- | 3:52 pm
Kindle page-turn buttons are back
But there’s a catch. They only come in the form of an $80 accessory for the more expensive models.
Under normal circumstances, I would be overjoyed that Amazon has rediscovered the appeal of dedicated page-turn buttons on its Kindle e-readers. Neither of my current models—a first-generation Scribe and a Colorsoft—have those buttons, and I miss them every time I pick up each device.
What’s the big deal, you might ask? Don’t you use touchscreens every day? Well, yes, but that’s kind of the point.
A big reason I like e-readers is they help me get into a different headspace. Moving my thumb over to touch a screen every couple of hundred words makes me feel like I’m operating a gadget rather than reading a book; gently pressing my thumb in place is a more natural motion that doesn’t take me out of the content on the page.
Amazon does seem to have some idea that people value the feature: The current splash page for the new Kindle line proclaims “Buttons are back.” The one catch? They’re only back if you buy an $80 accessory “Page-Turn Cover” for the more expensive “Signature Edition” model of the Colorsoft or Paperwhite.
WHY NOT BE STANDARD?
To be fair, it does look like quite a nice cover. It attaches magnetically and connects through pogo pins, which is why it requires the Signature Edition of each device. It folds back flat, matching the new flatter metal design of the e-readers themselves. The page-turn buttons look to be fairly substantial, and you can set each one to turn the page forward or backward.
Still, I am wondering why these buttons can’t simply be part of the Kindleitself. This used to be a defining feature of the line, dating all the way back to the first few models; they look clunky in hindsight, sure, but the lengthy flaps on the edges signified that they were core to the functionality.
Amazon started moving away from dedicated page-turn buttons in 2011 with the launch of the Kindle Touch, alongside a cheaper model that kept the buttons in lieu of the new touchscreen. The wildly popular touch-based (and button-less) Paperwhite followed in 2012, adding front lighting and establishing the new line as the mainstream Kindle offering.
Two years later, Amazon released the Kindle Voyage, which brought dedicated page-turn hardware back to the lineup in the shape of “PagePress”—pressure-sensitive, squeezable sections on the edge of the device. This wasn’t quite as comfortable as regular buttons, but it did at least save you from having to move your thumb over to the screen so often.
Amazon then returned to honest-to-goodness buttons in 2016 with the Oasis, which for my money is still the greatest-ever Kindle. That device had an asymmetric grip that shifted the buttons and the battery to your palm, leaving the rest of the reader incredibly thin and perfectly suited for one-handed reading.
I loved my Oasis, and it wasn’t formally discontinued until 2024, but it was very long in the tooth by that point. Amazon never updated it with USB-C, for example, ensuring it was the last device I ever regularly used with the older Micro USB standard. Eventually and reluctantly, I moved on to my current Scribe-and-Colorsoft setup.
“Today, all of our devices are touch-forward, which is what our customers are comfortable with,” an Amazon representative said upon confirming the Oasis’s discontinuation.
It’s true that touchscreens have improved the Kindle lineup overall; I wouldn’t want to go back to the days of navigating my library with a little square four-way controller. But why not keep the buttons around as well?
NO GOOD REASON
I find it hard to believe that the reason could be cost. Waterproofing also seems out as a potential issue, since the second-generation Oasis added the feature. And it can’t be a matter of streamlining the lineup, given that Amazon has gone to the trouble of developing and releasing this Page-Turn Cover only for certain high-end variants.
The only reason that makes sense to me is that Amazon has identified page-turn buttons as a feature that’s much desired by some of its most engaged users, but not to the extent of justifying a whole new high-end model along the lines of the Oasis. This is a way to provide an official button-based solution at presumably high margins as part of a premium offering.
Amazon is also selling a new $35 Bluetooth remote called the Kindle Click, aiming to tap into a growing trend for hands-free e-reader usage—whether in bed, on a plane, or at the gym. The company is releasing an upright charging stand for the Colorsoft and Paperwhite Signature Edition models, too.
Taken as part of a broader accessory initiative, the Page-Turn Cover makes a little more sense, and perhaps it will serve as a way to indicate the customer base’s real desire for real buttons. But I still feel that Amazon should just stick buttons on the Paperwhite or the Colorsoft.
“Our top design objective was for Kindle to disappear in your hands,” said CEO Jeff Bezos upon the original Kindle’s unveiling. That’s exactly the right goal for an e-reader, and I can think of a way that Amazon could better achieve it in 2026.
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