The Kindle Paperwhite is a beautiful piece of te...chnology. A plethora of books in a slab the size of a generous chocolate bar from a favourite auntie!! The Kindle will take avid readers and turn them into satiated book monsters, and convert those like me who aren't fully into reading and make them delighted to turn the next page. Simply, the Kindle is easy to use and navigate and is designed to be easy to use and understands, while providing just enough features to have an edge. My mother, a technophobe, loves hers. The integrated light is genius and works a treat. I would hesitate to go back to an older kindle just because this feature is so good. The drawbacks are simply some user interface issues and older-kindle-generation lack of features. The on screen keyboard is a little slow, as is the search feature. Book ordering, IE viewing your library or bookshelf is convoluted. Worldwide 3G was class on the Kindle Keyboard and would be excellent on this device, however I understand its limits if every model had it! In summary; if you can find a cheap used device in good condition you'll be smitten with your purchase. And if you get one full price, you'll not regret your purchase either.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
You might not be into ...gadgets, tablets, phablets or any of that nonsense but this device is different. It's portable, robust, extremely light, very long battery life, a screen that looks like paper, a travel essential, a way to read books for free forever (or pay if you want). Get this: I download PDFs to the Kindle and read for free. Perfect. Compare it to the Kindle Fire or Apple iPad. These devices are heavy. The Paperwhite is light. The Fire & iPad are bright screens to give you a headache and stop you sleeping. The Paperwhite is as bright as a page a book. For me that makes the Kindle Fire a flop. And the iPad an expensive indulgence. Just make sure you acquire a case to protect the screen and you will be using this same device in 20 years time. It is futureproof!
Verified purchase: Yes
I've had the ori...ginal Kindle and then the touch, and I must say I prefer this paperwhite. Although the battery life suffers from the lighted option, you don't have to use that unless you're in a low light situation. I like the software version on this one which is much more sophisticated than previous models, giving wikepedia options, and handling footnotes in a much more intuitive way for example. There's also an option that will show meanings of trickier words which you can use, or not, and could be very handy for newer readers, or those for whom English is not a first language. You can adjust the sensitivity of it if you do decide to use it. It's small and lightweight and I must say that I haven't lost my place as often as I did with the touch, which was continually taking me back to the beginning, or some arbitrary place from which it was really difficult to find your place again. That never happened with the original of course - it was the touch sensitivity that caused the problem. For some reason I haven't had that problem with the paper white. The worst that happens is that I fall asleep and when I wake up the type is larger and the page may have moved on one or two pages, but certainly - so far - I haven't been totally lost and unable to find my place. I do find that I seem to make notes more than I would like, and quite inadvertently, but it's very easy to delete them again. I do have some bright light points on the screen, and I understand that this is fairly common. It's only a problem with the lighting option on, otherwise one can't see it, and to be honest it's not much of a problem with the light switched on. The light is a very handy option when reading in bed if you don't want to put the bedside light on for whatever reason, which is when I use it. I find that if you wake up in the middle of the night you can read yourself to sleep again without waking up oneself too much or waking your partner by putting on a light. All in all I'm very happy with mine and certainly prefer it to the touch.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Really love this kindle. Light, easy to use and read. Id...eal for taking away to read on holiday and also ideal to read at home. Good in sunlight which had been a problem with my other kindles. Bought this 2nd hand and hope I don't regret buying brand new one...It seems to be a reliable kindle so hope I'll have no problems.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Befor...e buying the Paperwhite I owned a Sony ereader and loved it, liking the functions and being able to buy books from sellers other than Amazon. I like reading in bed and had a little light over my Sony ereader so as not to disturb the other half. It did work well but I forgot to take the light on holiday with us. Very frustrating. I took my ipad, great for games etc. but I prefer the compact ereader for reading. After forgetting the light and talking to my sister, who has a Kindle, I decided to do some research into a ereader with a built in light. After reviewing the opposition I opted for a Paperwhite. I believe the Kobo Glow is better for newspapers and other publications but that is not my priority and so opted for the Paperwhite which has a higher definition and a better distribution of light across the screen and is better for books than it's competitors. I swallowed my pride about the buying of books from only Amazon and risked having adverts displayed on the Paperwhite I chose to buy. I know some Paperwhites come with adverts and you have to pay Amazon to get rid of them. I was pleased that mine came without adverts.The brightness of the device can be altered and I have been reading in bright sunlight and also in the darkness of the bedroom. I have not noticed any shading on mine and it just works. The size of the font and the orientation can be changed, I like landscape. I miss the buttons on my Sony for changing pages but a tap on the screen changes the page quickly. The dictionary works well for checking obsure words. I have not explored storing books on the cloud yet or buying books via 3g. (My Sony had a storage card.) P.S There is software out there which converts books bought from other sources to that used by Kindle
