With the release of the new Amazon Kindle Oasis, you might be asking yourself which Kindle should I buy? Which Kindle’s the best? There are four main contenders – the Oasis, Voyager, Paperwhite and Original.
Obviously, Amazon would always push the latest model to be the winner of that question. And rightly so, as each new one becomes the best eBook reader they’ve ever released. But is there enough of a difference between them all for you to splash out on the latest model? And what about the poor old original Kindle?
Kindles make incredible gifts, and they always weave their way into gift guides. Before you go straight for the newest one on the market, read on to find out which Kindle is the best one for you (or whoever you’re buying for).
Contents
Which Kindle Should I Buy: The Original Amazon Kindle?
The original Kindle is a classic E-Reader It’s still pretty illustrious considering it’s got three successors to date, but is it worth the money? First let’s look at its pros and cons, and then how it measures up to the other three.
Pros:
- It’s cheaper than the other Kindles; £100 less than the Voyage and £150 than the Oasis!
- It’s got the same screen size as the Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Voyage.
- It’s the lightest of all four models.
- It’s also the smallest in terms of dimensions.
- It has a glare-free screen so that you can read sitting out in the sunlight.
- The battery life and charge time are very similar to the other options.
Cons:
- Weirdly for a Kindle (and for 2014 in general), it doesn’t have a backlight. So, you’ll be doing all your reading under a lamp.
- Reasonably close in price to the Paperwhite, which is miles better regarding readability.
- Has a terrible screen resolution of 167ppi – so words won’t seem as clear, especially if you make the font smaller.
Should I Buy the Original Kindle?
It’s a great little E-Reader, and although it’s not the best Kindle around it is cheap. So, if you’re on a budget then be my guest. If you’re looking for great value though, I think the leap to the Paperwhite is massive in terms of how good it is and low in terms of how much it costs.
It would be great to buy for a child, so they have a bit more freedom with the books available to them before bed, or for an elderly relative taking the first leap into the eBook world.
The fact that it is still on sale despite significant advancements in technology tells you all you need to know, after all.
Which Kindle Should I Buy: The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite?
The Amazon Paperwhite Kindle was the last Kindle released before the Voyage. It has one major difference to the original Kindle; the backlight. This allows the screen to have a much more ‘white’ appearance, making it easier to read on. But is it really worth the higher price tag than the original Kindle? Or would it be much better value for money to go straight for the Kindle Voyage?
Pros:
- The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite has all the same benefits as the original Kindle.
- As a bonus, it has a built-in light. This is different to the backlight you’re used to seeing in phones and tablets – it’s a light on the front that guides brightness across the screen. You won’t need to read next to a lamp, and it won’t hurt or tire your eyes as much as a tablet does.
- The screen resembles paper (in thanks mainly to that backlight). It feels much more like reading a book than the original Kindle does, with whiter pages and darker fonts.
- The screen resolution of 300ppi is huge compared to the Original, and the same as the two newer models.
- You’ve can buy a Kindle Paperwhite with ‘Free 3G’. This means you pay £60 more initially to buy it, but you can connect to the internet for free anywhere that there’s a 3G signal. So, you can still download books while you’re out on the go!
Cons:
- It has varying levels of screen brightness, but this has to be manually adjusted by you. There’s no Auto adjust settings as you’d usually find on a phone or tablet. I know – first world problems – I’m really poking holes at nothing here.
- It’s the heaviest of all Kindle models. Are you really going to notice a few grams worth of difference? Realistically, probably not.
Should You Buy the Kindle Paperwhite?
Yes yes, a thousand times yes. If you’re looking at the original Kindle, and you have the budget to spend the extra money, it’s well worth it for all the additional features. I’d suggest sticking with the Wi-Fi only version, because honestly, how often will you be without wi-fi and need 3G? Thinking about it, you’ll always have wi-fi at home, and in most coffee shops and town centres. For the sake of saving £60 just download all the books you can possibly read at home before you go out!
Which Kindle Should I Buy: The Amazon Kindle Voyage?
The thing that must be considered is whether it is worth paying the extra money for the Voyage over the Paperwhite. The jump between the Paperwhite and the Original was huge – what can be improved this time?
Pros:
- The screen now lies completely flat – there are no dips across the surface. This is something Amazon’s boasting about, but in my opinion, it should’ve been like this from the beginning. Most tablets are completely flat, why shouldn’t an E-Reader be?
- Two dedicated pressure sensors either side for page turning. This means no more tapping the screen one side, only to have the Kindle decide what you really wanted to do was turn the page the other way…
- There’s finally an Auto brightness setting! Instead of having to manually turn the brightness up and down, you can set it to know what intensity you need automatically.
- Ok, this improvement really will impress you. The auto works even better at night; it slowly grows darker and darker the longer you’re reading for, to stop your eyes growing tired when they adjust more to the light. Clever.
- It’s the thinnest Amazon Kindle ever. Though I’m not too sure you’d notice much of a difference from the Paperwhite…
Cons:
- Some people have noted that the new angular design for the back of the device makes it more difficult to hold than the other two.
Should You Buy the Kindle Voyage?
All in all, there is more of an improvement than people expected. Amazon got rid of the little niggles that people found annoying with older models, such as brightness settings and turning the page.
There’s quite a jump in price, but if you’ve got the money, then it could be worth it for a more seamless experience. If you’re looking for value for money, the Paperwhite still comes up trumps. But it’s all about personal preference.
Which Kindle Should I Buy: The New Amazon Kindle Oasis?
By far the most expensive Kindle available – even more costly than a lot of standard tablets and laptops. Is it worth it for a reader, which is such an overall limited product?
Pros:
- 7” glare-free screen – slightly bigger than the other Kindles on the market. This fits 30% more words on the screen, for fewer page turns. The good news is that it still has a 300ppi display for clear text.
- Compatible with Audible, so you can have your books read to you rather than reading them yourself. Compatible with over 200,000 titles. Pair the Kindle with Bluetooth-enabled headphones for a wireless experience.
- Larger storage options available – 8GB or 32GB, rather than previous 4GB models.
- Page turn buttons rather than sensors, which makes telling the reader to do the exact thing much more natural.
- Sturdiest design to date, with the most robust cover glass yet.
- Ergonomic design shifts weight to the centre of your palm for one-handed reading, and you can quickly turn the page with one hand too.
- Waterproof in up to 2 metres of fresh water for up to an hour. Built to cope with being dropped in the pool, hot tub, bath or sea, or water splashes.
Cons:
- Price – undoubtedly, it’s the biggest let-down. The technology is arguably not worth the price, even though it is a massive improvement from the Original model.
- The battery is advertised as lasting up to a week like the older models, but with the likelihood it is continuously connected to Wi-Fi and automatically syncing, this is vastly reduced according to other reviewers.
Should You Buy the Kindle Oasis?
There are vast improvements, but nothing too radical. It still does the same job as the Paperwhite, but with a few extra benefits which will really appeal to some people.
If you are an avid reader or like the idea of the Audible addition, then it could be worth the investment. After all, if Amazon releases another model it is likely it won’t be much better than this.
It would also make an excellent (albeit expensive) gift for that book lover in your life, or the ultimate final sway to push them into converting from books to eReaders. It will undoubtedly work.
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