Introducing the New, New, Paperwhite
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Form and Styling
The form factor of the new Paperwhite is identical to the old Paperwhite (although through the magic of engineering it did slim down from 213 grams to 206 grams). Unlike iPad iterations where each new version needs to shave a millimeter or two off, the Paperwhite stayed exactly the same size in every dimension: a case that fits Paperwhite 2012 fits Paperwhite 2013.
The only physically observable differences between the two units are the emblems and branding. The silver Kindle logo on the front bezel of the reader has a fatter and more closely spaced font; the difference is so negligible, however, that without having two units side by side, you’d never even notice the difference.
The obvious physical difference is found on the back. If you use a case for your Kindle as many users do, this change doesn’t matter a bit to you. More than a few new Paperwhite purchasers, presumably those who read a naked Kindle, have complained about the change to the back though:
The New Screen: Whiter, Brighter, Smoother Lighting
Enough about the form factor. Let’s talk about the thing that matters most in an ebook reader: the screen. The early Kindles had a non-backlit e-ink screen that was a very light grey with black text.
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Other elements of the improved display were difficult to isolate or, if they could be isolated, were difficult to photograph. When we compared illustrations in books to see if the new contrast ratio and screen resolution made a huge difference, it was very difficult to tell one display from the other, as both provided satisfactory crispness and clarity. One element that was definitely an improvement in the new Paperwhite, but a difficult one to photograph, was a significant decrease in ghosting. The e-ink in the new Paperwhite refreshes much cleaner than that of the old Paperwhite and ghosted lines, illustrations, and such, are virtually nonexistent.
It proved particularly difficult to photograph the uneven lighting of the original Paperwhite, as what was obvious while holding it in your hands wasn’t as obvious in-camera. The following photograph is of the two Kindles side by side, the 2013 version on the left and the 2012 on the right. The contrast has been adjusted very slightly in the photograph to recreate how the color cast, and uneven lighting appears on the older model:
Anyone that has an old Paperwhite with the lighting problem will recognize the spotlights-at-the-bottom pattern immediately. It wasn’t awful, but once you noticed it you couldn’t stop noticing it in the future. The new Paperwhite completely fixes the uneven lighting and at any brightness the backlighting is perfectly white and smooth. Of all the features we compared in the two models, this was, by far, the most welcome improvement.
The final display change was an increase in touchscreen sensitivity. We have a feeling this change is going to be a mixed bag for many Kindle fans. One the one hand, the screen is even more responsive and responds more accurately to touch. On the other hand, the screen is even more responsive. Some users will be pleased with the new sensitivity, some will likely be upset that the touchscreen responds to even lighter touches than before.
Under the Hood: Faster Processor and Improved Software
The new Paperwhite might have lost a few grams during the update, but the processor inside is a heavyweight compared to the previous generation: the new 1Ghz processor is 25% faster than the old one and promises improved page turning and rendering. Does it deliver on that front? We opened up books big and small, image heavy and imageless, and we flipped them back and forward, open and closed, jumped to and fro in the table of contents, and otherwise manipulated the text with an eye on rendering speed; after all that poking around, we can certainly confirm things are faster.
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Where the under-the-hood changes really shine through, however, is the improved GUI. It’s subtle, to be sure, but there are many elements that make using the Kindle even more enjoyable. One welcome area of improvement is the bookmarking system which accompanies a brand new feature, Page Flip.
You can now bookmark anywhere in a document and, with one click, pull up your bookmarks and even reference them as thumbnails. Tap the upper portion of the screen to bring up the menu, tap the new bookmark icon, and you can bookmark anything in your book. The photograph above shows where we’ve bookmarked two locations in the book and are previewing the prior location (text, illustrations, and all) with a simple tap.
Close behind the improved bookmarking is the improved word lookup and Wikipedia integration:
It isn’t that prior versions didn’t have a dictionary and Wikipedia lookup, it’s just that now the response time is snappier and accessing Wikipedia is right there at the forefront. It’s perfect for those times that you’re not looking up a word as much as a concept or cultural artifact and really need more than the dictionary can offer.
In addition to the improved bookmark function, there’s a fantastic new feature called Page Flip. When you pull up the GUI menu while reading a book, you can now tap on the bottom of the reading pane and scrub forwards and backwards through the book with a nearly full page preview of the page you’re scrubbing to. After referencing whatever it is you want to reference, you can close the Page Flip preview and resume reading right where you left off.
The combination of bookmark previews and Page Flip scrubbing previews are as close to sticky-noting or keeping your finger stuffed in a previous section of the book as you’re going to come while using an ebook reader. It’s a really welcome improvement, and if you’re the kind of reader that enjoys jumping back to reference previous chapters, diagrams, or other material, it’s worth the price of admission all by itself.
What’s Promised but not Quite Delivered Yet
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We know we can’t have everything we want the moment we want it, but all of these features have been a long time coming and we’d like them as soon as possible.
The Good, The Bad, and the Verdict
We’ve had a chance to play with the new Kindle Paperwhite extensively, we’ve put it in the hands of picky literati friends and Kindle veterans, and we’ve switched back and forth between our old Paperwhite and new until it became a blur. After all that poking, prodding, and reading, we’re ready to report.
The Good:
The Bad:
The Verdict: The reality is, the good list radically outweighs the bad list; in fact The Bad listed above is really just a combination of things we wish the Kindle did now and devoid of criticism about what it’s actually doing right now. The Kindle Paperwhite was the best ebook reader when it came out last year and the new Kindle Paperwhite is a polished reiteration of all the things that worked the first time around with a healthy serving of upgrades hidden within.
So where does that leave you as a consumer? If you have a 2012 Kindle Paperwhite, it’s tough to justify an upgrade. We love the new Paperwhite, but if you just bought one for $139 six months ago, there’s really no urgent reason to buy a brand new one (if you can sell your old one on Craiglist for $100, however, then we’d have something to talk about). If you’re still using and older model Kindle like the Touch or Keyboard (or one even older than that) the upgrade path is clear: the new Paperwhite is a fantastic ebook reader and the crisp, even backlighting and silky GUI alone are worth the upgrade cost from a pre-Paperwhite reader.
