As we grow more eco-friendly and climate conscious, it is time to adapt to the generation Z trend of transforming into an “e-book” reader. Amazon’s cheapest, most basic Kindle has a light and a better screen. The new Kindle 9 looks very similar to the previous version but is more robust.
It has been made 2mm narrower and 0.4mm thinner but 13g heavier than the previous version. The contrast of the 6in e-ink screen has been improved, with the text displayed on a whiter background. It has the same density at 167 pixels per inch (ppi) as its predecessor, which makes it noticeably less crisp than the 300ppi Paperwhite. It also has wifi for syncing books, accessing the Kindle store and you can browse information online on browsers like Wikipedia among others. Coupled with the Bluetooth facilities, it allows you access to audiobooks via wireless headphones or speakers. The basic Kindle only comes with 4GB of storage – fine for text ebooks, but don’t expect to fit too many audiobooks on it at any one time. Charging the Kindle 9 takes four hours via a 5W USB charger, or just over three hours with something a bit more powerful.
FEATURES:
Screen: 6in e-paper (167ppi)
Dimensions: 160 x 113 x 8.7 mm
Weight: 174g
Connectivity: Wifi, Bluetooth, microUSB
Storage: 4GB
Battery life: Rated for approximately 14 hours of reading
Available from: £70
Battery life is rated at 30 minutes of reading a day for four weeks with the light set to level 13 brightness and wireless off. I managed to get through two 270-page books between charges at various brightness levels and with wifi switched on occasionally to sync progress. Cranking up the brightness and leaving it hooked up to the internet all the time will reduce that quite a lot.
