It took forever for Amazon to launch a waterproof Kindle and when they eventually gave us one, the liquid-resistance was reserved for their top-of-the-line (and rather expensive) Oasis. Now reading in the bath is going to be coming to the masses, as Amazon has announced an updated Kindle Paperwhite with waterproofing.

Amazon’s new device was announced earlier today, bringing Amazon’s waterproof reader model total to two. At least this one isn’t going to give your bank account a coronary — it’s set to be quite a bit cheaper than last year’s Oasis is.

The ability to survive a rainstorm wasn’t the only thing that Amazon brought to the table. Storage allocations for the base model are doubling, meaning that you’ll have 8GB of book storage to look forward to.

Additionally, 2018’s Paperwhite is getting a new 6in physical screen (which has been made flush with the Kindle body), a new home page that will also be coming to previous Paperwhites as a software update, and Audible support, letting users switch between reading and listening — provided you have a set of Bluetooth headphones handy. Oh, and it wouldn’t be a real product update if it wasn’t thinner and lighter than the previous model. At 8.18mm and 182 grams, this Paperwhite ticks that particular box too.

Pricing has been announced for the States and Europe, which gives us a guideline of an eventual price here at home. The 8GB starter model 2018 Paperwhite goes for £129, or about R2,450. The 32GB monster Paperwhite will cost £150 (around R2,800) and, of course, both will survive a dunk in a bath. Unless your bath is deeper than two metres or you leave it there for more than 30 minutes, that is.

The 8GB Kindle Paperwhite is launching internationally from 7 November, while the 32GB model will follow at a later stage. Amazon hasn’t said exactly when, yet. We can probably expect to see the updated e-reader here in time for the festive season. We’ll let you know the moment we have local pricing.

Source: The Guardian