Kindle (2022) Review

Full review

The Amazon Kindle is the latest version of the popular entry-level Kindle.

Design

The Kindle 11 is a smaller and lighter ereader than its predecessor. It weighs only 160g and measures a meager H158 x W109 x D8mm. Held in your hand, this feels about the perfect weight for an ereader, yet it is also reassuringly solid. It cannot compare with other ereaders in terms of looks, with a grey surround that could be more exciting, but the Kindle is not about sleek style and fancy features.

It has a 6-inch, 300 ppi, 16-level greyscale anti-glare E-ink display, which is still perfect for reading even in bright sunlight. Letters appear clear and crisp, and the contrast is superb.

Ease of use

Page turns are achieved via touchscreen, as there are no physical buttons on the front for turning pages. But it's still very easy to use and navigate through your reading material.

A selection of nine font families is available, including well-known fonts like Caecilia, Helvetica, and Futura. Additionally, a font called OpenDyslexic is specifically designed to help improve text readability for individuals with dyslexia.

Content

Amazon still has by far the largest database of ebooks available, with a good amount of free content on offer too. Amazon's ecosystem is a significant strength for the company. With millions of books available for purchase in their Kindle e-book store, there's plenty of reading material for anyone with a Kindle device. And if you're a Prime subscriber, you get even more benefits, like access to a rotating collection of books and magazines through Prime Reading. If you're a ravenous reader, consider subscribing to Kindle Unlimited, which gives you access to an even more extensive library of books at no extra cost.

Connectivity

It's great to hear that the new model has a USB-C port. A universal charging cable is always a plus, especially since many devices are moving towards this standard. There is also Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity available.

Battery & storage

While the battery life of 6 weeks may not be as long as the Kindle Paperwhite's 10-week battery life, it should be more than enough for most people's needs.

Amazon has now doubled the storage on the Kindle to a very generous 16 GB of storage, and well over half of this is available for ebooks. Amazon claims this is enough to store 1000+ ebooks on, and they also offer a service to store ebooks you aren't reading on their servers, and restore them quickly when needed.

Overall

The Amazon Kindle 11 is an excellent basic ereader. Granted, it lacks the sleek design, swift navigation, and features that more expensive devices boast, but for purely reading ebooks, it is hard to find a better ereader, and at such a low price, this really cannot be ignored.