Pros
- Decent e-reading software
- Crisp and clear screen
- Very good frontlight (with warmlight)
- Waterproof
- Wireless charging
- Auto-brightness
- Integrates seamlessly with Amazon ecosystem
Cons
- A little heavy
- Locked in to Amazon ecosystem
- A little over-priced (IMO)
An enhanced version of the Kindle Paperwhite (which is my favourite Kindle) but, for me, the additional features do not justify the additional cost.
This review is short because the Kindle Paperwhite Signature is virtually the same as the regular Kindle Paperwhite and I have already written about the differences between them here.
It’s no secret that out of all the Kindle e-readers, the Paperwhite is my favourite – I feel it has the right balance of design elements, hardware features, and simplicity all wrapped up in great value price point.
The Paperwhite Signature Edition is sort of like Amazon’s premium version of the Paperwhite – it costs a bit more but has some additional features to justify the higher price. In summary, the differences are more storage space (32Gb rather than 8Gb/16Gb), auto-brightness, and wireless charging.
Overall Verdict
I do like the additional features offered by the Paperwhite Signature Edition, however, I personally am unlikely to use them frequently enough.
And I feel that this will be the same for many other e-reader buyers. Whilst wireless charging may be convenient, it also requires having a wireless charging pad. If you already have one in your home/office for other devices, then this might be a useful feature, however, if you have to buy one simply to use with your e-reader, that is an additional cost simply to save you having to plug in a USB cable once every few weeks. Personally, I can’t justify this.
Similarly, more storage capacity is always useful but 32Gb is a helluva lot of e-books (I’m an avid reader and my Kindle library is nowhere near this number). In addition, you only have to download the books you want to read onto your Kindle e-reader – the ones that you are not currently reading can stay on the larger capacity Amazon cloud, if you so wish.
Finally, the auto-brightness is perhaps the feature that most users would benefit from, but is this really worth paying an extra $30 or so for?
Don’t get me wrong, I think the Paperwhite Signature Edition is a great e-reader – it is almost identical to the regular Paperwhite, which I think is awesome – however, the extra features are not really things that I would find all that useful. Of course, if I could get the Signature Edition for the same price as the original Paperwhite then, admittedly, it would be my first choice. But, as it is more expensive, I have to consider the additional value I would be getting for the extra cost and, for me, this is very little. However, if you place a higher value on these features, then the Paperwhite Signature Edition is a fantastic option.
For an overview of all KIndles, I have written an article comparing them here. And you can check out my fully-searchable e-reader comparison matrix here.
About the author
Dan Dutton is passionate about E-ink writing tablets, which bring together the pleasure of writing on paper with the power of digital technology. When he bought his first tablet, he realised that there wasn't a lot of unbiased information available for people that were considering buying an E-ink tablet, and so he built eWritable.