Review: Kindle 10th Generation

Disclosure: We are a professional review site that receives compensation from the companies whose products we review. We test each product thoroughly and give high marks to only the very best. We are independently owned and the opinions expressed here are our own..

For years I was against eReaders such as the Kindle because in our modern world of tech toys that do everything the eReaders generally did only one or two things. As an avid reader and tech lover I wanted to give up my hardbacks but didn’t want replace it with a Kindle and and still have to carry a tablet when traveling. Plus most of eReaders have what I felt was a black and white screen ( not much more advance then those old PDA screens from the 90s) instead a full color screen you get with a tablet. But over the years I found that technology gets in the way. eReaders get you back to the basics and if you put away your phones, tablets and computers while reading and only use your eReader you won’t have access to what they can do. There are several options on the market available but the most popular is the Kindle by Amazon. It directly links you to the Amazon store and works great with Amazon Unlimited. My wife is a big fan of the Kindle and has been using the same one for years. Back in October during Prime Day my wife and I decided it was time to update her old Kindle. We decided to get her a basic Kindle 10th Generation with Backlighting and Ad Support. Basically a newer and improved version then the one she has.

Kindle 10th Generation – Features

Over the years the Kindle has been upgraded to help its users and make digital reading easier. This current model has upped the display so it can be read in direct sunlight or in the dark. The battery is designed is to last weeks and not a day or so of use. You can even highlight text, translate words and adjust the font size. I copied a few of the features directly from the Amazon sales page. To see the complete list of features click the above link.   Over the years the Kindle has been upgraded to help its users and make digital reading easier.

• • Purpose-built for reading with a 167 ppi glare-free display that reads like real paper, even in direct sunlight.

• • Adjustable brightness lets you read comfortably—indoors and outdoors, day and night.

• • Unlike a tablet, a single battery charge lasts weeks, not hours.

• • 8GB of Storage means thousands of titles on hand all in a compact size.

• • Read distraction-free. Highlight passages, look up definitions, translate words, and adjust text size—without ever leaving the page.

• • Kindle Unlimited provides access to millions of books, newspapers, and audiobooks.

• • Enjoy audiobooks with Audible. Pair with Bluetooth headphones or speakers to switch seamlessly between reading and listening.

Kindle 10th Generation – The Review

The Kindle 10th Generation comes in boring blue packaging with the only protection being a cardboard sleeve. Not very attractive packaging and not very protective. But the Amazon packing team did a good job at packing up our items so it arrived safely. The protective sleeve also holds charging cable and wall charger.

First Impressions

Like its earlier generations, the kindle is light weight and made of plastic. It doesn’t feel cheap, it feels good in my hands. The screen is plastic like its earlier models but unlike previous it has higher resolution designed for readers. On the bottom side you will find the wake/sleep button and the micro-USB port.

Charge Uptimes and Charging Times

According to Amazon you can get 4 weeks of usage on a single charge. But they base this rating on 30 minutes of usage a day, 50% brightness, WiFi, & Bluetooth off. For most that’s unrealistic. My wife reads about an hour a day during the week if not more, and during the weekends it could be for hours if she has time. Update is more like two weeks or 3 weeks if she gets more than hour of daily reading in. During a heavy usage up time could about a week. What I don’t like is that its still using Micro-USB when most new devices are moving away from this type of charging. But its not a deal breaker for most.

Even with a 2 week uptime on one charge you can still go out of town for a week, go on an off grid camping trip and not have to worry about charging your device if you start your trip with 100% charge, turn off WI-FI, Bluetooth and turn your brightness down when the brightness isn’t needed. You have more than enough battery life to last a week long trip.

We haven’t really haven’t had to charge the kindle all the much but we generally run it down to around 10% and charge it to 100%. Our experience is that it takes about 4 hours. So when the kindle gets around 20% or less it goes on the charger and charges overnight.

Setup

Setup is easy, just follow in the instructions. Its only takes a few minutes to setup the kindle for the first time. Once its setup, then you can browse to your digital library and download a previous purchased book or go to the kindle store to purchase a book.

Usage

I haven’t really used the Kindle that much, I purchased it and setup this Kindle for my wife and I purchased an Amazon Fire HD 8 plus as my reader to replace an old generation 2 iPad that stopped working.

Both of us love the screen and the backlighting does work. She’s used it in bright sunlight, in the car at night, and inside in bright/low lights. She just adjusts the backlighting to her needs. She rarely has eye strain from it.

Kindle 10th Generation Vs Kindle 4

When you compare the Kindle 10th Generation to the Kindle 4th Generation you will see the screen size is about the same but the case is a lot smaller on the newer Kindle. When I hold one in each hand I found the newer one to be lot lighter. I turned both screens on and looked at the text and I found the screen on the newer one was easier to read.

Please Note: The above findings were from our experiences with the Kindle 10th Generation. Experiences will vary.

Final Thoughts on the Kindle 10th Generation

Over the years Amazon has made upgrades to the Kindle, some good and some not so much. But for a base model, they did it right this time. When we looked at the various models we got excited that the more expensive models can be used around water and can survive a dunking in the tub or pool. But after thinking about this feature we realized that my wife has had her Kindle for years and used it around water (never in pool but on the deck away from the water or in the tub) and never had an issue. We also came to the conclusion that in the next few years this still wouldn’t be an issue. If it does become an issue we will get her one that can survive around the water. Plus the base Kindle comes with backlighting. For her that’s a game changer in my opinion. I see her reading in almost any light condition and not have issues.

The browsing feature is nice but not needed unless we are trying to buy a book or look something up and don’t want use our phones. When it comes to reading it works great but if her old Kindle was not acting up, she wouldn’t have made the upgrade.

Would we recommend the Kindle? Our answer is, it depends. If you read a lot of eBooks or looking to dump psychical then this a great entry into eReaders. if you already have a kindle and happy with it, I’d say wait until you need to replace it.

For me, I decided against a kindle. I needed a cheap budget friendly tablet to replace my old iPad 2 (it was so old it was only good enough for browsing (sometimes), using Spotify, and the Kindle App. But over the last few months it started having difficulties loading those apps. Then I started taking online classes that were designed to work with tablets. Since my old tablet didn’t work I decided to get an Amazon Fire so i could have my reader, a larger screen browser when needed, and a take my classes on the road. For these reasons, the Kindle isn’t right for me. I will have a review on my Amazon Fire post soon.

If you are looking for a good deal on a Kindle 10th Generation with Backlighting and Ad Support, Amazon put them on sale on occasion on sale but over the last few years I found the best prices was during Amazon Prime Day.