This device sounds perfect - listen to audiobooks and read books - but the Audible feature is only available in the US. It does not work with Audible.com.au.
The only way to find this out is to call the support line because they do not tell you on the Amazon Australia website or app that they have stripped out this feature!
They said they don’t advertise the feature on the Australian website, but it’s still misleading because everything you read about it touts the Audible feature. Even the kindle user guide the comes on the kindle says it has the Audible feature but this is not true.
It’s also pretty clunky to use. But I could have overlooked that. However to pay this price and not get the features as they do in the US is a very poor customer experience.
I have now looked back through the Kindle Oasis reviews and found Amazon did the same thing there advertising Audible as a feature when it wasn’t available to us. There were lots of bad reviews, so why have they not taken on board the feedback and not misled consumers in Australia?
I bought this for my kids for Christmas. It would have been great if it was as advertised, by allowing them to get the benefit of technology without the downside and distraction of screen time.
The only way to find this out is to call the support line because they do not tell you on the Amazon Australia website or app that they have stripped out this feature!
They said they don’t advertise the feature on the Australian website, but it’s still misleading because everything you read about it touts the Audible feature. Even the kindle user guide the comes on the kindle says it has the Audible feature but this is not true.
It’s also pretty clunky to use. But I could have overlooked that. However to pay this price and not get the features as they do in the US is a very poor customer experience.
I have now looked back through the Kindle Oasis reviews and found Amazon did the same thing there advertising Audible as a feature when it wasn’t available to us. There were lots of bad reviews, so why have they not taken on board the feedback and not misled consumers in Australia?
I bought this for my kids for Christmas. It would have been great if it was as advertised, by allowing them to get the benefit of technology without the downside and distraction of screen time.
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$129.99
- ProsWaterproof. Flat front is easy to clean. Plays audiobooks over Bluetooth. Long battery life.
- ConsDoesn't support Immersion Reading.
- Bottom LineFor $130, the waterproof Kindle Paperwhite offers more for your money than any other ebook reader on the market.
About eBook Formats. One of the questions that we are often asked is, 'what is the best eBook format for Kindle?I'm not always sure what question I'm being asked. Is the person asking to find out what file format they should upload to Amazon?Are they asking what's the best way to make a book for the Amazon-Kindle ecosystem?Really, there are only two eBook formats that are still remaining in.
The first upgrade to Amazon's most popular e-reader in three years, the new Kindle Paperwhite the least expensive waterproof ebook reader on the market. It supports audiobooks and it has a new flat-front design, making it ideal for beach reading. Reading or listening to a book on it is also simply calming, centering, and often joyous. For the price, this is the best Kindle yet, and our Editors' Choice.
- $249.99
- $79.99
- $279.99
- $179.99
- $129.99
Price and Design
The new Paperwhite comes in three models: the default 8GB unit for $129.99; a $159.99 32GB version for people with a lot of audiobooks; and a $249.99 cellular-enabled unit for people who just can't wait to download their next read. (The other two models use 2.4GHz Wi-Fi to download books.)
The reader measures 6.6 by 4.6 by 0.3 inches (HWD) and weighs 6.4 ounces. It's noticeably lighter than the previous Paperwhite (6.7 by 4.6 by 0.4 inches, 7.2 ounces), and it's just a little bit smaller all around, so it doesn't fit into previous-generation cases. There's a range of cases Amazon plans to sell, starting with a $29 water-resistant fabric cover in black, blue, or yellow, and going up to $39 and $59 leather covers.
It has a matte black back and a flat front with no visible buttons; it's entirely operated by touch. (If you want physical page turn buttons, upgrade to the $249 Kindle Oasis.) The power button and micro USB port are on the bottom, like always.
Battery life is the same as before, and highly dependent on backlight usage. Pump it up to max, and you'll get 250 pages or so out of it. Pull it down to half, and there's no problem with 500 to 600 pages. Turn it off entirely, and it can be weeks before you have to recharge.
The user interface is the same as on every Kindle--a mix of your books and Amazon's store interface. There are a few nice new touches, though. Most notably, you can save packages of settings (font, size, spacing) and immediately jump to saved settings using a pop-down menu; that can help in families where different people with different font preferences are using the same Kindle.
Kindle vs. Kobo
In the US, e-readers are pretty much a two-horse race. The two horses used to be Amazon and Barnes & Noble, but the Nook line took a dive on the track. Now it's American thoroughbred Amazon and the Canadian stallion, Kobo.
Amazon owns Audible, the big audiobook company, and Goodreads. Amazon's audiobook experience is, thus, much better than Kobo's. The new Paperwhite will play Audible audiobooks through Bluetooth headphones (I tried two sets and had no issues). If a book supports it, you can also flip back and forth between the textbook and the audiobook, keeping them synced, even if you were listening to the audiobook on another device. Not all books support this (most notably, it didn't work with the new Beastie Boys Book), but it's very convenient when it works (as it did with Mur Lafferty's Six Wakes.)
Left to right: New Kindle Paperwhite, old Kindle Paperwhite
The Paperwhite doesn't support Immersion Reading, Amazon's read-along function where narration plays while it skips across words on the page. That's a pity, but only a tiny one.
As for the Goodreads integration, things you read on a Kindle can get auto-logged in your Goodreads profile, and you can see on the device what the people you follow are reading. I don't care for this, because I use e-readers to get away from social media. But it's a well-done interface if you like to be cheered on with your reading.
Kobo owns Overdrive, the company that lets you borrow e-books from your local public library. Kobo's public library experience is a little better than Amazon's. To borrow a library book with a Kindle, you need to use the Overdrive website with your PC and select the book using a pop-down menu; the site will then wirelessly send the book to you. Your library can just appear as the native store on a Kobo.
The Kindle's main downside is how it's locked into Amazon's store. Amazon's store has everything you'll want to read; it's just the principle of the thing. You'll read books purchased from Amazon, books from Amazon's Kindle Unlimited or Prime Reading subscription libraries, or books from your local public library borrowed via Overdrive. That's a lot of books! But there isn't much of a competitive marketplace for Kindle books. You can reformat other books into Kindle format using Amazon's free email-to-Kindle service or the free Calibre software, but in my experience, they sometimes have weird formatting and spacing errors when you do. Kobo supports more formats, if you get your books from places where they use formats like ePub and PDF.
Other minor quibbles: The backlight, while adjustable, doesn't change color like the cozy blue-to-yellow backlight on Kobo readers. And you should be reading books that are text, not pictures, as a 6-inch screen is just too small for comics or manga. (For manga, we suggest the $279 Kobo Forma; for Western comics, the $329 color Apple iPad.)
Reading Experience
This Kindle Paperwhite offers a nearly ideal reading experience, and certainly the best you'll get at this price. Amazon has bells and whistles, of course. There are a lot of fonts. You can use the X-Ray feature to double-check on the backgrounds of characters mentioned on a page, you can make highlights, and you can consult a dictionary.
I enjoy the backlight, which lets me read while my daughter is falling asleep (though while adjustable, it doesn't change color like the cozy blue-to-yellow backlight on Kobo readers). I like the easy ability to check the table of contents, make a bookmark, or pop back to a previous page because I forgot what happened to a character.
And reading on the Paperwhite is just plain enjoyable. When I use it, I don't open tabs. I don't respond to notifications or get caught in internet rabbit holes, like I'm doing in another window right now as I write this. I don't stress out, very often, about having a low battery, although I do stress out, a little, about whether I can afford the next book I want to buy. (Hooray for Overdrive.)
I just read. That's what a Kindle does. And the $130 Paperwhite brings a fantastic reading experience with just about any feature you can hope for to a price that most people can afford.
Which Kindle Is Right for You?
Kindles have very long replacement cycles, but it's worth looking at a new one now. If you don't have a Paperwhite, or have a very old one, the text on the 300ppi screen is sharper and cleaner here than the text on lower-resolution models. There's still the base $79.99 Kindle out there, but this one is much easier on the eyes.
If you do have a more recent Paperwhite, the new flat front is something to consider here. Older Paperwhites have a recessed screen with a raised bezel around it. That's fine, until you go to the beach. Unless you keep your Kindle in a plastic bag, which a lot of people do, it's easy to get unattractive grains of sand caught in the corners of that bezel. With the flat-front Kindle, sand just rolls off.
So does water, the biggest advance here. Kobo has had a $179.99 waterproof e-reader for a while (the Aura H2O), but up until now, if you wanted a waterproof Kindle, you had to go for the Kindle Oasis. The Oasis is great, but it's $250. You can practically buy a Paperwhite for you and a friend at that price.
For $130, the Kindle Paperwhite offers more for your money than any other ebook reader on the market. It's a great option for just about everyone, and our Editors' Choice.
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2018)
Bottom Line: For $130, the waterproof Kindle Paperwhite offers more for your money than any other ebook reader on the market.
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