An updated Paperwhite has finally arrived, but it looks like being worth the wait. A slew of upgrades include many of the most-requested features, all without a significant price rise.
You will pay more for the brand-new Signature Edition, which adds a couple of extra features to bridge the gap between the Paperwhite and premium Oasis lines. There’s also a new Kids Edition for younger readers.
Pre-orders for all three are live now, with the standard and Kids models going on sale on 27 September. You’ll have to wait slightly longer for the Signature Edition – that’ll be available from 10 November.
Here’s the full breakdown when it comes to pricing for the 2021 Kindle Paperwhite devices:
Kindle Paperwhite – £129. 99/US$139. 99 (with ads), £139. 99/US$159. 99 (without ads)Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition – £179. 99/US$189. 99 (without ads)Kindle Paperwhite Kids – £139. 99/US$159. 99 (without ads)
The standard Paperwhite is around £10/US$10 more expensive than the 2018 model. 32GB of storage is now exclusive to the Signature Edition – that’ll also cost you around £10/US$10 than the 32GB regular model from 2018. The brand-new Paperwhite Kids will set you back significantly more than the £99.99/US$109.99 Kindle Kids.
Battery life has also been improved – you can now supposedly get up to 10 weeks from a single charge, instead of up to 8 on the 2018 Paperwhite. However, do bear in mind that figure is based on 30 minutes of reading per day, with wireless connectivity turned off and brightness set to 13.
On paper, the new Kindle Paperwhite devices compare favourably to the existing entries in our best eReader chart. But will they be as impressive in real-world usage? Only time will tell.
As the resident expert on Windows, Senior Staff Writer Anyron’s main focus is PCs and laptops. Much of the rest of his time is split between smartphones, tablets and audio, with a particular focus on Android devices.
