The primary improve to Amazon’s hottest e-reader in three years, the brand new Kindle Paperwhite the least costly waterproof e-book reader available on the market. It helps audiobooks and it has a brand new flat-front design, making it superb for seaside studying. Studying or listening to a ebook on additionally it is merely calming, centering, and infrequently joyous. For the worth, that is the perfect Kindle but, and our Editors’ Alternative.
Worth and Design
The brand new Paperwhite is available in three fashions: the default 8GB unit for $129.99; a $159.99 32GB model for folks with loads of audiobooks; and a $249.99 cellular-enabled unit for individuals who simply cannot wait to obtain their subsequent learn. (The opposite two fashions use 2.4GHz Wi-Fi to obtain books.)
The reader measures 6.6 by four.6 by zero.three inches (HWD) and weighs 6.four ounces. It is noticeably lighter than the earlier Paperwhite (6.7 by four.6 by zero.four inches, 7.2 ounces), and it is just a bit bit smaller throughout, so it does not match into previous-generation instances. There is a vary of instances Amazon plans to promote, beginning with a $29 waterproof cloth cowl in black, blue, or yellow, and going as much as $39 and $59 leather-based covers.
It has a matte black again and a flat entrance with no seen buttons; it is totally operated by contact. (In order for you bodily web page flip buttons, improve to the $249 Kindle Oasis.) The facility button and micro USB port are on the underside, like all the time.
Battery life is similar as earlier than, and extremely depending on backlight utilization. Pump it as much as max, and you will get 250 pages or so out of it. Pull it all the way down to half, and there isn’t any drawback with 500 to 600 pages. Flip it off totally, and it may be weeks earlier than you must recharge.
The consumer interface is similar as on each Kindle—a mixture of your books and Amazon’s retailer interface. There are a couple of good new touches, although. Most notably, it can save you packages of settings (font, dimension, spacing) and instantly soar to saved settings utilizing a pop-down menu; that may assist in households the place completely different folks with completely different font preferences are utilizing the identical Kindle.
Kindle vs. Kobo
Within the US, e-readers are just about a two-horse race. The 2 horses was once Amazon and Barnes & Noble, however the Nook line took a dive on the observe. Now it is American thoroughbred Amazon and the Canadian stallion, Kobo.
Amazon owns Audible, the large audiobook firm, and Goodreads. Amazon’s audiobook expertise is, thus, significantly better than Kobo’s. The brand new Paperwhite will play Audible audiobooks by way of Bluetooth headphones (I attempted two units and had no points). If a ebook helps it, you may also flip forwards and backwards between the textbook and the audiobook, conserving them synced, even when you have been listening to the audiobook on one other gadget. Not all books assist this (most notably, it did not work with the brand new Beastie Boys Guide), nevertheless it’s very handy when it really works (because it did with Mur Lafferty’s Six Wakes.)
Left to proper: New Kindle Paperwhite, previous Kindle Paperwhite
The Paperwhite does not assist Immersion Studying, Amazon’s read-along operate the place narration performs whereas it skips throughout phrases on the web page. That is a pity, however solely a tiny one.
As for the Goodreads integration, belongings you learn on a Kindle can get auto-logged in your Goodreads profile, and you may see on the gadget what the folks you observe are studying. I do not look after this, as a result of I exploit e-readers to get away from social media. Nevertheless it’s a well-done interface when you prefer to be cheered on together with your studying.
Kobo owns Overdrive, the corporate that allows you to borrow e-books out of your native public library. Kobo’s public library expertise is a little bit higher than Amazon’s. To borrow a library ebook with a Kindle, it’s essential use the Overdrive web site together with your PC and choose the ebook utilizing a pop-down menu; the location will then wirelessly ship the ebook to you. Your library can simply seem because the native retailer on a Kobo.
The Kindle’s major draw back is the way it’s locked into Amazon’s retailer. Amazon’s retailer has the whole lot you will wish to learn; it is simply the precept of the factor. You may learn books bought from Amazon, books from Amazon’s Kindle Limitless or Prime Studying subscription libraries, or books out of your native public library borrowed by way of Overdrive. That is loads of books! However there is not a lot of a aggressive market for Kindle books. You may reformat different books into Kindle format utilizing Amazon’s free email-to-Kindle service or the free Calibre software program, however in my expertise, they often have bizarre formatting and spacing errors whenever you do. Kobo helps extra codecs, when you get your books from locations the place they use codecs like ePub and PDF.
Different minor quibbles: The backlight, whereas adjustable, does not change shade like the comfortable blue-to-yellow backlight on Kobo readers. And you need to be studying books which might be textual content, not photos, as a six-inch display screen is simply too small for comics or manga. (For manga, we recommend the $279 Kobo Forma; for Western comics, the $329 shade Apple iPad.)
Studying Expertise
This Kindle Paperwhite gives an almost superb studying expertise, and positively the perfect you will get at this value. Amazon has bells and whistles, in fact. There are loads of fonts. You should utilize the X-Ray characteristic to double-check on the backgrounds of characters talked about on a web page, you can also make highlights, and you may seek the advice of a dictionary.
I benefit from the backlight, which lets me learn whereas my daughter is falling asleep (although whereas adjustable, it does not change shade like the comfortable blue-to-yellow backlight on Kobo readers). I like the straightforward capacity to verify the desk of contents, make a bookmark, or pop again to a earlier web page as a result of I forgot what occurred to a personality.
And studying on the Paperwhite is simply plain pleasurable. After I use it, I do not open tabs. I do not reply to notifications or get caught in web rabbit holes, like I am doing in one other window proper now as I write this. I do not stress out, fairly often, about having a low battery, though I do stress out, a little bit, about whether or not I can afford the following ebook I wish to purchase. (Hooray for Overdrive.)
I simply learn. That is what a Kindle does. And the $130 Paperwhite brings a implausible studying expertise with nearly any characteristic you possibly can hope for to a value that most individuals can afford.
Which Kindle Is Proper for You?
Kindles have very lengthy substitute cycles, nevertheless it’s price a brand new one now. If you do not have a Paperwhite, or have a really previous one, the textual content on the 300ppi display screen is sharper and cleaner right here than the textual content on lower-resolution fashions. There’s nonetheless the bottom $79.99 Kindle on the market, however this one is far simpler on the eyes.
If you happen to do have a newer Paperwhite, the brand new flat entrance is one thing to contemplate right here. Older Paperwhites have a recessed display screen with a raised bezel round it. That is effective, till you go to the seaside. Except you retain your Kindle in a plastic bag, which lots of people do, it is easy to get unattractive grains of sand caught within the corners of that bezel. With the flat-front Kindle, sand simply rolls off.
So does water, the most important advance right here. Kobo has had a $179.99 waterproof e-reader for some time (the Aura H2O), however up till now, when you needed a water-proof Kindle, you needed to go for the Kindle Oasis. The Oasis is nice, nevertheless it’s $250. You may virtually purchase a Paperwhite for you and a pal at that value.
For $130, the Kindle Paperwhite gives extra in your cash than another e-book reader available on the market. It is an excellent possibility for almost everybody, and our Editors’ Alternative.