Choosing Kindle Paperwhite (2021)

I bought my first Kindle e-reader in 2016. I was Kindle Paperwhite 7th Generation (2015), or commonly known as Kindle Paperwhite 3.

I have been using it on and off. It was nice, sure, but my phone is still more convenient. It wasn’t until late 2021 that I was hooked. The reason was that — I was reading a lot of fanfictions on my phone. Easily 6+ hours per day, continuously. My eyes got really exhausted. I then switched to Kindle, and it was night and day. I don’t have that problem anymore!

And I was using Kindle Paperwhite 3. It was still perfectly usable, but it was also the only device I own that is still using micro-USB (I side-load all my books, even the one I buy from Amazon. My Kindle is on permanent airplane mode). So I decided I want an upgrade, and maybe a non-Kindle device, so I could manage collections on the device directly from calibre (an e-book personal library management software).

My final choice comes down to Kindle Paperwhite 11th Generation (2021), nicknamed Kindle Paperwhite 5; Kobo Libra II; and Kobo Sage. In the end I decided to go with the Paperwhite 5. Here’s my core reasons:

• Felt Weight. Even though both Kobos supposedly have better ergonomics with the grip and page turn buttons, when I tried them I found that if I hold it like that, the weight pulled pretty hard, and it’s getting uncomfortable fast. Especially the Sage.
• Dictionary. I already have a lot of dictionaries I love in .mobi format, which Kobo doesn’t support. Also, when I tried the Kobo, their Japanese lookup is not as good as Kindle — failing to look up many words.
• Speed. Oh god speed. I don’t know why this isn’t talk about more. Paperwhite 5 is blazing fast compared to any e-ink devices I have ever use. It just makes everything more pleasant.
• Customisability. Kobo is better yes, but for me, it’s too much. I far prefered 12 level of font size of the Kindle than 100 level of the Kobo. I don’t want to decide whether I want epub or I want to convert to kepub, etc¹. Kindle just work. It might not work as well as Kobo in some situation, but it works without me having to think too much.

Note that the Kobo has more feature like Libby integration, Dropbox (for Sage), Pocket integration, support a lot more file formats, and is much more customisable. These are not important to me.

I see a lot of people talking about the screen, and I can also say that the Kobo screen is better, but only marginally, and shouldn’t be a factor in decision at all. I also would advise everyone to actually see it themselves and not thrust the online review on the differences in screen.

Now I want to talk a bit of fonts on Kindle. We need to remember that e-ink screen is reflective, like real paper. So the font that’s perfectly legible on LCD display may be too thin to use comfortably on e-ink screen. For actual paper, the printed ink will spread making the text a little bit bolder. For Kindle, use the boldness adjustment. It took me quite long to figure this out, and it’s night and day in reading experience.

The font I come to use and love is ChareInk font (download the Weight-Hinted version). For bundled font, boldness of 2 is probably good.

This post is turning out longer than I expected. But overall, I love my Kindle Paperwhite 5. It’s, to me, a massive upgrade over Paperwhite 3. The warm backlight is very good at simulating old book that has gone a bit yellow, and is easier to the eye. I leave it on at all time.