Amazon Kindle -- A Year Later?

I was doing all of my reading on an ipad. I really liked the size of the ipad and waited a long time for the large kindle to drop in price. It never did. The iPad was burning out my retinas - I do most of my reading in the dark.

I just got a paperwhite. I like the front light. My has a small imperfection. On the bottom left, there is a small patch of bright light from the side which irritated me at first.

The light makes it a whole different experience. In normal room lighting, the background appears white and the text black like a real book. The light has very good low level adjustment. For my application of reading in bed at night, it is awesome.

I got a Paperwhite for christmas, previously I've had a Kindle DX and a Keyboardless Kindle. The refresh rate on the Paperwhite seems to be significantly faster than my old first-model DX and moderately faster than my Keyboardless. I think it's also a bit sharper, though I've not done any testing on that.

The backlight definitely has the downside of draining the battery a bit faster than the other Kindles but being able to read without turning on a lamp or finding some kind of other light source is great. You can adjust the amount of backlight you want just by touching the top "panel", selecting the light icon and sliding up or down.

My only observation is that sometimes the touching is imprecise, specifically when I'm turning a page and want to go back. Unlike the buttons, sometimes it seems to get "stuck" with the idea that I want to go forward, even though I'm clicking on the "back" panel, if I touch back too quickly. It's easy enough to work around and get used to, but after the precision of buttons it takes a bit.

So I bought one tonight. So far I'm impressed. My current Kindle is always in a case because of the screen. The Paperwhite seems like it's durable enough that it could go into a slip case and be good like that. It's comfortable enough to hold without the case thanks to the rubberized shell. That's a first for me. I've never carried around just the e-reader. With this device it's tempting. The bottom is slightly dimmer. Not sure why that is. But overall I think this could replace my current Kindle. More comfortable to read on without the distractions of a tablet. I'll give it a week and the I might sell or hand down my current Kindle. I'd definitely miss the keyboard, but this device is very specific in its purpose and I like that.

Where did you buy it, DS? Does Best Buy still sell them? I thought they went All Nook...

I throw my previous gen Kindle in my jacket pocket or shoulder bag, usually completely unprotected. No problems here. I guess at sub $100 it feels pretty disposable so I don't worry about it so much compared to my other devices.

Robear wrote:

Where did you buy it, DS? Does Best Buy still sell them? I thought they went All Nook...

Best Buy sells them. That's where I found my Paperwhite. I think Target is the store that went all Nook.

They were out, so I ordered it 2 day. Takes the same time either way...

Robear wrote:

Where did you buy it, DS? Does Best Buy still sell them? I thought they went All Nook...

Local retail chain, Fred Meyer. Best Buy was sold out and appeared to be sold out for some time. Even Fred Meyer was largely sold out when I called around. I had to find the most random suburban location that no one would think to check.

Nice. Our other electronics places have shut down. I'm kind of waiting for BB to die, too.

Robear wrote:

Nice. Our other electronics places have shut down. I'm kind of waiting for BB to die, too.

Yeah, Fred Meyer is a real throwback. Groceries, gardening supplies, pet supplies, pharmacy and a huge electronics area with video game consoles, e-readers, tablets, iPods, etc. It's a good last resort. Especially with Best Buy struggling.

I got my wife one at Staples, of all places.

I was kind of surprised the backlight can't be turned off completely (without jailbreaking it). The level of control is really nice, though, you'll be happy with it in any lighting.

karmajay wrote:

If possible I would try to read all his robot books along with the foundation books.

Yeah, that requires more money.

All this raving is not helping me avoid spending money on a replacement for my Kindle Keyboard that I bought two years ago. The Paperwhite sounds too good. It even looks too good in the video reviews I've seen. I saw a side by side with the Nook Glowlight and the Kindle Paperwhite blew it away.

General Crespin wrote:

I was kind of surprised the backlight can't be turned off completely (without jailbreaking it). The level of control is really nice, though, you'll be happy with it in any lighting.

Isn't setting the light to 0, turning it off?

I have read that light setting 3 is kind of a sweet spot for usual reading. I got mine for Christmas, I haven't read much on it yet and I am still not sold on touchscreen for page turns, although it does resist fingerprints pretty well. I wish there was a paperwhite with page turn buttons. Upgraded from a Kindle Keyboard 3G which I sold for $60 with the Amazon lighted case today.

Greg wrote:
General Crespin wrote:

I was kind of surprised the backlight can't be turned off completely (without jailbreaking it). The level of control is really nice, though, you'll be happy with it in any lighting.

Isn't setting the light to 0, turning it off?

Nope, 0 is my "reading in pitch black" setting... still lit.

ColdForged wrote:
Greg wrote:
General Crespin wrote:

I was kind of surprised the backlight can't be turned off completely (without jailbreaking it). The level of control is really nice, though, you'll be happy with it in any lighting.

Isn't setting the light to 0, turning it off?

Nope, 0 is my "reading in pitch black" setting... still lit.

ahh, my aging eyes.

I love the convenience of having a light built into the paperwhite, but from an eyestrain perspective I think the classic kindle with a booklight still has a slight edge. The paperwhite wins overall though. The way they built the touch interface works really well too. I can type quickly on it and it buffers input, and the touch regions for page turning are perfect. I find myself picking books I have a kindle copy of instead of paper books simply because I prefer reading with the kindle.

I am not a huge fan of backlight on a reader. But the paperwhite is probably going to be my next one. Or the 2nd gen, as I just bought my kindle a week or two before the new one has been relieved.
Kindle is perfect for here in the Caribbean, as books go to sh*t in this climate. Also getting the books you want is very hard here.
In the end, I do prefer having a real book in my hands though. And probably will have a hardcopy of the books I really like. Once I've moved.

complexmath wrote:

I love the convenience of having a light built into the paperwhite, but from an eyestrain perspective I think the classic kindle with a booklight still has a slight edge.

Isn't the light in the Paperwhite "front lit"? How would this be any different than using a book light?

Guys, can you adjust the level of light on the Paperwhite Kindle? I don't want it to be too bright in the dark...

Mex wrote:

Guys, can you adjust the level of light on the Paperwhite Kindle? I don't want it to be too bright in the dark...

Yes, you can adjust it. Out of the box, though, it can never be turned COMPLETELY off.

The paperwhite is indeed front-lit. There are LEDs built into the bezel and there's a thin sheet of plastic across the screen to direct the light evenly across the screen. Something about the screen being inherently bright, though, seems to feel different than when the screen is simply reflecting light from a separate source. I haven't actually gotten to the point where the paperwhite lighting was uncomfortable to look at though. This was more of an observation compared to my wife's first-gen kindle. The screen resolution bump in the paperwhite is a really nice improvement too.

The interface of the paperwhite is keyed on three zones while reading. About an inch along the left edge will page back, an inch along the top will open a control menu, and all the rest will page forward. Laid out in this way it's easy to read holding the paperwhite in your left hand and using your left thumb for page control. Regarding the backlight, if you touch the control zone, one of the icons that appears is a brightness slider, so it's easy to adjust the brightness on the fly while reading.

I'm interested in seeing how the paperwhite does in a book stand on a treadmill too. Being able to touch basically 3/4 of the screen to page forward seems like it will be great while running. And the adjustable font size is handy too in this context, compared to print books.

This has probably been answered in this thread, but...

If I get a Kindle with Special Offers, can I later pay to have no ads on it? Or do I have to buy the ad-free version?

I want a Kindle Paperwhite, but a 17% markup for no ads seems steep right now, especially considering the cost of the case.

I believe there is an option on the website to pay to disable the ads at any time.

BadKen wrote:

This has probably been answered in this thread, but...

If I get a Kindle with Special Offers, can I later pay to have no ads on it? Or do I have to buy the ad-free version?

I want a Kindle Paperwhite, but a 17% markup for no ads seems steep right now, especially considering the cost of the case.

You can do this, yes. I just did it about 2 hours ago to my Paperwhite. You go to Amazon.com -> Manage Kindle -> Manage Devices (left hand menu) and then you'll see a column by each device you own called "Special Offers". Disable it here.

Yeah, and you might find that the ads aren't as bothersome as they might seem at face value. Out of four in the house mine is the only one sans ads and probably only because mine predates the "special offers" discount.

LiquidMantis wrote:

Yeah, and you might find that the ads aren't as bothersome as they might seem at face value. Out of four in the house mine is the only one sans ads and probably only because mine predates the "special offers" discount.

I think it's pretty and puts me in a reading mood to see the alternate screen pics.

Finally got some extra cash and picked up a Paperwhite 3G. Compared to my DX, I was worried that the size difference would really matter to me. But that turns out not to be important.

Ergonomically, I like the DX because it can display large pdfs well. The screen displays a lot of sentences. Seems obvious, but if you read at speed, the page turn can slow you down, or at least feel like it's interrupting. The Paperwhite notionally loses in that regard, in that there is a noticeable hesitation for page turns on the DX that I expected to be similar on the Paperwhite. And the form factor of the DX is like that of a hardcover, meaning that it is comfortable if you are used to hardbacks. I will have to rig a frame to hold it on my elliptical, however, or reserve the DX for that.

I've used the Paperwhite for a few days now, and it has enough advantages to outweigh the size change. First, the screen is clear and more high contrast than the DX, and of course can be lit for use in the dark. Those are givens, reasons to try it out I guess. But the issue of losing reading momentum to page changes is fixed by the speed of the page turns on the Paperwhite, to a degree that I had not expected. The page turns are fast enough to no longer figure into my hesitation. In similar fashion, the network connection is obviously faster than that of the DX; downloads complete more quickly and it's easier to look around in the store. The processor itself is also faster, which makes ancillary functions like word lookups and highlights faster and easier. Overall, the speed of the Paperwhite is one of it's big advantages.

The touch screen is sensitive and quick to respond. I like it better than the buttons, and in fact, the lack of buttons on the side margins makes it easier to handle the device without being at risk of dropping it. So for me, the touchscreen is a win.

I'm trying out the special offers, and while they have not been fantastic, they are not obtrusive, either, so I'm happy to save the $20.

Finally, the form factor is smaller than I expected, and while that surprised me, I find it's actually very well sized. I have relatively small hands, but this size and weight are perfect for my hands. As someone noted, the rubberized back helps this tremendously, and I hope it's a feature they keep. I have noticed that it collects oils, but I expect it will be pretty easy to keep clean over time.

So I think the Paperwhite will take the place of my DX for most uses.

I use one of the leather cases for my paperwhite and really like it. Especially the auto-sleep when I close the case.