I feel I need to approach this review from 2 perspectives:
1. If you are somewhat new to the Kindle experience and you bought this one.
2. If you are a previous Kindle or Paperwhite owner and upgraded to this one.
If you are NEW TO THE EXPERIENCE or upgrading from an old Kindle like a Keyboard, welcome. This new Kindle merits 5 stars. You're going to love it. Here are some Kindle Paperwhite features you'll enjoy:
* Built in light. Reading in bed while someone is trying to sleep next to you is now an easy joy.
* Touch screen. Getting around your Kindle is easy. Turn pages, shop in the store, all by touching the screen.
* Waterproof. This is a new feature to this Kindle. Bring it in the pool worry free!
* Bluetooth. Sync this up with a speaker or headphones to have a book read to you.
Besides that, this Kindle is thin and light. It doesn't fatigue your hand at all. The fonts are adjustable for size. The light is adjustable for brightness. The color of the light is somewhat grayish. My older Paperwhite had the blueish hue which I found a little unnatural. I bought the Amazon case and when you close the cover the Kindle automatically sleeps and when you open the cover it automatically wakes up. I find this Kindle to be a little faster than the previous version. If this is your first Paperwhite there is only reason to be content with your purchase.
Now, if you are UPGRADING FROM AN OLDER PAPERWHITE I'd still be happy (I'm still glad I did upgrade) but there were a few things that made me go hmmmm.
First off I expected this Kindle to have the latest software. It didn't. I'm waiting for the update where the home page scrolls and you could save font themes. Why doesn't a brand new Kindle not have the latest software? Not a deal breaker because I know the update will be coming, but my old Paperwhite was updated. Last time I checked the update page it didn't even show the update for this version. A little disappointing.
Secondly, I had the Paperwhite from a few versions ago, the one with 212 ppi. Upgrading to this one with 300 ppi, I expected the font to be sharp, bold, and clear. Well, I'll just say that it didn't stink. Actually I found it to be a little greyed out, a little washed out to say it another way. Now, this is totally adjustable of course. The font could be bolded and size changed. But again, a little disappointed.
The software is exactly the same as my older version, minus the upgrade of course. I wish Amazon would give us more fonts to choose from. I know that we could download fonts now but it would just be nice if they were built in to begin with.
So my two biggest gripes are not shipped with the latest software and underwhelming font sharpness. From this perspective I'd give it a 3 1/2 or 4 star rating.
But having said that I have no regrets upgrading at all. I would do it again. The Paperwhite experience in general is something I find amazing. When I'm finished with a book I go right to the store and check out samples, download free classics, or pull the trigger on a purchase based on my mood right then and there. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
If you are new to Kindle or upgrading from a really old one don't let my gripes deter you. The Paperwhite is the gold standard of e-readers. At an affordable price you're getting this gold standard. And since this Kindle boasts being waterproof, bluetooth, being thinner and lighter, and with 8gb of storage, it's a no brainer.
I am an avid reader and adore the new paperwhite! To me, it’s the perfect reader. No light bleed thru, easy to control the amount of backlight, easy to download books and simply just easy to read my books. It did not come with the very latest software uploaded but within 24 hours of being connected to my WiFi, the kindle updated itself. Honestly, I’ve never purchased a smart phone that didn’t need an update within minutes of activation...Android or Apple.
Using overdrive on my phone or tablet, it’s easy to borrow books and return books from my library. The newest update allows you to return right from your paperwhite and that is a huge improvement. As a prime member, I get a free book every month plus I follow several emails that alert to free or greatly discounted books. 8 GB of storage is way more than enough for me. I find the weight to be significantly less than a paperback even with a case. I am happy with this purchase!
It does not stay charged for weeks like the item detail state. It only stays charged for a few days
Could this be a defective item?
I so miss my old clunky early model Kindle Fire. Reading on the Paperwhite is great but from the main screen and in the Kindle Store, I have trouble reading the black and white on the book covers. Also, I am very disappointed that customer reviews are not viewable on the Kindle Store any longer. This means I will not be shopping for books on my Kindle, which means I will buy a lot fewer books over all. Not by choice but by lack of information and convenience. I hope this will change in the future. I'm still giving the sweet little Paperwhite 4 stars but am still learning all the features. EVERYTHING is different on it which was unexpected.
1. It has a flush front screen for a much more attractive appearance. The Kindle Voyage and Oasis models have had flush screens but this is the first time that a lower-priced Kindle had this feature, and it is a nice improvement
2. It’s slightly lighter and thinner than earlier models
3. It’s waterproof, making it the second Kindle model (after the latest Oasis) to have that capability. This is a significant improvement.
4. It has audio capability – using Bluetooth to connect to headphones or speakers, so you can listen to audiobooks. This is also a significant improvement for those users who enjoy audiobooks – previous Paperwhite models did not have this feature (but the other current Kindles – the Oasis 2 and basic Kindle – do)
5. It has greater storage capability – double that of the previous Paperwhite (8 GB now, 4 GB before), with the ability to increase that to 32 GB. This is particularly useful if you have a lot of audiobooks since they use up much more storage space
With all of this, the new Paperwhite is only $10 more than the previous version, which makes it an even greater value in my opinion.
Amazon’s Kindle line-up is now simplified to three models, and I have all of them so let me give my brief summary:
- The ‘basic’ Kindle E-reader has a 6” screen, no lighting, touchscreen controls, and is the lowest cost Kindle for those who don’t need or want a lighted display
- The latest Kindle Paperwhite (4th Generation) has a 6” screen, lighted display, touchscreen controls, greater memory and waterproofing. It’s really the best choice for most people, especially with these latest improvements
- The top-of-the-line Kindle Oasis (2nd Generation) has the largest display (7”), lighted, touchscreen controls and page turn buttons, greater memory and waterproofing. For those readers who want or need the larger display or the buttons for turning pages, it’s a great e-reader - at almost twice what a Paperwhite costs
The bottom line is that, unless you really want the larger display of the Oasis (and it is nice, although it also makes the device a bit heavier and more bulky to hold), or really want the page turn buttons, then this new Paperwhite really provides everything most people want in their Kindle. Which is why it has been Amazon’s best seller, and I’m sure that this new version will continue the same.
I’ve been a Kindle user since purchasing one of the first Paperwhite models in 2012. I spend some time reading every day. When e-readers, including the Kindle, first appeared, I wasn’t interested. I couldn’t imagine that reading with an electronic device would be as satisfying as holding a ‘real’ book in my hands was. Then, when the first lighted Kindle was introduced, I decided to give it a try. These days I find that I seldom buy or read ‘real’ books. It’s so convenient to be able to have a library of books in your hand, and the lighted Kindle is so much nicer for reading in bed than regular books.
My favorite Kindles have been my Voyage (largely because the ‘Origami’ case makes it the most convenient to use when reading at a table or desk), and the new Oasis for reading in the evenings in bed. I’m going to give this new Paperwhite a try because I think that the lighter weight will make it even more comfortable to carry and use.
Feature Product
- The thinnest, lightest Kindle Paperwhite yet-with a flush-front design and 300 ppi glare-free display that reads like real paper even in bright sunlight.
- Now waterproof, so you're free to read and relax at the beach, by the pool, or in the bath.
- Enjoy twice the storage with 8 GB. Or choose 32 GB to hold more magazines, comics, and audiobooks.
- Now with Audible. Pair with Bluetooth headphones or speakers to listen to your story.
- A single battery charge lasts weeks, not hours.
- The built-in adjustable light lets you read indoors and outdoors, day and night.
- Get instant access to new releases and bestsellers, plus over a million titles at $2.99 or less.
Description
I have a Kindle Voyage and love it. Sadly battery is slowly loosing it's charging ability so time to replace. The Paperwhite of old was a really good e-reader and I gifted it away after 3 years in great condition. So this new Paperwhite has all the features I like an is light weight, great display and has Bluetooth. Good product just the Battery, even with WiFi off and reading maybe 2 hours a day it needs charging after 3 days.
(Scroll down for a bulleted Pros and Cons list)
After having my Kindle Touch for 7 years, I finally upgraded to a Paperwhite! Overall I love it. I will never forget my book light again, the resolution is incredible, it's faster, the new software interface is great, and I love how opening and closing the cover turns the device on and off automatically. And don't forget how amazing E-Ink is and how much easier it is on the eyes than reading on a backlit tablet. However, there are a few things I miss, like the raised bezel, the 3.5 mm headphone jack, and the better battery life my old Kindle had.
When reading in a room with low lighting, the built-in light provides an excellent enhancement, however the light is not so great in a completely dark room. While I love that it goes to a very low level, it has a blueish LED light, which means it's hard to focus on the text, and its blue light that can keep you up at night. Seeing as my Fire tablet was the first device I ever had with a built in blue light blocker, I was surprised that Amazon didn't put more yellowish LEDs into their Paperwhite.
The screen on this is wonderful. The resolution is so high that the text is crisper than it could ever be on a printed page, and I have always loved Kindle's easy ability to change the font-size to larger print as needed. I have a love-hate relationship with the solid glass(?) screen. It looks sleek, having the entire front of the device at a single level, but the black bezel area shows fingerprints like mad, and the lack of a raised bevel leaves the screen more prone to chips and cracks, as well as to accidental page-turns if you hold onto the bezel.
Only two days after receiving my new Paperwhite, I had left the case open and set the device on the sofa, while I went to get a glass of water. When I returned, I sat down next to it and then had to tend to my toddler on the other side of me, and I knocked the Kindle onto the floor. It landed face-down, and now there's a chip in the screen. Thankfully, that chip is only in the bezel area, but really, a chip in my two-day-old device from falling only 1 foot?!
I will probably never use Audible on my Paperwhite. That's for two reasons. The first reason is the lack of a 3.5 mm headphone jack (I own zero Bluetooth headphones or speakers), and the second reason is the lack of immersive reading, where you can have the Audible book read along to the eBook text. I'll just use Audible on my phone or Fire tablet where I have both of these features. Here's hoping Amazon releases the immersive reading feature to the Paperwhite in the near future.
The battery life... has issues. Initially, when I first unboxed my Paperwhite, it ate through the battery. However, it was downloading my entire eBook library, I was flicking through lots of menus, and it was downloading a software update in the background. I burned through half my battery that first day.
After the software updated, the next day, battery life was a bit better. The new software changed it so that the Kindle goes into standby when not in use, and that helps it use less battery.
However, it was still draining faster than my old Kindle Touch battery did. To remedy that, I usually keep my Paperwhite in airplane mode, only turning on wifi at the end of each reading session to sync up my reading progress, and then turning it back off. Doing this has made it so that I only use about 5% of my battery for each half hour of reading. Thankfully, the battery does charge up much faster than my old Kindle Touch did, but it does make me wonder about the longevity of this battery's capacity as my device ages.
Overall, I like the Paperwhite more than my Touch, even though I have a few complaints. I could go into even more details, but seeing as I've already written quite a bit, I figured I'd just leave you with a giant list of Pros and Cons. Also, if I could have rated the Paperwhite with 4.5 stars, I would have.
Pros:
• Screen:
○ High contrast - seems whiter than my old Kindle Touch
○ Amazing resolution, can't see any pixilation, crisper than print on a page
○ Capacitive touch screen means no more accidentally turning the page with my sleeve
○ Can see great in bright light or low light (with the screen light on)
• Light:
○ Nice enhancement in low-lighting
○ No more forgetting the book light
○ No glare from a book light shining on the screen
○ Light level goes very low - I can read in the dark without it being too bright, and it doesn't keep up my baby or husband
• Updated software interface
○ So many settings, especially for the reading text (font, size, typeface, line spacing, margins, orientation)
○ Peek ahead options, to look at previous or upcoming pages without changing your position (or reading progress) in the book, or even to quickly look through and navigate to another page.
○ The ability to only have some of my collections from the cloud appear on my device.
○ Integration with Goodreads
- I can easily share my progress and remarks on the book I'm reading, easily add books to my Goodreads shelf, and easily see my Goodreads lists.
• Faster and more responsive than my old Kindle Touch
• Waterproof - now I'm not afraid to read in the bath!
• Magnetic cover
○ Automatically wakes on open, and puts the Kindle to sleep on close
• More storage
○ I never ran out of space on my old Kindle, but now I have even more!
• Lighter, thinner, and that cool feeling, almost "fuzzy" hard plastic covers the entire back of the device
Cons:
• Screen:
○ "Non-reflective" is still semi-reflective, like a high-gloss magazine (same as other Kindle reader screens)
○ Shows fingerprints - no big deal on reading area, but ugly on bezel
○ Solid glass with no bezel means more chances of chips and cracks
○ Capacitive touch screen
- I can't turn the page with gloves on, or through a blanket
- When the device is wet, water can cause it to register fake taps - use the "disable touchscreen" option in the menu, and then it only detects swipes
• Light:
○ Has a lot of blue spectrum in it
○ Feels more like a backlight, when used in total darkness
○ LED light makes it hard to focus without any ambient light, so I have to make the font larger when reading in a dark room
• Battery life:
○ Drains fairly quickly when wifi is left on
○ When wifi is off, still drains faster than my old Kindle Touch's battery, but is much, much better and might last a week or two, depending upon how much you read and what level you use the light at
• Power button position
○ It's easy to accidentally turn the Kindle off while reading, if you hold it by the bottom
• Software interface:
○ I can't figure out how to share to Facebook when I've completed a book. I used to do this with every book on my old Kindle Touch.
• No more 3.5mm headphone jack or built in speakers (my old Kindle Touch had these and I loved both)
○ I will never use Audible on my Paperwhite because of this. I will instead use it on my phone.
• No immersive reading where you can let your Audible book narrate along the page of your eBook
○ It's either read the eBook text, or listen to the Audible book; you can't do both at once
○ I hope they update the software to support this, like tablets do
My first unit was dysfunctional out of the box (repeated charging problems — wouldn’t charge when plugged in and then after the reset, drained almost immediately while on sleep/without active use and ultimately turned out to be slower than the new one), which took some pushiness on my part to get replaced. Amazon did follow up afterwards which I appreciate the original unit ended up being sent to their engineering department, which suggests a concern with quality control. And my new unit is wonderful. It is replacing a 2014 paperwhite. I really wanted and like the water resistant aspect. It’s nice to read in the bathtub without a ziplock bag or a worry about an accident. I also like the extra memory and being able to Bluetooth connect to headphones. Once you have downloaded an audible book to go with a kindle version, you can’t delete the audible without also deleting the kindle (and then redownloading the latterif you want), at least as far as I have been able to figure out. It feels lighter than my old one (which may be a difference in cases — I ordered the water-resistant fabric one of from Amazon and my old one had a leather case). The front is completely flush — no bevel down to the screen, so it feels more like a paper book in that way. I find the unit to be very responsive except for menu items — then it is slow to recognize the tap and if I tap again I end up getting two or three menus appearing over one another when they do show up. Other than that, all the wonderful aspects of the old paperwhite + the new features.
I have only had it a week, obviously but love it so far. It is lighter and slightly smaller. It fits well in my hand and I love it and it is my 6th kindle so I have some experience with them.
I received this as a Birthday present from my husband.
This Kindle is lighter and thinner than the last generation, noticeably so. The flat edge to edge screen is an improvement in feel and makes it much easier to clean. It still has an excellent non-glare screen that I love for reading outdoors.
Mine is the 32G model, which is absolutely the best improvement for me, as my ebook library had outgrown my old Kindle's capacity, forcing me to remove parts of my library from it. It is a personal quirk, but I prefer to have my entire library available to me on my device.
I'm also very pleased by the addition of Audible capability, allowing me to combine my libraries into one device. Mine paired easily with my Yurbuds Bluetooth earbuds, allowing for comfortable listening.
As with my last Kindle, my reading experience is unbelievably enhanced. My eyesight is poor and reading small print triggers migraines. As I am able to choose a font and print size that works for me, the Kindle has meant that I can read as much as I like again.
The only fly in the ointment, and this does not change my love for this new generation Kindle, is that my wonderful, well made cover for last generation will not fit the new one, and the design and quality of the new covers just doesn't stand up to the old one.
0 comments:
Post a Comment