From PC Mag: Amazon is refreshing almost its entire ereader line, rolling out new versions of the base Kindle, Paperwhite, and Colorsoft. I spent time with the updated Kindle lineup at Amazon's New York offices, and while the new bodies are undeniably sleeker, very little has changed under the hood. The real highlights might actually be the new accessories—especially if you've been longing for physical page-turn buttons. Here's a closer look at what's new, what isn't, and my first impressions.
The base six-inch Kindle has received a design overhaul, making it a millimeter thinner than the previous version. Even better, it completely loses the raised bezel of the last model and joins the Paperwhite in featuring a completely flat front face. Without that frame surrounding the screen, the Kindle feels much sleeker in the hand. The new design doesn’t add waterproofing, though; the base Kindle still isn’t rated IPX8 like the Paperwhite and Colorsoft.
The standard Kindle is available today for $149.99, but if you want to get slightly fancier, you can get a model with an aluminum body for $189.99. The design is otherwise identical, but with an aluminum back instead of plastic. The metal's coolness and sturdiness make it feel even nicer to hold. Better yet, the onboard storage doubles from 16GB to 32GB.
For $199.99, the new seven-inch Kindle Paperwhite also gets a slimming down, but changes are otherwise minimal. I had a hard time noticing any real difference compared with the previous Paperwhite.
The more significant upgrade is the $249.99 Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, which gets a new aluminum housing and doubles the storage from 16GB to 32GB. It also adds pogo pins for use with a new case accessory.
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