If you have been anywhere near the e-reader corner of the internet over the weekend, you may have noticed that people have started caring about Kindles again. There has been chatter for months about what Amazon might do for the Kindle’s 20th anniversary next year. Now we know what it had in mind.
The company has refreshed its Kindle lineup with three new models: the 12th-generation Kindle, the seventh-generation Paperwhite, and the second-generation Colorsoft. All three are slimmer and lighter, with flush displays and longer battery life, while new colours give the range a little more personality. Ube, a deep purple, is already proving particularly hard to ignore.
The basic Kindle remains a 6-inch reader, but it is now 1 mm thinner, weighs 140 gm in its plastic version, and promises up to six weeks of battery life. Amazon also says it opens books 30 per cent faster. The standard version comes in Ube and Graphite with 16 GB storage, while Alpine Sky and Seaglass Green get aluminium backs and 32 GB storage.
The Paperwhite sticks to its 7-inch display but gets improved contrast for reading in sunlight and up to 12 weeks of battery life. The Signature Edition has an aluminium back, 32 GB storage, and an auto-adjusting front light. The Colorsoft gets slimmer and lighter too, with Fig joining Graphite, while the Signature Edition gets an aluminium back.
The catch, at least for Indian readers, is that we can’t actually buy any of these here yet. Amazon hasn’t announced an Indian launch date or pricing. And Kindle availability in India has already been a bit of a rollercoaster. For much of last year, the devices were barely available, before the current Kindle finally returned to Amazon India. Now, if you search for one, you will find that there is essentially one current Kindle sitting among alternatives such as Kobo. So, while the new range looks tempting, we’re back to waiting to see when Amazon brings it here and how much it decides to charge.
If you are travelling abroad and thinking of bringing one back, there is that option, although those Kindles aren’t covered by the Indian warranty. The international prices start at around ₹15,000 for the new Kindle, ₹20,000 for the Paperwhite, and ₹27,000 for the Colorsoft, before taxes and any Indian pricing differences. The more high-end Signature versions go up to roughly ₹25,000 for the Paperwhite and ₹31,000 for the Colorsoft.
The most fun addition, though, is not a Kindle at all. It is the Kindle Click, a ₹3,500-ish Bluetooth page-turning remote that lets you move forwards and backwards through a book, adjust brightness, and generally avoid touching your Kindle. It comes with a removable wrist lanyard and works with the new models as well as Kindles from 2024 onwards. Amazon has also introduced a magnetic Page-Turn Cover, priced at roughly ₹7,700, with built-in page-turn buttons, and a charging dock for around ₹5,800. These accessories are also, unfortunately, not available in India yet.
Page-turning remotes have become a surprisingly serious Kindle accessory thanks to BookTok, where third-party versions have been popping up everywhere. Most of them use a clip that physically taps the Kindle screen. Amazon’s version connects directly to the device, which is much cleaner. And if the idea of lying under a blanket and clicking through your book without reaching for the screen sounds excessive, well, there are worse things to spend ₹3,000 on.
There is one thing missing from this refresh that would have made it quite interesting. With Kindle approaching its 20th anniversary, many of us were hoping Amazon might finally try its hand at a pocket-sized reader. The Boox Palma, Xteink X4, and other tiny e-readers have surpassed expectations, and there is clearly an appetite for something around four inches or smaller. Amazon is one of the few major e-reader brands yet to really play with that format. But for now, Amazon is sticking with the Kindle we know, just making it slimmer, prettier and a little more fun to use.
