I am an avid reader and read a variety of genres from children’s books to YA to thrillers and horror (if you want to read my book reviews, please visit my website What’s Good to Read). Personally, I prefer having a physical book (generally a hardback) in my hands as there is something about the smell of them and turning the pages, but I do also love my Kindle as it offers so much more flexibility.
I read in two different ways, when I am at home I read physical books as I prefer them but when I travel (I travel a lot by train) I don’t want to be carrying books everywhere I go if I can help it and that’s where my Kindle is invaluable – I can carry around thousands of books in one device that weighs not much more than an average paperback book. Quite often, that means I am reading two books at the same time, although I will still read the Kindle at home.
I have a Kindle Paperwhite 7th Generation which has a 6” touch display with 24 brightness levels using its LED lights and it doesn’t strain your eyes when reading. It has 10 different fonts that can be size adjusted for easy reading including OpenDyslexic which is helpful for dyslexics. It has up to 6 weeks of battery life based on a half hour of reading per day with wireless off and the light setting at 10 (this will obviously reduce depending on usage and settings used). It is purpose-built for reading: with a flush-front design and a 300 ppi glare-free display that reads like real paper, even in bright sunlight. It is a thin device (can fit in the back pocket of your jeans – or in my case, the side pocket) and is lightweight, weighing around 200 grams. It features a MicroUSB connection on the bottom of the device for charging and transferring data from a computer to the Kindle. It comes with 4GB of space, plenty of space for thousands of books to create your own library in your pocket and has built-in wi-fi for easy downloading of books.
Overall, whilst I prefer real physical books, I do love my Kindle. I love that I can carry around a whole library of books in my pocket and read very easily on the go. With built-in wi-fi I can purchase books on the go in somewhere with free wi-fi or I can connect to my phone’s wi-fi connection.
Reading on it is excellent – the text is clear, and I have no eyestrain, it really is like reading the pages of a physical book and there is the added bonus of not needing to turn a light on to read so I can still read in bed. Your page is always remembered so you will never lose your place in a book (even if switching between different books) and if you come across words that you don’t understand you can click on the word and it will look it up in the dictionary. And for those readers that like to keep notes, you can easily add your own to the book that you are reading.
Kindle can be used in English, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Dutch, and Simplified Chinese and you can even read books in other languages.
Purchasing of books is easy from the Amazon store and are downloaded straightaway as long as the device is connected to a wi-fi network and downloading only takes a few seconds. You will never lose a purchased book as it is connected to your Amazon account and all purchases can be downloaded again.
You can also transfer your own documents to read on it, via MicroUSB or sending to its own email address that you create when setting it up. It supports Kindle Format 8 (AZW3), Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, PMP through conversion.
Charging is simple, just plug in a MicroUSB cable. It takes around 4 hours to fully charge from flat.
Whilst I would never give up my physical books, I also would never give up my Kindle. I use it everywhere I go and it is so much easier than having to carry around books. As long as I have it in my pocket or bag I will always have something to pass the time.
My Kindle Paperwhite is the 7th Generation which is no longer available. I would like to get the 8th gen at some point as it has a bigger 6.8” screen, more storage, better battery life, adjustable warm light and is Waterproof (IPX8).
I love my Kindle, I just wish that when I bought a new hardback book it came with a free or heavily discounted version of the e-book as I prefer to read a physical book when at home but would like to continue reading on the Kindle when out and about.
If you love reading I think that you will enjoy the Kindle. It is easy to use, easy to purchase and download new books and can easily be read using one hand as it isn’t too heavy and the pages are easy to turn with a tap or swipe of the screen.
Rating: 5/5
RRP: from £129.99 (8GB Version) / £149.99 (16GB Version)
For more information or to buy, visit www.amazon.co.uk.
Disclosure: I purchased this item. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This review uses an affiliate link which I may receive a small commission from if you purchase through the link.
