Kindle Paperwhite – Specs and Features
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, Amazon's new ereader was unveiled in Santa Monica today, together with a new basic, though advanced Kindle that only costs $69.
A lot of ereader enthusiasts have been waiting for Kindle Paperwhite because it has built-in light. In fact, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos joked on Thursday that people are going to love the light so much that they are going to leave it on all the time. Well, he has the right to be enthusiastic and proud.
The built-in light is not a mere backlight. The light actually shines onto the display from a layer above called Nanoimprinted Light Guide, thus creating a much more pleasent light for your eyes. Very clever. The light is adjustable from any page you are on.
Kindle Paperwhite comes in 4 different editions. Starting at $119 is a sponsored Kindle Paperwhite that has a “Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers” which isn't just a screensaver, but actually have the occasional special offer now and then. The Kindle Paperwhite without “Special Offers” costs only $20 more, at $139.
Then Amazon also launched a Kindle Paperwhite 3G edition that costs $179 with “Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers” or $199 without. The 3G model offers free global 3G cellular connection, so downloading new books, magazines, newspapers, or other media will always be very easy and accessible, without the need to worry about Wi-Fi coverage (though it has built-in Wi-Fi too). In addition, all Kindle Paperwhite's are 9.1 mm in thickness, so it's certainly thin.
Kindle Paperwhite Specs
– Resolution/Pixel Density: 212PPI. 62% more pixels and 25% more contrast than the old model.
– Screen: 6-inch with built-in light from Nanoimprinted Light Guide technology, and 16-level gray scale.
– Interface: 2-point Multi-Touch Anti-Glare Capacitive Touch Screen.
– Storage: 2GB, plus free cloud storage for all Amazon content.
– Battery Life: 8 weeks (with wireless turned off).
– Connectivity: Free 3G, Wi-Fi, and USB 2.0.
– Battery Life: 8 Weeks with the lights on.
– Weight: 7.5 ounces / 213 gram.
– Shipping and Release Date: October 1. Pre-orders start today.
– Price: $119/$139
Kindle Paperwhite Features
Apart from the obvious access to the enormous Amazon ecosystem of all kinds of media, the Kindle Paperwhite have been equipped with some new and unique features that stand out in particular.
X-Ray
With a tap on the Kindle, readers can see all passages across a book that mention ideas, fictional characters, historical figures, places or topics of interest to them. This is interesting, and it's an extra incentive for buying the next book as an ebook over a printed book, with this kind of added value. It also has a author bios.
Time to Read
The new Time to Read feature uses your reading speed to let you know when you'll finish your chapter by constantly calculating your speed and habits.
Whispersync for Voice
With this feature people can start reading a book on their Kindle, and seamlessly switch to listening to their corresponding Whispersync for Voice-enabled audiobook from Audible on their phone or tablet, picking up exactly where they left off. This could be very convenient during commuting in particular.
It also has a long range of other features, like Parental Control, Built-In Dictionary with Instant Lookup, Instant Translations, and more…
