Amazon Kindle 2019 review: Why buy any other Kindle anymore?

It’s safe to say that most of us carry multiple devices with us at most times today. We could squabble over whether Kindles can replace physical books, but that wouldn’t make a difference in the context of this review. However, they undoubtedly do reduce the weight of your backpack.

What makes more sense is to talk about what the 2019 version of Amazon’s entry-level Kindle does to its entire range of e-readers. To recap, the company now sells the All-new Kindle (this one), Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Oasis in India — the cheapest, mid-range and flagship, respectively.

But so far, whenever we’ve reviewed Kindles, the Paperwhite and Oasis have trumped the entry-level variant on one important point — the backlight. Turns out, that’s no longer a bone of contention for anyone. And that makes all the difference.

The 2019 All-new Kindle has four backlights, meaning you can read in the dark. It’s not as bright as the Paperwhite or Oasis, but one could argue that this makes it even better for reading in the dark. At no point will it seem ‘too bright’ for reading.

On the other hand, it sports 4GB of internal storage, enough for hundreds of books if not more. It’s smaller than the Paperwhite or Oasis but the 6-inch screen is more than enough to read comfortably. It’s also light enough to carry in any backpack and read for long hours, even with an attached case, if you choose to buy that.

It’s really a win-win for any regular buyer — any regular buyer who wants a Kindle to read books that is. But what about Amazon? The new Kindle, in all fairness, makes the other devices redundant. It’s tough to recommend any other Kindle now, unless for some reason you want a flagship-class Kindle only.

The key element of Amazon’s Kindles has always been their simplicity. They’re meant solely for reading. They don’t ping you with notifications, they don’t expect you to browse the web or do anything else for that matter. You buy one, buy/download books and comics and read away to kingdom come. Capiche? Ok.

Why would you spend anything more than ₹7,999 (what this Kindle costs) for that, if you get something that can store more than enough books, connect to the Internet and can be read anywhere, anytime?

Sure, the others are slightly faster, have slightly sharper screens and are waterproof too. But does that really warrant the substantially higher prices in a market that has, and probably always will be price sensitive?

What it’s still not, however, is an upgrade to your old entry-level Kindle. The screen is sharper, but not enough to really warrant an upgrade.

If you’re buying a new Kindle today, this is the one to go for. And that’s that.