Kindle Paperwhite Review

The Kindle Paperwhite – Amazon’s fairly new offering in the e-book reader market – is very uniquely different from the previous generations of Kindle and other e-book readers. This is largely due to the presence of a touchscreen display and better, improved access to the large Amazon Store for books of all kinds. Without further ado, here is a review of the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite e-book reader.

Hardware

The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite has dimensions measuring 169 x 117 x 9.1 mm, which is nearly the same as the Kindle Touch. This is a comfortable size for an e-reader. Weighing only a mere 213 grams, it is just about the same weight as an average paperback book. Similar to the body design of the Kindle Touch, you can easily mistake the plastic on the body for metal, and this gives the Paperwhite an intriguing hint of elegance.

The device features a display having a 6-inch 2-point multi-touch screen with a 1024 x 768 resolution with a pixel density of 212 dpi. It also has a storage memory of 2 GB from which roughly 1.25 GB are available for storing e-books and the rest is required for the system.

Performance

The Kindle Paperwhite delivers great performance for things that it is meant to do. It is primarily a touch-enabled e-book reader and it excels at that very well. While reading a book, turning of pages is very swift. Responses to user actions come instantly and the overall experience of the e-reader is very smooth.

With the approximate 1.25 GB of storage capacity on the device, you can expect to store around, or maybe much more than 1,100 e-books at the very least. Also, when you purchase the Kindle Paperwhite you also get free cloud storage for additional books.

The large 1024 x 768 resolution and a pixel density of 212 dpi makes lettering considerably much more precise than on the Kindle Touch. This makes reading a breeze, giving you the same reading experience as an original paperback book, and this is quite nice to see in a handheld device display.

Software

The software for the Kindle Paperwhite has been specifically designed by Amazon to provide a fluid and smooth reading experience for the end-user. Navigation through the device is fast and easy, and the operating system software also has great provisions for surfing the internet via Amazon’s own web browser, while also going through the Amazon book store.

All the elements on the Home screen are clearly understandable – the screen consists of three sections with a bar for the search function, brightness, purchase basket and settings on top; your items (e-books, documents, periodicals…) directly below and best-sellers at the bottom. There are seven fonts and eight font sizes to choose from, and you can select the line spacing and margins, as per your preferences.

Verdict

Having seen its impressive hardware and software feature set, it is no surprise that the Kindle Paperwhite is probably the best e-book reader of the moment. Hosting an exceptional display screen for an ideal reading experience, large storage capacity and access to the Amazon Store as well as Amazon Cloud all in an affordable, the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite should be high on your list when shopping for an e-book reader.