7 reasons why Amazon Kindle Paperwhite may be the sleeper hit of Black Friday

If you're struggling to find the perfect, yet affordable (think sub $100 / £ (opens in new tab)100 ) gift for family, friends, and children, let me point you to a personal favorite: the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite e-reader. This Black Friday deals season has brought savings of up to 45% on this purpose-built digital reading device (in fact, these are some of the best deals ever). Honestly, there are a lot of good reasons to stuff one of these in somebody's stockings.

First, though, let's pursue some of the best Black Friday Kindle deals available now.

Best US Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Black Friday Deals

Best UK Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Black Friday Deals

Let me start by saying that I've been using Amazon Kindle e-readers since the second edition (it had cute, physical buttons on the side to turn pages). Since then, I've owned multiple Kindles and my current one has been in my hands for at least four years. In other words, I am a user and a fan.

None of that makes my observations any less valid. If anything, I think it adds credence to all the reasons why I think the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite sits in the sweet spot between affordability and delight that makes for a near-perfect Black Friday Deals purchase.

Purpose-built

In a world where every portable device seeks to do as much as possible, where watches take our blood pressure, and smartphones can sense a car crash, the Amazon Kindle line of e-readers do exactly one thing: they're designed for reading.

That's kind of obvious, but it's meant that every improvement since the earliest Kindles has been to enhance the reading experience and virtually nothing else. The Paperwhite's 300ppi screen is designed for letter and reading clarity. Plus, it's called “Paperwhite” because the E Ink screen has been refined to offer as close to a white background as possible on an electronic ink display (granted, you can also read in dark mode which puts “white” text on a black background).

The 8GB of storage space might not seem like a lot, but e-reader files are incredibly small. You can fit thousands of books and magazines (even black and white graphic novels) on a single Kindle Paperwhite. Again, the system is built for reading and you'll never need more space for, say, video or photo files.

Easy to use

Amazon Kindles are generally simple devices. Almost the entire face is made up of a 6.7-inch display. There's only one button along the bottom edge for power and sleep. A touch-screen means that the gesture you used to turn pages on physical books works just as well on a Kindle Paperwhite.

There are numerous screen controls to improve and adjust your reading experience including reducing and enlarging font size with a pinch and zoom gesture (what's easier than that?), and a slider for raising and lowing the backlight.

Basically, you can hand a Kindle Paperwhite to even the most tech-averse person and they'll figure out how to use it in no time.

No distractions

Spend five minutes reading on your iPhone, iPad, or Galaxy S22 and you will be interrupted at least a few times by a notification or even a pop-up on, say, the web page where you're trying to dig into that long read.

There are no such interruptions on a Kindle Paperwhite. You can read for hours without a single text message or alert, save the person next to you who gently nudges you out of your reading trance.

Lightweight and portable

Fun fact: even though the Kindle Paperwhite is considerably larger than Apple's iPhone 14 Pro, it weighs a gram less (205g vs. 206g). It's also so slim – just 8.1mm – that the Kindle Paperwhite can fit in any bag, coat pocket, or even your back pocket.

I usually carry mine everywhere in my backpack. And when there's no cell-or Internet service, I can pull out the Kindle, which doesn't need an Internet connection unless you're browsing for or downloading a book, and start reading.

Durable

While the Kindle has a glass-covered screen, it's not prone to breakage. I've dropped and even tossed my Kindle and the display barely has a scratch. The case is also virtually drop-proof.

Better yet, all these on-sale Kindle Paperwhites are waterproof, which makes them perfect beach and pool companions.

Incredible battery life

I challenge you to find another gadget category that can offer weeks of battery life per charge. The Kindle Paperwhite can last up to 10 weeks on a charge. Long-term use of the built-in light will cut down that time, but it's still more than fair to expect at least a few weeks of reading per charge.

The point here is that, when you want to read, the Kindle is almost always ready, It's one of my favorite things about the device.

Read for free

Remember libraries? I haven't stepped into one in years, but I use my local library all the time. In the US, we have the Libby app, which lets you log into your local library and then check out e-books just as you would physical books.

This is how I read everything – even best-sellers – for free on my Kindle Paperwhite. There is one caveat here, though. Like a normal library book, your checkout will expire after 14 days. The good news is that, if you don't close the book you can keep reading until you're finished.

There are, obviously, a lot of other portable gadget deals in our Black Friday Deals roundup. Check it out before they're all gone.