So, I’ve had my trusty Kindle with a keyboard since 2010. It’s been through thick and thin, and honestly, it still works! But it was time to let go of the old-school vibes and upgrade to something a bit more 2025. Enter the lightest, most compact Kindle — and let me tell you, it’s pretty darn cool. First off, the brighter front light is a game-changer. It's 25% brighter than before, and with the higher contrast ratio and faster page turns, it’s like my old Kindle had a slow, sluggish cousin. Seriously, it’s like reading on a cloud (but not the kind of cloud that makes your pages go missing). Now, one of the things I absolutely love about this Kindle is the adjustable front light and dark mode. It’s like the Kindle has finally figured out how to read in any lighting without making you squint or sacrifice comfort. The 6” glare-free display is perfect whether you're soaking up some sun or reading under the covers at night (no judgment). Speaking of covers, let me tell you about the reactive cover. Okay, I know what you’re thinking, “James, that sounds fancy,” and you’d be right. It’s basically the coolest thing since the built-in light case on my old Kindle. It automatically puts the Kindle to sleep when closed and wakes it up when opened. No more hunting for a button or worrying about battery drain. Just open the cover, and boom — you’re back to reading. It's like Kindle knows when you need it, and when you're like, “Okay, enough for today, let’s Netflix and chill.” As for the battery, it’s as long-lasting as my patience with the younger me who never could find time to charge my old Kindle. We’re talking up to 6 weeks on a single charge. Seriously, I’ve recharged my phone more times than this Kindle in the last month. Oh, and the 16 GB of storage? That’s plenty of room for thousands of books. In fact, I feel like I should start reading more, just so I can justify having that much storage. "What, you haven't read the entire Kindle store yet?" So, to sum it up, if you’re tired of your old Kindle (or whatever e-reader you’re clinging to) and you don’t want to deal with those clunky light cases anymore, this is the upgrade you need. Plus, it’s made with 75% recycled plastics and 90% recycled magnesium, so it’s like saving the planet and reading the next best-seller all at once. Win-win.

It was a big toss-up between the Kindle White and the Kindle Basic (this one). I haven't read books in years and the last kindle was about four years ago. I read from my iPhone or iPad, but never felt it was good for my eyes. I wanted something easy on the eyes, and something I can pick up in the middle of the night, or wherever and read. Just read. A lightweight, pocketable device that I can pick up, turn on and get right to the page I left off. When I saw that Amazon had released new devices for 2024 - across the board, I wanted to get one so I can start my habit of reading going again. I have over 500 books in my library and it's time I start moving off of social media scrolling and use most of that time reading. I saw an interview with Panos Panay, who was brought on to head the Kindle division and really like what he had to say and the journey he took for the year to make improvements. He helped to bring the color kindle to life, though there are some display issues at time of release, I'm sure those will get addressed. I definitely would love to have one of those, but for now, my needs are more of the smaller and lightweight size. It was a hard choice - between the basic and the paper white. A lot of reviewers say they bought the Paper White and then bought the 2024 basic because the portability was important to them. After using it for a week, I have to agree. It is smaller, lightweight, and easy to hold in one hand. Once you are in the book, the experience of page flipping is fast and getting to the settings is easy and the speed is adequate. Working with the library is more difficult. You can manage the device better via Amazon's website. I was able to download the current few books I was reading. I did put the library in list view and that seemed to help. When I first got the device, it went through the battery pretty quickly. After a couple of days of use it is better, but I had to turn down the display a little bit. I am going on an international trip, which is one of the reasons for getting the Kindle basic. The battery life is a concern, but I feel like the long multi-stop trip will be enough for one charge with enough to spare. I would rather have this lighter version rather than more battery having something that won't fit in my jeans pocket. The important thing is that this Kindle Basic is with me a lot of the times and I enjoy picking it up and reading. Yes, I will get the color version at some point - maybe in a couple of years. For now, the Basic surprisingly will be my go-to. I would recommend they clean up the library view for the Amazon Basic and they upgrade the processor to be even more power efficient while being faster. However, if they made performance improvements I would not upgrade - I would continue to use the Amazon Basic that I have.