Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (12th Gen) review: an e-book that surprised

Amazon is not only the world leader in online sales, but also a well-known manufacturer of electronic “readers.” Their Kindle series is very popular in the United States and abroad. Even in Ukraine, where the company’s services and products do not officially work, e-readers of this manufacturer are very popular. For all Amazon Kindle fans, we tested the new Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (12th Gen), akaPaperwhite 6. It’s also worth mentioning that we tested the Signature Edition version with improved features. You will learn more about the difference between the versions, technical features, readability and usability, and much more in this review.

Technical specifications of Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (12th Gen)

Screen	7-inch E-ink Carta 1300 touchscreen, 1264×1680 pixels, backlit, 300 ppi, 16 shades of gray, 94 nits brightness, anti-reflective coating
Memory	512 MB RAM, 16/32 GB internal memory
Supported file formats	PDF, PRC, EPUB, RTF, AZW3, AZW, MOBI, DOC, DOCX, HTML, TXT, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, AAX
Connectivity and communication	Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 5 (802.11n)
Protection against moisture	YES, IPX8
Operating system	Linux
Battery	1900 mAh, up to 12 weeks of operation
Case materials	Plastic
Colors	Black, raspberry, green
Dimensions	127.5 × 176.7 × 7.8 mm
Weight	211 grams

Packaging and equipment

The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (12th Gen) comes in a flat cardboard box with a picture of an e-reader. You just need to tear out a strip on the back and pull the reader out from the top.

Inside we see the e-book itself, documentation and instructions, as well as a short USB-A to USB-C cable.

Design and ergonomics

The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (12th Gen) is almost identical to the previous generation in 2021. The reader has the same minimalist design with matte plastic on the back and glossy plastic on the front. Perhaps the corners are slightly more rounded.

The front of the e-reader is flat, with wide bezels and no buttons. It is slightly recessed, so the sides protrude above the screen around the perimeter by a few millimeters. I think this was done on purpose to somehow protect the screen when dropped. The only thing that is visible on the front is the light sensor, which is mounted on top of the screen (only for the Signature Edition). We can also see the Kindle inscription on the bottom.

The back side of the reader has curves along the edges, information about the gadget at the bottom, and a large branded emoticon carved into the body by laser.

There is nothing on the ends, except for the bottom. Here we see a USB-C port for charging, an LED indicator, and a physical button for turning the e-reader on/off.

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (12th Gen) is IPX8 waterproof. This means that the reader can be immersed in fresh water to a depth of two meters per hour — and nothing will happen to it. They even say that the Signature Edition version has a little extra protection against salt water, though I don’t understand how it’s implemented.

The new “reader” has versions with an all-black body, like the one we’re reviewing. There are also green and pink ones. However, in these cases, only the back will be a different color, and the front is always black.

The side bezels are thick enough that I didn’t have any accidental presses on the screen, as I sometimes had with PocketBook InkPad Color 3 with its thin framework. In this case, it is better not to follow the current trends of reducing and thinning everything.

The design of the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (12th Gen) is as simple as possible, but it’s still attractive, like everything that looks simple but functions perfectly. At least for my taste. However, the main problem with the case is different — it gets dirty very easily. Dust and fingerprints are immediately visible on the black. Both on the front screen, where they literally cover everything, and on the back. It seems that different colors were added only to make them less visible to fingerprints.

Therefore, I advise you to immediately buy some kind of case, preferably a book and cover the case, otherwise, like me, you will constantly wipe it and get mad at how dirty it quickly becomes.

Display Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (12th Gen)

The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (12th Gen) is equipped with a 7-inch (the previous generation had a 6.8-inch diagonal) E-ink Carta 1300 touchscreen display with a resolution of 1264×1680 pixels and a pixel density of 300 ppi. The maximum brightness here is 94 nits, which translates into nits measured on smartphones to be around 450-500. There is no shim here at all, or rather, it is at the level of 1%, which is nothing. This is typical for all displays with electronic ink. We also have 16 shades of gray, because the screen is not color, and an anti-reflective coating.

The screen also has a “smart” backlight. Here you can adjust not only its brightness, but also the number of warm or cold colors. The auto-brightness is also great, and I recommend using it. When it’s necessary, for example, during the day, it turns off the backlight, and when it gets dark, it turns it on a little, and so on. Unexpectedly, it works very well, definitely better than the same function in PocketBook e-books. However, auto-brightness is only available in the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (12th Gen) Signature Edition, which is a bit pricier.

E-ink Carta 1300 technology produces good detail and sharpness of the image. The smallest drawings on book covers are perfectly visible, as well as super-clear letters in the book or illustrations. Of course, this display is capacitive and touch-sensitive, and it responds instantly to touch. True, the latter is more a merit of the system and hardware, but we’ll talk about that in the section below. There is multi-touch support for scaling text and pictures.

You can also switch the screen to dark mode. That is, the background will be black, and letters and pictures will be white. This is a good option for reading at night, especially in complete darkness.

Hardware, interface and OS

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (12th Gen) is equipped with updated hardware, but the manufacturer does not disclose what kind of processor it is. It is only known that it is dual-core. It is also not known how much RAM the model has (some sites indicate 512 MB), and the built-in memory is 16 GB in the regular version of the reader and 32 GB in the Signature Edition.

The operating system here is Linux, but there are no details about it either. It should also be noted that the regular version of the e-reader has ads. It appears when you turn off the book — it appears as a screensaver. Also, sometimes advertising banners pop up between the main banners on the main page. I think it’s nothing, but there are people who are really annoyed by it.

The e-book supports the following text and other file formats: PDF, PRC, EPUB, RTF, AZW3, AZW, MOBI, DOC, DOCX, HTML, TXT, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, AAX. Of course, it’s not as many as PocketBooks, but it’s more than enough to avoid any shortage of formats. The main thing is that EPUB support has been added. Among the modules and interfaces, there are also Bluetooth and Wi-Fi 5 (802.11n).

The e-book interface is as simple and user-friendly as possible. It is also, of course, customized for use with the Amazon online bookstore. It is a pity that there is no Ukrainian interface language, but for some reason Russian has been introduced long ago, although Amazon has never entered the swamps and does not officially sell anything there.

The main screen has a number of widgets. Here you can see the latest books you’ve opened, see new releases from various genres from Amazon, and get many more recommendations and tips from the online store.

At the top, there is a search by reader, an online shopping cart, and a submenu in the form of three dots. Clicking on them opens a window with additional submenus. Here you have your reading list, access to Goodreads and Amazon Kids, a web browser, the ability to create book collections, instructions and various information, and access to settings.

At the bottom, you can see the main toolbar, which consists of this main page and the Library tab. In the middle between them is the icon of the last book you opened.

Swiping from top to bottom, like on smartphones or tablets, opens a functional curtain. Here you can find airplane mode, Bluetooth, dark mode, synchronization with your Amazon account, another transition to the general settings of the reader, an auto-brightness checkmark, and its two sliders with warm and cool colors.

At the top, in the left and right corners, you can see the time, battery status, Wi-Fi mode, or airplane mode.

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (12th Gen) has only a built-in e-reader. However, it is multifunctional and very convenient. It allows you to change margins, line spacing, fonts and their size, activate the display of the percentage of the book read, the time until the end of the book or the end of the chapter, etc.

You can make notes in books and highlight the necessary places with markers, just like in real books. Of course, there is a dictionary and a translator. Text-To-Speech features are not included.

A short swipe from top to bottom or tapping the screen at the top of the page opens a submenu. Here you can access all the functions mentioned above. From here you can also exit the book to the main menu. Not knowing this, I spent about ten minutes looking for a way to get to the main screen.

Reading is controlled by tapping on the left or right side of the page, which flips back or forward, respectively. Simultaneously spreading and closing two fingers increases or decreases the font size. The same gesture on a smartphone zooms in and out of a picture or a page in a browser.

Autonomy of Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (12th Gen)

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (12th Gen) has a 1900 mAh battery. The manufacturer promises an autonomy of 12 weeks. But that’s if you read for half an hour every day at medium screen brightness. If you read more, for example, 2-3 hours in my case, then you can count on a month without charging for sure. This is a good and more or less classic indicator for e-books.

The charging is at 9 watts. If you have the simplest power supply, i.e. 10 watts, the book will take 2.5 hours to charge. If you have a more powerful power supply from your phone, then charging will take an hour and a half.

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (12th Gen) Signature Edition can also charge wirelessly. However, this only works with a branded docking station, which must be purchased separately.

Experience using Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (12th Gen)

Before reviewing the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (12th Gen), I was a bit skeptical about the gadget. I’ve been using Pocketbook readers for a long time, and the last Kindle I had was 8-10 years ago. This means that I almost forgot what it was like to use it.

However, the new “reader” won me over from the first minutes after taking it out of the box. I’m talking about the appearance, lightness, functionality, and ascetic design. I love things that just do what they are designed to do without unnecessary embellishments and so on. And the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (12th Gen) e-reader is just like that. It looks very simple, but that’s the beauty of it. There are no unnecessary buttons, which some people may not like, but after using it, I no longer like the buttons on my Pocketbook reader, because they don’t allow me to hold the book properly from below.

However, I didn’t like the interface. It is simple and more or less convenient, but of course it is designed for those who buy books on Amazon. For them, it is very convenient, because the book turns into a supergadget for instantly getting millions of books (in English) for adequate (for them) money. But for the Ukrainian reader, there are only 2500 books in Ukrainian, albeit with normal prices. You can also read samples. However, this is nothing compared to the number of books in English.

Alternatively, you can install KoReader — a program that changes the interface, the built-in reader, etc., makes it easier to download books, etc. This is not a call for piracy or anything like that, I’m just letting you know that such a thing exists and is already used by millions of Amazon Kindle fans, especially after the company banned the electronic files of purchased books from being stored on the books.

There are a bunch of videos and instructions on the Internet on how to install KoReader on Kindle, they are very clear and useful. The program supports the Ukrainian language, which is important. So if I were switching to this reader, I would definitely install KoReader, because I simply don’t need the existing interface, I don’t buy books on Amazon.

I also understand people who say that Amazon Kindle Paperwhite and other models of the manufacturer cost a lot of money but look like cheap readers. Of course, it’s all about taste, and I’d also like to remind you that for the US and most other countries where Amazon is present, these are affordable prices. Moreover, in the section below, you’ll see that this company’s ereaders are far from the most expensive in their segment.

I’d also like to note the overall speed of the system, of course, compared to other e-readers. In general, it’s much slower than phones, but among e-readers, the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (12th Gen) is probably one of the fastest models. What’s especially cool is how fast it starts up and shuts down. It takes five seconds, which is several times faster than the newer Pocketbook models.

This “reader” also made me realize how important the dimensions and weight of the case are. Weighing 211 grams, the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (12th Gen) is almost invisible in the hand, and its 7-inch diagonal is large enough for books and comics, but at the same time compact and easy to hide almost anywhere.

For me, the 7-inch diagonal was a pleasant discovery, because I had 5-inch models, I had 7.8-inch and 9.7-inch models, but not this size. Before that, I thought that 7.8-8 inches was ideal for me, but now I see that the 7-inch version would be the best solution.

In my opinion, the main disadvantage of the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (12th Gen) is the instability of the case to fingerprints. As soon as you wipe the reader and pick it up, in five minutes it will be as dirty as if it had never been wiped.

I should note that this kind of case quality is typical of many competitors’ models. Kindle is not alone in this, but it’s just that the traces of use seem to be visible the most. Therefore, you need to take a color model, or immediately put on a case, preferably a book case.

Price and competitors

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (12th Gen) in the Signature Edition version is sold at a price of UAH 8199. A slightly simplified version without advertising can be purchased at a price tag of 6599 UAH. In my opinion, both versions are worth the money. Of course, you need to understand the price category of this segment of gadgets, because these are not cheap devices.

Among the competitors, we chose models with 7-inch screens. It is important to compare black-and-white models and those with one diagonal, because people often choose by size.

First of all, it is worth noting Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 11th generation which is sold at a price of UAH 6099. Other popular models in Ukraine include PocketBook Era (price from UAH 9300) andPocketBook InkPad 4 (price from UAH 11,500). Popular models with this diagonal also include ONYX BOOX Go 7 with a price tag of UAH 10,000 and ONYX BOOX Page with a price tag starting at UAH 10,300. A little-known but affordable model is the Tolino Vision 6 (price from 5400 UAH).

Дякуємо магазину Click.ua за надану для огляду електронну книгу Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (12th Gen).