Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Customers like the ease of use, lightweight design, and size of the Amazon book reader. They mention it's easy to navigate, works well, and is perfect for people who dislike bulky tablets. Some also appreciate the value for money, readability, and battery life. However, some customers have reported that the lack of back lighting makes reading difficult.
3,348 customers mention "Ease of use"2,843 positive505 negative
Customers find the Amazon book reader easy to use. They mention it's pretty easy to navigate, read, and bookmark pages. Readers also say it makes it much easier to access footnotes and the dictionary. They appreciate the helpful user guide and say it's perfect for everyday convenience.
"...Amazon itself has its own helpful user guide for you to DL right off the bat, so if you do ever get lost that thing should save you a lot of..." Read more
"...I need to type something the keyboard on the new Kindle is incredibly easy to use. Typing on the old one was a pain in the butt...." Read more
"...One thing that is good is the ability to set up the Kindle for other users, i.e., "freetime."..." Read more
"...Reading is easy on this one: in comparison to my Kindle Keyboard, the previous version of Kindle, and a Kindle DX the letters on the screen are much..." Read more
Customers like the product. They mention it's a great, functional tool for the job. The touch screen works great, with a fast response time. The operating system is good and easy to use. Readers also say it works well with online library systems such as Overdrive. They like the non-glare reading experience and the link to Goodreads.
"...For that price the device is positively charming. It's my first Kindle and I really could not ask for more...." Read more
"...In general the operating system is good but I imagine it can get a lot better...." Read more
"...The kindle 7 is a piece of technological art. It's not pretty in that sense, but it's a work of art in what it does and offers...." Read more
"...It is a pleasure to use. We weren't planning on getting another tablet like device, but this little guy is a winner. We are keeping it." Read more
Customers like the lightweight of the product. They mention it's easy to carry around and use, and doesn't add any bulk. Customers also say it's perfect for people who dislike bulky tablets.
"...It's super light, intuitive, and insanely easy to use...." Read more
"...This "seventh generation" Kindle is lighter, faster, has a touch screen, better looking fonts and has refined software. It is a pleasure to use...." Read more
"...-breaker for me, but some other impressions I had: this thing is so lightweight, I love that about it!..." Read more
"...: not being backlit, having ridiculously good battery life, being very lightweight, and being cheap enough that I don't have to worry too much about..." Read more
Customers like the size of the Kindle. They mention it fits perfectly in their purses, has a decent size display, and is nice to hold. Some appreciate that the bottom bezel is bigger than the Paperwhite's, making it a good place to rest.
"...Not only that, but it's touch screen, has wifi and is just the right size...." Read more
"...great readability and ease of use, small footprint and light weight...." Read more
"...-You can adjust the size of the font as needed.-It's a good size that is large enough to be about the size of a paperback book but small..." Read more
"...This item is small and light weight, just what I wanted...." Read more
1,195 customers mention "Value for money"1,045 positive150 negative
Customers appreciate the value of the product. They mention it's a great investment for bookworms, and a cheap, casual use eReader. They also say there are no worries on late fees since the book is automatically returned when the loan is over.
"...Cheap, fast, easy to use, and all around a nice product to own with good and simple build quality...." Read more
"...but until then, the kindle 7 is my e-reader of choice and worth every penny!" Read more
"...of magnification came up and we found them quite interesting and reasonably priced...." Read more
"...I like its low low cost especially as I'm handing it off to children, but many will find the upsell to the whiter versions with cellular service..." Read more
Customers like the readability of the product. They mention it's easier to read in very bright light, easier on their eyes than any screen or even a regular book. The clarity of the screen is excellent, and the display is comfortable to read from. Readers also mention that highlighting is much easier.
"...The resolution of the display seems fine to me and very close to what you would get in a normal sized book...." Read more
"...All-in-all I have to say that this is easier on my eyes than any screen or even a regular book. And it is getting me back to the joys of reading!..." Read more
"..."Keyboard" because of the new fonts, but to us the screen itself doesn't appear any lighter, whiter, brighter or have higher contrast...." Read more
"...against the versions of Kindle mentioned above, the text on this Kindle is much darker and reads a lot better...." Read more
Customers like the battery life of the product. They mention it's excellent and half-full, which helped with setup.
"...The good news is the battery lasts days, not hours...." Read more
"...I mean, it'll hold thousands of books! And the battery will last hundreds of hours!..." Read more
"...after four years the "Keyboard" is still quite useful and the battery is still strong...." Read more
"...than a general purpose tablet: not being backlit, having ridiculously good battery life, being very lightweight, and being cheap enough that I don't..." Read more
Customers find the lack of backlighting easy on their eyes. They mention the Kindle doesn't include a light and is much darker than expected. Some say the new highlighting feature is unusable.
"...This Kindle requires light to read but that's not an issue for me. It's just like a book - you need a light to read...." Read more
"...Yeah, it doesn't have a light. And yeah, it's boring black and white, but you know what? Who cares? It's for books! Books don't have lights...." Read more
"...Lighting ****It needs a light when it gets dark... but that is because it's supposed to be like a book...." Read more
"...I had the PW first gen and the light was really blotchy and i personally noticed that my eyes strained when reading with that bluish white..." Read more
I love it and you will too, if you don't mind that the screen is surprisingly dimmer than expected.
I wish I had bought a Kindle sooner. Let me preface this by mentioning that when a family member got a 4th Generation Kindle about 2 years ago, I could not figure out how to use it. The small buttons and no keyboard drove me crazy trying to type in what I wanted, trying to navigate on the Kindle screen to purchase or find books, and downloading books. I found the page turn buttons to be annoying and it was too easy to accidentally press them while reading. I couldn't figure out where to put my hand to hold the Kindle while avoiding the page turn buttons.The Kindle touch has changed all of that. It's easy to navigate and easy to type because it's all touch responsive. You don't have to worry about turning the page unless you touch your finger to the screen, and because of this, turning the page is really easy. Built into the Kindle interface, I can hold my finger on a word I don't know and it will give me a definition of that word in my choice of 2 dictionaries. The lack of buttons on the bottom gives you ample space to place your thumb to grasp the Kindle, and the same for the edges on the left and right of the screen, to rest your finger of the same hand for stabilization. To make things even easier, I purchased Popsockets to put on the back so I can hold it with a flat hand.My only caveat is that there is no light, which I knew before purchasing, but the screen is somewhat darker than expected. It's not as bright as a piece of paper in front of you, it's a shade or two dimmer. In daylight or indoors, this is not a problem, but if you read in bed at night with a low watt lamp next to you, you're going to want the screen to be brighter. If I could turn the light off completely on the Voyager, I would have opted for that one in retrospect.Things I like: Touch screen No buttons Easy to navigate and type because of the touch screen Space to grasp due to no buttons Small power button on the bottomThings I don't like: The screen is dimmer than expected and has no light to compensate. Only comes with a USB cord to charge off of your computer, no wall plug. I use the base from the iphone charger with the Kindle USB. The lack of a charging base is clearly a way for Amazon to earn extra money when you purchase the wall plug, but if you want to look at it from a positive perspective, for the many who refuse to pay extra money for the wall plug, providing only the USB cord is ecofriendly and minimizing technological waste being sent to Guiyu, China, the e-waste recycling hub of the world, to be recycled when we no longer want our used electronics. (Children and adults alike in the city of Guiyu are getting sick from lead poisoning and various other ailments from the toxicity of the air, water, and direct exposure to heavy metals from inside our electronics). The ads and having to pay $20 to remove them is cheap marketing, where Amazon is profiting off of you seeing the ads, and profiting off of you not wanting to see them. Clever, but not classy.Unknowns:How easily does the screen dent? Does it need a screen protector or a hard case to protect the screen?Update 7 months later: I still LOVE my kindle. I had no idea I would ever love it this much. I don't go anywhere without it.
I got this thing as a refurb and it's basically brand new. I can see nothing that would suggest much use for sure. No problems with the screen as of now and the touch mechanism to me is working perfectly. Updating the thing was a breeze. So let's get into detail on the device...
The normal Kindle I suppose is the poor man's e-reader at this point in Amazon's lineup. But I am waiting until the 16nm tablet revolution to get one of their high-end tablets. I didn't want to pay more than I needed for something that I just read text on, and the paperwhite seems to have its fair share of screen problems. This one was only 64 dollars base price. I got a used case to go along with it.
For that price the device is positively charming. It's my first Kindle and I really could not ask for more. Amazon's software if very mature at this point, so you have a variety of fonts, readability settings, and core attributes to modify to your liking. After a couple minor fixes for my own personal use I was off downloading my entire Kindle on PC library. Easy. Fast. I could not ask for anything easier. The experimental browser also gets the job done. Bookmarks and decent website compatibility as long as it doesn't use too much Flash or Java. The device works perfectly for a college accessory and textbook device when needed.
Not all textbooks are compatible with the lower end devices though. That was the only downside to the cheapest one in the lineup. My Glossary of Literary Terms was sadly not okay with this e-reader.
Navigating and using features like highlights, x-ray, dictionaries, and the page functions took about 20 minutes for me to get the hang of it all. Again, everything is set up to help the customer get up and running very easily. The various swipes are easy to remember and incredibly intuitive at this point. I can flip, preview, cancel, and just all around enjoy the book I am reading without hardly any hassle at all. I for one did not think the page turning was too sensitive on mine. Seems about right for such a device. Amazon clearly has some very mature software here that complements the Kindle hardware in synergistic fashion.
I don't use too many of the community features like Goodreads, but that is there for you too if you want to be involved in the gigantic Kindle community. Other great community functions that are less pervasive include notes on what people highlighted in the book, which I found to be a nice feature. And then you have other functions like about the book, which gives you some really nice info about what you are reading the first time.
The one thing some people are going to not like is probably the storage. 4GBs is not really what I call enough space for the future. Luckily, I do have a lot of Delphi collections and my books fit on here nicely at this point. I have about 2.3GBs left after DL'ing 70 or so products. Amazon itself has its own helpful user guide for you to DL right off the bat, so if you do ever get lost that thing should save you a lot of time.
The resolution of the display seems fine to me and very close to what you would get in a normal sized book. The somewhat dim display works very well for and is basically about the brightness of a normal literature page. I was comparing it to a bunch of my books and came away quite pleased with what they have here. Of course a bit more resolution would be nice, but for what is here you can still get fairly small fonts and good detail. This is not a reader for the dark, obviously.
Anyway, I don't think there is too much else to say. I'll update the review as I go along, and take a note on battery life, but for now this thing is a great little device. Cheap, fast, easy to use, and all around a nice product to own with good and simple build quality. It sync'd up with my Amazon account right away and there was absolutely zero trouble getting this thing to work correctly. Highly recommended to those on a budget or to those that do not have any need for the higher-end tablets and readers. Unlike some of the other products, this one doesn't have any inherent screen issues, either.
I love my Kindle. I bought one when the price dropped below $100 back in 2011. A touch screen sounded nice, but physical buttons were OK by me. At $79, the new touch screen Kindle was definitely tempting, but I resisted until Thanksgiving when the price dropped to $49. Two days later I had my new Kindle & my husband had my old one. He's been a read paper books or read on the tablet or phone kind of guy. Two weeks later when the price dropped to $59 I asked him if he wanted Santa to get him one. After comparing the 2, he said yes. So, why this Kindle?
Designed for readers
Physical books have dark print on a light background. They don't have built in lights. You sit in a spot with adequate lighting and read them. The same is true of this Kindle. Of course, sometimes it would be nice to be able to read in the dark or see the color in a book. Fortunately Kindle apps are available for almost any device and Amazon syncs across my devices. That means I can switch to using my tablet or phone when I need color or a light. For the record, I don't do that very often.
Ease of Use
I really didn't mind the physical buttons on my old Kindle. I also don't miss them. It's so much easier to hold the Kindle when I don't have to position my thumb on the edge of the device so I can turn the page. On the relatively rare occasions when I need to type something the keyboard on the new Kindle is incredibly easy to use. Typing on the old one was a pain in the butt. Getting a definition or highlighting a passage is a matter of touching the screen, not repeatedly pushing a button.
Adjustable Fonts
Need reading glasses? I do. Sure, I can read normal sized print in physical books, but my Kindle lets me adjust the font size to make reading easier. This isn't a new feature, but it's easier than it used to be.
Battery Life
The bad news is I don't get the projected month on a charge. The good news is the battery lasts days, not hours. Amazon bases their claim on 1/2 hour of reading per day (15 hours per month)and leaving wi-fi off. I spend an hour or 2 a day reading, so that cuts the estimated battery life at least in half. The Kindle uses battery only for page turns and accessing wi-fi. I leave wi-fi on. I also use a larger font and I read more than 1000 wpm. Google says the average person reads 250-300 wpm. The font size and reading speed mean at least 4 times the estimated page turns. Battery life may not be what Amazon claims, but it's certainly within expected parameters. And it definitely beats battery life on my phone and tablet.
Good Reads
I have't previously used Good Reads, but I do now. I love that it's integrated into this Kindle.
Family library
This wasn't available on the old Kindle. I like sharing books with my husband. We don't have any children in residence, but the family features sound great.
Buying Experience
Books don't have to cost money. I usually don't go into a bookstore or a library in search of a specific book. I go to a section and choose from what's available. I do the same on Amazon. I do most of my browsing in the free best sellers list. Since free books don't necessarily stay free, I buy whatever looks like I'd like it. I don't always like them and/or read them but I have more than 800 purchased books, most of them free. And all I have to take with me on the plane is my Kindle. Of course, at the bookstore I can sample the book before I buy it. Amazon lets me download a free sample. Once I buy a book, Amazon downloads it to my Kindle in about the time it takes to read this sentence. Amazing.
Other book sources
**Public libraries. The selection of ebooks at my library is significantly smaller than the selection of paper books. (No, ebooks don't cost the library nothing. They are actually significantly more expensive.) That said, the selection has definitely improved. Books check out for 1-3 weeks. The process is ridiculously easy. Check out the book & select Kindle. Overdrive takes you to Amazon, where the buy button has been changed to the borrow button. Don't count on finishing the last chapter after lending period ends. The book will stop functioning the second the lending period ends. The good part of that is that there are no fines for late returns. **Prime Lending Library. Check out 1 qualifying book per month with no due date. I have a wishlist of Prime books I want to read. I checked the library for them. Most weren't available,so my free sources don't overlap. This is a nice perk of Prime, but definitely not a reason to sign up. Prime books are only available on Kindle devices, not Kindle apps. **Kindle Unlimited for $9.99/month. I didn't expect to like my free trial, but I did. I could easily find and read more than $10 worth of books per month. Most (all?) of my Prime wishlist is available on Kindle Unlimited. While I like Kindle Unlimited, I have suspended my subscription for the moment. I will probably renew periodically. My husband wasn't impressed with the selection. I browse bookstores. He shops for a specific book. Kindle Unlimited is more suited to browsing.
Special Offers
As previously implied, I'm cheap. That said, I did wonder about the Special Offers. Buy the Kindle with SO. Pay the $20 difference later if they bother you. You will see them as a screen saver and at the bottom 1/2 inch of the home page. You do NOT see them when you are actually reading. I don't spend much time on the home screen. I spend even less time looking at the screensaver. I spend most of my time on the Kindle actually reading. Some deals aren't bad, so I occasionally look at the list in the menu. It's definitely not worth $20 to me to get rid of them.