Amazon Kindle (11th gen) Review: Super-light Kindle ‘Lite’ is now a Heavyweight

The base Kindle with zero suffixes is supposed to be the most humble member of the Kindle range. It is the most affordable of the series, with lower price tags than its Paperwhite and Oasis siblings.

But with this lower price tag came several spec and performance compromises, earning it the nickname of the ‘Kindle Lite.’ It was the best option for digital bookworms who are looking for a bare-bones Kindle experience on a tight budget.

Someone considering a more expensive Kindle would hardly ever be tempted by the base model. The 11th Generation of the Kindle changes that. It is the first base Kindle model that can actually make a Paperwhite look over its shoulder with some concern.

Amazon Kindle (11th generation): Crazily compact

The first thing that strikes you about the Kindle (11th Generation) is just how compact and light it is. It is made of plastic but has a very solid feel to it, although the recessed display makes it look slightly dated in comparison to the flush displays on the Oasis and the Paperwhite.

At 157.8 mm tall, 108.6 mm wide, and 8.0mm slim, the new Kindle is significantly smaller than the latest Kindle Paperwhite (174.2 mm tall, 124.6 mm wide, and 8.1 mm thin) and is more than 20 percent lighter, too – 157 grams against 205 grams.

The biggest reason for this more petite frame is the fact that the new Kindle packs in a smaller display as compared to the Paperwhite – 6 inches as compared to 6.8 inches. It nevertheless is still more compact and lighter than its own predecessor, which had a display of the same size. There is, unfortunately, no dust and water resistance, a feature which is always handy for those of us who like to read often and in just about every weather condition!

Amazon Kindle (11th generation): A super display on the budget Kindle at last

It might be smaller, but the new Kindle’s display is still a very good one and is very close in terms of quality to the one on Paperwhite. You get a 6-inch e-ink display with the same pixel density (300 PPI), “smart font technology,” and 16-bit grayscale display as the Paperwhite – a huge step up from the less sharp 167 PPI displays that we used to get on older base model Kindles.

Like all Kindle displays, it is great to read on. It is awesome in bright sunlight, and as it comes with its own lighting, you can read it even when in the dark. And unlike its predecessor and even the base Paperwhite, which comes with 8 GB of storage, it comes with a massive 16 GB of onboard storage. It also is the first plain Kindle to come with a USB Type-C port for charging (something even the flagship Oasis lacks). That’s enough space for a few thousand books.

Of course, this being a Kindle, it comes baked with access to Amazon’s Kindle e-book store with thousands of titles (many of them free), so you can purchase and download books straight from the Kindle itself. You can also do so from the Web on a phone or computer if you wish, but having the option right on the Kindle is neat.

Amazon Kindle (11th generation): Great battery life and faster charging

Top that off with battery life that will last you about 7-10 days if you read for 2-3 hours a day, and the new Kindle emerges as a terrific device for anyone wanting to get into the ebook world. The display is close to Paperwhite levels and can be read in the dark. You get all of the reading features that are present in other Kindle e-book readers as well – you can choose different fonts and tweak font sizes, check the meaning of a word using an inbuilt dictionary, make notes, highlight text, place bookmarks, and so on.

The touch interface on the e-ink display remains nowhere near even what one gets on a budget Android device, but it is more than adequate for most basic navigation tasks and is smoother than on the previous Kindle, though just a touch (pun intended) below the UIs on the Paperwhite and the Oasis.

The presence of a USB Type-C port means that one does not have to carry an additional cable with a micro USB connector to charge the device or connect it to a notebook (to transfer documents or books from it). Even the charging speed is discernibly better than in the past – the Kindle charged in about two hours from a 15W charger.

Best of all, its compact form factor means that it is the first base model Kindle we have been able to slip into our jacket and even (men’s) trouser pockets. It is less tall and lighter than the iPhone 14 Pro Max!

Internet connectivity comes via Wi-Fi. There is no 4G/5G version of this Kindle, but that should not bother anyone in an era where 4G phones with Wi-Fi hotspots are the rule! On the subject of Internet connectivity, the Kindle does come with a Web browser, but there is not much you can do with it, given the fact that the Kindle does not support color, videos, or animation. In fact, although text looks wonderfully sharp, photographs and illustrations in books do not look too great on the Kindle – the perils of grayscale e-paper.

Amazon Kindle 2022: Bliss for the budget e-book reader seeker, headache for the Paperwhite

Its blend of portability and readability makes the Kindle (11th Generation) not only the best suffix-less Kindle we have ever used but actually a potential headache for the Paperwhite as well. At $99.99/Rs 9,999, the Kindle is more expensive than its predecessors, but it is still significantly more affordable than the Kindle Paperwhite, which starts at $139.99/Rs 13,999 and has half the storage.

Yes, it has a smaller display, comes with only four LEDs as compared to 17 on the Paperwhite, and there has no option to automatically adjust the lighting or even have an adjustable warm light that is easier on the eyes. But we do not think that any of those are deal breakers in our e-book!

In terms of sheer reading experience, the Kindle narrows the gap between itself and the Paperwhite like never before. In fact, the only factor that would make us choose a Paperwhite over the Kindle is the fact that the former comes with IPX8 water resistance.

The Kindle (11th Generation) is a Kindle with no major performance compromises. It is smart, light, and the easiest Kindle on the pocket in more ways than one. It is light in weight but no lightweight in the feature category. Do not even dream of calling it the Kindle Lite.

Buy Kindle 11th gen (India) | Buy Kindle 11th gen (US)