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  • About the Amazon Kindle 11th Generation (2022)

  • What we like

  • What we don’t like

  • Should you buy the Amazon Kindle (2022)?

  • Related content

  • About the Amazon Kindle 11th Generation (2022)
  • What we like
  • What we don’t like
  • Should you buy the Amazon Kindle (2022)?
  • Related content

Pros

  • Crisp, bright display

  • Responsive and easy to use

  • Compact and value-packed

Cons

  • Raised bezels

  • Not waterproof

  • No color temperature control

The 11th-gen Amazon Kindle is an outstanding e-reader that will make most bookworms happy.

Amazon’s entry-level Kindle used to be difficult to recommend due to ts low-resolution display, lack of backlighting, and pokey processor. However, Amazon has flipped the script for 2022 with its 11th-gen Kindle, making it impossible not to recommend it to digital book aficionados. For around $100, the 2022 Kindle provides an outstanding user experience, thanks to a wide range of improvements to its internal specifications.

About the Amazon Kindle 11th Generation (2022)

Here's a quick look at the Kindle 11th-gen's main specs:

  • Display: Six-inch Touchscreen
  • Display Resolution: 300 PPI
  • Dimensions: 6.2 by 4.3 by 0.32 inches
  • Weight: 5.6 oz
  • Supported Formats: AZW, EPUB, HTML, MOBI, PDF, RTF, TXT, Audible audio content

What we like

A base model Kindle sits on a table next to a larger Kindle Paperwhite.

With its six-inch display, the 11th generation Amazon Kindle (left) is significantly smaller than the popular Kindle Paperwhite.

Small, but mighty

The 2022 Amazon Kindle brings back the six-inch display, in a compact 6.2 x 4.3 x 0.32-inch form factor that weighs just 5.6 ounces. It's light enough that, on one occasion during testing it, I thought I’d either lost it or forgotten it at home.

Thankfully, it was in the bottom of my backpack, waiting for me to pull it out and read, one-handed, as I devoured a plate of chilaquiles con pollo at my favorite breakfast joint. The device’s bottom display bezel is large enough to rest a thumb, preventing accidental screen taps while you’re reading.

When Amazon refreshed its popular Kindle Paperwhite back in 2019, it made a big deal out of the fact that for the first time the device would ship with a larger, 6.8-inch display. For years before that, the Paperwhite had a six-inch display, which translated to more page turns, more screen refreshes, and, consequentially, shorter battery life. The 2022 Kindle comes packing this same six-inch display and, the same issues. E Ink displays only consume energy when the content they're showing is changed--turning to a new page of a book, for example--or, when the display requires a refresh (completely reloading the screen's content to eliminate ghost images of things the display had on it, previously). However, I'm betting that you'll never have a complaint about it how long you can go between charges.

One of the biggest advantages that an e-reader, like the 2022 Kindle has over a device like a tablet or a laptop is that E Ink displays sip power. So, despite frequent page turns, maxing out display lighting, and the like, most people should expect to go weeks without ever having to plug this device in for a top-up. Of course, how often and how long you read will have an effect on this.

Crisp and bright

Two Amazon Kindles sit side-by-side to illustrate how much text each of their displays can hold.
Credit: Reviewed / Séamus Bellamy

The 11th-generation Kindle (left) shows fewer words on its display than the 11th-generation Kindle Paperwhite (right). This translates into more page turns and, consequently, less battery life.

The 2022 Kindle didn’t just bring back the last generation Paperwhite’s six-inch display. It dragged along its 300 PPI (Pixels Per Inch) display resolution with it. 300 PPI is a huge step up from the much less readable 167 PPI pixel density display that the last version of Amazon’s base model Kindle was rocking.

With this upgrade, Amazon has ensured that all of its devices, including its upcoming Kindle Scribe (check back in the near future for our review), have the same crisp, highly legible resolution. At 300 PPI, small fonts remain highly legible and large fonts will look as smooth as if they just rolled out of the mouth of a laser printer.

That said, the 2022 Kindle’s display lighting is merely adequate. It’s bright enough to make reading in a dark room both possible and pleasurable. But with only four LEDs handling the display’s front lighting (versus 17 LEDs in the Paperwhite), the light cast by the device is uneven. It’s not enough to distract you from what you’re reading but it's there. Given the lower price, however, it’s a forgivable sin.

Speedy and easy

A Kindle with it's settings pane open, showing a number of options that can be tapped on or off.
Credit: Reviewed / Séamus Bellamy

One of the best things about using a recent Amazon Kindle is how easy it is to navigate its various settings.

Future software updates may slow it down but, at the time that this review was written, page turns, interacting with the device's settings—like when you want to invert its display to use white text on a black background, to read in bed—and navigating the Kindle Store, all burst with immediacy.

The Kindle’s operating system is a pleasure to use. Over the years, Amazon has had the time to refine its interface into something that, most people with a modicum of computer literacy can pick up and master in the space of a few minutes. For those who require some assistance, there’s also a built-in tutorial.

What we don’t like

A close up of a 2022 Amazon Kindle's raised bezels.
Credit: Reviewed / Séamus Bellamy

We would have preferred a flush glass display surface, like the one used with the Kindle Paperwhite, over this raised plastic bezel.

Raised bezels

I’d have preferred the display be protected by a slab of matte glass, like the one on the Kindle Paperwhite or Kobo Libra 2. It’s been my experience that raised bezels tend to get dirt and dust caught along their edges, over time. Additionally, depending on how I was holding the Kindle, I found its raised bezels got in the way of swiping down from the top of its display to access the device’s Settings menus.

Neither of these issues are dealbreakers. In fact, it's unlikely that many people will notice them, at all.

Dangerous when wet

Well, maybe not dangerous. But with the 2022 Kindle’s lack of waterproofing, you’re going to have a bad day if you spill your coffee on it. Amazon managed to pack a lot of value into this e-reading device, but protection from exposure to liquid isn’t on the spec sheet this time around.

Nothing but white light

While I love the 2022 Kindle’s display, I was disappointed by its front lighting. Unlike the rest of Amazon’s Kindle lineup, the 2022 Kindle doesn’t feature the ability to change the display's color temperature—a feature that can make reading at night, or in brightly lit rooms, a lot more pleasant. It also lacks a sensor to adjust its display lighting level automatically. These omissions were likely made to keep the cost of the device low.

Ad-free, for a price

We tested the 16GB, ad-free version of the 2022 Kindle; in a fit of late-stage capitalism, Amazon forces users to pay more for the privilege of using its e-readers without ads.

It’s a small, but irritating add-on cost to the price of what is already a sizeable financial investment for some people. That said, if you opt to buy the ad-supported iteration, you can always pay to remove Amazon’s ad content at a later date.

Should you buy the Amazon Kindle (2022)?

Yes, it’s a great e-reader for the money

Unless you need a waterproof e-reader for frequent trips to the beach, prefer a device with a larger display, or simply don’t want to invest in Amazon’s ecosystem of devices and content, the 11th generation 2022 Amazon Kindle is an outstanding e-reader that will make most bookworms happy.

Its clear, crisp display is easy on the eyes, in most lighting conditions. Its compact size makes it a device you’ll have no qualms about bringing with you, everywhere you go. And, with Amazon’s unmatched selection of books, newspapers, comics, and audiobooks, you’ll never run out of content to consume when it comes time to kill some time.

If you feel you need a device that can tolerate exposure to liquids without kicking the bucket, we recommend stepping up to the Kindle Paperwhite or the more expensive, but incredibly capable, [Kobo Libra 2]https://www.amazon.com/Kobo-Touchscreen-Waterproof-Adjustable-Temperature/dp/B09HSRGZRL?tag=rvwreview-20.

The 2022 Kindle costs significantly less than the Kindle Paperwhite, even though it has many of the same features, which makes owning one feel like an absolute steal.

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Meet the tester

Séamus Bellamy

Séamus Bellamy

Senior Editor: Mobile Devices & Wearables

@@SeamusBellamy

Séamus Bellamy is a senior editor on Reviewed's Electronics Team. Before coming to Reviewed, his work was featured in The New York Times, The Globe & Mail, BBC World, Macworld and Maximum PC.

See all of Séamus Bellamy's reviews

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