When I turned 30 I realized I had forgotten how to read. Not read literally. I could read instructions, reviews, closed captions, and road signs. The ability to literally read had not escaped me. It was the joy of reading for pleasure that I had forgotten. I hadn’t read for fun in a long time and the thought began to nag me on a daily basis. Instinctively I wanted to buy a paperback, but I found myself pulled towards the Kindle Reader. The nostalgia of holding a good book was strong but a thought sprouted in the back of my mind.
Where was I going to put these books?
When I was young I could ready anywhere between 300-500 pages in 1-2 days. My appetite for reading was ravenous and my parents struggled to keep up with my growing Wishlist of books. The thought of having to store all these books somewhere bothered me. We are trying really hard to not fill the house with a bunch of clutter. The fact that we could own hundreds of books and not have the house lined in them was a plus.
Not to mention the fact that something like a tablet would be easier to carry than a book. On top of that I was worried. What if I didn’t like the first book I bought for fun in years? When if I ended up with an entire collection of books I didn’t want. As enticing as starting a community library sounds, I didn’t feel like taking on that kind of a project.
So as hard as it was for me to do, I realized I needed to try giving a tablet reader a chance.
I thought it was going to be hard to decided which reader to go with, but seeing how many Kindle books I already had in my Kindle library made my decision easy. The kindle sat in my Amazon shopping cart for a few days, it’s price tag intimidating me a little bit. I didn’t want to spend so much money on something I was maybe not going to use.
I kept bouncing back and forth between investing in a Kindle, or just buying the paperback books. In the past I had gotten frustrated when I had tried reading on tablets and phones. In my mind the Kindle was still just another really well advertised product trying to take my money. But the thought of being ale to keep all my notes, and having hundreds of books at my fingertips was enticing. Hearing that the Kindle was waterproof, and had an antiglare screen, finally got me to bite.
Choosing a Kindle
I thought about buying a couple different models and ended up between the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition (32 GB), Kindle Oasis – Now with adjustable warm light, and the Kindle – With a Built-in Front Light – Black. All three models with their own list of Pros and Cons.
Disclaimer – I decided no matter which version of the kindle I ended up investing in I wanted the Ad-Free version. Ironic, I know, seeing as how Ads are how we make a living, but the truth is that when I’m reading I want little to no interruptions, and that included Ads. The Ad-Free feature is definitely a luxury thing. I do not believe that buying the Kindle with Ads would hinder the Kindle experience in any way. Honestly for the frugal shopper, or the person that doesn’t care about seeing an Ad or two, the Kindle with Ads is a great investment. I’m honestly debating just getting the Ads version if we invest in a second Kindle.
Size was another factor I took into account when deciding which Kindle to buy. I wanted something that would be easy to carry when traveling. I wanted the screen to be big enough I wouldn’t have to squint to read it. Storage was also big for me. I didn’t want to have to be constantly deleting old books just to make space for new ones. Freddy and I share the same Kindle account so anytime I’m thinking about storage I’m calculating storage space for two.
Kindle Oasis
The Kindle Oasis was interesting. Big, both literally and space wise as it had 8GB and 32 GB available. The Oasis’s design helps you hold the Kindle with one hand. Users are able to flip between pages using two buttons on the right side of the tablet. After owning my Kindle I get the design. Some reviewers have said they don’t think it’s worth it, I kind of agree. I felt that for the most part my hand fit in the space allowed by my Kindle’s frame, as pointed out by reviewers on Amazon.
I rarely read on my back so I didn’t often have to worry about how I would hold my Kindle. However the couple of times that I did read on my back, I realized that the Kindle Oasis is for people that don’t want to constantly be smacked in the face by their Kindle.
Memory wise 32 GB seems to be one of the biggest sizes available for any Kindle, but the Oasis is not the only Kindle model to come in 32 GB. The Kindle Oasis is also wider because of these buttons with a screen size of 7″. This was a con for me. Although I can see benefit of having a slightly bigger Kindle, I really liked the smaller models. On top of that, the Oasis Model I wanted with the 32 GB memory was $279.00. Definitely a con for this Kindle.
The Kindle Oasis ended up being a pass for me all together. I didn’t see the benefit of the size of buttons. However for people that like to read on their backs, or for buyers looking for a bigger screen size this Kindle model isn’t a bad idea.
Kindle With Built in Front Light
The Kindle – With a Built-in Front Light was another great contender. The smallest and most popular of the Kindle models it’s price point was better than the others at $109.99 for the Ad free 8GB model. (Remember these are my specs, 8 GB Ad version is only $89.99 at time of publication).
The Tablet’s size was a plus and the fact that it had so many great reviews was also a plus. the only downside to this tablet for me was the storage size available. I hadn’t seen a place to really get more than 8BG of space and although that seems like a lot sharing that amount of space with Freddy might be more complicated than it sounds. That was a big deal breaker for me on our first Kindle.
In hindsight, it’s not that big a deal. It turns out even if you’re sharing accounts you can decide what books to download onto a Kindle, so if we each had our own Kindle we can technically have different books downloaded from the same shared Kindle Account. In retrospect if we could order the Kindles again I would maybe just get 2 Ad free Kindle – With a Built-in Front Light instead of 1 Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition (32 GB).
Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition (32 GB)
I bought the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition (32 GB) At the time the Kindle was the size I wanted to carry around, and the storage size I thought would be best to accommodate both Freddy and I. The screen size of the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition (32 GB) is 6.8″, slightly bigger than the Kindle – With a Built-in Front Light – Black which was 6″ but still not as large as the Kindle Oasis.
When I first booted up the Kindle I was overall underwhelmed. The system takes longer to wake up than I would like and sometimes feels clunky and slow. I can’t say that the Kindle is snappy or fast, but it is comfortable for reading. The ability to change text size was really underestimated and the brightness control was handy. I officially finished my first 100% Kindle book and I have to say I had a really fun time reading. I took the kindle with me on our memorial day weekend with the family this year. It was easy to pack and the battery lasted the entire vacation and some time after as well.
I had no issues reading whether it was sunny or rainy. The kindle got wet multiple times and I had no problems. I didn’t dunk the Kindle in water, it was just splashed. I was able to wipe all the water off and keep reading.
The Kindle’s price point wasn’t really a pro for me, but it was cheaper than the Kindle Oasis which was great. I think if we invest in a second Kindle I will be considering the Kindle – With a Built-in Front Light – Black before investing in another Kindle Paperwhite Signature.
I would probably like to see if I can demo a Kindle at a store and see if the operating system is as clunky. If I demo the Kindle and the system seems worse then I’ll probably spring for the Kindle Paperwhite Signature, if the system runs about the same I’ll consider just getting the cheaper Kindle Version. I’m not sure the features in the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition are worth the extra investment when at the end of the day it’s going to eb the same reading experience. If anything I’d maybe spring for the ad-free version, and even that I am considering just buying the Ad version. With the discounted price it’s maybe worth the investment.
