Kindle Paperwhite (2024, 12th Generation) Review: The Default E-Reader, Two Years On

The 2024 Paperwhite grew from 6.8 to 7 inches and kept the same 300 ppi density. Amazon's launch announcement describes an oxide thin-film transistor backplane and the highest contrast ratio of any Paperwhite, though it does not name the E Ink panel. So Amazon is promising darker text on a whiter page than the 2021 model had.

The front light's warmth is adjustable, so you can warm the page for evening reading. The base model has no ambient light sensor, which leaves brightness on a manual slider. That makes little difference in daylight, when E Ink needs no light at all. The screen is flush with the bezel and glare-free, and a dark mode inverts the page.

In its press release, Amazon calls this its fastest Kindle and claims page turns a quarter faster than the previous generation. For a reader, that means less lag when you open a book, jump chapters or type a search. Page turns were never the bottleneck for plain reading on E Ink, though.

Amazon describes it as the thinnest Paperwhite yet, light enough to hold one-handed for long sessions. Its IPX8 rating makes bath and pool reading a non-issue. It has no physical page-turn buttons, so every page turn is a tap or swipe. Owners of a reader from Kobo's Libra line or an older Kindle Oasis will notice that immediately.

The Kindle store is the biggest reason to buy this Paperwhite, and the closed format list that comes with it is the biggest reason not to. According to Amazon's user guide, the Paperwhite natively reads Kindle formats (AZW, AZW3, KFX), unprotected MOBI and PRC, and plain text. It accepts EPUB, Word, HTML, RTF and images only through Amazon's Send to Kindle conversion. That conversion works well for most books but strips a file's original layout. It also means you can't drag and drop EPUBs onto the Paperwhite the way you can with a Kobo.

Audiobooks from Audible play over Bluetooth, and Amazon's free cloud storage keeps your purchased library backed up. The base model shows ads on the lock screen unless you pay to remove them. US readers can borrow library books through Libby on a Kindle, and our Kobo Clara comparison explains why Kobo's built-in OverDrive integration is the more direct route.

Amazon rates the battery at up to 12 weeks, which its press release rounds to about three months. That figure assumes Amazon's standard usage profile of half an hour a day, with wireless off and the light at a fixed level. Heavy readers who keep Wi-Fi on and the light high will see a fraction of it. We have no independent drain test, so the claim stays Amazon's.

The move to USB-C is a bigger deal than it sounds, because the 2018 and earlier Paperwhites needed a micro-USB cable that nobody carries anymore. Amazon's user guide says a full charge takes under two hours on its 5 W charger, which is sold separately. Wireless charging is a Signature Edition feature.

The live retailer table below shows the current price and when it was checked. Amazon sells three versions: the ad-supported base model, the same model without ads for a little more, and the Signature Edition with 32 GB, an auto-adjusting light and wireless charging.

The Paperwhite has a larger screen and a bigger store than Kobo's Clara models. The Kobos have EPUB support, physical variety and no ads, so the choice comes down to how you buy books.