When Barnes & Noble released the Nook with GlowLight earlier this year, we suspected that it was only a matter of time before Amazon answered with its own e-reader with a built-in light.
Today we saw that reader in the form of the Kindle Paperwhite. The e-reader has a backlit display, improved screen resolution and new hand-tuned fonts especially for the Kindle. Fonts are available in six different styles and eight different sizes, so you can read at just the right size for you.
The touch-only device you lose all the buttons with this one is light, easy to hold, and based on our first impressions, is an e-reader you're not going to ever want to put down.
You're Going To Love This Screen
During Amazon's presentation Thursday, CEO Jeff Bezos described the Kindle Paperwhite screen as one that you wouldn't ever want to turn off even when you were reading somewhere where you might not necessarily need a light and we have to agree.The built-in light illuminates the screen from the top down, so it feels like ambient light rather than a bright light shining back in your face.
In addition to the light, Amazon also improved the contract on the display by 25% and added 62% more pixels than the previous version the result is crisp, easy-to-read text on a screen that is essentially glare-free. If you're rocking a current-generation Kindle Touch you'll notice the difference right off the bat.
While you're definitely going to notice the light on the screen when you're reading in a dark room, the display light was exceptionally unobtrusive in the moderately-lit airplane hanger where we were able to check it out. Unlike traditional tablet lights that shine into your eyes causing eye strain over time, the Kindle Paperwhite felt like a white piece of paper rather than a lit up screen.
Final Countdown
One killer new feature of the Kindle Paperwhite is Time to Read. The feature pays attention to how fast you're reading a particular book, and then displays at the bottom of the screen how long you have left in the chapter and the book as a whole based on your reading speed.Reading time is displayed in small font on the bottom left of the screen. While certainly a simple feature, it's one that we can definitely see readers using again and again. Definitely useful for answering questions such as: "Should I stay up and finish a chapter, or save the book until the morning?" or "Do I have enough reading material for that 6-hour flight, or should I find a new book to download before take off?"
Speaking of reading time, Amazon claims you'll be able to get an impressive 8-weeks of battery life with the reader, even with the light on.
The Kindle Paperwhite is available now for pre-order from Amazon ($179 for the 3G version and $119 for the Wi-Fi only model), and is expected to ship on Oct. 1.
What do you think of the Kindle Paperwhite? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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