Sales Must be Slow, Because Amazon Just Put the New Paperwhite on Sale for $99
Amazon rarely puts their newest Kindle ereader on sale (Kindle Fire tablets are another matter*), but it looks like they have made an exception.
The two-month-old 4th-gen Kindle Paperwhite is on sale today for $99. This is the new waterproof model with Bluetooth, Audible, and more LEDs than on previous models. That’s not as good of a price as Amazon was asking for the Paperwhite 3 on Black Friday, but it’s still pretty good.
Are you going to get one?
P.S. Amazon also has the Fire HD 8 on sale for $59, and the Fire HD 10 is $119.
Comments
DaveMich December 10, 2018 um 1:34 am
Nope. Purchased a backup Voyage for that price. The Woot.com tablet page has many models of Kindle available right now, some are Scratch & Dent, but I’ve bought that category before and gotten like-new product. They have Oasis, Voyage, previous generation Paperwhite ($35.99), Kindle touch, Kindle Keyboard ($19.00), Kindle 4th gen, and even some of the older Fire tablets ($30.00) of which we have two in use in our household. If you’re of the ilk that miss your old Kindle, this would be your big opportunity.
Mike Cane December 10, 2018 um 5:41 am
Nope. I’m in love with the Lenovo Yoga Book C930 and its eInk screen. I also favor the Likebook Mars if I want just eInk.
Robert Spencer December 10, 2018 um 6:22 am
Mike Cane,
That Likebook Mars looks very interesting. Did they follow through with the firmware update that includes Google Play?
Mike Cane December 10, 2018 um 9:20 am
AFAIK, yes. But if you wind up without, a manual add is required:
https://youtu.be/uIkQPkNmgSA
That Channel also demos many Android apps (plus a Google Books PDF I requested!).
Richard Hershberger December 10, 2018 um 8:52 am
I suspect that the ereader cycle has reached the stage desktop computers attained some years back, where the existing models do everything the vast majority of users want them to do. At that point, an upgrade to a new model is a harder sell. The stuff this new model can do that my old Paperwhite can’t is all pretty much irrelevant to me. I don’t care about having the latest newest thing just for the sake of having the latest newest thing, so why would I spend my money on a new ereader rather than something that is useful to me, like more books for my old one?
Nate Hoffelder December 10, 2018 um 9:14 am
I think it’s worse than that. Desktops still have their uses in terms of upgradability and expansion, which is why ereaders are closer to laptops. That niche is almost dead because 6 year old laptops still work great, and it really only gets attention now because tablet convertibles are injecting a little extra energy.
Aaron Troia December 10, 2018 um 12:14 pm
I picked one up yesterday for my wife as a Christmas gift as I was looking to replace her 5G Paperwhite with a cracked screen. Was debating on this or Voyage refurb (might still pick one up for me), as she has mentioned she might like the physical buttons but went with this one due to it being waterproof.
Mike D December 10, 2018 um 3:07 pm
And at Amazon UK reduced to £99.99
Nate Hoffelder December 10, 2018 um 3:11 pm
nice!
Tom S December 13, 2018 um 2:37 am
I have an alternate explanation for the price drop: it appears they are not bundling 6-month KU subscription at that price. Which is why it doesn’t upset me that I pre-ordered at ‘full’ price. I have a perfectly good Voyage, but this is New and Exciting (I have not pre-ordered for some years now, having sat out the Oasis launches).
Comparing them, I would say the Voyage screen is slightly better and more resistant to fingerprints, but new Paperwhite is more comfortable to hold without a cover: it feels lighter, less slippery than the cold metallic back with its weird wedge angles, where the weight is slightly concentrated along the midline rather than distributed evenly. As a result I always used it with a cover, where I would have preferred not to. Don’t miss the buttons.
I’m also wagering that they will see fit to add some form of Immersion Reading (synchronized page turns would be fine, no need to highlight phrases) and with less constrained storage, adding Plain Old TTS and the ability to download additional voice data in different languages. Probably will lose that wager, but I can dream. As it is, I’m not going to use it as an audiobook player.