Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite is one of the best eReaders on the market and now available in three colors – Agave Green, Denim and Black. Today, the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition with wireless charging support is available at its best price yet. For a limited time, you can buy the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition for $229.97 on Amazon. Normally, the Kindle Paperwhite costs $249.97, but with this offer, you’ll save $20 and get the lowest price yet for this eReader. This is one of the best reading tablet deals we’ve spotted so far this year.
One thing you can definitely say about Amazon’s Kindle is that it’s not the kind of device you need to upgrade often, even if you’re an avid reader. We have been using the same Kindle since late 2015, and it’s still going strong. But Amazon has caught our attention with the 5th generation Paperwhite. For the first time since the original came out, Amazon has increased the screen size from 6 inches to 6.8 inches, and it has narrower borders than before.
It also now uses 17 LED backlights (up from just five) and an adjustable “warm light” to reduce eye strain at night. Amazon has also finally switched to USB-C for charging. Those are some notable new features, but Amazon is also offering a “Signature Edition” (SE) this year that has 32GB of storage (the standard model only has 8GB), an auto-adjusting backlight, wireless charging, and no ads on the lock screen. It is also still waterproof, can play Audible audiobooks via Bluetooth, and has a tremendous battery life.
Kindles have always had great battery life, but Amazon has stepped it up a notch here. Both the regular Paperwhite and Signature Edition can now reportedly last up to 10 weeks on a single charge, up from 8 weeks for the 2018 model. However, that’s based on 30 minutes of reading per day, with Wi-Fi turned off and a brightness setting of 14 – that’s right in the middle. We tried to push the Signature Edition a bit more in testing by leaving Wi-Fi on and increasing the brightness slightly.
With about 20 minutes of reading per night and many other tests, the battery only dropped about 35% in four weeks. That suggests Amazon’s estimate isn’t far off the mark, although the battery probably drains much faster with Bluetooth turned on. I am glad that Amazon finally relies on USB-C for charging, even if only the cable is included in the box as usual. Still, there is no quick charge feature, as a full charge takes about 2.5 hours. The other big upgrade to the Signature Edition is wireless charging. It is the first time we have seen this feature on a Kindle, and it is compatible with all pads that support the Qi standard.