Kindle Paperwhite Vs Basic

-UPDATE- bought a refurbed paperwhite bw off amazon for $118 that was supposed to be ad supported. but it just has cool macro photos instead of ads? So maybe got lucky. Couple days in and I’m pleased so far, especially at that price….. Hello all, seeking advice: At the start of 2025 I decided to limit the doom scrolling and shifted over to digital books. I was always a physical book reader in theory but admittedly my reading had really waned over the last decade or so (I'm 45). So I started reading on my libby app on my iphone, mostly at night in bed. That worked for a bit until I realized that my neck/eyes didn't enjoy reading the bottom sections of a page as I rested my phone on my chest. That's when I realized libby can't continuous scroll but the kindle app on iphone can. Fast forward to March 2026 and I've read somewhere in the neighborhood of ~35 novels on my iphone via continuous scroll. yay me! Well, I think the eye strain at night is starting to get to me. I read in dark mode, have night mode on my phone (no blue light) and have blue light blocking glasses. However, I still think it's not enough (the app doesn't have the warm tone features that the device does). I'm notoriously a bad sleeper and don't want to keep sabotaging myself. Additionally, my will power has been getting the best of me and I've been veering back towards doom scrolling even while in the middle of a good book. Gotta get that self discipline back! Cue the thought process: is an e-reader the best next step for me? 95% of the books I read are from my library system via Libby and imported into the Kindle app. I know that's still an option with a physical device (via a sync from the phone) so I know that's not a limitation. But the 5% of books I read are when the wait for the next book in the series is a long wait, I'll just purchase via kindle. I do know that e-readers cannot continuous scroll based on a limitation of the screen tech. Questions: -Am I overthinking continuous scroll vs page turning? Will I just get used to it? Will that experience be any different on a physical device vs the kindle app? Can I just prop the phone up on a pillow on my chest? -I'm seeing good arguments in both directions for Kindle vs Kobo. I'm considering the paperwhite vs clara. How annoying are the ads on the paperwhite and is the cost worth buying an add free option? does clara have ads? does the bw vs color option of the clara really make an impact? Tomorrow is Amazon's "big spring sale" and I'm hoping to see some e-readers on sale and if it makes sense, purchase tomorrow. Where there is an argument about not supporting amazon, sometimes there's a limit towards where we can and cannot make those choices. In my life and household, avoiding amazon would be difficult. So if possible I'd like to eliminate that as an argument point for one vs the other. It's not basic TTS, it's actually pretty fluid. Thank you for your assistance! Edit to add: Perhaps a final point that makes the choice for me: I often use the Alexa app on my phone as a 'hack' to turn my kindle book into an audio book for when I'm on the go. For those of you that don't know this - yes, the Alexa app can read your kindle books out loud for you! The voice isn't as fluid as a real audio book but it works for me. I do it in the car, chores, gym, etc. And then it syncs back up with the kindle app as well so when you open one or the other, it asks you if you want to move to the new spot in the book. submitted by /u/Idontlikethenamegame to r/ereader [link] [comments]

-UPDATE- bought a refurbed paperwhite bw off amazon for $118 that was supposed to be ad supported. but it just has cool macro photos instead of ads? So maybe got lucky. Couple days in and I’m pleased so far, especially at that price….. Hello all, seeking advice: At the start of 2025 I decided to limit the doom scrolling and shifted over to digital books. I was always a physical book reader in theory but admittedly my reading had really waned over the last decade or so (I'm 45). So I started reading on my libby app on my iphone, mostly at night in bed. That worked for a bit until I realized that my neck/eyes didn't enjoy reading the bottom sections of a page as I rested my phone on my chest. That's when I realized libby can't continuous scroll but the kindle app on iphone can. Fast forward to March 2026 and I've read somewhere in the neighborhood of ~35 novels on my iphone via continuous scroll. yay me! Well, I think the eye strain at night is starting to get to me. I read in dark mode, have night mode on my phone (no blue light) and have blue light blocking glasses. However, I still think it's not enough (the app doesn't have the warm tone features that the device does). I'm notoriously a bad sleeper and don't want to keep sabotaging myself. Additionally, my will power has been getting the best of me and I've been veering back towards doom scrolling even while in the middle of a good book. Gotta get that self discipline back! Cue the thought process: is an e-reader the best next step for me? 95% of the books I read are from my library system via Libby and imported into the Kindle app. I know that's still an option with a physical device (via a sync from the phone) so I know that's not a limitation. But the 5% of books I read are when the wait for the next book in the series is a long wait, I'll just purchase via kindle. I do know that e-readers cannot continuous scroll based on a limitation of the screen tech. Questions: -Am I overthinking continuous scroll vs page turning? Will I just get used to it? Will that experience be any different on a physical device vs the kindle app? -I'm seeing good arguments in both directions for Kindle vs Kobo. I'm considering the paperwhite vs clara. How annoying are the ads on the paperwhite and is the cost worth buying an add free option? does clara have ads? does the bw vs color option of the clara really make an impact? Tomorrow is Amazon's "big spring sale" and I'm hoping to see some e-readers on sale and if it makes sense, purchase tomorrow. Where there is an argument about not supporting amazon, sometimes there's a limit towards where we can and cannot make those choices. In my life and household, avoiding amazon would be difficult. So if possible I'd like to eliminate that as an argument point for one vs the other. Thank you for your assistance! Edit to add: Perhaps a final point that makes the choice for me: I often use the Alexa app on my phone as a 'hack' to turn my kindle book into an audio book for when I'm on the go. For those of you that don't know this - yes, the Alexa app can read your kindle books out loud for you! The voice isn't as fluid as a real audio book but it works for me. I do it in the car, chores, gym, etc. And then it syncs back up with the kindle app as well so when you open one or the other, it asks you if you want to move to the new spot in the book. It's not basic TTS, it's actually pretty fluid. submitted by /u/Idontlikethenamegame to r/kindle [link] [comments]

I’m planning on getting my first kindle during the spring sale next week! I’ve been bouncing back and forth between the paperwhite and the basic, as my use case is pretty evenly split between at-home and on-the-go. I commute on the subway everyday during the week, and am more often than not standing. I can manage a paperback book fairly easily when I’m standing and holding a pole, but not so much a hardcover between the size and weight. The paperwhite seems okay to hold/turn pages with one hand, but the basic seems significantly better for that situation. It’s hard to fully gauge it with display models in stores (only playing around with them for 5-10 minutes vs. a 30 minute commute; plus the security mounts on them obviously makes them way heavier). The weight of the PPW seems okay, only a couple of grams heavier than my iPhone, but I’m more concerned about the size of it when trying to manage it one handed. But again, the basic is significantly lighter and just seems perfect for the subway. Plus it could fit in a jacket pocket (and tbh probably even my jeans) if for whatever reason I don’t have my work bag with me. That said, I do also do a decent amount of reading before bed. Here, the softness of the PPW screen makes me lean towards that model. Even with the warmth all the way down, the PPW just seems much easier on the eyes in general. I’m not sure if the basic would be too harsh to read in bed, or if it would be fine to either put it in dark mode, or just have a warm lamp on and turn the brightness totally off. I know this has been said a million times, but if they offered the basic with a warm light feature, it would be a no brainer. I prefer the overall form factor of the basic (and not that it’s the deciding factor, but the matcha color looks amazing lol), but the screen of the PPW seems more comfortable to look at long term, and I do also wonder if the PPW overall would just last longer than the basic. So, I guess to put in concisely for owners of either device- Basic owners: do you find the lack of warm light to be disruptive? Or is dark mode and/or ambient lighting enough for a comfortable reading experience, especially at night? Paperwhite owners: do you find it seamless to take your kindle everywhere with you? Is it easy enough to hold for longer stretches of time, with or without a case? Either way, I’m sure there’s no wrong decision. Either one is a massive improvement to trying to hold my iPad on the train/using *that* screen at night. submitted by /u/naur_itstrue to r/kindle [link] [comments]

I've been researching Kindles for a while now and decided to put together a full breakdown of all three models. Quick summary: - Kindle Basic → best if you just want to read, no extras - Paperwhite → sweet spot, best value for most people - Scribe → only worth it if you actually need note-taking Wrote a full comparison with prices and who each model is best for — full breakdown here. Curious — which Kindle do you use and would you recommend it? Would love to hear from actual users. submitted by /u/dek1019 to r/ebooks [link] [comments]

So I have a Paperwhite 2 (apparently its 6th gen). I love it, it's still perfectly functional and it's easy to carry along on travels. However, I've been eyeing the paperwhite mainly because of the warm light feature. I wanted to trade it in for the paperwhite, but apparently it's not eligible because I'm in Spain but they did give me a discount on my next kindle purchase. My old kindle doesn't have warm light, so I've been using an attachable light to read at night, but I'd like to have the feature. The only thing that's holding me back from the PW is the size. My current Kindle is 6 inches, and the PW is apparently 7. I don't know how much easier it is to hold, and to travel with. I thought of getting the Basic due to its size but it has no warm light feature. Why can't they make a PW with a smaller size lol or a Basic with warm light Anyway, I was thinking of getting the new PW to read at home and on short travels, and using the old PW to carry on longer travels. What do you think and do you have any advice? Or should I just get the Basic to use everywhere and use the dark mode to read at night? Decisions are hard 🥲 Edit: Just ordered the Paperwhite! I wanted to try it out and see how I like it. I can apparently return it in 30 days, so plenty of time to try it out. I'm very excited, already looking into cases and stuff! I also got 3 months of Kindle Unlimited for free. I never tried it before, so I'm looking forward to that too! submitted by /u/kinanim42 to r/kindle [link] [comments]

Hi everyone, I recently got to try and shortly own each of these readers coming from a Kindle Basic (2022) and wrote some thoughts below from my experience. Feel free to ask any questions. I already owned a Kindle Basic (2022), but since my wife also was looking to get an e-reader to maybe get into reading, I went ahead and bought another e-reader for myself and gave the Basic to my wife. I ordered a Kobo Libra Color, Kindle Paperwhite and Kobo Clara BW. My idea would be to try out all of them, keep the one I preferred and return the others. Note: I sideload all my books so the whole Amazon ecosystem discussion is not really relevant to me. I also don’t take any notes in the books. I mostly read at night at home. My main criteria when choosing was actual reading experience. Kobo vs Kindle: · I prefer Kobo’s overall UI, seems better organized, although slower that Kindle’s UI. · Kindle’s default font is my favorite on readability. · Kobo’s textured back feels nicer and more premium in my opinion. · Both Kobo’s had more ghosting when compared with both Kindles, especially the KLC. · Kindle’s power button placement – what the f*ck Amazon? Kobo Libra Color (225€) Pros o Buttons to change pages – why is this not standard? o Ergonomics - Side lip to hold it while reading is more comfortable. o Color screen – it’s nice to see the book covers in color or for comics, but that’s about it for pros o Premium feel o Bigger screen while retaining good ergonomics. o Textured back feels nice and premium. Cons o Darker screen, I always had to read at 70-80% brightness when not with direct sunlight. Even with sunlight, sometimes I put it at 20% to be comfortable. o Fuzzier screen and “glitter”-like effect, it’s just not as nice as the BW screens. Actual reading in BW is just worse and, for me, it’s noticeable. My eyes would get tired way faster. o Battery is not that good when compared with the others (I guess also due to the need to up the brightness). Kindle Paperwhite (180€) Pros o Best looking display. Seems crispier, better contrast, background looks whiter. o Awesome battery. o Bigger screen means fewer page turns. o Very fast, I found both Kobos more sluggish. Cons o I prefer the more plastic feeling of the Basic and Kobo e-readers than the rubbery back of the PW. o Heaviest, the least ergonomic of the bunch. Kobo Clara BW (150€) Pros o Crisp screen o Lightweight o Waterproof and warm light I guess, when compared with the Kindle Basic. Cons o Greyish screen, this is not really a con but a matter of preference, but I prefer the more white-looking background from the Kindles. Kindle Basic 2022 (110€) Pros o Cheapest. o Lightweight. o Crisp screen. o Good battery (specially for the price). Cons o No waterproof or warm light (not really that important to me). o The KPW screen has slightly more contrast. Maybe the Basic 2024 version would be equal with the updated display but side to side is just barely noticeable. You would never notice the difference switching between the two. o Blueish screen – still I prefer it to the Kobo Clara BW greyish screen. Conclusion: In the end, I kept the Kindle Paperwhite and returned the others. The screen is just better and gave me the best overall reading experience. I read mostly at home so portability is not a factor and I can live with the added weight. If my wife didn’t want an e-reader I would honestly return all and keep the Kindle Basic. It’s light and therefore very comfortable to hold, good screen, good battery life and cheap! 99% of my reading is at home and nowhere near water so waterproofing is not really important for me. If waterproofing and warm light would be important to you, then I would go with the Kobo Clara BW, but for me the +40€ in the price tag is not really worth it. If most of your reading are “normal” BW books, then I wouldn’t get a colored screen, not worth it in my view with the current technology. But I will for sure miss the buttons in the KLC. submitted by /u/JagBoozy to r/ereader [link] [comments]