Amazon first released their Kindle back in 2007 and I can remember reading many scaremongering articles at the time about how it could be the end of paperback books as we know it.
Fast forward more than ten years and I still haven’t bought one of the many editions of the Kindle, (with my packed bookshelves at home acting as my smug stubbornness to not conform to the tech), until now that is.
Does having a Kindle mean you can no longer have or buy paperback books anymore? A book is a book right? No matter what form you enjoy it in, it’s the words that matter at the end of the day.
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I was weighing this up in my mind as I researched Amazon’s newest Kindle. I felt guilty for even looking at such a thing, giving a slight nod of promise to my books on the shelf that this didn’t mean I was abandoning them.
I have to admit though, the Kindle has been tempting me for a long time and I could no longer ignore the pros of having such a gadget. I tried Amazon’s 2022 release, priced at £84.99, which will probably be reduced in price in the Black Friday sales.
Described as the lightest and most compact Kindle yet, its size and weight was one of the reasons why it attracted me. I love my books but every now and then I’ve often thought how easy it must be to read on the Kindle.
Don’t get me wrong, I love books because they are the ‘real thing’ bringing that new ‘book smell’ and you can’t beat the physical feeling of turning page after page when you just have to finish that chapter.
But sometimes the cons of having the physical copies can be glaringly obvious. For example, I worry about how much weight I’m adding to my suitcase for my holiday reading, I worry about how much energy I’m using when turning on the many lamps during reading of an evening, and then simply the space the physical copies take up in my home. Yes, maybe I should get a book on how not to worry, or maybe I should just try a Kindle. So I did.
Kindle 2022 features
Described as the lightest and most compact Kindle yet, Amazon’s latest generation Kindle has a 300 ppi high-resolution display for sharp text and images. It also has a glare-free, paper-like display with an adjustable front light and dark mode.
This version also promises an extended battery life, with a single charge via USB lasting up to six weeks, and 16GB of storage. Kindle Unlimited is also available on the device which gives users unlimited access to millions of books.
The 2022 Kindle has also been designed with sustainability in mind, as it uses 30-75% recycled plastics and 90% recycled magnesium.
My thoughts on the Amazon Kindle 2022 11th generation
The set-up was straightforward and simple. All I needed to do was empty the box contents which contained the Kindle, measuring at 157.8mm in height, 108.6mm in width and 80.mm in diameter, the USB charger and set-up instructions.
I plugged the USB charger into a spare iPhone plug and charged it up straight away. It fully charged in less than two hours but I could begin the set-up process while it was charging.
During set-up the guide through asked me for my Wi-Fi details and my Amazon account details which I entered with no issues. My advice here would be to set an Amazon account up beforehand so that you can easily link it to your Kindle straight away, as well as having your Wi-Fi broadband router name and password to hand.
You can set up an Amazon account for free here. You will need an account as the purchasing of e-books on the Kindle is done via your Amazon account. After I entered my account details I was then shown a promotional message recommending Kindle Unlimited.
You don’t have to opt for this but if you do it means you get to explore millions of titles, thousands of audiobooks and selected magazine subscriptions on any device. I confirmed it as there’s a three month free trial at the moment, and then the cost goes up to £7.99 a month afterwards.
With Kindle Unlimited it doesn’t mean that everything is free though, some e-books still come with a cost, depending on what it is. Once I sorted Kindle Unlimited another message came through about Amazon Audible which I ignored and then was free to explore.
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The home page is very user-friendly and you can search for e-books by author, topic, genre and what the current best-sellers are as well as latest deals. Your library appears at the top so you can easily access the books you are currently reading or have purchased.
The more you read, the more the recommended section becomes more reliable too. Mine is currently filled with crime, Stephen King and thriller novels due to my love of the genres.
I’m currently reading Lucy Nichol’s Parklife, the sequel to the brilliant The Twenty-Seven Club which follows the story of Emma, who is hurtling towards her 27th birthday, riddled with anxiety that her idols Joplin, Hendrix and Morrison all died aged 27, and now Kurt Cobain has gone too. Will Emma be next to join The Twenty Seven Club? The Twenty-Seven Club is on my shelf and I feel weirdly odd that the two are not next to each other, with the Parklife e-book being on the Kindle but I’m sure I will get over it.
I’ve also bought The Butcher And The Wren by Alaina Urquhart who is co-host of my favourite true crime podcast, Morbid. It cost £9.99 on the Kindle which has been charged to my Amazon account. This will come out of my O2 phone-bill though as this is linked up to my Amazon account, so be aware of this if you have a similar situation and see an unexpected price hike on your next phone bill.
When you start reading a book the Kindle gives you tips for how to use it, how to flick through pages and how to come off a book altogether. I must admit I forgot how to exit a book once I was halfway through Parklife and had to Google, but all you need to do here is tap the top of the screen and then tap the arrow icon that appears in the left corner to take you back to the home page.
I particularly like the percentage icon in the bottom right of the screen, telling you how much of the book you have read, or have left depending on how you wish to look at it. The ‘pages’ are easy to turn as you just tap on the bottom right or left hand corner of the screen if you want to go back or skip ahead.
The thing that’s pleased and reassured me the most though is the light. I get a lot of headaches due to too much screen time (I can’t help the nature of my job) which is why I love books so much because there’s no bright electronic screen light.
However, this Kindle has an anti-glare light so you don't have to strain your eyes to focus on the text, also while the light is bright enough to read at night-time it’s not too harsh either.
I’ve been using the Kindle for three weeks now and I’ve not had any headaches from it. The glare-free display means it reads like printed paper, even in direct sunlight. You can adjust the front-lit display, and with the dark mode option you can easily invert text colour for a more comfortable reading experience, day and night.
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I’ve not had to charge my Kindle once during the three-week usage. My battery says it’s at 80% which is pretty impressive as I use it a lot in the evenings. According to Amazon, the Kindle will last up to six weeks on a single charge based on half an hour of reading a day with wireless off and the light setting at 13.
Amazon adds that battery life will vary based on light settings and wireless usage. The Kindle fully charges in approximately four hours from a computer via USB cable, and fully charges in less than two hours with a 9 W USB power adaptor.
I love the fact that the Kindle can fit into my handbag snugly without adding any extra weight too. Another feature I like is the screenshot design when the Kindle is turned off, which varies between different images and graphics, making the Kindle appear switched on when it’s not.
I am going to add a passcode on my Kindle, which Amazon allows you to do , just in case I ever lose it. You can do this by accessing the ‘ all settings’ option when you swipe down from the top of the Kindle’s home screen. From this point you will get a long list of options but the one you need is Device Options and then Device Passcode and from here you can set one up.
Overall I love this Kindle. It hasn’t completely swayed me away from physical books but it’s allowed me to enjoy reading in a completely new and fun way. It’s actually made me want to read more so I can explore other books at my fingertips and I can’t wait to take it on my next holiday.
I would recommend a Kindle, the 11th generation is easy to use, easy to navigate and enjoyable to have. You can buy the all-new Kindle on Amazon here.
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