Minor changes, major impact

With a single-use device like Amazon’s Kindle, the things that make a difference are the really tiny ones.

It would almost seem like nitpicking, but when you’re paying for a device that’s just for reading, you want to have it just right.

Luckily for the Paperwhite range, Kindle got the main things right – like the backlight and the touchscreen, so the upgrades on the new Paperwhite are minor ones that a new user will appreciate more if he or she has used the previous editions.

All the killer features are carried over from previous editions of the Kindle, like WhisperSync to access all your books stored on the Cloud, the Carta e-paper technology and the built-in front light. Changes are minor but make a big difference – like a new font, better character spacing and more.

Weighing 205 grams for a Wi-Fi-only and 217 grams for a Wi-Fi+3G version, they say the Kindle is easy to use with one hand, but that does depend a bit on whether you’re lounging around at home or standing up on the train to work.

The new Paperwhite has just one power button at the bottom. To turn pages, you’d have to tap anywhere the screen or swipe left or right to go back or forward, which is easier to do if you’re holding it with both hands. When you have a steaming mug of tea in one hand and the Kindle in the other, flipping pages gets a wee bit tricky, and that’s when you start to miss the page press feature on the Voyage that let you turn pages with the press of a single button.

The six-inch screen comes with inbuilt back-light and is glare-free - nothing new here, but why mess with something that doesn’t need fixing? The new Paperwhite promises to last an entire month on a full charge, if you read for just 30 minutes a day, but odds are that if you’re investing in an e-reader you’re going to be using it a lot more. We didn’t get a week’s time with the device but it lasted over five days with three bars of battery charge.

With the all new Paperwhite, Kindle has come closest to capturing the feel of reading from a real book, the ‘crispness’, if you will, of genuine paper seems to have been captured on the six-inch screen.

One issue that long-time users of the Kindle would have noticed is the greyish tinge of text on the e-ink screen, but it has been eliminated in the new Paperwhite thanks to the 300 ppi resolution – almost double the first Kindle, and same as the higher-end Voyage.

Better contrast has ensured better readability and the newly invented Bookerly font that it uses after its firmware upgrade to version 5.6.5 is definitely a plus. According to the company, Bookerly was designed specifically to allow users to “read faster and with less eyestrain”, but it wins mainly because of its resemblance to traditional print.

That said, it is hard to label this gadget as a ‘must-have’ or the ‘ultimate e-reader’ simply because each Kindle product comes with the same premise – millions of books on a slim device, with better readability than your average phone or tablet. The many tiny upgrades and changes, while substantially improving your reading experience, do not warrant an instant rush to upgrade. That’s probably why we’ll never see people queuing up outside stores for a Kindle, the way they might for an iPhone.

If you already own an earlier version of the Paperwhite, you may not feel the need to trade it in for a newer version. However, if you’re in the market for an e-reader this latest Paperwhite comes highly recommended. Oddly enough, this version has everything you’d need, making the more expensive Voyage almost redundant.

Funny how Amazon seems to be competing against itself, but the good news is that either way, it’s a win-win situation for them.

Love: New fonts, crisp, paper-like screen

Hate: No major changes

Price: ₹13,999

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