Amazon Kindle review: 2019 Entry-level ebook reader is 'remarkable' for its versatility and value

A svelte device that feels good in the hand and restful on the eyes – but still doesn't beat a real book

The latest Amazon Kindle is a throwback to the first-generation ebook reader from the company (Amazon)

Technology follows regular paths. Such as innovation that delivers convenience first, quality later. First-generation gadgets reveal the promise; real performance arrives with subsequent versions.

I’m saying all this because the latest Amazon Kindle, which goes on sale today and which I’ve been trialling for the last week or so, reminds me of the very first-generation ebook reader from the company.

Perhaps that’s because my review sample, like the original Kindle, first revealed in November 2007, is the white version. But where the first Kindle had a big keyboard and was heavy, this is sleek and light. Oh, and this one has a frontlight so you can read comfortably even in the dark.

The design of the new Kindle is spare and simple: a white frame (it’s available in black as well) with a slightly recessed six-inch display. Recent styling improvements for Kindle have seen a shift to a flush-front, where display and frame are all one. Some Kindles have physical page-turn buttons but here everything is controlled from the touchscreen, apart from the on-off button on the Kindle’s bottom edge.

This new reader joins at the very lowest part of the range. It’s a new entry-level Kindle, costing £69.99, or £79.99 if you choose a model “without special offers”. These are ads which appear on the screensaver only. They’re not intrusive but even if you buy at the cheaper price, you can upgrade to an ad-free experience whenever you like for £10.

The fact is that to have delivered a Kindle with a frontlight for this price is pretty remarkable. In no way does this look or feel like a “cheap” Kindle. The pearl-finish plastic is pleasing to the touch and the device, though thicker than the pricier models in the range, is still svelte and it feels good in the hand.

Incidentally, this model is replacing the previous entry-level Kindle, which was last updated in 2016. There’s no frontlight on that model so it’s not as versatile. However, if that’s not a problem for you, you can snap up the older version for £49.99 right now, but it is being phased out so don’t dawdle.

That frontlight, however, is excellent. Where an iPad or smartphone uses a colour LCD or OLED screen with a backlight that is shining directly into your eyes, the frontlight on the Kindle is created by four LEDs pointing up from the bottom edge of the display frame. If you look closely you can see the four separate lights, but in use the effect is a gentle and even light across the screen.

Because it’s not spraying light directly at you, it’s significantly more restful on the eyes.

That’s true of e-paper generally, the technology used in Kindles and other ebook readers. It’s a black-and-white experience, not colour, so if you’re only interested in coffee-table photographic volumes or gaudy cookbooks, you should look elsewhere.

But e-paper is now so good, it’s a decent alternative to a real book. Well, almost. Nothing beats a real book.

Still, the electronic advantages of the Kindle, like searching by keywords or the utter convenience of packing thousands of books for your holiday reading in a small, flat gadget weighing 174g, are not to be ignored. This is the lightest Kindle in Amazon’s range, by the way.

The screen resolution is the same as on the previous entry-level Kindle, 167 pixels per inch (ppi). This is much lower than on the Kindle’s more expensive siblings, the Kindle Paperwhite and the Kindle Oasis, and no match for pristine ink on real paper, but it’s highly readable and the lower resolution didn’t bother me once.

E-paper used to have an alarming visual effect: page turns would flash the screen black and then back to white every time, which was irritating. Now, though, you rarely see a page turn effect at all when you’re reading a book – the system saves the flashes for menu screens featuring images of book covers, for instance. As such, it’s a rewardingly immersive experience, especially because unlike reading on a regular tablet, there are no distractions from email or other notifications appearing.

Storage on this Kindle is 4GB, less than on the others in the range. That’s enough for literally thousands of books. But this Kindle matches the others in having compatibility with Audible audio titles so you can listen to your books instead. These take up significantly more space, so you may fill it up sooner. Even so, it just means deleting a title before downloading another. No problem if you like to finish one before going on to the next but potentially an issue if you prefer to hop back and forth from one book to another.

You can always download any book again, audio or not, whenever you want.

So, why would you even consider one of the more expensive Kindle readers now this model has arrived? Well, there’s the improved resolution, 300ppi, for a start which does look even better. The Paperwhite and Oasis are both water-resistant so can survive a ducking, which this is not designed to do. Important if you like to read in the bath or poolside.

Mind you, the Oasis with its gorgeous aluminium case can overheat in the sunshine, so extensive reading while sunbathing is sometimes curtailed. So, in this way, the Paperwhite and this Kindle with their plastic casing are supreme.

The Oasis has a larger display – seven inches – crammed into a manageable space thanks to narrow bezels, and physical page turn buttons, which some prefer. And both Paperwhite and Oasis come in two versions in terms of connectivity: wi-fi only or wi-fi plus free 3G or 4G. The extra connectivity is only for downloading purchases, but runs for the lifetime of the product, and means you can buy a new book anywhere there’s a phone signal.

The frontlight is more sophisticated on the other models, five LEDs on the Paperwhite and 12 on the Oasis. The Oasis light adjusts automatically in response to the ambient light, while the Kindle and Paperwhite are adjusted by an onscreen menu.

Storage is also higher on the pricier Kindles, 8GB or 32GB options in both cases.

For all that, this is a highly capable ebook reader that is exceptional value, not least because of that excellent frontlight.