I have a Kindle 2nd generation that has well and truly been around the block. I bought it I think, in the mid 2000's and it is one of the ones that doesn't have backlighting and also has a battery that lasts a damn age due to it not requiring a great deal of power.
It has served me well but there are times when I feel the limitation of a piece of machinery that is likely 20 years old. The other day I had a few drinks in me and a friend pointed out an Amazon style of store that is prominent in Asia and there was a second hand Kindle that had been restored and was available for around 1.5 million VND which is around $60. Without hesitating I ordered it.
Here you can see the two Kindles side by side and of course with a super cute old lady dog as well.
I have only been using the new Kindle, which is a Paperwhite 7th generation for a day and I have already noticed a rather massive performance difference. There is absolutely zero "stutter" when turning pages in the new Kindle, whereas with the old one there was a slight delay when changing pages.
Other things that are superior about the new addition is the backlight of course, which was not part of the old one at all. If you don't have a Kindle, then maybe you don't know what the backlighting on a Paperwhite is not like your traditional eye-burning backlight on a phone or tablet. It is easy on the eyes and this is perfect for me since I mostly use reading as a way of easing myself into slumber, which is something I have found elusive all of my adult life - as well as some of my younger years. Without the paperwhite with the backlight this was still kind of annoying because in my bed I would have to have the overhead lights on in order to be able to see the screen for the most part. Ever tried to go to sleep with 6 bright lights blasting on the ceiling? It's not the best setup.
So the backlight has truly been a game changer.
Fully switched on and in the natural light, there doesn't appear to be much difference between the two and this is a good thing. The main feature of a Kindle that I appreciate is that it has the appearance of paper just like a book and if it wasn't for this feature I don't think I would use Kindle. I am exposed to far too much backlighting in the form of LCD/LED screens just like I am sure all of you are, and I think my eyes suffer because of it.
I still prefer real books but they are not very easy to come by in Vietnam - not in English at least. So having access to basically every single book that has ever been written in any language is a huge boost for my life.
We can see that my old Kindle has been around for a while and there is even a bit of "use damage" on the back of it that has been caused by simply using it and holding it for 2 decades.
I'm quite impressed that it has lasted this long honestly. In this day and age it seems as though almost everything is built to fail so that you have no choice but to get another one after a short amount of time. Perhaps you have experience how batteries inside of devices explode or expand after a bit of time and then it becomes difficult or impossible to use. I'm quite certain that most of us have experienced how batteries just stop holding a charge after a certain amount of time as well. Neither of these things ever happened to my old Kindle, which in my mind has been one of the most quality electronics I have ever purchased in my life.
The only reason why I bothered to upgrade is because of the lack of backlight capabilities and also because the "home" button on the old Kindle stopped working about 8 years ago and in order for me to return to the book selection menu I had to do a hard reset that incorporated holding down the power button for 30 seconds in a row or something along those lines. It wasn't the end of the world but it was a pain in the butt that I am willing to spend $60 in order to rectify.
not gonna flip that pic, sorry
These two things are roughly the same size and if everything goes according to plan I hope the refurbed Paperwhite is just as good of quality as the original one. This new one is 2nd hand, but it came from a shop that had over a thousand reviews and an overall rating of 4.9 after all those customers. I'm going to go ahead and guess that they are a pretty reliable company.
Kindle is NOT native to Vietnam. There is no official Kindle store here and the only ones that exist here have been imported with a tariff markup so for me to be able to find one for $60 is pretty remarkable. I have no idea what a Kindle goes for retail in USA but I would imagine it is more than $60.
There is some annoying things on the new one where Amazon attempt to force you to register it but a quick internet search has already revealed some workaround for that. The main feature I am looking for is the dictionary and as soon as I successfully install that without registering, I will list the steps to make that happen on here. For now I haven't bothered because I haven't needed to, but that time will come and it is one of my favorite features of a Kindle. It is nice to be able to just hold your finger on a word that you don't yet know and the definition pops up on the screen. Learning can be a good thing, you know?
I believe reading is very important especially in these days where it seems as though people don't do very much of it anymore. We have all just become internet and AI automatons and we need to exercise our brains a bit more than we all do. With my new Paperwhite, hopefully I can keep the dementia at bay for a few more years.
In the meantime I would like it if you are reading this, to tell me what one of your favorite books of all time is. I am always looking for suggestions and now that I can easily add almost any book that was ever written, maybe I should dive into something that YOU recommend. It is appreciated!