E-readers and e-ink tablets · Amazon
A cheap secondhand reader that owners keep because it does one job, reading books with less eye strain than a phone, and keeps doing it for years of drops and travel.
Bought used for very little money, it still works as a plain book reader, and that is exactly what the people who bought it that way wanted. One owner picked one up in imperfect condition as a broke student and was happy once a cheap case arrived.
The white version makes the screen look greyer than a black-bodied reader, according to an account that compared a white Paperwhite 3 against black Kobo and Tolino devices. This rests on very few accounts and on a hands-on comparison rather than long ownership.
Pick up to three. You get a page with just those, side by side, on the subjects owners raised.
Once the novelty passes, this is a device people describe in the most basic terms: it reads books, it is easier on the eyes than a phone, and that is enough. The secondhand buyers in these accounts did not want more than that, and the low price they paid (a few tens of dollars on eBay or a reseller site) frames everything else. Cosmetic wear did not bother them.
The adjustment is accepting the limits. One owner who had the reader for years found it fine for books but hit the wall when studying: it is a closed system, so there was no way to add cloud drive or course apps, and PDFs wanted a larger screen. That owner moved to a bigger Android-based note device for that work rather than fighting the Kindle. Another account, having tried a white Paperwhite 3, came away convinced that black-bodied readers make the same kind of screen look less grey.
The longest account here is around nine or ten years of ownership, and the device is described as taken to the beach, to work and on trips, dropped on the floor more times than the owner can count, and still working. The battery no longer lasts as long as it did, but the owner calls it sufficient. A separate secondhand, jailbroken unit on its original battery gets about a week of light reading with the frontlight set low.
That is the extent of the evidence. Only a handful of accounts touch on how it holds up, and only one of them covers many years. Nothing in these accounts describes a failure the owner had to repair or replace; the only decline mentioned is the battery, and the owner lived with it rather than doing anything about it.
Nothing with a clear majority yet. Owners who raised these subjects were split, or too few to judge.
Nothing has a clear majority against it yet. Counted from the owners who raised each subject, not from everyone. A subject is judged once at least 4 owners raise it.
8 more subjects came up from fewer than 4 owners each, which is not enough for a fair reading. To see how it stacks up, compare it with another machine.
The same owner, asked again at each point. Fills in as owners answer.
Two questions: how long you have had it, and anything you would like to say about it. Then we ask again as it ages. This helps our mission.
More in e-readers and e-ink tablets: reMarkable 2, Kobo Libra, Kobo Libra 2.
Among the 1 owner accounts here that gave a duration, 0 described a failure.
Before you buy one used, ask the seller: how old it is, whether it was ever repaired and by whom, and whether any of the parts above have been replaced. Ask to see it run. A receipt tells you the warranty start date; most makers honour the term only for the first owner.
Public discussions we read and summarised in our own words. Nothing here was submitted to Still Kicks.
Counted from public accounts by people who said they own it, and summarised by Still Kicks in its own words. Not a manufacturer claim, a lab test or an estimate.
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