One factor that’s fascinating about Kindles is how some individuals want utilizing older fashions over newer ones. A part of the issue is Amazon’s behavior of fixing the designs of Kindles that individuals appreciated previously.
Now it’s gotten to the purpose the place Amazon simply principally retains re-releasing the identical Kindles again and again. They’ve cycled by way of a number of totally different designs over time, they usually’ve just about settled on one particular design—the Kindle Paperwhite.
Amazon added a flush entrance layer to the Paperwhite in 2018, they usually’ve simply been making minor adjustments to that very same basic design ever since. The present fundamental Kindle is actually a smaller and lighter model of the Kindle Paperwhite from 2012. It’s form of unhappy that the older designs have been deserted and there’ll most probably by no means be any Kindles like these ever once more:
Keyboard Design
The primary three generations of Kindles had built-in mini keyboards beneath the screens. These fashions didn’t have touchscreens so the keyboard and nav buttons had been the way you navigated the gadget.
The keyboard was handy if you happen to wished to sort notes or run searches. Frankly, it labored higher and sooner than at this time’s on-screen keyboards, and there have been numerous shortcuts you can use to make issues simpler, however the bodily keyboard took up loads of house, and I doubt very many individuals miss that design at this time, however I’m positive some miss the simplicity of non-touchscreen Kindles, and the comfort of getting web page buttons on both sides of the display…
Web page Buttons – Symmetrical Design
After Amazon phased out their early keyboard Kindles, they nonetheless saved the web page buttons on the 4th and fifth era fundamental Kindles. They did away with the keyboard so typing was tougher, however they streamlined the general design and that made the Kindle smaller and lighter and simpler to deal with. These had been the final Kindles to not have touchscreens, and in some methods the designs had been nicer and extra refined than all the essential Kindles launched since then.
Kindle Voyage – Premium and Facet Buttons
Amazon would launch one final mannequin with web page buttons and a symmetrical design—the Kindle Voyage, which was launched in 2014. Some take into account it the finest Kindle ever launched (myself included). It didn’t have bodily buttons like earlier Kindles; it had sensor buttons that you can flip off if you happen to didn’t wish to use them. You would additionally alter the quantity of stress required to activate them.
The Kindle Voyage was additionally the primary Kindle with a “premium” design and a flush entrance glass layer, and it was the primary Kindle to function a 300ppi E Ink display (and it’s nonetheless one of many best-looking screens ever launched to at the present time).
Lots of people miss the Kindle Voyage and need Amazon would launch a more recent model, however after a decade it’s secure to imagine that’s by no means going to occur. It was an incredible design since you may select to make use of the page-turn sensors or the touchscreen to show pages, in contrast to the asymmetrical design that might come later.
Web page Buttons – Asymmetrical Design
As an alternative of releasing a Kindle Voyage 2 and reusing facets of basic Kindle designs, Amazon went in a very totally different route with the discharge of the first gen Kindle Oasis in 2016.
The Kindle Oasis introduced an asymmetrical design to the Kindle lineup by solely having buttons on one aspect of the display, with a deal with to carry onto. Amazon added a rotation sensor so you can use the buttons with both hand, however some individuals simply didn’t just like the asymmetrical design and having to make use of buttons.
Amazon would stick to an analogous design for the following two Oasis fashions, and the Kindle Scribe additionally makes use of an analogous handle-side design however with out the web page buttons.
At this level it doesn’t appear like the Oasis design is coming again on smaller Kindles, and now that Amazon has phased out web page buttons fully on newer fashions, that is going to be one other factor individuals miss now that it’s seemingly gone for good.
