I’ve owned a few Amazon Kindle devices over the years. Generally, each one is the same: a small e-ink tablet with the most basic of features needed to buy an e-book and then read it. Sure, I know you can do a lot more with a Kindle, like listen to audiobooks, browse the web, and even play games, but come on: I would use my Android phone for any of those things. Because I treat a Kindle as a way to look at text and nothing else, I’ve never thought much about upgrading from my current Kindle Paperwhite 4 from 2018.
However, I had the chance to try out two of the 2024 Kindle models — the 2024 Amazon Kindle (11th gen) and the 2024 Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 6 (12th gen) — and I have changed my mind. At this point, pretty much every Kindle owner should upgrade this year by splurging on the newest Paperwhite.