Kindle Paperwhite

So far, I love my new Paperwhite Kindle. I've been using an aging keyboard Kindle 2, waiting for a version with a built-in light like this. Amazon really got it right with the light on this one.

The high resolution screen is noticeably easier to read, and the user interface is well thought out.

The form factor is also an amazing improvement. I like the tactile feel of the Kindle's back, although I'm awaiting shipment of Amazon's leather case because I like to take my Kindle everywhere and this device feels small and delicate, and I've liked the old Amazon leather case on my old Kindle.

The one thing keeping me from giving this product a 5-star review is a software issue that really irks me: I paid the extra $20 to have a Kindle without advertising, yet the entire bottom half of the home screen in cover view is taken up with Amazon's recommendations for me to buy new books. This is advertising, and it is totally unacceptable in a product that costs extra just to avoid advertising. Targeted advertising is still advertising, and there's not enough space on this screen to make any amount of advertising okay with me.

If I ever want to see what Amazon recommends for me, I'll visit the Amazon Store and look myself. The end result of this unsolicited advertising on my home screen is that I have to scroll past it to see more than three of the titles on my device, whereas if the ad was gone, I could see six titles right away on the home screen. Given the way the Kindle's user interface is designed, going to the home screen is necessary to get just about anywhere else, so this advertising block causes me to have to scroll past it over and over again, gumming up my otherwise smooth user experience on the device.

Amazon could easily make this optional with a software update, and I hope they do so very soon. At the very least, this unsolicited, mandatory advertising on the home screen needs to be explicitly disclosed on the sales pages. Had I known that there would still be advertising I could not remove on my device, I might not have paid $20 to avoid advertising.

Until Amazon gives us the option to disable these "recommendations" on the home screen, I've used parental controls to just disable the store completely on my Kindle. That does make the ads go away, but it's not really a convenient solution, because if I ever actually want to buy something on my Kindle, I'll need to type in a password and re-enable the store. I'll more likely use a different device for all purchases. This forced advertising, then, really backfires in my case because instead of enticing me to buy more books right on my Kindle, it's prompted me to shut the store down completely on the Kindle.

I have been using the Paperwhite exclusively for reading for two weeks now vs. my other Kindles, and I am writing this review from the perspective of being a long-time Kindle user vs. someone brand new to the Kindle experience as well as in direct comparison to the Kindle Touch, which the Paperwhite replaced.

From an overall standpoint, and considering everything you get (compact e-Reader,touch screen, lighting system), the Paperwhite is a very good e-Reader. I am amazed at how much smaller these e-Readers can become with each new generation yet still not feel like you're losing anything from a "feels like a book" experience.

To address the reading experience, I wasn't sure what to expect with the display. Needless to say, the text on the screen is much more crisp than any of the other version of an e-Ink Kindle I have used, and just to ensure I wasn't being biased I put the Paperwhite next to a Kindle 3 / Keyboard, a Touch, a "regular" Kindle, and a Kindle DX - all on the same page of a book with the covers removed (didn't want the cover to give an optical illusion or anything) - and you can clearly see a better quality in terms of the fonts.

Reading at night is a good experience with the lighting display in comparison to the other versions of Kindle because you don't need an additional light that can get in the way: it didn't disturb, for example, my wife who likes to watch TV in a dark room. It was also very convenient on a plane ride at night as I was able to see the full page of the text vs. a light attachment only reaching most of the screen: there are no impediments to the reading screen.

Turning the page backwards and forwards is as simple as a simple tap of the thumb as you hold the device or, if you prefer, a swipe with your finger in either direction. It did take a little getting used to turning with my thumb as I have been trained after years on a Kindle Keyboard and DX to press a button - it didn't take that long and after about 5% or so into a science fiction novel I didn't even notice the new turning action. This page turning experience is a significant improvement over the previous Kindle Touch and much appreciated!

Accessing the menu structure of the Paperwhite is as simple as touching the top 20-30% of the screen where you can quickly access a keyboard, hit the menu, table of contents, etc. Navigation is a piece of cake.

Web surfing speed with the WiFi feature on the Paperwhite is about the same as the other type of e-Ink Kindles. Doing a side-by-side test I tried the mobile websites of Fox News and CNN and they popped right up; the usual slow sites were still slower than Christmas. Checking email with an e-Ink Kindle via gmail is a chore with this as well as other versions of e-Ink Kindle, but none of that is really important to me as I have too many device that do that anyway: when I have my Kindle, I usually want to read a book vs. surf the web or check email.

Despite what people may say, size matters! In this case, the Paperwhite is not too small and not too large and Amazon appears to have hit the sweet spot. I would highly recommend the Amazon-branded case for it, as it fits snug and firm and automatically puts the unit into sleep mode when you close the cover, and wakes it back up when you open the cover. To see the cover I purchased, click this link: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Leather Cover, Onyx Black (does not fit Kindle or Kindle Touch)

About the only negative I have for this unit, if you could even call it a negative, is I wish I had bought the 3G version vs. the Wi-Fi only - for someone who travels a lot with my job, what was I thinking?!? Accordingly, I ordered one of those. Despite that statement, for just $119 I think this is a great unit and I enjoyed reading with it: the Paperwhite may soon be replacing my beloved Kindle Keyboard permanently!

OVERALL USE
The reading experience on the Paperwhite is excellent. The Paperwhite is much more enjoyable to use than the Kindle Touch or the Kindle Keyboard, thanks mostly to the display (more on that below). The Home button from the Touch has been removed, and you now navigate to the menus by touching the top of the screen. Like the Touch, there are no physical page turn buttons. If you want to advance the page, you either swipe, or press the middle/right hand side of the screen (most of the display area is set up to advance the page). To go back a page, you press anywhere on the left 20% of the screen. To access the menu, you press the top 10% of the screen. Contrast for the display can quickly and easily be adjusted with two taps, so it can be brightened or darkened without a lot of menu navigation. There are still eight font sizes like previous generations had, but instead of just three typefaces, you now have six (Baskerville, Caecilia, Caecilia Condensed, Publisher Font, Futura, Helvetica, and Palatino). Publisher Font lets you use the book publisher's embedded font. None of the books I have tried out yet have this option, but I can see how it can provide them with a lot more flexibility. The additional fonts, along with the ability to adjust line spacing and margins, make it much easier to read books that a publisher formats poorly to begin with (as anyone who struggled with the early edition of 'Game of Thrones' can attest to).

The menu system is a bit improved over the Touch. Instead of the basic list display for your books, Paperwhite now includes a graphical display of your book covers (like the Kindle Fire) in addition to the traditional list view. Unfortunately, it will only display three books covers, because the second row of covers are reserved for covers of Amazon book recommendations. It's clear that Amazon wants to use the Paperwhite to market their products more. Cloud integration is very easy as well. If you have more than 1,000 books, just store some on your free Amazon Cloud drive. Downloading them to the device is very quick and simple. The Paperwhite comes with Kindle Collections which allows you to organize and store your books more easily and put them into genres or collections by author/subject, however the way collections are displayed could be improved, since a list display will still show the individual books on the list, even after you move them into a collection. Ideally, I think it should work like a file system, where you sort them into a collection and then those books will only display when you open that collection folder.

DISPLAY
This is where the Paperwhite really shines. The display is absolutely beautiful. I never had a problem with the display on any of my previous kindles, and always thought there wasn't much room for improvement, but you can really tell a difference when looking at the two side by side. Kindles all use E-Ink displays to mimic printed text. The Paperwhite has an improved e-ink display, which is sharper, has improved contrast and resolution, and uses front-lit technology with its built-in light. Images look much sharper, which shouldn't matter too much since most people don't use their kindles for images, but the text looks better as well. The resolution has increased from 167 pixels per inch (PPI) and 600x800 resolution on all previous models to 221 PPI and 768 x 1024 on the Paperwhite.

The lighting is nothing like a traditional back lit screen (like you would see on the iPad or Nook). It is very even and doesn't hurt your eyes at all. I could stare at the display for hours as easily as reading a book. Reading in bright sunshine is no problem and even improved over the Touch. There are four small led lights underneath the bezel at the bottom, which carry light through a grid built into the display. This allows for very even lighting, as opposed to using a clamp on light that directs light to one area, and then spills down to the rest. There are 24 different light levels so it is very customizable, and you can change the level very quickly without having to spend a lot of time going through menus. So the great thing is, you don't need to order a separate light for your Kindle. Unless I am outside or in a bright room, I always use the Amazon cover with built in light for my Touch, which I would prefer not to do, because it adds weight to the device and doesn't feel as comfortable as holding a bare kindle without a cover. With Paperwhite, the screen is uniform and easy to read. It may sound like the glow could get annoying, but it is very pleasing to the eyes and easy to read from. It soft enough that you can read in bed with a partner and not disturb them at all (with my Touch I had to make sure I slept on the left side of the bed (the direction the light faced) because the led would blind the person on the right). I cannot emphasize enough how brilliant the screen is and encourage you to find a display model to look at if you're on the fence about it. I've used the Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight and the Paperwhite display blows it out of the water. The only problem with it, is that there are four thumbnail-sized shadows at the bottom of the display where the led lights sit. They are not very dark, but they are noticeable at first and prevent perfect uniformity. I learned to ignore them after a few minutes. There is also one area on the top menu that does not completely blend into the background when you bring the menu up. Not a big deal but it is a small glitch.

FORM FACTOR
The Paperwhite is a tiny bit smaller and thinner than the Touch, but not by too much. Users of the Touch should not have any problems, but if you're coming from the Kindle Keyboard, it will probably feel a bit awkward to hold it with one hand for awhile, because you don't have as much surface to grip since you can't touch the screen. To understand what I'm talking about, try holding a paperback book in one hand, but only let your hand touch the outer 3/4" of the front of it. You can see in the ads and videos that users are just barely gripping the outside of the Paperwhite so their hand doesn't get in the way of the screen. This is actually a fairly awkward way to hold the Kindle for any significant length of time, as users of the Touch may recall (I can guarantee you that girl laying on the ground reading and just barely holding onto the corner with her thumb did not hold it that way for long). You eventually get used to it, but you still have to shift your hand every once in awhile because it gets uncomfortable. I think the perfect way for me to hold it is to cup your hand like you're holding a mug of beer, and let the kindle rest on your pinky finger like an easel.

The Paperwhite also now has a rubberized back (like the Kindle Fire) compared to the smoother back of the Touch. With the Touch, you had to rely on your palm and thumb to support it. With the Paperwhite, your fingers don't slide off so easily and can assist to support the back. Although this sounds like a small issue, anyone who has tried to hold a Touch with one hand for more than 30 minutes will appreciate this. So it's easier to hold over the Touch, but the Kindle Keyboard is still the most comfortable to grip.

Two more great additions to the form factor - since it no longer has an IR light built into it, the depth of the bezel is half the size. This makes for a smoother transition to the display, collects less dirt, and looks better. Lastly, the display screen feels different than any previous kindles. It has a very slight textured surface (almost like the page of a book) to it instead of being completely smooth. It is hard to describe, but it is much more pleasurable to the touch than the previous Kindle Touch, and swiping is more pleasant.

TOUCH RESPONSE
Kindle Paperwhite now has a capacitive touch screen. This is almost worth the upgrade alone. The Touch used an IR-based touch screen, so it would register any movement as a touch, even if it wasn't from your body. I would frequently be reading in bed and move to get more comfortable, and the sheets would hit the display and cause it to skip to the next chapter. So then I would have to bring up the menu and go back. I was always careful about closing the cover when I moved to prevent an accidental "touch." I've always been very satisfied with the speed of the page turns on the Touch and never had a problem with it, but this has improved as well, and page turns now register a bit quicker. It is too quick for me to measure the increase, but I think most people will see a noticeable change in response and appreciate it. It is very easy to type with the built in keyboard, so you can easily search for phrases or navigate to something specific in the book. Flipping pages is very quick and page turns are almost instant. Instead of having to move my finger to swipe or tap into a page turn, I rest my thumb right against the bezel, and when I want to turn a page, I just shift it very slightly so it touches the screen.

BATTERY LIFE
I haven't been able to run reliable testing on the battery, but Amazon's claim of 8 weeks battery (using for 30 minutes a day) even with the light on seems to me to likely be fairly accurate given my limited use of it. Even previous Kindle generations have had amazing batteries so this has never been a problem for me in the past.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES
The Kindle Touch came with some new features, but I never really used any of them too much. Read more ›