Which Kindle?

MouldyOldDough

The wife wants a kindle 
I know absolutely nothing about them 
Which model is best?

They vary from £50 to over £450 !

What is the difference ?

What's this "With Ads/Without Ads" option ?

facade

The latest is the Fire max 11, 11" screen, £300 with 128GB of memory and no ads. If you wait until Amazon get desperate, they have periodic sales you might get £50 or more off. Don't buy Amazon's case, they are expensive, get a cheap Chinese knock-off from eBay.

I've got the last Fire HD 10 10" screen, I paid £110 last time they were discounted, but it only has 32GB, so I had to spend £20 on a 128GB microsd card.

The difference is how big the screen is (10" is about as small as you want to go if you want to actually see anything) the resolution of the screen  and how much memory.) The newer ones have a more modern version of the Amazon operating system.

With ads means that you get annoying adverts on the lockscreen- they don't bother me but some people like their lockscreen to have a picture of their dog/cat/child and a clock on it.

Depends on what she wants it for.

Amazon push them as media consumption devices, because they make their money by renting/selling ebooks and video subscriptions.

I use mine to read manga (3rd party app called tachiyomi) to watch videos in bed (youtube and stream my own via Plex) and read ebooks (it has the kindle app, and I can load free ebooks with calibre)

It uses a restricted old version of Android called FireOS, and you can only get apps as a consumer from the Amazon store. A lot of the apps you might want aren't there.

If she wants it to do work on I'd suggest a proper android tablet, like a lenovo 10", lenovo have their own web store and have them on sale all the time.

EDIT:

1) Amazon also do kids versions, which are the standard ones in a durable rubber case.

2) you can mess about with it and get the play store loaded on, I haven't bothered, some of the play store apps won't run anyway, and Amazon are not exactly keen, so updates to the device tend to break it and you have to mess more.

flaneurs_lobster

The OP asks about Kindle, an e-book reader, rather than Fire tablets, more general purpose devices. 

Perhaps the OP could describe in more detail what their wife intends to use the device for.

MouldyOldDough

facade said:

The latest is the Fire max 11, 11" screen, £300 with 128GB of memory and no ads. If you wait until Amazon get desperate, they have periodic sales you might get £50 or more off. Don't buy Amazon's case, they are expensive, get a cheap Chinese knock-off from eBay.

I've got the last Fire HD 10 10" screen, I paid £110 last time they were discounted, but it only has 32GB, so I had to spend £20 on a 128GB microsd card.

The difference is how big the screen is (10" is about as small as you want to go if you want to actually see anything) the resolution of the screen  and how much memory.) The newer ones have a more modern version of the Amazon operating system.

With ads means that you get annoying adverts on the lockscreen- they don't bother me but some people like their lockscreen to have a picture of their dog/cat/child and a clock on it.

Depends on what she wants it for.

Amazon push them as media consumption devices, because they make their money by renting/selling ebooks and video subscriptions.

I use mine to read manga (3rd party app called tachiyomi) to watch videos in bed (youtube and stream my own via Plex) and read ebooks (it has the kindle app, and I can load free ebooks with calibre)

It uses a restricted old version of Android called FireOS, and you can only get apps as a consumer from the Amazon store. A lot of the apps you might want aren't there.

If she wants it to do work on I'd suggest a proper android tablet, like a lenovo 10", lenovo have their own web store and have them on sale all the time.

EDIT:

1) Amazon also do kids versions, which are the standard ones in a durable rubber case.

2) you can mess about with it and get the play store loaded on, I haven't bothered, some of the play store apps won't run anyway, and Amazon are not exactly keen, so updates to the device tend to break it and you have to mess more.

Not work - just leisure (reading ebooks)

flaneurs_lobster

Here's TechRadar's take.

https://www.techradar.com/news/best-kindle

What you do need to be aware of is that your content is limited to that available from Amazon, unless you are happy playing with file-format conversion software. Believe that there is now a (legit) mechanism that allows Library e-books to be borrowed and read, can't verify as my Kindle died some years ago to be replaced by a Kobo Clara HD reader, still going strong after 7 years. 

facade

My mistake, I thought kindle and kindle fire were all the same.

Turns out the kindle is an ebook reader only.

The expensive ones come with a pen and you can scribble notes that you can attach to pages of the book.

The cheap ones have a miniscule screen.

The middle ones have backlighting that you can make yellowy to reduce eye  strain.

With ads is as I said, they show adverts on the screen when they are "asleep"

The kindle uses a black & white display called E-ink, the kindle fire uses colour displays that can show films in bed (use headphones) and makes magazines & illustrated books nicer. 

The E-ink display is easier on the eyes.

The big problem with kindle is they don't want you to read any books except Amazon ones. They use a proprietary format that supports encryption.

Other brands support standard formats like epub that you can get out of copyright books (think E.Nesbit, Rider Haggard)

Amazon did make a song and dance about kindle supporting them, but really their proprietary software converts them to Amazon format.

The kindle paperwhite is supposed to be one of the best ebook readers.

https://www.techradar.com/best/best-ereader

MouldyOldDough

I know that the display on the original Kindles (10 + years ago) used to consume virtually zero power - only consuming energy with  display changes (when changing pages)  e-ink, I guess ? -  is that still the case ?

facade

MouldyOldDough said:

I know that the display on the original Kindles (10 + years ago) used to consume virtually zero power - only consuming energy with  display changes (when changing pages)  e-ink, I guess ? -  is that still the case ?

No, they have a light now, and that eats the battery, but it does make it easier to read indoors.

They also do a lot of work formatting the text nicely and providing speedy page changes which uses more power. The big advantage over a book is you can enlarge the text and it formats to the screen, not like a magnifier that you have to move, it just makes a 100 page book into a 500 page one with big print.

I still have a Sony e reader from about 20 years ago that when it was new used to last a couple of weeks between charges so you could take it on  a camping holiday, modern ones only last a fraction of that so you have to have access to a charger if you plan on lazing about reading every afternoon.

As we've said, ask her what she wants, because you have to compromise

Screen big enough to see- you can't carry them in a large pocket, and they usually come with the massively expensive writing capability that somebody must use, but I can't imagine using.

Page turn buttons- without them you tap the screen, I have a bag full of those rubber tipped styli for mine, as my fingers never seem to operate a touch screen.

You can borrow ebooks from your local library, it isn't as easy as you think, you put your name on a list and eventually you are offered the book and you have to take it and read it in a set time.

debitcardmayhem

I have a papewhite they are good the new basic kindle  has good reviews too, and it's cheaper. as for the screen time yes they run for much longer than a tablet format. I use mine about an hour a day and charge about once a month. They are good in daylight and if they have a backlight (which I think the basic model does have now) are good for reading in bed without a bedside lamp, which would annoy my OH. The ads don't appear when reading I believe bur I may be wrong.

Emmia

I have a paperwhite - you can pay a smallish fee (£10?) to get rid of ads permanently, and I bought an official case, not a knockoff. It's great, family library allows book sharing with my husband, and it has a good reading experience... I originally had a kindle keyboard which lasted a decade, before it died (just before a holiday) and immediately replaced it with a paperwhite bought in John Lewis.

PDF files can also be read on a kindle (and appear in the library by emailing it to your kindle email address, as an attachment with the word "convert" in the subject line.

MikeJXE

Paperwhite has been my choice for the last few years, 200 books on mine and I read everyday and charge about once a month 
There's a sale coming soon