Kindle Paperwhite makes reading easier

Amazon says the processor is 25 per cent faster but one can't see any significant difference

Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace is one of my all-time favourites. Yet, despite having read the tome several times, I still need to refer back to the beginning of the book for certain incidents/characters. Likewise, being blessed with a weak memory and a love for Charles Dickens, I tend to bookmark certain pages in his novels to refer to his myriad characters.

 

Reading has become a lot easier since I made the switch to eBooks nearly a decade back. But nothing quite prepared me for the Page Flip feature of the new Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. With this feature, with a tap on the screen, one is presented with an option to go back and forth in a book, search maps etc, without losing the page one was reading.

 

But that’s not the only way the new Paperwhite has improved over the older one.  The text on the six-inch screen appears crisper because of better contrast on the new device. Amazon claims the processor on the new device is 25 per cent faster than the old one but one can’t see any significant difference while reading books (the old Paperwhite showed no delay in turning pages, just as this one).

 

The new Paperwhite is easy to read practically everywhere: in a dark room, in bright sunlight, in cloudy weather, on the beach and in the sky (we actually tried out all these scenarios). It's small enough to fit in your pocket and be held comfortably in one hand. While the new Paperwhite, weighs slightly (less than 10 g) more than the previous one, carrying it is still a cinch.

 

The new Paperwhite also comes with Smart Lookup, so in case one is stumped by a certain word, one gets a full dictionary definition and a link for reference to Wikipedia. And if you’re among those who religiously read the footnotes in each book, the complete text of the footnote is just a tap away.

 

Reading goes social with the integration of Goodreads, the world’s largest e-reading community.

 

There’s also a brand new Vocabulary Builder with “flash cards” if one’s interested. 

 

As usual, Amazon syncs your read pages across devices and while one needs Wi-Fi to download books, our review device (which was the 3G version) seamlessly transferred to the cellular band when Wi-Fi wasn’t available. In case you’re wondering, 3G access is free.

 

With six hours of reading a day we were able to get through more than 10 days with a single charge.

 

The new device is made of plastic, looks sturdy and the back doesn’t collect any smudges. Along with the Kindle logo on the back as in the previous generation devices, it also has Amazon’s new logo scrawled across the back. 

 

Like the previous device, the Paperwhite has a microUSB port and the power switch at the bottom. A pity Amazon bundles only the USB cable with this device. 

 

The new Kindle Paperwhite is one if the best e-book readers available in the country. In case you’re able to get it at a discounted price (at the time of writing, some websites were offering one), use the savings to invest in a cover. It’ll stand you in good stead. 

KINDLE PAPERWHITE
Price: Rs 13,999
(Wi-Fi+3G version)
Screen: 6-inch 212 ppi grey scale with light
Weight: 222 g
Memory: 2GB + cloud
 

This is a longer version of the story that appeared in print