In a similar vein, some might prefer physical page turn buttons, but those folks are out of luck here. I've never had that problem, though, so the presence of a lint trap here is a small grumble. That said, I can see that some might find that a flush screen means it's also easier to accidentally rest your thumb on the display, causing unwanted page turns. A small detail, but one that prevents lint, dust and small hairs getting trapped in the lip where the screen meets the bezel. One of the more underrated aspects of the latest Paperwhite screen is how it sits flush with the bezels. There are two things about the display here that I'm less thrilled about. Spot the difference?Īs for that contrast, I almost think the cheaper Kindle goes toe to toe with the Paperwhite, though I always found the "white" in Paper white to be more like "Paper-a bit less gray." I keep checking the two next to each other on the same page of the same book, and while there is a difference, it's not significant in my opinion. And given that reading is mostly just text, this lower resolution might not bother you much, if at all.
But once you open a book to a full page of text (i.e., when you're actually reading), the difference in sharpness is less obvious.
Other tells include when you download something, and the spinning circle in the corner pops up it's much "smoother" on the Paperwhite. The small images of book covers show less detail on the new budget model than the Paperwhite. When I compared the home screens of a current Paperwhite to the All-New Kindle, the difference in quality is visible. Of course, the pixel density is lower (the current Paperwhite offers 300ppi), but depending on what you like to read (or rather, how graphical it is), I don't know how much that will matter. The E-ink panel used is similar to that in earlier Paperwhites (E-Ink Carta 1.2 for those asking). The screen density remains the same as the previous model at 167ppi, but the contrast is much better than on older models. Also, I find the proportion of the bezels around the display less attractive on the Paperwhite, but that's entirely subjective. The size difference is more noticeable when you place it beside the Paperwhite. Despite the sleeker footprint, it gains a little weight - an additional 13g, or just under half an ounce. (No "Amazon" text, but the trademark smile/arrow remains.) The device is also slightly smaller than the model it replaces, by about 2mm (barely 1/8th of an inch) in both depth and width. Amazon gave the latest Kindle a modest redesign, even if that's mostly a matter of smoother edges and a different logo embossed on the back. Of course, that's not all that's new here. Since then, those LEDs have likely been the main reason to make the leap from the budget model to the Paperwhite. In fact, for about five years after the first one, all Kindle owners were consigned to squinting when the lights went down - that is until the Paperwhite arrived in 2012 with its four LEDs in tow. There was a time when even the premium Kindle meant reaching for the reading light (much as I loved my Kindle Keyboard, I also like reading at night).
Both have a front light, Bluetooth support for Audible and text-to-speech, and the same Kindle software for things like synchronization across ereaders and ereader apps, along with an integrated dictionary and Wikipedia.The big news here is clearly that illuminated display. That was refreshed last year, and is priced from $129.99. With the new Kindle gaining screen illumination, you might be wondering where that leaves the more expensive Kindle Paperwhite. Instead you need to pair to a set of Bluetooth headphones or a separate Bluetooth speaker. There’s no onboard speaker nor, indeed, a 3.5mm headphone jack. The new Kindle has VoiceView screen reader, with text-to-speech and spoken navigation instructions, as well as support for Audible audiobooks. That’s assuming you don’t make use of the Bluetooth audio support, mind. Honestly, for most people, and with a mixture of browsing the Kindle store over WiFi and regular reading, I suspect you’ll get through a couple of weeks before you need to find the charging cable. It also assumes 30 minutes of reading per day. That four weeks assumes that the WiFi is off, and that the front light is set to 13 – roughly half brightness.