Amazon has finally opened the floodgates for new and exciting Kindle colors, and I couldn’t be happier. One of my main complaints about the Kindle line was how uniform they all looked. I only had a choice of a single color to pick from, and it made it so that all the Kindle models looked more or less exactly the same.
With a bunch of new colors now available, I’m excited to pick up a new model to not only replace my older one, but also to get something with some more personality. Another thing the Kindle line has done over the years is simplify the line by getting rid of additional models. Gone is the Oasis, and if you’re somebody who liked having physical buttons to turn pages, those have disappeared as well.
Fortunately, I have good news for people who miss those buttons, and it’s that Amazon is bringing them back. The bad news is that they’re not on the Kindle itself, but instead they’re on a case.
The buttons are back, at least sort of
Button fans rejoice
There was a push for a little for us to make all technology minimalist. We saw it across laptops, phones, and tablets. That meant losing ports, size, and buttons. Phones became very slim, laptops became very slim, and tablets became very slim. For a while, this was cool, but now the pendulum is swinging back in the other direction, and people are starting to miss what we used to have. Believe it or not, this includes actual buttons. We’re not quite back to 2009 Kindle levels, but give it time.
Kindle bringing back the physical buttons is a big step in that old direction, but it’s a bummer that it’s not included on the Kindle itself. What’s even worse is that the cases made by Amazon that support these buttons are $80 and only fit the 2026 Kindle models. This means a new base Kindle and this case run the price up to $230, and that’s a high price to pay just to get some buttons. As somebody who’s using an older Kindle without USB-C charging, I’d definitely like to upgrade, but I don’t know if I can justify a price tag like that right now.
I’ve had a few Kindle devices over the years, and they’ve lasted a very long time. My old Paperwhite from more than a decade ago still turns on, so it’s not like I needed to upgrade it for any reason other than wanting something newer. That’s the case here, and while getting buttons is nice, it’d be nicer if Amazon made a case that fit some of the older models instead of forcing people to upgrade to the new ones. It’s obviously a nice carrot at the end of a stick, but it’s not something I’m terribly excited about doing, even if I’m a fan of the buttons.
There’s also a page-turner accessory
And it’s also only for new Kindles
If you’re somebody who likes to build an entire setup to read in bed and turn the pages without having to hold the Kindle at all, then maybe Kindle Click would appeal to you. This is a little remote that turns the pages on your Kindle, so you can quickly flip through the pages while having the Kindle mounted in front of you or propped up against something. This new accessory costs $35, but the bad news is that it’s only for Kindle models from 2024 and onward. That means my Kindle is too old to use it, and I’m sure a lot of people reading this right now fall into the same boat.
Amazon really wants to push people toward upgrading, and believe me, I get it, but I just don’t want to leave behind my perfectly working Kindle to get some niche accessories like this. I like that Amazon is making the Kindle appealing again after years of it feeling stagnant, though. It feels like the Kindle has been at a point for several years now where I’m not very interested in the offerings, and it’s led me to check out competitors like Boox and Xteink. When the time comes to upgrade, I still don’t know what I’ll plan on doing.
Something working in Amazon’s favor here is that I’m familiar with the ecosystem, and I know my Kindle library will carry right over to the next device. This is obviously true of anything that runs on Android, too, so I’m not limited to Kindle. There’s a lot out there, so I’m glad that Amazon feels the need to sweeten the pot a little bit. It’s good that there are so many alternatives available because, for a while, it felt like Kindle was the only game in town. I wish these accessories were a little cheaper and available for more devices, but this is definitely a good start for people looking to jump into the Kindle ecosystem for the first time.
