Every Amazon New Kindle Device You Can Buy, Ranked Worst To Best

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The best part of an e-reader is that it gives you a dedicated, distraction-free reading experience that feels a lot like reading a real book. Unlike tablets or smartphones, Amazon's Kindles are built with special e-ink displays that are easier on your eyes, don't have glare, and have fantastic battery life. This makes them perfect for long reading sessions, whether you're at home or on the go. However, finding the perfect e-reader can be tougher than you might think, especially as the Kindle family devices continues to grow. 

What used to be a super simple decision has turned into a whole ecosystem, and each Kindle model has its own unique features, aimed at different kinds of readers. The real challenge is matching your reading habits to the features you want, within your budget. This list is going to dive into each device, looking at what it's best at and who it's for, giving you a good look at the specs and what makes each device worth buying. At the end of the day, the best Kindle isn't the same for everyone; it's the one that matches your specific needs.

The Kindle Paperwhite Kids is the same great waterproof Kindle Paperwhite, but it comes with a bunch of extra stuff that's meant for kids. The Kindle comes with a durable folio cover, a six-month subscription to Amazon Kids+, and a generous 2-year worry-free guarantee. That guarantee is a huge plus, as it covers any damage or mechanical issues that might pop up. My kids have broken items from Amazon before, and they've always been replaced for free without a hassle. Also, the Kids model has an ad-free lock screen, which is good since there are many laws regarding advertising to children.

You may want to try to compare the Nook and the Kindle for your kid due to prices, but this e-reader for kids is excellent for reading, and the 16 GB will be more than enough for any kid. It has a super crisp, glare-free 7-inch display with a 300 PPI resolution, and it's noticeably snappier than the old model, with page turns that are 25% faster. You can also adjust the warm light to make reading easier on your eyes, especially at night. Since it's waterproof (IPX8 rating), you can feel safe letting your kids use it by the pool. Best of all, its battery can last up to 12 weeks.

The Kindle Colorsoft Kids is Amazon's first color Kindle made just for young readers, and it comes with 16GB of space. The 7-inch Colorsoft E-Ink display makes the illustrations and covers of children's books, comics, and graphic novels look way more engaging, without getting rid of that comfortable paper-like feel that we all love about E-Ink. You still get crisp black-and-white text at 300 PPI, and there's an adjustable warm light so kids can read comfortably no matter the lighting.

The whole package is also a fantastic value for parents. The Kindle comes with a protective folio cover to keep it safe, a full one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+, which gives them unlimited access to tons of age-appropriate books and audiobooks, and a two-year worry-free guarantee. Basically, if it breaks, Amazon will replace it, no questions asked. Plus, This Kindle is IPX8 waterproof, so it can handle being dropped in the bathtub or pool without any issues, though we'd hardly recommend making that a habit.

While the color is a cool feature, the display can sometimes have lower contrast and a darker look compared to the regular Kindles, in my experience. The color resolution is also only 150 PPI, which is half of the black-and-white resolution. This gives you a more muted, "watercolor-soft" palette instead of the saturated colors you'd see on a tablet.

The new Kindle Paperwhite is easily the best e-reader for most people out there. It hits that sweet spot of being affordable while still giving you all the features you'd actually want. The new 16 GB Paperwhite has a sharp, 7-inch glare-free display with 300 PPI resolution that feels a lot like reading real paper, which is great for your eyes. A feature I really love is the adjustable warm light; you can change the screen from a white tint to a warm amber. Besides that, there are other settings you may want to adjust on a Kindle e-reader to make using the device more comfortable for reading in the day or night, but that shows how adjustable it is.

The page turns on this Kindle are 25% faster than the previous model, so everything feels snappier. The battery life is also incredible, lasting up to 12 weeks on a single charge, but that is likely because it doesn't show any color, so it uses less battery. These Kindles are geared toward adults, so you can buy the Kindles with ads on the lock screen. I always buy these with ads because they aren't very intrusive. The moment you unlock the screen, the ads are gone, and they don't actually interfere with unlocking the device at all. In my experience, it's worth the savings to buy an ad version because you rarely notice them.

The Kindle Colorsoft comes with a 7-inch Colorsoft screen that finally brings some life to book covers, comics, and graphic novels with a full color e-ink display. There are many differences between Paperwhite and Colorsoft, but the main one is that the color on the display is fantastic for non-fiction books that use images. Colorsoft also lets you use multicolor highlights in yellow, orange, blue, and pink to make your notes feel more personal.

The e-reader comes with a sharp 300 PPI resolution for black-and-white text and an adjustable warm light feature to avoid eye strain. You can expect a snappy performance, with page turns and menu navigation feeling just as fast as the newest Kindle Paperwhite. It's also built to last with an IPX8 waterproof rating and an incredible battery life of up to eight weeks. Just keep in mind that the color images have 150 PPI, which is less than some of the best tablets you'd see. LINK

The 16GB may be a strain over time, because colored books tend to take up more space than black and white ones. However, I've had no problem deleting and redownloading books I like on Kindle. After all, Amazon will remembers you've already bought book and let you redownload it from the store page for as long as it remains for sale.

If you're looking for a high-end Kindle that will put everyone else's to shame, it's this one. The Amazon Kindle Scribe is not just great for reading, but also great for note taking. The Scribe has a huge 10.2-inch glare-free display with a super-sharp 300 PPI resolution. This makes it perfect for reading bigger stuff like academic papers, PDFs, or diagrams. To make things even better, it has an advanced adjustable warm light system with 35 LEDs, so you can read comfortably no matter the time of day.

The Scribe comes with the Premium Pen, which is a huge plus since you never have to charge it. It also has a customizable shortcut button and an eraser. This is basically like having a pencil that only works on the Kindle you're using. 

There are some neat software additions, too, like AI-powered features that can clean up your messy handwriting and summarize notes in your digital notebooks instantly. The Active Canvas feature is also great because it lets you write notes right on the page of a book, and the text will reflow around your notes. This also comes with a battery life that will give you up to 12 weeks of reading time or three weeks of daily writing use, which is a lot more than most tablets. Scribe is the best offering right now, and there are plenty of hidden features you could be using if you bought one.

When it comes to e-readers, especially Amazon's Kindles, I've had a ton of personal experience. I've bought and used a bunch of different models over the years, so this ranking guide is based on my own countless hours of reading, using, and comparing. This ranking is mostly from the perspective of an adult reader, but as a parent, I've also bought and used the Kindle Kids models.

My ranking is based on a few key things that matter to me when I use Kindles. The display is a huge one, where I'm looking at its size, resolution, and whether it has glare-free or warm light features. Battery life is also super important because no one wants to stop reading to find a charger.

I also consider extra features, from practical stuff like waterproofing to more innovative things like being able to write on the screen. Keep in mind that the prices are going to be higher with the more features you have, but it's worth the price if you like Kindles. These are designed for distraction-free reading, which is why you'd buy it over a tablet. I think they're worth your money, and if you don't want to pay for a Scribe, a Paperwhite is good enough and there are tips and tricks new owners can use to master the learning curve of a Kindle.