Kindle (2024) review — A good e-reader I wanted to like more

The Kindle (2024) is the latest entry-level e-reader from Amazon. As always, the base model Kindle delivers on the essentials, providing a crisp display that boasts the same features as the panel on the Kindle Paperwhite (2024).

With a smaller footprint than others in the line-up, this Kindle is ultra-portable and easier to hold. Surprisingly, this device excels at displaying manga. Though smaller than the average manga volume, the display makes details even sharper. The 6-week battery life, which is likely closer to two or three weeks in real-world scenarios, doesn’t disappoint.

Unlike the 2022 Kindle, which underwent a significant redesign, the 2024 Kindle stays largely the same. Aside from a slightly brighter display, the device isn’t much different from its predecessor. And while we liked the older model enough to give it a 4-star review three years ago, this new Kindle offers essentially the same experience for $10 more.

The Kindle (2024) remains a solid, budget-friendly e-reader for those who want a bare-bones device. While this is probably the best Kindle for most people, it leaves me wanting more.

Kindle (2024) review: Cheat Sheet

• What is it? This is the 11th-generation entry-level Kindle from Amazon.
• Who is it for? For people who want a simple e-reader that doesn't cost too much.
• What does it cost? The Kindle (2024) costs $109 on Amazon
• What do we like? The portable design, ergonomics, and battery life.
• What don't we like? Higher price tag than the previous version, has no dust or water protection, and has a small storage capacity.

Kindle (2024) review: Specs

Kindle (2024) review: The ups

The entry-level Kindle doesn't have all the bells and whistles of its higher-end counterparts but it manages to impress thanks to its portable design, sharp display and decent battery life.

Ergonomic and portable

This Kindle is the most portable e-reader I've ever used. It easily fits in my jeans’ back pocket and it's durable enough that I don't have to remove it when sitting down. Whether I'm going for a walk or taking the train, I can stash this Kindle in any pocket before heading out. This is great for me because I find it hard to read at home — there are too many distractions. While I still haven't made significant headway on my backlog of e-books, this Kindle makes it more manageable.

If you want a smaller e-reader backed by a company that will continue to update it for years, the Kindle is a good choice. The 6-inch display, though a turn-off to some, makes this Kindle an absolute pleasure to use. I can hold it in one hand for long periods and feel no fatigue, and I can easily grip it on the sides for extra security when lying on my back.

The one minor setback is the placement of the power button, which is where I typically rest my pinky. It's not a dealbreaker because the button requires more force than the graze of a pinky to actuate. However, it's worth mentioning. Having the power button at the top makes more sense.

Classic Kindle reading experience

I've owned several Kindles over the years, but I still rock the Kindle Oasis—boy, do I miss buttons on e-readers. Though the Oasis is getting old, its frequent updates have kept it relevant, making switching to the new Kindle seamless. If you have used a Kindle in the last few years, the experience won't shock you. Expect the same interface and settings.

When reading Seven Games: A Human History, I adjusted the font size and switched to the OpenDyslexic font, which is helpful for concentration. You can also adjust the layout, including changing the margins, spacing, alignment, and switching between portrait and landscape orientations. You can also find other essential features such as highlighting, note-taking, bookmarks, and jumping to chapters or sections.

My favorite feature, Lookup, is also available on this Kindle and lets you look up definitions and Wikipedia entries by highlighting a word or phrase. The review unit I received was set to Italian by default, so I had to download the Oxford Dictionary of English to get it to work.

Outside of the reading experience, this Kindle offers an interface that's easy to navigate. Hitting the kebab menu on the homepage lets you view your lists, Goodreads, the web browser, and your settings. The home screen is too busy for my taste, but at least it scrolls fast enough. Speaking of speed, browsing the Kindle Store is not bad at all. It's not lightning-fast, but it's also not frustratingly slow.

The dropdown menu on the Kindle is the main hub for enabling settings such as airplane mode, Bluetooth, sync, brightness, and dark mode. You can also jump to the settings page from here. In the settings menu, you can view device information and wireless settings but don't expect the kind of robust settings menu found on the best phones.

As with any Kindle, you can find your Send-to-Kindle email in the settings page, a feature that lets you send books and other media directly to your Kindle via email. This setting has saved me from a boring trip on more than one occasion, including when I went camping last year.

Great for reading manga

When you think of the Kindle, you think of books, not comics or manga. Yet, the Kindle is one of the best devices for reading manga. The display is smaller than a volume of manga, which is called a tankōbon, but that doesn't bother me. Sure, words are smaller and harder to read, but manga looks crisp on the 300 ppi display — the 94 nits of brightness, which is the same as the Kindle Paperwhite, keeps everything illuminated even in direct light.

Reading through the first volume of Vinland Saga, I noticed every little detail, which made me appreciate the work of the manga artist a lot more. The pages flip just as fast as if reading a book, and ghosting is barely noticeable. You have to squint to really notice it. Another plus is that the Kindle automatically flips the book's orientation, so you can flip pages from left to right as manga is meant to be read.

Arguably the best part of reading manga on this Kindle, or any Kindle for that matter, is access to Amazon's huge library of manga. You can purchase digital volumes of almost any manga you can think of, saving you shelf space in the long run. With a subscription to Amazon's Comixology Unlimited, you can access loads of manga titles, including heavyweights like Attack on Titan and Fire Force. Unfortunately, this subscription only provides access to a fraction of the available volumes —- e.g., the first 11 volumes of Fire Force. As a gateway to popular manga titles, that's not a bad deal for $5.99 monthly, especially because you can read thousands of comics and graphic novels on other devices.

Strong battery life

Amazon claims the Kindle has 6 weeks of battery life, but there are some caveats. To get 6 weeks on a single charge, you have to shut off wireless, read no more than 30 minutes per day, and keep the backlight level at 13. In other words, take that claim with a grain, or large pinch, of salt. A 6-week battery life is unlikely for more people. What's more realistic is a few weeks. That will vary based on the light level, reading time, and use of wireless features.

During my time with this device, I put the battery through its paces by cranking up the screen brightness to the max. In that time, I read for about five hours over four days and kept the wireless features turned on. I lost about a quarter of the battery in that time. Theoretically, if I were to continue at the same pace, I would have to recharge roughly every two weeks.

My advice is to lower the brightness and shut off the wireless features unless you're downloading media, which will lower battery usage when idle. Do that, and you can likely get away with charging once or twice a month.

Kindle (2024) review: The downs

Like the previous base Kindle model, this Kindle is good but far from perfect. Rather than fixing the flaws of the previous iteration, this new Kindle mostly stays the same while costing more. The lack of a version with more storage and no protection against water or dust makes it a lackluster follow-up to the 2022 Kindle.

Few upgrades for a higher price

Look behind the fun matcha color and you'll find a Kindle that's virtually the same as the 2022 model.

Ostensibly, there was no reason to fix what wasn't broken, especially since the 2022 Kindle was a big refresh that included a higher resolution display and double the storage than the model before. Yet, calling this a new Kindle and charging $10 more because the screen is a little bit brighter deserves to be called out.

In this economy, no one is immune to inflation, but you still have to offer something new when raising a product's price. To be fair, the display on this Kindle is as bright as the Paperwhite. But brighter lighting isn’t enough. The Kindle has the same design and virtually the same specs as the Kindle from two years ago, and the same flaws as well.

Paltry amount of storage

With the last iteration of the base model Kindle, Amazon doubled the internal storage to a grand total of 16GB, bringing it up to speed with modern standards. That's more than plenty for storing thousands of books. Yet, it's not nearly enough for manga or audiobooks.

Manga file sizes vary depending on the file type and the length of the manga volume. Typically, you can expect a volume of manga to take up as little as a few hundred megabytes to as much as a gigabyte or more. For example, the first volume of Vinland Saga is nearly a gigabyte, and it's just one of 13 available volumes. That severely limits the device, capping storage at a few dozen volumes of manga. Audiobooks also vary in file size, but they are typically around a few hundred megabytes, putting you in the same position.

I won't waste time roasting Amazon for not including a microSD card slot — that ship sailed a long time ago — but it is frustrating that there isn't a basic Kindle version with 32GB of storage, which is something that is offered with the new Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition. The only fix is to constantly delete older files as you download new ones. It's doable, if not a bit annoying.

Slow downloads

Downloading manga on this device takes longer than I'm used to. When downloading the same volume of manga on the latest iPad Mini and the 2024 Kindle, the iPad beats the Kindle by over 5 minutes. Despite being an unfair comparison, it paints a picture of how the Kindle stacks up to modern devices when it comes to downloading files.

It's not a dealbreaker if you're downloading a few volumes of manga every month. However, if you like to stock up on downloading media before a big trip, it will take you a long time. Good luck downloading several volumes of manga via the airport Wi-Fi before your flight.

No water or dust protection

Many modern devices have some form of water and dust protection. It's become so standard that I hardly look for it anymore. In this case, the lack of protection stands out because this is a device meant to be taken everywhere.

I don't expect the Kindle to be completely waterproof. That would be too much to ask from a budget device. What bothers me is that it's not even water-resistant. A slight drizzle or coffee spill could ruin this device.

Other Kindles, which have bezels that are flush with the screen, offer this type of protection, making them more expensive. With Amazon charging $10 more for a device launched two years ago, this could have been the feature that justified the $10 price hike. Instead, we have a super portable e-reader that becomes a liability as soon as it's overcast.

Kindle (2024) review: Verdict

The Kindle (2024) is as good as the model that came out two years before because it's effectively the same device. You get a small e-reader that's the ideal companion when leaving the house or going on a trip. The bright, crisp display lacks color temperature adjustment, but it's every bit as good as the display on the more expensive Paperwhite model.

Although this Kindle delivers the same basic experience as the previous model, it's more expensive while only offering a bump in brightness. Instead of buying this Kindle new, try to get a used or refurbished 2022 Kindle; you'll get the same experience at a fraction of the cost. If you’d rather have this model, you can wait until Amazon Prime Days to get a better deal.