It's light, has a good size screen, and has been pretty durable so far. It fits in the inner chest pockets of my jackets which is an incredibly convenient way to take it with me in fall and winter. I take it everywhere when traveling or just on public transit. I used to browse social media a lot to kill a few minutes, now I read instead. Feels better for me in the long run. In the past year and a half I've read about 6 million words. Yes, the entire Wheel of Time series, plus other stuff. Mostly thanks to the Kindle.
The built-in backlight with adjustable warmth (white to burnt orange) is also a great feature. Unfortunately it doesn't adapt to current light levels, but it's 2-3 presses to change the light level so no big deal. I have mine very low and almost max orange so it drains nearly 0 battery in the daytime, and doesn't keep me up too late at night. Ebooks on my phone had some issues with the light management at night, but Kindle's e-ink and its very low minimum brightness are a dream.
I've also accidentally tested its waterproofing - it's as advertised, both freshwater and saltwater. Not sure I'd call it sand-PROOF but it definitely holds up to incidental contact at the beach (just be really careful to avoid rubbing sand into your screen)
My only complaint is that it doesn't display images that well. It works, but it's not very crisp so heavily illustrated texts are a no go. Text though is great as you'd imagine. Maybe there's something I'm missing. Or maybe the universe decided that tablets should have at least 1 advantage over e-ink for cosmic balance?
As a side note, while it does have a primitive web browser (not really though, it's bad) it has very limited features beyond buying books and reading. So don't expect a swiss army knife here, it really is an e-reader specialist. The refresh rate on the screen is also only about 1 Hz (a limitation of e-ink) so any dynamic content is off the table.
One more thing: the battery life is TERRIFIC. I occasionally download and transfer a new book from my PC via the USB cable, and those 5-10 minute connections are enough to cover 90% of my charging. I only plug in solely for charging only about every other month.
Carbon emissions from the lifecycle of this product were reduced compared to similar products or previous models.
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