Amazon Kindle Keyboard
Shares rank 22 of 29 e-readers by recommenders
Owners recommend it for physical page-turn buttons, easy sideloading and jailbreaking, and years of working use. Critics note Amazon no longer supports it.
Owners recommend it for physical page-turn buttons, easy sideloading and jailbreaking, and years of working use. Critics note Amazon no longer supports it.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 78%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 3.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Sideloading and jailbreaking are easy
“My Kindle Keyboard (3rd generation device) still works perfectly well with sideloaded books.”
Comment from 23 May 2026 in “Kindle loyalists scramble as Amazon turns page on old e-readers” “Jailbreak on very old Kindles is reasonably straightforward”
Comment from 20 Apr 2026 in “I'm never buying another Kindle, and neither should you” Still works well for years
“My Kindle Keyboard (3rd generation device) still works perfectly well with sideloaded books.”
Comment from 23 May 2026 in “Kindle loyalists scramble as Amazon turns page on old e-readers” “I've still got my Kindle Keyboard on fine condition”
Comment from 9 Apr 2026 in “Amazon Is Pulling Support for Kindles from 2012 or Earlier” Physical page-turn buttons
“The original Kindle keyboard had perfect page turn buttons”
Comment from 24 May 2026 in “Kindle loyalists scramble as Amazon turns page on old e-readers” “Physical buttons or nothing for me thanks.”
Comment from 4 Oct 2026 in “Amazon introduces a redesigned Kindle family”
Other e-readers people recommend
The four most recommended other e-readers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Kindle | 222 | 255 | 47% | 12 | 12 yrs37 owners | — |
| Xteink X4 | 178 | 47 | 79% | 10 | 2 mo31 owners | Approved |
| Kobo e-reader | 154 | 53 | 74% | 12 | 7 yrs14 owners | Approved |
| reMarkable 2 | 93 | 45 | 67% | 12 | 5 yrs13 owners | Approved |
| Amazon Kindle KeyboardThis page | 7 | 2 | 78% | 6 | — | — |
What people said
All 10 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Physical buttons or nothing for me thanks.”
“essentially a useless paperweight now, as far as Amazon is concerned”
“which only showed the book list without an attempt at curation/upselling”
“The original Kindle keyboard had perfect page turn buttons”
“My Kindle Keyboard (3rd generation device) still works perfectly well with sideloaded books.”
“It gave out about 4 years ago”
“Jailbreak on very old Kindles is reasonably straightforward”
“I've still got my Kindle Keyboard on fine condition”
“I think we used to have this UX problem sorted in the pre-smartphone days”
“It was a much better reading-in-bed experience than the Kindle Oasis”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.