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Not everything has stuck, but two definitely have: the Kindle Fire vs Kindle Paperwhite. How do they compare? And which is best? To find out the answer, have a look at our Kindle Fire vs Kindle Paperwhite comparison below.

Kindle Fire vs Kindle Paperwhite: Side by Side Comparison

Kindle Fire vs Kindle Paperwhite: What’s the Difference?

Despite their obvious differences in price and display, the Kindle Fire and the Kindle Paperwhite have a number of key differences worth going over in-depth. From its battery to its internal specs, the Fire and the Paperwhite are distinguished by more than just their names. Overall, these are the key differences between the Kindle Fire vs Kindle Paperwhite.

Battery Life

When dealing with e-readers, is there anything more important than battery life? After the actual display itself, there’s little that matters more to the quality of an e-reader than how much reading time you’ll actually be able to get out of it. With this in mind, the most recent Fire tablet boasts up to 10 hours of battery life. Granted, this would require users to keep the brightness low, limit Web browsing to a minimum, and reduce the use of apps. In reality, taking into consideration the average tablet user’s activity, the battery is likely much lower.

  • 7" IPS display; 16 or 32 GB of internal storage (add up to 512 GB with microSD)Faster 1.3 GHz quad-core processorUp to 7 hours of reading, browsing the web, watching video, and listening to musicHands-free with Alexa, including on/off toggle1 GB of RAM

The Kindle Paperwhite tells a similar story. The fifth iteration of the Paperwhite advertises an astoundingly 10-week battery life. If this seems too good to be true, that 10-week life would require a user to turn the brightness way down, turn the wireless connection off, and limit reading time to less than 30 minutes a day. In reality, this means the Kindle Paperwhite’s battery is much closer to 30 hours or less. That’s where the 10-week life comes from; stretching those hours out to 30 minutes or less a day. Still, the Paperwhite’s battery soars above the Fire’s.

Functionality

In addition to reading, Fire tablet users can watch Netflix, scroll TikTok, browse Facebook, stream music, and more. Its functionality is not unlike a smartphone’s, minus the calling and texting aspect. Reading is definitely not the top priority here.

The Kindle Paperwhite, on the other hand, does not have many features or functions to boast outside of e-book reading. As a matter of fact, most of Paperwhite’s functionality pertains to its reading experience; warm-toned backlighting, long battery life, an e-book store, and waterproofing. If you’re looking for a device that also allows you to browse the Web, use social media, or stream the latest movies and television shows, Paperwhite is not the device for you. It sets itself apart from Fire by keeping the focus strictly on literature.

Internal Hardware

Last but not least, let’s consider the internal hardware of the Fire and the Kindle Paperwhite. For one thing, Fire has far more storage than Paperwhite. The latter’s base models top out between 8 and 16 GB, while the Fire’s storage stretches to as much as 64 GB.

  • Kindle Paperwhite – Now with a 6.8” display and thinner borders, adjustable warm light, up to 10 weeks of battery life, and 20% faster page turns.Purpose-built for reading – With a flush-front design and 300 ppi glare-free display that reads like real paper, even in bright sunlight.More books in more places – Store thousands of titles, then take them all with you. A single charge via USB-C last weeks, not hours.Easy on the eyes – Now with adjustable warm light to shift screen shade from white to amber.Waterproof reading – Built to withstand accidental immersion in water, so you’re good from the beach to the bath.

16 GB is plenty of storage for the Paperwhite — it’s equivalent to around 5,000 e-books — while 64 GB can go pretty quickly for a tablet. From social media apps to video streaming, storage can get used up significantly faster on a tablet than on an e-reader.

Memory

Comparatively, the memory of the Fire and the Paperwhite tells a similar story. The fifth-iteration Paperwhite has 1 GB of RAM. Meanwhile, the Fire 10 HD has as much as 3 GB of RAM. Once again, that’s a lot for the Paperwhite and not a lot for the Fire. The Paperwhite has plenty of memory to recall where you left off, how much you have left to read, and so on.

Contrarily, Fire faces the risk of running out of memory and slowing down performance when running too many apps at the same time. 3 GB is around the same as your average smartphone.

Kindle Fire vs Kindle Paperwhite: 5 Must-Know Facts

Kindle Fire vs Kindle Paperwhite: Pros and Cons

Kindle Fire vs Kindle Paperwhite: Which One Is Best?

The sheer number of differences between the Fire and the Paperwhite speak to the distinct uses for each Kindle product. The Fire is a tablet first and an e-reader second, putting more emphasis on tablet functionalities than e-reader capabilities. The Paperwhite, however, is solely an e-reader.

There are very few things a user can do with a Paperwhite beyond reading e-books and listening to audiobooks. As such, the best Kindle is whichever one suits your needs best. Are you looking for a tablet full of apps, or are you looking for an e-reader full of books?

Final Verdict

Nevertheless, it’s still possible to name an objective winner between these two Kindles. Judging by their functionality, their features, and how they compare to the competition, is there a true winner between the Fire and the Paperwhite? If one had to be ultimately named, it would have to be the Paperwhite.

There are plenty of tablets that offer more than the Fire, but no e-reader does what the Paperwhite can do as successfully as the Paperwhite. Basically, the Fire is a successful tablet-Kindle hybrid that ultimately fails to beat the iPad. That’s why Kindle Paperwhite is the best of the best.

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