Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Review: The Best E-Book Reader?

[f-14]

i'm sticking to my books, the stewardess's don't tell me to turn them off before it causes a plane crash.

they will also be antiques soon as well as collectors items only driving up their value.

 

[bildo123]

I actually bought one from Staples to try it out (my first ever e-reader) and I was impressed in some ways and disappointed in others. The screen is very life like in regards to the "feel" of reading a book. It really is something nice to look at, very easy on the eyes. The problem that bothered me a lot was the unfixed lighting issue at the bottom of the unit. Mine had the expected three or four bright spots but there was another on the left side of the screen. It was distracting enough to return the unit and wait another 8-12 months to see what comes around the bend.

 

[Marcus52]

[citation][nom]sumludus[/nom]Wow. This entire aritcle is a gigantic advertizement for the Kindle Paperwhite. while I agree that it's the best e-reader on the market, I came to that conclusion after comparing it to the Nook and Kobo, not simply previous generations of the Kindle. Of course Amazon's latest incarnation of the device is the greatest; doing otherwise would not make good business sense. But to call ti the best without the mention of any other brand of e-reader anywhere in the article is worse then simple bad journalism; it's becoming an Amazon shill. Shame on Andrew Ku for his poor reporting, and shame on Tom's Hardware for publishing this disgraceful article.[/citation]

I agree about the slanted viewpoint of the media here.

Nothing has done more to convince me that there is something going on between media types in general and Amazon than reading reviews of the Kindle as though it were the only eReader in existence. It's not, and it never has been.

Where were the reviews that said the Nook devices were better when they pulled ahead? There were actually a few, but the bigger players just pretended the Nook didn't exist. They treat the Kobo even worse. And, where is the coverage of the price-fixing in the business that's been going on since eBooks were invented?

 

[Marcus52]

[citation][nom]ubercake[/nom]I'm all for the competition, but look it up. Barnes and Noble is basically with us still due to last year's cash investment of $300,000,000 by Microsoft (17% ownership in the Nook unit). As far as retail paper book stores, Barnes and Noble is going by way of those paper book stores we've seen precede it into the great beyond. Now that Microsoft has their own tablets, what value does the Nook provide them?I wish it were different, but I wouldn't put any money on a company that's still thoroughly invested in old ways of doing things (paper book stores). We saw Borders go away pretty quickly.Barnes and Noble is far from the thriving company you make it out to be.[/citation]

Well when you have the mainstream media stacked against you, that will effect your bottom line. If the Nook tablets had been talked about as often as the Kindle things might be very different. Also, price fixing is very much hurting B&N because you can get their card and have a 10% discount on their paper books, but they can't discount their eBooks because of the price fixing, so you end up paying more for an eBook. That's just wrong.

The fact is most people still prefer to read paper books. The next largest section is the dedicated eReader. All physical stores have been badly effected by etailers though.

 

[Orestis Glavas]

I've been waiting for an ebook reader review to surface, though it would be interesting to see some more, i.e. the Bookeen Cybook 2013 range

 

[sanilmahambre]

Battery is really not up to the mark!

 

[ubercake]

[citation][nom]ubercake[/nom]I'm all for the competition, but look it up. Barnes and Noble is basically with us still due to last year's cash investment of $300,000,000 by Microsoft (17% ownership in the Nook unit). As far as retail paper book stores, Barnes and Noble is going by way of those paper book stores we've seen precede it into the great beyond. Now that Microsoft has their own tablets, what value does the Nook provide them?I wish it were different, but I wouldn't put any money on a company that's still thoroughly invested in old ways of doing things (paper book stores). We saw Borders go away pretty quickly.Barnes and Noble is far from the thriving company you make it out to be.[/citation]

Well when you have the mainstream media stacked against you, that will effect your bottom line. If the Nook tablets had been talked about as often as the Kindle things might be very different. Also, price fixing is very much hurting B&N because you can get their card and have a 10% discount on their paper books, but they can't discount their eBooks because of the price fixing, so you end up paying more for an eBook. That's just wrong.

The fact is most people still prefer to read paper books. The next largest section is the dedicated eReader. All physical stores have been badly effected by etailers though.

It's all marketing. Barnes and Noble really felt no need to do much because they rested on their paper-book laurels for so long and forgot to adapt with changing trends and technology. I wouldn't say there's a conspiracy against the Nook. I'd just say Barnes and Noble was way too late to this new-fangled e-market.

With the exception of music notation, I won't touch another paper book. I've finally gotten used to using other types of reference manuals (mainly technical) in electronic format.

It's funny that you mention price fixing. When I got my first Kindle, after owning it a few months, I remember buying my first e-book the week after Apple entered the e-book market. I actually called Amazon and asked if there were some kind of mistake because I realized the e-book I just bought was more expensive than the paperback edition. Previously, all e-books were rightfully priced lower than their printed counterparts. I can't believe its been allowed to go on this long.

The publishing companies are institutions, though, and those who have interests in them (some are politicians) and the old ways of doing things are reluctant to see their increasing lack of necessity. This has become increasingly apparent in the music industry as well, since there are many avenues for self-promotion and publishing of one's own music. You no longer need these middle entities such as publishing companies to get the word out. They are no longer a filter between authors and readers. They no longer decide what it is readers will have access to. Authors can now publish direct to readers (albeit through a sales web site such as Amazon). I think the book publishing companies are doing every last thing they can to maintain their grip on the industry as their necessity continues to wane. Price fixing is a final cash grab for these guys. Apple knew this and has capitalized on it.

Additionally, from a collector's standpoint, books are mass produced. There is very little value even in hard cover editions these days. It's not like the lack of availability will keep prices high as in the days when printing presses were first created or books were actually penned. Books are entirely available to everyone everywhere. Even classics are free through Amazon, so the stories are available to anyone that wants to read them.

Finally, all retailers no matter what the product have been badly effected by eTailers. Those that adapt to the changing times in a timely fashion will continue to thrive; those that don't, won't.

 

[tproveau]

If my math is right the difference in pricing is $70 for the K keyboard and $50 for the K Paperwhite.

 

[80sdweeb]

I spend a great deal of time on a laptop, (I'm on it approximately 15 hours a day.) I've read a few ebooks on the laptop, but the web and email and movies and tv shows and everything else I can do on the laptop very reliably pull me away from my reading, making my life a little too "short-attention-span" oriented. This problem would translate perfectly onto a tablet. In much the same way that some people go to a cabin in the woods to "get away from it all", I want some of my reading to be without interruptions and distractions. My Kindle keyboard turned out to be excellent for that. The only negative was readability in low light, which sometimes caused me to stay on the laptop rather than find a place with good lighting to do some reading. The Paperwhite seems to have solved the problem, and I have already bought one for my wife, and replacing my keyboard model will come next. I may still get a tablet that "does everything", for reading PDFs, magazines, etc, (though I have an iPad that I never use, so maybe not) but for me nothing replaces a "books only" e-reader like the Paperwhite. Arguments that "I can read an ebook on my tablet just fine" can, for most people, be answered with, "you can, but you don't." I have seen this in my self-described "bookworm" daughter, who has a Nook tablet, and she read quite a few books on it, until she got Netflix. Now it's a way to watch television and movies, and seldom is there time for a book.

 

[ubercake]

I spend a great deal of time on a laptop, (I'm on it approximately 15 hours a day.) I've read a few ebooks on the laptop, but the web and email and movies and tv shows and everything else I can do on the laptop very reliably pull me away from my reading, making my life a little too "short-attention-span" oriented. This problem would translate perfectly onto a tablet. In much the same way that some people go to a cabin in the woods to "get away from it all", I want some of my reading to be without interruptions and distractions. My Kindle keyboard turned out to be excellent for that. The only negative was readability in low light, which sometimes caused me to stay on the laptop rather than find a place with good lighting to do some reading. The Paperwhite seems to have solved the problem, and I have already bought one for my wife, and replacing my keyboard model will come next. I may still get a tablet that "does everything", for reading PDFs, magazines, etc, (though I have an iPad that I never use, so maybe not) but for me nothing replaces a "books only" e-reader like the Paperwhite. Arguments that "I can read an ebook on my tablet just fine" can, for most people, be answered with, "you can, but you don't." I have seen this in my self-described "bookworm" daughter, who has a Nook tablet, and she read quite a few books on it, until she got Netflix. Now it's a way to watch television and movies, and seldom is there time for a book.

This is the exact same reason why I like the reader separate from everything else; less distractions.

 

[Achoo22]

[citation][nom]slomo4sho[/nom]I am still waiting for a Kindle with SD or mSD expandability.[/citation]

Why? If you read 100 pages an hour or less, even the worst e-book readers on the market have enough memory to allow you to read for months per loadout. Besides, I suspect that only a very small fraction of Kindle owners have ever run into a situation where their device couldn't store their entire collection - remember, text compresses extremely well, and most e-book formats employ compression.

 

[Achoo22]

I would love to upgrade my older Kindle to one of these, but I despise touchscreens.

 

[ubercake]

[citation][nom]slomo4sho[/nom]I am still waiting for a Kindle with SD or mSD expandability.[/citation]

Why? If you read 100 pages an hour or less, even the worst e-book readers on the market have enough memory to allow you to read for months per loadout. Besides, I suspect that only a very small fraction of Kindle owners have ever run into a situation where their device couldn't store their entire collection - remember, text compresses extremely well, and most e-book formats employ compression.

While I keep most of my reference books on the Kindle, most of my other books just reside in my "the cloud" at Amazon when I'm done with them or have yet to read them. I can retrieve them any time. I don't really see much of a use for additional memory.

 

[Franvu]

"Interestingly, Amazon's Kindle Paperwhite lets you set the contrast on a five-point scale."
Where can you set the contrast? I have a kindle for 1 month and I don't know where is this feature...
Cheers.

 

[Adrift]

[citation][nom]sumludus[/nom]Wow. This entire aritcle is a gigantic advertizement for the Kindle Paperwhite. while I agree that it's the best e-reader on the market, I came to that conclusion after comparing it to the Nook and Kobo, not simply previous generations of the Kindle. Of course Amazon's latest incarnation of the device is the greatest; doing otherwise would not make good business sense. But to call ti the best without the mention of any other brand of e-reader anywhere in the article is worse then simple bad journalism; it's becoming an Amazon shill. Shame on Andrew Ku for his poor reporting, and shame on Tom's Hardware for publishing this disgraceful article.[/citation]

I agree. Why wasn't it compared to other lit e-ink e-readers like the Nook Glowlight and the Kobo Glo? Unlike the Kindle Paperwhite the Nook and the Kobo have an external mircoSD slot. Some people like that the nook glowlight still retains buttons for page turns even though it's touch. They both (Nook and Kobo) also support epub and I think Kobo Glo supports the most formats out of all of them. It may be the best e-reader you've sern because you haven't seen any other. I really believe you need to compare e-ink e-readers with other e-ink e-readers outside of Amazon's line... not just other tablets. It's not really about market penetration for me, it's about comparing and finding the best e-ink reader which is what I expected from this article.

I could forgive not mentioning the sony readers since they haven't come out with a lit screen option yet, however they do have an interesting library connectivity and book organization system which I wouldn't be quick to dismiss.

 

[alextheblue]

[citation][nom]Achoo22[/nom]Why? If you read 100 pages an hour or less, even the worst e-book readers on the market have enough memory to allow you to read for months per loadout. Besides, I suspect that only a very small fraction of Kindle owners have ever run into a situation where their device couldn't store their entire collection - remember, text compresses extremely well, and most e-book formats employ compression.[/citation]Not to mention everything you buy is backed up on Amazon's cloud. So you can take a tremendous pile of e-books with you everywhere, but should you run out of room, you can delete books to make room, and they're still on the cloud waiting for you to redownload them should the want arise. An eReader is the only device where I tolerate the lack of expandable storage.

 

[chazbli]

Am I missing something? Why on earth is the Kindle Paperwhite only being reviewed now given that it has been available in the US for going on 6 months? What's up with this Tom's?

 

[ubercake]

Now if they would only create a Kindle Paperwhite Color it would be much better for publication subscribers as well.

 

[Wendigo]

For me, an eReader that can't read the epub format certainly couldn't be called "the best". It's about the same as a music player that couldn't read mp3...

 

[fpink3]

I am always surprised that e-reader reviews on PC-centric sites (like this one) want to batch LCD-backlit tablet devices and e-ink readers. If you want to read BOOKS, not web articles, e-ink is the only way to go. The readers are light and a pleasure to hold, plus the battery lasts so long you sometimes forget you have to charge it. I have used Nooks until recently and now use a Kindle paperwhite. The Paperwhite isn't as significant an improvement over the Nook Simpletouch I hoped for, but it is superior.
For overall ease of use and access to books, the Paperwhite is the best choice for most people. But I do miss the real left side and right side page turn buttons found on the SimpleTouch.

 

[stillblue]

[citation][nom]slomo4sho[/nom]I am still waiting for a Kindle with SD or mSD expandability.[/citation]

The reason you will keep waiting is that when the Kindle is turned it does an index of all the books on it and that uses a lot of battery. That 8 week life would drop to 1 if you put 8GBs of books on it! I learned that with 700 books alone on my Kindle the battery time was cut in half compared to 200. The only reason to have an expandable sd slot is if it played music, videos or you have a lot of photos. If that is your desire then get the Fire which is made for those very uses.

 

[utomo]

we need color ebook reader. to read magazine and other color information. black and white is not enough. color eink screen are available now and good enough for ebook reader

 

[John Pombrio]

BUY THE KINDLE PAPERWHITE e-book reader, the only one I unreservedly recommend.
I am just finishing up reading my 14th book in a SciFi series on the Kindle paperwhite. I have charged it twice. I am reading 7-8 hours a day without any eye fatigue (except for reading so damn much).
I have had 5 e-book readers now, starting with the SONY reader. This is the FINAL reader, the one I like way more than any other. This is the one that use exclusively now. It is far and away the best.

 

[miacane86]

I don't think it's a problem at all, considering the fact that the Kindle has already been voted the "best ereader". There's no need to go back and compare to ones that have already lost to the best. Compare to the best, and nothing more. That would be like having to compare every new iPad to the crap tablets they sell on Woot. You compare it to the latest Nexus and Galaxy.

 

[NotLoco]

[citation][nom]sumludus[/nom]Wow. This entire aritcle is a gigantic advertizement for the Kindle Paperwhite. while I agree that it's the best e-reader on the market, I came to that conclusion after comparing it to the Nook and Kobo, not simply previous generations of the Kindle. Of course Amazon's latest incarnation of the device is the greatest; doing otherwise would not make good business sense. But to call ti the best without the mention of any other brand of e-reader anywhere in the article is worse then simple bad journalism; it's becoming an Amazon shill. Shame on Andrew Ku for his poor reporting, and shame on Tom's Hardware for publishing this disgraceful article.[/citation]

Shame and disgrace? Let us all take a moment to download and read the story of Hester Prynne in before we go too far with our criticism.