44 AUGUST 2019|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE 378
FORALONGtime,the main argument against
buying the basic Amazon Kindle was that,
despitethe low price,itwas toosimple.
More specifically,itwasn’t as well made as
the Kindle Paperwhite(Shopper372) and it
had no built-in reading light.
With the arrival of the 2019 model,
however,those issues have finally been
sorted out: you can happily splash out £70
on Amazon’s cheapest e-reader,safeinthe
knowledge that it does much more of what
its pricier stablemates can do.
The front light isn’t the only new feature,
either.Amazon has also added Bluetooth
and, along with it, the ability to download
and listen to Audible audiobooks.
AD HOC
On the outside,it’s alot more familiar.Ithas
the 6in, 167ppi E-Ink touch displayofprevious
Kindles. It’s still available in black or whiteand
it still hooks in seamlessly to Amazon’s vast
catalogue of ebooks, allowing you to search
forand buy books on the device itself.
Like other Kindles, Amazon’s latest
e-reader is available in two different flavours:
‘With special offers’ and ‘Without special
offers’.Essentially,‘special offers’ means
adverts on the lockscreen, although these
aren’t particularly intrusive.With these
enabled, the Kindle costs £70; if you want
to remove the ads, it’s £80.
At that price,the new Kindle has no
significant rivals when it comes to value –not
from other manufacturers, anyway. In fact,
the only big rival manufacturer still selling
dedicated e-readers is Kobo,whose recent
products have all been focused firmly on the
luxury end of the market, leaving Amazon to
mop up in the budget sector.
The only real choice you have to make,
then, is between the various models (with or
without special offers) and buying the slightly
more expensive Kindle Paperwhite(£120),
which has more storage space,acrisper
displayand aslightly sleeker design.
The good news is that the basic Kindle is
no longer as cheap-feeling and plastickyas
the previous-generation device.Sure,itisn’t
as nice to hold or to read on as the £230
Kindle Oasis (Shopper361), but it gives the
Paperwhitearun forits money.
The new Kindle is solidly made,light and
comfortable to hold. The edges and front
AMAZON
Kindle(2019)
★★★★★
£70•From http://www.amazon.co.uk
VERDICT
ThebasicKindleisn’tsobasicanymore,
gainingBluetoothconnectivityanda
useful readinglight
E-READER
bezels are alittle more rounded than the old
model, but otherwise it’s afamiliar design.
The E-Ink screen dominates the front of the
device,slightly inset to accommodatethe
infrared touch sensors, and this displayis
surrounded by quitebroad bezels.
The only other significant physical features
are the Micro USB port and power button
located on the bottom edge.There’s no
headphone jack, which means if you want
to listen to audiobooks on this Kindle,you’ll
have to connect apair of headphones or a
speaker to it via Bluetooth. Youdon’t get
physical buttons forturning the page,either,
which might irk some.Still, turning pages by
tapping either side of the screen or swiping
across isn’t abig deal.
HOWILLUMINATING
There aren’t many differences between
this basic Kindle and the slightly pricier
Paperwhite, but those that do exist are
significant. First up –and probably the
biggest –isthe display, which is lower in
resolution on the basic Kindle,atapixel
density of 256ppi to the Paperwhite’s300ppi.
This deficiency isn’t night and day, but text on
the cheaper Kindle is clearly alittle less crisp
and well defined than its more expensive
sibling. Our eyes were more comfortable with
the Paperwhite’ssharper text.
Another difference is that the front light
consists of four LEDs rather than the
Paperwhite’sfive.This is less of adeal
breaker: the light on the Kindle is just as
consistent as the Paperwhite’s, with no
discernible bright or dark patches. Unlike
the Paperwhite, it’s not IPX8 waterproofor
available with cellular connectivity but, again,
these aren’t serious shortcomings unless you
read alot in the bath.
Perhaps more of an issue is that there’s
half the storage inside the regular Kindle
(4GB) than there is in the cheapest
Paperwhite(8GB). This won’t be aproblem if
you stick with text-based books, but if you
plan on using it to download and listen to
audiobooks regularly,you’ll quickly chomp
through that amount of storage.
It’s also somewhat disappointing that
Amazon still hasn’t found aplace in its
current range of e-readers forablue-light-
reduction system, like that of the Kobo
Forma (Shopper375). There’s also no
ambient light sensor,which would have
been preferable to having to change the
displaybrightness manually.
WELL READ
Nonetheless, the new Kindle does the job
admirably and, if you’ve used aKindle before,
you’ll be right at home with this new model.
The software is no different from that of the
most expensive Kindle Oasis, and Audible
support grants this Kindle aflexibility
previous versions didn’t have.The addition of
afront light and Bluetooth connectivity make
it clearly the best-value Kindle in the range.
JonathanBray
SCREENSIZE6in•SCREENRESOLUTION256ppi•
STORAGE4GB•DIMENSIONS160x113x8.7mm•
WEIGHT174g•WARRANTYOneyearRTB•DETAILS
http://www.amazon.co.uk•PARTCODEKindle(2019)
SPECIFICATIONS
