Amazon has just announced a refresh to their entry level Kindle. It is available for pre-order today and will start shipping on October 12th, 2022. It will retail for $99.99, which is tremendously affordable. This is the first time there is a new Kindle since the previous generation came out in 2019. The big selling points are the 300 PPI display, which the previous generation only had 127 PPI, so this is a huge jump in pixel density. It has 2x the storage, with 16GB, which is useful for buying and listening to to Audible audiobooks. The Kindle finally has USB-C charging, and longer battery life. The built-in adjustable front light, and the newly added dark mode feature, lets you read comfortably indoors and outdoors any time of the day. This Kindle uses 30-75% recycled plastics and 90% recycled magnesium and has 100% recyclable device packaging.
The base model Kindle has a six inch capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 1448X1072 with 300 PPI. . It has a sunken screen and bezel design, so fonts will look razer sharp. When reading outdoors, the screen will not have any glare from the sun. It is packing in four white LED lights to power the front-lit display, which will allow you to read in the dark.
The all-new Kindle was designed with sustainability in mind and carry the Climate Pledge Friendly badge, acknowledging further reduction in carbon emissions from previous product generations. It is thoughtfully sourced and built with 90% recycled magnesium. Plus, following our goal to make Amazon device packaging 100% recyclable by 2023, for the first time ever, Kindle device packaging is 100% recyclable in the U.S. and is also made of 100% wood fiber-based materials from responsibly managed forests or recycled sources. In addition, Kindle accessory covers follow suit with packaging made from 99% wood fiber-based materials.
Underneath the hood is a 1 GHZ single core processor, 512GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. It finally has a USB-C cable, so this will be used for charging the battery via wall outlet or your computer. Users will also be able to sideload in their own digital books with Windows Explorer or with a 3rd party program such as Calibre. When it comes to battery life, a single charge lasts up to six weeks, based on a half hour of reading per day with wireless off and the light setting at 13. Battery life may vary depending on use. Audible audiobook streaming over Bluetooth will reduce battery life. Users will be able to browse the internet with the Kindle Experimental Browser or buy ebooks from the Amazon bookstore and Audible audiobook store. The dimensions are 6.2” x 4.3” x 0.32” (157.8 x 108.6 x 8.0 mm). and and weighs 5.56 oz (158 g).
If you want to load in your own books, the Kindle supports a myriad of formats. Kindle Format 8 (AZW3), Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, PMP, EPUB, TXT, RTF through conversion; Audible audio format (AAX). The all-new Kindle will be available starting at $99.99 in 16GB and in Black or Denim colors. New fabric covers for Kindle will be available in Black, Rose, Denim, and Dark Emerald. You can also pre-order this from the Good e-Reader Store.
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.