This past weekend Amazon accidently added entries for the upcoming the Kindle Paperwhite 5 and Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition. These new devices were added to the product comparison chart to the Amazon Kindle Basic and Kindle Oasis product entries in Canada and Mexico. Good e-Reader broke the worldwide exclusive and many outlets picked up on it, such as CNN, CNET, Engadget, Slashgear and a myriad of others. It looks like due to all of this media attention, Amazon released that they were not ready to officially announce it yet and have totally disabled the entire product comparison chart, rather then just remove the new Paperwhites.
The new Kindle Paperwhite 5 and Paperwhite 5 Signature Edition will both employ an 6.8 inch screen with 300 PPI and the screen will be flush with the bezel. They will have 17 white and amber LED lights, so you will be able to use the typical front-lit display, and it also has the same color temperature system the Kindle Oasis 3 employs. This lighting system is a huge upgrade, the Paperwhite 4 only had 5 LED lights. The Signature Edition will have Auto-adjusting light sensors, so they will automatically change the brightness of the screen, based on the environmental lighting. It will also have wireless charging capability and Amazon will be selling a new kit. You will be able to connect to WIFI to purchase audiobooks and ebooks on the Amazon bookstore.Â
Many sources in the industry have disclosed to Good e-Reader that the Signature Edition will either have manual page turn buttons, or come with an exclusive case, that has page turn buttons built into it. Since the product pages are not live, we do not know if Amazon will continue to use the Micro USB port, or if they will gravitate towards USB-C. USB-C would make sense due to the Fast Charging capability.
The Kindle Paperwhite 5 will retail for $149 CAD for the 8GB model and $209.99 for the Kindle Signature edition in Canada. The prices will likely be different in other markets.
Update: Amazon sent out a press release, and announced the new products – Read all about it.
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.
