I love Amazon's Kindle e-readers, and I've had lots of them since the very earliest models. I've been meaning to replace my current model, a first-generation Kindle Oasis, for a while now – so I've taken advantage of Amazon's latest bunch of Kindle discounts to do just that.
Although the Oasis is the most expensive Kindle, I don't think it's the best one to buy. Which is why I've just bought the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition instead. Although Amazon's Prime Day 2 sales event hasn't officially started, the discounts have and it's currently 19% off. In the UK that means it's down from £179.99 to £144.99.
That's still more than the standard Paperwhite, currently £94.99. But I think the Signature Edition is the better buy for bookworms.
Why the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition is the best Kindle for me, and probably you too
The Paperwhite and Paperwhite Signature Edition both have 300ppi 6.8-inch glare-free screens, and that's only a fraction smaller than the Oasis's 7-inch display. There are 17 LEDs compared to the Oasis's 25, but that's still plenty – and the Paperwhite models now have the warm white lighting that's so much easier on tired eyes. They're waterproof to IPX8, which means they won't die if you drop them in the bath, and the batteries last for days and days of reading.
So why pay an extra £40ish for the Signature? First of all, it has auto-adjusting light sensors to keep your Kindle from being too dull or too bright. It has wireless charging, which means I don't have to worry about finding the right cable. And storage is up from 8GB to 32GB, which means I can store all the books (and not just Amazon ones) without worrying about making room for them.
I still love printed books and always will, but Kindles are brilliant devices for travelling, for reading in dark corners and for getting hold of cheap ebooks in Amazon's very many promotions. And with Amazon finally embracing EPUB support in its devices, you're not stuck with buying from Amazon any more: you can buy directly from the publisher provided their books don't use digital rights management systems. So if you haven't embraced e-readers yet or have an old one that really needs replaced, this is a great week to do it.
