New Kindle Paperwhite is Waterproof

Just in time for summer, Amazon today announced a new version of its Kindle Paperwhite that adds waterproofing. The new Kindle Paperwhite is also thinner and lighter, and it offers more storage than the device it replaces.

“Customers love the Kindle Paperwhite, and we’re excited to bring premium features like a thinner and lighter flush-front design, additional storage, waterproofing, and Audible to our most popular Kindle,” Amazon VP Kevin Keith said in a prepared statement. “We’ve also included six months of Kindle Unlimited for free so you can enjoy even more great content, including books, audiobooks, comics, and magazines. With the all-new Kindle Paperwhite, it’s never been easier to get lost in a story no matter where you go.”

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The new Kindle Paperwhite starts at $129, as before, and is available for preorder now. It ships November 7. There’s also a version with more storage for $159 and up, and a version with LTE connectivity that starts at $249.

I’d love to buy one. But until/unless Amazon’s Kindle devices actually support all of the content that the firm sells—including all periodicals, graphic novels, and the like—I’ll be sticking with the otherwise inferior Kindle app on iPad.

 

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Conversation 24 comments

  • jaredthegeek

    Premium Member
    16 October, 2018 - 12:32 pm

    <p>I go back and forth on the necessity of one of these. The fire tablets are a less than stellar way to read thanks to their shape but they support periodicals. I have toyed with getting an iPad but it would be the only iOS device in my rotation. Unfortunately the Kindle app is terrible on Windows based devices and they do not support periodicals either. I would rather get a Pixel slate but that price is just not worth it and I still can not fathom why you would need a core i7 on a chrome device.</p>

    • skane2600

      16 October, 2018 - 1:50 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#353839">In reply to jaredthegeek:</a></em></blockquote><p>The kindle app on a Windows phone isn't great because occasionally it loses a line of text. On a PC, I would just use the cloud reader unless I couldn't get access to the Internet. My approach is to never use an UWP on Windows if there are web or legacy alternatives. </p>

      • Mike Widrick

        17 October, 2018 - 11:39 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#353871">In reply to skane2600:</a></em></blockquote><p>That's ok, the kindle app was discontinued on Windows anyway.</p>

        • skane2600

          17 October, 2018 - 1:44 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#354205">In reply to solomonrex:</a></em></blockquote><p>A smart decision.</p>

        • Gennaro

          20 October, 2018 - 6:44 am

          <blockquote><em><a href="#354205">In reply to solomonrex:</a></em></blockquote><p>The Kindle app on Windows is well and working, even if I rarely use it</p><p><br></p>

  • wunderbar

    Premium Member
    16 October, 2018 - 12:37 pm

    <p>I love my 2012 paperwhite, and it still works exactly as it did the day I got it…… which is both the blessing and the curse for Amazon here.</p><p><br></p><p>I have zero desire to upgrade, even though I use my kindle almost every day. but, I still buy books so amazon wins either way I guess.</p>

    • matsan

      Premium Member
      16 October, 2018 - 3:31 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#353841">In reply to wunderbar:</a></em></blockquote><p>I bought my first paperwhite in 2013 and had until a flooding of our campsite in late 2017 when I bought a new paperwhite. The upgrade to more pixels and the CPU boost was well worth it. </p><p>However, two devices in 5 years – kudoz to Bezos for that!</p>

  • jbinaz

    16 October, 2018 - 12:41 pm

    <p>Just in time for summer? In the southern hemisphere, I suppose. :)</p>

  • MikeGalos

    16 October, 2018 - 12:46 pm

    <p>Guess that's targeting the Antipodean summer.</p>

  • Davor Radman

    16 October, 2018 - 1:13 pm

    <p>So, how hard is it to load personal 3rd party library to Kindle? Calibre?</p>

    • Boris Zakharin

      16 October, 2018 - 1:21 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#353854">In reply to Markiz von Schnitzel:</a></em></blockquote><p>It's as simple as putting them in the right folder as long as they are in a Kindle-supported format</p>

      • Mike Widrick

        17 October, 2018 - 11:38 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#353858">In reply to bzakharin:</a></em></blockquote><p>And Calibre will convert them, too, though if they're paid DRM, you might need to do some dodgy stuff. iirc at one point B&amp;N books were encoded with your actual CC#.</p>

  • RobertJasiek

    16 October, 2018 - 1:15 pm

    <p>This matters: tiny, bad OS with restrictions. Larger ebook readers by Sony or others have reasonable size for documents but are too restricted, such as only allowing PDF, and they are really expensive. Ebook readers might be attractive but the manufacturers do not get it: create freedom instead of restrictions! I do not buy walled gardens or proprietary standards.</p>

    • skane2600

      16 October, 2018 - 1:46 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#353856">In reply to RobertJasiek:</a></em></blockquote><p>Trade-offs are inevitable. Amazon could offer more functionality at the expense of simplicity. They could make it more open which would require it to be more expensive since the tie-in with "book" purchases subsidizes the cost of the unit. </p>

      • Mike Widrick

        17 October, 2018 - 11:37 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#353869">In reply to skane2600:</a></em></blockquote><p>Don't let them fool you: they make money on the hardware, too. It's not a game console type thing.</p><p><br></p><p>Having said that, I think it's 'open' enough. I use Caliber to load mine with Gutenberg books, which are always shockingly better done than the paid alternatives on Kindle's store. I don't get why no ebook retailer can offer obviously free material in a decent format, in a single place, for a small fee. Of course I'd pay $1 for a well formatted ebook with illustrations or whatever, if it was convenient. Instead, I'm plugging into my gaming PC like it's 1999.</p>

        • skane2600

          17 October, 2018 - 1:42 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#354203">In reply to solomonrex:</a></em></blockquote><p>You're right, it's not like a game console, but what family of game consoles start at anywhere near $80?</p>

  • igor engelen

    16 October, 2018 - 1:31 pm

    <p>But no light temperature control, every modern ereader needs that in my opinion.</p>

  • Skolvikings

    16 October, 2018 - 1:49 pm

    <p>I use a tablet to read the small handful of magazines I look at, and my Paperwhite for the vast majority of books I read.</p>

  • ahajra

    16 October, 2018 - 2:41 pm

    <p>"Just in time for summer"?! Very droll humor if that is what was intended… Unless you meant Summer in the Southern Hemisphere</p>

    • bmatusz

      Premium Member
      16 October, 2018 - 6:52 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#353890">In reply to ahajra:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Sarcasm. Meaning that all of the benefits which would have been valuable over the summer … eh, forget it …</p>

  • Jeff Jones

    16 October, 2018 - 2:50 pm

    <p>Just in time for Summer? Paul, did you move to Australia or Argentina or something?</p>

  • ommoran

    Premium Member
    16 October, 2018 - 4:18 pm

    <p>In Canada the Kobo H2O has been out for about 4 years. It takes everything but Amazon content of course, but that includes Overdrive to support most of the public libraries, along with purchases from our largest bookseller I here. Love the unit a ton.</p>

  • Gennaro

    20 October, 2018 - 6:45 am

    <p>Graphic novels on a kindle are and would be unreadable. Better kindle app or any other format on iPad. Kindle is perfect for other contents though. </p>

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