hands – it does refresh that little bit faster, though it becomes more and more marginal in my tests as I progressed through the various Kindle generations.

Slightly faster page turns is nice, but it doesn’t actually change the reality of how e-ink works and refreshes.

If you’re a reading afficionado then unless you’re going at a frightening pace, it’s much harder to make the case for an upgrade excluding broken Kindles or Kindles with worn-out batteries. Yes, my Kindle Keyboard is clunky, and that’s the model where I most felt the “difference” in speed and e-ink technology, but I absolutely can still read on it if I choose to.

This is an issue for the value proposition of the Kindle Paperwhite 2024, because while it’s a nice e-reader, if you’ve already got a Kindle and it works, the differences do feel marginal, especially when it’s still feasible to read e-books on a 14 year old model!

Battery

Amazon’s official notes for the Kindle Paperwhite 2024 suggest its battery life should be in months – up to 3 months to be precise.

I’ve been testing it for a little over a week, and while I’m a voracious reader, there was just no way it was going to go flat in that time unless something was critically wrong.

Spoiler: Nothing has gone critically wrong; as I write this it hasn’t even made it through a twelfth of the battery power that it had when I took it out of its packaging, let alone needing recharging.

Even with backlighting, the reason why e-readers use e-ink displays is quite simple; they’re incredibly power efficient because the only time they need to draw power is when you actually change pages; each “printed” e-ink page requires no additional power to stay on the screen.

I will update if it suddenly takes a nosedive in power terms – but I’m very much not expecting it to.

Kindle Paperwhite 2024: Alex’s Verdict

Is the Kindle Paperwhite 2024 worth buying if you need a brand-new e-book reader, whether that’s because you’re new to the category (where have you been?) or your old one actually broke? Yes, absolutely, although at its $299 asking price, I’d suggest it’s a smarter play to drop an additional $30 on the Kindle Paperwhite 2024 Signature Edition, essentially because it’s got double the storage capacity.

However, while I do understand the urge to get something new and shiny to replace your slightly old and slightly dusty Kindle, it’s a lot harder to say that the changes in the Kindle Paperwhite 2024 make it a must-upgrade option.

At $299, I’d wait until your old Kindle gives up the fight – and based on my Kindle Keyboard’s battery resilience, that could be quite a long wait. On the plus side there, that just gives you more time to read.

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Also Read:

Kindle Scribe Review
Amazon finally has a colour Kindle – but you’ll have to wait a while to get a Kindle Colorsoft Down Under

Kindle Paperwhite 2024 (12th Generation):
Pricing and availability

The Kindle Paperwhite 2024 is available in Australia for $299 with 16GB of storage in black only. The Kindle Paperwhite 2024 Signature Edition costs $329 with 32GB of storage and a choice of Metallic Jade or Metallic Black finishes.