Kindle Paperwhite

[crunc]

I want to buy one of these things, but Amazon doesn't seem to have a clue when it come to press conferences, announcing new products, and then making them available for order right after on their web site. Darn.

[Haruhi]

Backlit screen with 2 months battery life does sound quite impressive. I have the regular Kindle from 2 years back, and it's still holding well.

[crunc]

It's up! I put in my order. I lost my $79 Kindle a while back and have been waiting for Amazon's answer to the glow light nook. And this one looks like a winner. Even has capacitive touch instead of that wonky stuff they were doing before. And 212 ppi! 8 weeks even with lighting on. Very sweet device. I can't wait to get mine… but not shipping until October 1st. Oh well.

Also it's front-lit not back-lit. So still easy on the eyes!

[TapitZac]

Originally Posted by crunc

It's up! I put in my order. I lost my $79 Kindle a while back and have been waiting for Amazon's answer to the glow light nook. And this one looks like a winner. Even has capacitive touch instead of that wonky stuff they were doing before. And 212 ppi! 8 weeks even with lighting on. Very sweet device. I can't wait to get mine… but not shipping until October 1st. Oh well.

Also it's front-lit not back-lit. So still easy on the eyes!

I really love reading but I'm one of those skeptics/nerds who really like the feeling of holding a book and being able to underline quotes...however i also like to share those quotes online and holding a book open and typing with the other hand can be tedious so im becoming more and more tempted to get one of these...
anyone wanna help me make up my mind? how much did this newer version cost? if you dont mind me asking?

[Haruhi]

Originally Posted by TapitZac

I really love reading but I'm one of those skeptics/nerds who really like the feeling of holding a book and being able to underline quotes...however i also like to share those quotes online and holding a book open and typing with the other hand can be tedious so im becoming more and more tempted to get one of these...
anyone wanna help me make up my mind? how much did this newer version cost? if you dont mind me asking?

The Paperwhite costs $119+, and the non-light models start from $69.

[crunc]

One complaint I had with the $79 Kindle (now $69) was that it was kind of dark (dark background). You pretty much needed a light all the time (except outdoors, of course), and the add-on lights light very unevenly. The Paperwhite completely resolves this by including an even, front-lit light, and one that you can run all the time and still get 8 weeks of power out of it. Pretty amazing. Not to mention that it's a capacitive touch screen and such. I'd recommend going with the Paperwhite, but I won't fault for trying the cheap one first.

[drelbs]

Got a Kindle Touch (free(!) thanks to FMA codes) a few months ago and love it.

You do need a decent amount of ambient light, though not much more than you need for a regular book (think paperback printed on off-white paper.)

I'd have to see one in action to see if I'd like a lit version or not - my wife kept asking me why I didn't get a Kindle Fire since it does so much more, and I kept telling her I wanted a true e-ink screen as it's so much easier on the eyes. I do most of my reading right before I go to sleep and don't want to be staring at a light at that time.

The loss of 2GB of local space is a bummer, but probably not a huge deal - loss of sound could be: I don't play MP3s on it, and am not a huge fan of audio books, but I've used the text-to-speech a couple of times, as has my daughter (who is 3 and can't read yet. )

What makes me curious is how the resolution increase will affect Kindle Active Content. Books will flow fine, but I can see apps with graphics not scaling well, or at all. There's already a bunch of things that don't run on the Touch, (like Castle Dungeon) and since the Touch is effectively gone... probably won't be ported now.

Special offers can now be turned off for 'only' $20, though to tell you the truth, I've been fine with them, I largely ignore them and they provide some variety (and I've gotten $8 worth of free Amazon MP3 credit through them so far...)

Somehow they managed to pack the light, capacitive touch screen and battery for the light in at the same weight as the Touch, which impresses me. Every extra ounce lighter helps, and I seriously considered the regular Kindle, but really hated typing words in via the cursor (and I play a lot of gamebooks, which are much nicer with the touch screen.)

OK, I'll stop rambling now, and leave you with this if you have a Kindle (or use the Kindle app somewhere) it's a great resource.

[crunc]

The light will be great. It's not a backlight, but front-lit. It's going to be like reading paper lit by a reading lamp. It's the main thing I want, but I also like the touchscreen. I didn't have audio on my cheap Kindle and I didn't miss it. All my audiobooks and such, what little I do of that, I'd much rather have on a small device like an iPhone.

[MidianGTX]

It seems decent enough for people without Kindles, but I'm not seeing any reason to upgrade. So the "paper" is a little bit lighter... most of my actual books are slightly dull anyway thanks to good ol' Father Time, which ironically makes the older Kindle's screen feel a little more appealing to me. The light issue I solved by having a light on, either in the room (the same way I read books) or via my Kindle case.

Still a neat bit of kit, just not a huge departure, which seems to be a running theme with the Kindle. Slow and steady refinements rather than launching out groundbreaking new features.

[starjimstar]

Dear Amazon,

I don't care. Just release a colour e-ink device, already.