The Last Great Kindle

My first and only ereader is a fourth-generation Kindle my mom got me in 2012, 13 years ago. That’s a very long time in the world of rapid technological advancement, so you’d think that in that time they have made better ereaders. Right? Right??

Sigh.

Credit where credit is due, there have been some excellent new features, like higher DPI, Bluetooth, warm backlights, and USB-C. But those upsides are not worth the greatest sacrifice Amazon has made—the death of the page turn button.

Now, you may point out there are plenty of other ereader brands who still rock page turn buttons (and that’s great and all), but my problem with them is they all suck. Like, what’s with these ridiculous pill buttons?? Why does every ereader only use this one design?

What the Kindle 4 had were these bevel-style page turn buttons. They sat comfortably under your thumb, and were easy to press. The next page button was notably larger than the previous page button. And the best part? The buttons were on both sides!

But it gets better, cause the Kindle 4 only had buttons for navigation due to it not having a touchscreen. These are a tactile joy to use over touchscreens; a home button, a keyboard button, a menu button, a back button, and a 5-way controller. There even used to be a Kindle with an entire keyboard, which I imagine would be excellent for those who take notes often.

Recently, I came across the Nook GlowLight 4 Plus, which has what appear to be bevel page turn buttons!! So I headed on over to my local Barnes & Nobles, ready to buy the ereader, and they had a display model out. I checked it out and was… sorely dissapointed. It’s not a real bevel button :[

The hinges are between the button pairs, so the top buttons tilt up, and the bottom ones tilt down, meaning you can’t press them near the hinge. This tactile feeling did not inspire joy for me. On top of that, the UX was a bit of a mess, and I really didn’t love using the touchscreen to navigate around.

I would have liked to at least give it a fair try, but Barnes & Nobles did not have a return policy on their ereaders, so I didn’t want to put down $200 on a device I wasn’t sure about.

Aside from the tragic loss of the page turn button, there’s another trend amongst ereader makers that I find dubiously questionable: running Android. Sure, it’s a far more flexible and hackable operating system than traditional ereader OS’s, but it comes at a great cost to their battery lives. While Kindles and Nooks have battery lifes of up to a month, Android-powered ereaders only last a day.

eReaders can last a long time off the grid, they can have a great tactile experience, and they can be read outside in the direct sun. Sacrificing the greatest advantages ereaders have to compete with smartphones is simply stupid in my opinion. And some of them don’t even hide it.

I wish ereader makers would take note and release a modern take on the Kindle 4. Warm backlights, USB-C, Bluetooth and/or a headphone jack to listen to audiobooks, a super power-efficient OS, and no touchscreens.

I guess a girl can only dream.