First off, I would like to thank my Daddy for getting me a new Kindle Paperwhite! Could not have been better timing, with the start of summer and finding out my Kindle was broken due to unknown reasons, I told my dad about my broken e-reader who, in turn, told me he was actually thinking about getting me a new Kindle! Twenty two hours after purchase, the Kindle was in my hands and I did not waste any time putting books on it and reading my first true novel of the summer. (Since the end of finals, I've read The Comic Book History of Comics and several other Ender's Game short stories, including the original Ender's Game short story.) I chose Ender in Exile and was not disappointed in either the new Kindle or the book! So in just over one day of ownership, I've decided that this is the best e-book reader I've ever used. Thanks again, Daddy!
The other e-readers I've used were the Kindle Keyboard with Wi-Fi, my iPod Touch 4th gen, an older Sony e-reader, a Nook, an Asus netbook, my Photon Q cellphone (now with Jellybean!), and my Asus Transformer tablet. I feel like I'm kinda knowledgeable about books and novels and stories and such things that are used to read them, so I wanted to share my opinion since I'm super excited about this one. The Paperwhite was by far my favorite way to read a book because of all the features it had, as well as the way it was designed to be extremely helpful and make reading easy! I do have a few things that detract from its awesomeness, but as long as I can read books that I've already had on my computer and take notes on them, then I can accept them!
The first thing I love about this reader is the screen since it is now a touch screen and is back lit. Fear not complainers-of-screen-fatigue, the Paperwhite's screen is very natural on the eyes just like the past Kindles and does not make you feel like you've been staring at a computer screen all day. It's got some crazy nanotechnology with its fiber optic display and energy-saving LEDs (as advertised on their site) so it is easy to read and the battery still lasts for eight weeks. I have obviously not been able to test this advertised time, but I don't doubt it's length of life since I read several hours straight yesterday and today and the indicator for battery life has barely moved. The touch screen is also very nice because now the only button it has is the power/sleep button and I've just always loved touch screen capabilities. I'm thinking that's mostly because it feels super sci-fi-y to me, but hey, that's a positive thing. It also makes turning pages really easy because most of the screen (while reading) is designated to turn the page, while a small part is for turning back a page and the top of the screen brings up the menu. Good design for sure!
I also liked the interface that I was presented with because the tutorial it runs you through is quick and easy and gives you everything you need to know so nothing is a mystery and it's easy to find anything you need. There is even an option to turn off some of the advertising that takes up like a third of the page when you first turn it on. Beware though, it does not turn off ALL the advertising, just that bit. I honestly didn't care about the advertising, though, so it was just a cool little thing I found in the settings. The Paperwhite also makes creating collections of books and searching for books very easy and I was surprised at how much I liked the onscreen keyboard despite the fact that it doesn't have swype. It suits my purposes, so it's not really a positive or negative aspect.
One of my favorite features is the new Time to Read which estimates how long it will take you to read the chapter you're in as well as how long to finish the book. It's an awesome way to view progression because I find myself trying to beat the time it says I'll take. It is useful though, because I was looking to see how much longer I'd be reading a chapter so I could pause and do something else. I know I can just put the book down, but I hate interrupting a scene! But it's way better than the strange Location progression that showed I had over five thousand locations in Ender in Exile! Time is a good measure of book reading and it also helps me read faster, so thumbs up on that update.
The other features I like include the highlighting, annotating, and sharing capabilities that are available when reading the actual book. It was really easy to simply select a word to look up in the dictionary, or select whole sentences for highlighting, writing a note on, or even sharing on Facebook or Twitter. With just a second-long finger touch, it is easy to select words and then drag it over longer passages. It's even pretty easy to highlight lines that extend over multiple pages, and this made me very happy. I love being able to highlight and make notes over anything I highlight! Annotating books is actually something I really enjoy and I'll have to try to help my future students learn how to have fun with it. Anyway, I haven't used the sharing feature yet, but I will once I find a line that really resonates with me. It's awesome to be able to easily share parts from books that you're reading with others! I also read somewhere that when reading you can see passages that have been highlighted by other readers, but I think that's only through Amazon-bought books. At least Amazon does have good features for books bought through them. An easy step to help making money in a pirating world! But that's a topic that could easily be a post in itself.
As far as what I don't like about it, the only things I really have to complain about come from the Kindle app I have on my phone, tablet, and desktop. It sucks that I unable to sync books that are in the app on my desktop to my other devices, but I can at least physically put them on my Kindle. Also, books bought through Amazon have more features on the Kindle, such as the X-ray view that allows you to see the "bare bones" of the book and read about specific characters and such. Cool feature, but I haven't gotten to test out a book that has it. I guess I could also complain that the casing on it gets smudge marks pretty easily, but they also rub off relatively easily and it's a aesthetic thing that doesn't bother me much. Oh, and I guess I could say that it doesn't come with an AC adapter when you buy it, but the USB cord is pretty long and could be hooked up to desktops as a charger since it doesn't need to be charged very often.
So overall,I say it's a great buy for someone who likes to read! I have a good number of books I would like to read this summer, and this will certainly help me organize and read at least a good number of them. I have about seventy five books on it already, but I don't know how many I'll actually get to read. All I know right now is that if anyone asks me what e-reader they should get or buy for someone else, the Kindle Paperwhite is definitely my answer! I'm already wishing I could get them in my classroom so students can read books and easily take notes while their at it. It has 4.3 out of 5 stars on Amazon, and I'm definitely giving it a 5, at least compared to the other readers I've tried. :)
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