What Kindle do I need?

[ApolloandDaphne]

I am going to buy a Kindle as DH and I are doing a lot of travelling now we are retired and books are heavy. I want to work out which one will be best. I struggle to see well if the light isn't good so the one with the best backlight is what I need.

My DD swears by the basic one but I am considering the Paperwhite or the Paperwhite Signature. Is there any real benefit to spending more?

What Kindles are you all using and what do you recommend?

Paperwhite. The you can read on plane, hotel, train etc if lights dimmed also

Kobo so you can borrow library books online.

I'm definitely getting a Kindle.

I was an early adapter of kindles and switched to a paper white when they came out. I now use the kindle app on my iPad. If you are taking a iPad/any other tablet and you are happy to read newspapers etc on it, I’d recommend just using that to again reduce your packing. I definitely recommend the paper white over the basic. The ability to read with the backlight makes a massive difference. I switched before the Signature came out so I can’t comment on that one.

Paperwhite definitely. I also have the app on my phone too.

Paperwhite here too. I have had mine for around 7 years and it is still great. Prior to that I had one of the first ones released( dp bought it for me) took me about 4 months to use it aa I wasn't sure (😃) and think they are great. Enjoy!

I just got a Scribe. It has a backlight and a pencil, and is honestly the best e-ink notebook (it's a little larger than an exercise book - or maybe 2/3rds A4) I've had (I've had e-readers since the Sony one came out about 20 years ago at least, and tried multiple note-taking options, e-ink and ipad but they've all been slow/awkward until now), and obviously I also use it to read books.

Where it excels is things like knitting patterns, which previously i would print out and annotate, now, I just open up on the kindle and annotate there, plus I keep my shopping lists etc. and can access them through the kindle app on my phone.

It's just like when I used to use a reporters notepad to organise myself (day to day/work etc), but now I can access those notes on my phone/computer if I don't have the notepad on me right then, and I can also read books, and do (pretty good) text recognition.

I love it.

The differences between the ordinary Paperwhite and the Paperwhite signature are 32Gb storage instead of 16, wireless charging and auto-adjusting backlight instead of having to manually adjust (which I actually find very useful, especially for reading in the sun) Also the Paperwhite signature doesn’t have ads on the lock screen, through you can pay more for the ordinary Paperwhite to get rid of them.

i have a paper white and I love it. I use Calibre to put library books on it.

I’ve been toying with a scribe for ages. If you don’t mind me asking, how do you annotate on pdfs ? Because when I google that seems to me to be an issue? Am I wrong? Because if I am ….🤣 I’m getting a scribe.

I debated this for ages. And picked the signature. I love mine. I rest mine against my dogs big head in bed at night and fall asleep reading. It’s great. The auto adjusting means it’s easier to read in the sun.

I was looking at the Signature. I like that it adjusts the brightness.

I do have an iPad but it seems too big for what I want. It certainly isn't as easily portable as a Kindle.

I have the paper white and highly recommend. Also have the kindle app on my iPad and that’s greats for newspapers/magazines.

@IHeartFridays can the light be adjusted manually too on the signature? I can't tell when I look. I like to be able to adjust mine manually.Will have another look in case I missed info.

Paperwhite without ads.

I would like to know this too.

@ApolloandDaphne I asked 'Rufus' on Amazon if light can be adjusted manually and it said yes 'the backlight of this kindle can be adjusted manually' . So sounds good. @IHeartFridays might be along later to hopefully confirm.
Also in the specification where it outlines length of battery life it cites 'if light setting at 13' as an example. So I am thinking yes!
This will probably be my next one but current one still going strong( with around 950 books on it)

OK - well, yes, it can be 'a bit odd'

I generally send them with the 'convert' keyword, so they edit the PDF properly, rather than it being like scribbling on a piece of paper - so highlighting works perfectly, but, when I hand-write a note it becomes an actual element of the document, which can get a bit awkward if you're not used to it.

Let me upload one without convert and see if I can scribble on them.

Oh, well, that works even better - I shan't be converting any more! Yes, I just emailed a random PDF (school trip permission!) to my Scribe without convert, and it's just like a piece of paper you can scribble on.

I'm just waiting to check if it syncs to the version on my computer now, but at least on the scribe, it worked perfectly.

Hmm - OK - less than great - handwritten notes on PDFs don't sync. (highlights on converted docs do)

So may not be what you want.

I can alter both the brightness and the warmth of the backlight, and set both of those on schedules if I'm feeling lazy :)

Even the basic Kindle now has a light. I think the main benefit of the Paperwhite is that it's waterproof, so good for beach, spa etc. I wouldn't worry about extra storage as even the basic one has storage for hundreds of normal text books. I think there's a good comparison of features on the Amazon website.

Thanks for this. I’ve just ordered a Paperwhite Signature for DD after reading this thread. I didn’t see any mention of being with or without ads. Now I’m worried I missed that

Yes it can! It goes bright enough for me.

I'm glad my thread has been helpful!

I don't need one straight away so my DD has said I should look at her basic one when I see her at Christmas and i can decide from there.

Oooh, this sounds potentially useful... will have a Google