Updated October 18 with more details that have emerged about the new range of Kindles and specific details about the Kindle Oasis.
Amazon has just announced four new Kindles in an unprecedented shake-up of its e-book readers, and in the 24 hours that have followed, new details have emerged. The updated range includes new versions of the entry-level model (in a punchy new colour), the fastest Kindle ever in the new Paperwhite, a stylishly redesigned Scribe and the first ever Kindle with a color screen. Here’s what, when and how much. First, however, it has also been confirmed that a popular Kindle is being retired.
The new Kindle series.
It is the Kindle Oasis, which for years has been the most desirable, most premium and most expensive Kindle in the range. For some time, it has been the only Kindle with physical page turn buttons, something many readers prefer over the touchscreen controls of the other models. Amazon confirmed to The Verge that it is on its way out.
That doesn’t mean you can’t buy one, but stocks are dwindling and once that stock is gone, so is the Oasis. I asked Amazon’s Kevin Keith, Vice President of Devices and Services, Kindle, if the idea behind this was that the new Colorsoft, described below, would replace the Oasis.
“I see the Oasis as a premium level, and a lot of the things we did with the Oasis were able to move into the Paperwhite,” he told me. “The waterproofing and the flush front display were first on the Oasis. The page turn speed and the chips that were in the Oasis kind of migrated down to the Paperwhite and it just got better and better. The other thing is that we’ve always wanted to bring color to Kindle. But the technology had to be ready. And then the oxide backplane and the new light guide meant we were able to bring color to Kindle for the first time.”
It’s all true, and it’s also the case that the writing has been on the wall for Oasen for a while. It has 8 GB of memory, less than the storage space of other Kindles, although it was the most expensive.
Its retirement means another Oasis specialty is also gone: free mobile connectivity. This has been a Kindle feature in some models since the first version. You paid an extra premium on the purchase price, but you could connect to the mobile network to download books, for example, without having to be in a Wi-Fi area. This was especially useful when you e.g. finished book two of a trilogy while sitting on a sun lounger by the sea and didn’t want to wait until you got home or back to the hotel to grab the next volume. The excellent ability will also go when Oasis is gone. If that’s what you want, don’t mess around.
Other details have emerged since the reveal, including some tidbits about the design. For example, as Lance Ulanoff points out at Tech Radar, the power button on the new Colorsoft and Paperwhite remains on the bottom of the readers, which can make it easy to accidentally turn off the reader.
At least Ulanoff has uncovered the reason for the placement. Ulanoff spoke with Amazon’s VP of Kindle hardware, Kevin Keith, who told him that in the redesign of the wildly popular Paperwhite, “the thing you don’t want to mess with, with a Paperwhite, is how it feels in your hand for long reading sessions with one-handed reading, and that’s why when we increase the screen size, we always have to decrease the frames [fact that the] the button has to be near the light guide is basically what drives this.”
There have also been questions about the speed of the Kindle Colorsoft, with people asking if page turns are as fast as on the new Paperwhite. I’m told it’s not quite as fast, not least because it takes time to render color content, but it’s very close.
And there’s a new way to turn pages on the Paperwhite. Press and hold the display and the pages will turn over and over and at high speed. I’ve been told it’s almost like the way you can quickly flip through the pages of a real book to find your place.
Amazon Kindle Colorsoft
This is the first color screen Kindle. There are other e-book readers with color screens, but this is Amazon’s first attempt. It’s similar in size to the new Paperwhite, more of which below, but can display color images, ideal for graphic novels, cookbooks and travel guides.
Color e-readers often look washed out and so pale that you can barely tell there’s any color at all, but here the colors are more impactful, though not the saturated hues you’d see on, say, an iPad. Of course, the Kindle has always been easier on the eyes than a tablet. The subtle colors are attractive and add an eye-catching feel to, say, text you’ve highlighted.
Kindle Colorsoft
Easily the most striking of the new Kindles, Colorsoft adds the power of color with an authority and simplicity unmatched by other color e-readers.
It’s available for pre-order now and will ship on October 30 for $279.99, £269.99 in the UK
Amazon Kindle
Amazon Kindle.
The entry-level Kindle is available now with a redesign that sees a matcha colorway for the first time, which looks cool. There is still a black version for, (what shall we say?), the more color conservative. It has a 6-inch screen and, like all the new models, 300 pixels per second. empty solution. It is also brighter than before. The new color variant appears to be designed to appeal to Gen Z shoppers, which Amazon says is a fast-growing group of buyers. $109.99, £94.99 in the UK
Amazon Kindle Scribe
Amazon Kindle Scribe.
The largest Kindle with its 10.2-inch screen is designed as much as a digital notebook as a reader. It has a classic new look and a new Premium Pen stylus that feels and sounds like you’re writing on paper.
It introduces new features such as Active Canvas, which lets you just pick up the pen and scribble on the page of a book. The printed text flows around it. You can also write in the margin, as people still do in real books, and your notes can be saved there too. These new features are also coming to the first generation Scribe through a software update. It will work with most books.
And for both the new and first-generation Scribe, generative AI features will allow users to summarize their notebooks, for example.
The new Kindle Scribe arrives on December 4 and will cost $399.99, £379.99 in the UK
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite
Kindle Paperwhite raspberry and jade finish
Goldilocks Kindle, I call it because it is the ideal balance between price and features, has been restyled in a thinner version with a slightly increased screen size – it is now 7 inches instead of 6.8 inches. But it’s still light and easy to hold in one hand for extended reading sessions. This absorption in the text is made more seamless by the fastest page ever on a Kindle, 25% faster than the last Paperwhite. If it sounds less, it’s not: As a reader, you don’t want anything to come between you and the words.
The Kindle Paperwhite has 16 GB of storage space and comes in the colors black, jade and raspberry. It costs $159.99 (£159.99 in the UK) and is available now. A Signature Edition is also available for $189.99 (£189.99 in the UK) with extra storage and a metallic finish with flecks of aluminum to add shine, and it can be charged wirelessly.