Kindle Paperwhite 2013 review

[Dudenstein]

Kindle Paperwhite 2013 version (wifi)

http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Paperwhite-Ereader/dp/B00AWH595M

 

Finite Folio Cover

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009S2CWX4/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

I purchased the Kindle Paperwhite a month ago now and with a significant amount of time reading several book on it I felt that I had enough experience with it to write up a little review.

 

Design and Hardware

The Paperwhite is 6.7 by 4.6 by 0.36 inches in its dimensions and weighs just a tad over 7 ounces. This means it is very light and comfortable to use. The device (while in the Fintie cover) fits in the back pocket of my pants as well as the inside pocket of my jackets. It also easily fits in one hand and after reading for several hours using the device I never felt fatigued. By comparison the iPad which I also own felt like a massive brick while reading and the Nook Tablet which is another reader that I've used extensively is still much more cumbersome. The device features what seems to be a semi rubberized backing which gives you a good grip while reading but oils in your fingers tend to settle there. It is easily cleaned off but an annoyance nonetheless. In terms buttons and so forth it is very minimal. I had a micro usb charger port, a power/sleep button, and a status LED. what does this mean? well, there isn't an headphone jack for music and no micro sd slot for additional storage. For some people that is a deal breaker but for me it wasn't. i wanted a dedicated ebook reader and that is what I got. I have no need for music as I don;t listen to music as i read, but if you are an individual who listens while reads you might was to keep that in mind. In regards to the lack of micro sd card slot, the device features 2GB of internal storage with 1.25GB of that being available for actual use. This is more than enough solely ebooks (each ebook is about 400KB in size). 

 

Display

The display is 6 inches in size and is of course a 212 ppi eink display. What does this mean exactly? it looks like a physical book while reading. Reading in direct sunlight is very easy and is like looking at paper. It doesn't get washed out which is a major advantage of the eink display. How does it perform in low light or even in the dark? With the front lit display it is a real pleasure. I never experienced any eye strain while reading for long periods at a time in the dark with the front light active (in fact I always have it active). There is a large selection of brightness levels to choose from so the amount of light is easily adjustable to your own personal preference. 

 

Interface

The interface is very very simple to use. Tapping the home icon brings you ironically to the home screen. On the top of your home screen you see the various options in the following order from left to right: home, back, light, cart, search, goodreads (after a software update), and menu. Under those is where you have access to your books. they can be divided into books  you have in the cloud and ones  you have on your device. To the right of that you have your items selection where you can choose to see the different variations of digital works (books, periodicals, docs, active content) and beside that is how those works are shows to you either by recently used, title, or author. Under those are the actual books which take up most of the screen and on the very bottom are the ads if you have the ad version of the Paperwhite. 

 

Touch a book and you start reading. The interface while reading is very simple. Touching the top portion of the screen brings the menu bar where you have access to the home icons (home, back, search, etc) as well as reading options such as font size, go to, etc.) Tapping most of the right side and even the middle of the screen brings you forward a page in the book and tapping the far left side brings you back a page. Swiping up from the bottom brings up the page slider to let you scroll through pages quickly. and on the very bottom of the screen you can see (depending on what you choose) the location you are in the book, page number, minutes until the end of the chapter, or the minutes to the end of the book. The latter two are estimates based on your reading speed. 

 

Battery

How is the battery life of the Paperwhite? I have had it for a month now, I keep the wifi on, I always have the light set to 9, I have read 4 books, I am currently reading my fifth, and I have yet to charge the device. It is rather low (I would estimate about 20%) but is still going strong. The battery is utterly superb and I can see myself going on a vacation with this device and not even bringing the charger. 

 

Additional crap

Just additional stuff about the device. basically my only major gripe about this product is the supported file types. It naturally supports the kindle formats of AZW and AZW3 as well as the following formats: PDF, MOBI, TXT, PRC, DOC, and DOCX. Much of what I use are epub so I have to convert what i want to read to the proper format (I convert to mobi) which isn't much of a hassle with Calbre. It's as easy as choosing the book and converting it. If they supported epub I would have preferred but it's not a big a deal as I originally thought. If you want to sideload you books as I do all you have to do it basically plug it in via micro usb to your pc and past in the books that you want assuming of course that those files are of the supported formats. 

 

In regards to the ads they are not obtrusive at all. They appear when you wake up your device and you just swipe the screen to fully unlock the device and bring up the home screen. there is also a small banner ad on the bottom of the home screen but it only takes up a fraction of the total screen space so it's nicely out of the way. When actually reading there are no ads at all. Is it worth the $20 to get rid of the ads? At this moment in time I am fine with the ads but I will probably remove them sometime in the future just for my own personal preference. I can easily recommend the ad version knowing that the ads are done properly and do no get in the way of the device and reading on the device. 

 

Conclusion

The Kindle Paperwhite is a great device for the avid readers out there. My only complaint again is with the supported file types and that is easily fixed by converting with Calibre. Long battery life, great interface, portable, and perfect for reading in all time and locations I can easily recommend this to anybody interested in buying a device for their reading. $120? TAKE MY MONEY!

 

 

 

 

If you guys enjoyed this review let me know and I'll do more of these for the devices that I purchase/use

[Damikiller37]

I would pretty much say the same thing about the 1st gen Paperwhite that I have had for about 2 years now. Although I use mine for manga only it still is a fantastic piece of kit to have if you enjoy reading both at daylight and night. Only con I would have whith the one I have is that the bottom area where the LEDs are, you can ever so slightly see slight grayish areas inbetween the light coming from the LEDs. But since apparently it has been addressed in the new model so the device is now perfect in my eyes

[WereCat]

Very good review, I am also considering such reader and you basicaly mentionee all I wanted to know.

[Heisenbleurgh]

I've had the first gen of PaperWhite for almost two years now (pre-ordered as soon as I found out there was such a thing as a light e-reader with backlight) and although recently I've had some funny issues adding books to it, that's most likely my own fault. The device itself is great, I tend to share it with my family and got my sister one for herself because we both kept wanting to use it.

Nice review!

[Dudenstein]

I would pretty much say the same thing about the 1st gen Paperwhite that I have had for about 2 years now. Although I use mine for manga only it still is a fantastic piece of kit to have if you enjoy reading both at daylight and night. Only con I would have whith the one I have is that the bottom area where the LEDs are, you can ever so slightly see slight grayish areas inbetween the light coming from the LEDs. But since apparently it has been addressed in the new model so the device is now perfect in my eyes

 

 

I've had the first gen of PaperWhite for almost two years now (pre-ordered as soon as I found out there was such a thing as a light e-reader with backlight) and although recently I've had some funny issues adding books to it, that's most likely my own fault. The device itself is great, I tend to share it with my family and got my sister one for herself because we both kept wanting to use it.

Nice review!

 

Do you guys have a cover/case for yours? If so, which one(s)? I kind of want to get some additional covers but there's a ton of options

[Heisenbleurgh]

Do you guys have a cover/case for yours? If so, which one(s)? I kind of want to get some additional covers but there's a ton of options

 

I got this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Kindle-Paperwhite-Leather-Cover/dp/B007R5YFS4/

because I really liked the fact it turns off your kindle as soon as you close it. It's the official amazon one so it's the most expensive one. I'm sure there's others for half the price in Amazon and eBay, but I'd look at reviews and see how the fit is and if closing/opening the cover actually turns it on and off.

 

I also got another one, more along the lines of these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Black-Purple-Travel-Carrying-Sleeve-Case-Cover-Nylon-Pouch-For-7-8-Inch-Tablet-/380794135744

I carry my kindle with me every day so I thought it'd be better off it I used both (at the same time) but the one I got was very snug for the kindle itself, so it wouldn't fit when it was already inside the leather cover. I wanted to carry the kindle with the leather cover inside a more padded one.