Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Refreshed With A Larger, Brighter Display And Longer Battery Life

by Brandon Hill — Tuesday, September 21, 2021, 02:00 PM EDT

Kindle devices seemingly take a backseat to the Fire family of tablets when it comes to “flashiness,” but Amazon clearly hasn’t forgotten about its e-readers. Today, the company announced a major design overhaul for the Kindle Paperwhite, the first such update in three years.

Amazon started its refresh with a larger e-ink display, which now measures 6.8 inches. The online retail giant claims that the display is now brighter than ever (10 percent uplift at maximum brightness levels compared to the previous generation) and is surrounded by smaller 10.2mm bezels. The display still provides 300 ppi for crisp text and is glare-free to improve legibility in a wide variety of lighting scenarios.

The Kindle Paperwhite features an upgraded processor that allows for 20 percent faster page turns and delivers battery life of up to 10 weeks. However, perhaps one of the most significant physical changes comes with the charging port. Instead of the old-fashioned Micro-USB port featured on the outgoing tablet, Amazon finally decided to get with modern times and adopt a USB-C port for charging. With the included 9W USB-C wall charger, the Kindle Paperwhite can top off its battery in just 2.5 hours.

The e-reader is IPX8 rated for water resistance, meaning that it can survive in two meters of water for up to an hour. If the Kindle Paperwhite manages to take an accidental dip in the ocean, the protection dwindles to 0.25 meters for up to three minutes.

Amazon says that the Kindle Paperwhite will launch on October 27^th with 8GB of internal storage for $139.99. However, if you want an ad-free experience, the price jumps to $159.99. The company will also make the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition available, which features an auto-adjusting front light and 32GB of internal storage. This model starts at $189.99 and will also debut on October 27^th.

Tags: Amazon, Kindle-Paperwhite, (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Brandon Hill

Brandon received his first PC, an IBM Aptiva 310, in 1994 and hasn’t looked back since. He cut his teeth on computer building/repair working at a mom and pop computer shop as a plucky teen in the mid 90s and went on to join AnandTech as the Senior News Editor in 1999. Brandon would later help to form DailyTech where he served as Editor-in-Chief from 2008 until 2014. Brandon is a tech geek at heart, and family members always know where to turn when they need free tech support. When he isn’t writing about the tech hardware or studying up on the latest in mobile gadgets, you’ll find him browsing forums that cater to his long-running passion: automobiles.

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