• Home
  • News
  • Fortune 500
  • Tech
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechPointCloud

How to Pick the Amazon Kindle Right for You

By
Lisa Eadicicco
Lisa Eadicicco
and
TIME
TIME
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Lisa Eadicicco
Lisa Eadicicco
and
TIME
TIME
Down Arrow Button Icon
January 27, 2017, 2:22 PM ET
Courtesy of Amazon.com

Amazon’s Kindle e-readers are designed to do one thing really well: make it easier to read on the go. While the Kindle’s purpose is clear, it can be hard to choose the right model for you.

Amazon (AMZN) now offers four different Kindle varieties. The newly announced Kindle Oasis joins the Kindle, Kindle Paperwhite, and Kindle Voyage in Amazon’s lineup.

All of them offer the same software features, like Whispersync, which saves and syncs the last page you read, your bookmarks and annotations across all your devices, and Goodreads, which provides reading recommendations. The differences mostly come down to two factors: hardware and price.

Here’s a look at how Amazon’s Kindles compare, ranked from most expensive to least.

Kindle Oasis

Price: $289.99, buy on Amazon here
Screen: Glare free 6-inch touch screen with built-in light, 300 pixels per inch, 60% more LED lights than the Kindle Voyage
Weight and Thickness: 4.6 ounces, 0.13 inches (at thinnest point)
Battery: Amazon claims more than nine weeks when paired with included cover

The biggest difference between the Kindle Oasis and its predecessors is its sleeker and lighter design. Amazon says the Oasis is roughly 30% thinner on average and 20% lighter than any of its other e-readers.
It has a sloped design, so it’s thicker where the battery and processor are stored and slims out toward the edges, vaguely resembling the binding of a book. This makes it ideal for one-handed usage. Each Kindle Oasis comes with a leather charging cover, which the company says adds around seven weeks of extra battery life to the e-reader. The Oasis also has a brighter screen than the Kindle Voyage.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter

Kindle Voyage

Price: $199.99, buy on Amazon here
Screen: Glare free 6-inch touch screen with built-in light and adaptive sensor, 300 pixels per inch
Weight and Thickness: 6.3-6.6 ounces, 0.3 inches
Battery: Amazon claims up to six weeks on a single charge

The Kindle Voyage represented a modest yet appreciated upgrade from the Kindle Paperwhite. Amazon eliminated the plasticky bezels to make the device’s borders flush with the screen, creating a slimmer overall look. The Voyage also comes with an adaptive light sensor and page-turn sensors unlike the Paperwhite and standard Kindle.

Kindle Paperwhite

Price: $119.99, buy on Amazon here
Screen: Glare free 6-inch touch screen with built-in light, 300 pixels per inch
Weight and Thickness: 7.2-7.6 ounces, 0.36 inches
Battery: Amazon claims up to six weeks on a single charge

Amazon updated its Paperwhite in 2015 to make its screen just as sharp as that of the Kindle Voyage. The most important differences between the Paperwhite and Voyage are physical: the Paperwhite’s screen is slightly recessed underneath its bezel, and it doesn’t come with physical page turn buttons. It’s also slightly thicker and heavier than the Voyage, although the average user probably won’t notice.

Kindle

Price: $79.99, buy on Amazon here
Screen: Glare-free 6-inch touch screen, 167 pixels per inch
Weight and Thickness: 6.7 ounces, 0.4 inches
Battery: Amazon claims up to four weeks on a single charge

Amazon’s cheapest Kindle skimps out on some of the flourishes you’ll get with more expensive models, but still accomplishes its basic purpose. The $79.99 Kindle comes with a lower-resolution screen that doesn’t have a reading light and a lower battery capacity. In terms of design, it’s similar to the Kindle Paperwhite, with its thick bezels and recessed screen. The Kindle also uses an older type of E Ink technology known as Pearl, whereas the newer models use E Ink Carta. The latter is said to offer a 50% increase in contrast and smoother page turns than previous generations of ePaper.

We’ve included affiliate links in this article. Click here to learn what those are.
This article originally appeared on Time.com.

About the Authors
By Lisa Eadicicco
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
By TIME
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

LawInternet
A Supreme Court decision could put your internet access at risk. Here’s who could be affected
By Dave Lozo and Morning BrewDecember 2, 2025
5 hours ago
AITikTok
China’s ByteDance could be forced to sell TikTok U.S., but its quiet lead in AI will help it survive—and maybe even thrive
By Nicholas GordonDecember 2, 2025
6 hours ago
United Nations
AIUnited Nations
UN warns about AI becoming another ‘Great Divergence’ between rich and poor countries like the Industrial Revolution
By Elaine Kurtenbach and The Associated PressDecember 2, 2025
7 hours ago
Anthropic cofounder and CEO Dario Amodei
AIEye on AI
How Anthropic’s safety first approach won over big business—and how its own engineers are using its Claude AI
By Jeremy KahnDecember 2, 2025
8 hours ago
Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang reacts during a press conference at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in Gyeongju on October 31, 2025.
AINvidia
Nvidia CFO admits the $100 billion OpenAI megadeal ‘still’ isn’t signed—two months after it helped fuel an AI rally
By Eva RoytburgDecember 2, 2025
10 hours ago
Big TechInstagram
Instagram CEO calls staff back to the office 5 days a week to build a ‘winning culture’—while canceling every recurring meeting
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezDecember 2, 2025
10 hours ago

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Economy
Ford workers told their CEO 'none of the young people want to work here.' So Jim Farley took a page out of the founder's playbook
By Sasha RogelbergNovember 28, 2025
4 days ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Warren Buffett used to give his family $10,000 each at Christmas—but when he saw how fast they were spending it, he started buying them shares instead
By Eleanor PringleDecember 2, 2025
16 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
Elon Musk says he warned Trump against tariffs, which U.S. manufacturers blame for a turn to more offshoring and diminishing American factory jobs
By Sasha RogelbergDecember 2, 2025
10 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Forget the four-day workweek, Elon Musk predicts you won't have to work at all in ‘less than 20 years'
By Jessica CoacciDecember 1, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
C-Suite
MacKenzie Scott's $19 billion donations have turned philanthropy on its head—why her style of giving actually works
By Sydney LakeDecember 2, 2025
17 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Personal Finance
Current price of gold as of December 1, 2025
By Danny BakstDecember 1, 2025
2 days ago
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map

© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.