Using an average font size, you get three or four more lines of text per page and a few more words per line. I measured the actual screen sizes - not the devices themselves - and recorded that the previous Paperwhite's display is about 4.75 inches tall by 3.55 inches wide, while the new Kindle Paperwhite's screen is about 5.5 inches tall and 4.1 inches wide. While 6.8 inches compared to the previous 6 inches doesn't sound like much, once you see the two devices side by side, you realize it adds more screen real estate than you think.
- A little more expensive than the previous model.
- And a step-up model, the Paperwhite Signature Edition, adds wireless charging and additional storage - 32GB instead of 8GB - as well an auto-adjusting light sensor for $190 (£180, AU$289). The new version costs $10 more than the previous Paperwhite. Though we can give Amazon credit for enhancing it with new features - namely, a larger 6.8-inch display with an upgraded lighting scheme and USB-C charging - that offer just enough improvements to tempt you into buying one, whether you're an existing Paperwhite owner or not.
KINDLE DIRECT PUBLISHING HOME PAGE UPGRADE
Not surprisingly, then, the new 11th-generation Kindle Paperwhite (2021) ($140, £130, AU$239) isn't a huge upgrade over the Kindle Paperwhite 2018. But with an e-reader, you're dealing with a limited feature set and a core technology, E Ink, that seems pretty stuck in neutral. The same might be said for Apple's iPhones and plenty of other devices.
One of the problems with having a sophisticated, already excellent e-reader like the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is that it's hard to make it much better.