GigaOM » Kindle Paperwhite

Kindle Paperwhite sold out until November

Laura Hazard Owen — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 17:27:15 +0000

Amazon’s new front-lit e-reader, the Kindle Paperwhite (our review here), only started shipping on Monday to those who’d pre-ordered it, but it’s already sold out. If you order a Kindle Paperwhite today, it won’t ship for four to six weeks.

The delay appears to apply to both Wi-Fi and 3G models of the Kindle Paperwhite, and to models both with ads and without. I’ve asked Amazon for a statement and will update this post if I hear back.

A four- to six-week delay has the Kindle Paperwhite shipping in November. That should get the e-readers into shoppers’ hands by the holidays, though it’s possible that there could be further delays (or, of course, that the devices could ship sooner). Some chains like Best Buy and OfficeMax will sell the Paperwhite in stores, but the devices don’t appear to be in stock yet there.

The not-always-reliable Digitimes reported possible shipping delays last week due to shortages of “raw materials and production labor.”

via Me and My Kindle

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Kindle Paperwhite is a big step forward for eReaders (Review & video)

Laura Hazard Owen — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 01:00:43 +0000

When Barnes & Noble announced the front-lit Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight in April, the company stressed the e-reader’s usefulness for reading in bed while your partner sleeps beside you — which seemed like a niche use. At the launch of the front-lit Kindle Paperwhite, though, Jeff Bezos said Amazon “figured out early” that most people will want to leave the Paperwhite’s light on all the time. In other words, the light’s not just a gimmick, it’s an upgrade.

After a week of testing the Kindle Paperwhite, I agree with Amazon: I found myself turning on the light regularly, at various levels of brightness, not just at night. It just makes the Kindle that much more usable and convenient: On a dim subway or in a badly lit room, you can read comfortably.

I found the Paperwhite — which starts at $119 for the ad-supported, WiFi version and will ship toward the end of October if you order it today – to be a huge improvement over my Kindle Touch. Here’s my video review:

Watch this video for free on GigaOM

Here are a few more details on things that I liked and didn’t like:

Likes

The Paperwhite feels great right out of the box. It’s smoother and easier to grip than the Touch. The screen feels better, too — it has a pleasantly grainy (for lack of a better word) feel as you swipe your finger down it.
It’s faster. The touchscreen is quicker and more responsive (see my video for an example of this). On the Touch, I sometimes tap twice because the screen is slow to register that I’ve touched it. The Paperwhite still doesn’t offer iPad-like quickness, but its response time is a big improvement over the Touch
The screen has a higher resolution and better contrast (even with the light off), which makes type easier to read. There are new fonts and, because of the higher resolution, you can read comfortably at a lower type size on the Paperwhite than on the Touch.
The Paperwhite’s upgraded software is great. Watch the video for a few examples of how it differs from the older software on the Kindle Touch, but I like that “cloud” has replaced the confusing “archived items” and that books are displayed by their covers rather than in a list of text. I asked Amazon if we can expect the software upgrade on older Kindles, but a company spokeswoman wouldn’t share details about upcoming plans.
PDFs are easier to read. If you email PDFs to your Kindle often, you know that screwy formatting can make them annoying to read. This is improved on the Paperwhite and Amazon confirmed it’s “working hard to continue to improve performance and usability for PDFs.”
The light is wonderful (though I wish it were a little easier to adjust; see below). When the light’s on, the LEDs are faintly visible at the bottom of the screen, but I did not find that bothersome.
Amazon shipped my Paperwhite review unit with a review case, too — the $39.99 Kindle Paperwhite Leather Cover. Like the newer iPad cases, this cover is magnetic. When you close it, the Paperwhite goes sleep; open the cover and it wakes back up. This is very convenient. If you don’t want to pay $39.99 for a case, wait, since I’m sure other manufacturers will release competing, cheaper magnetic Kindle cases soon.
I have absolutely no problem with the ads on my Touch or on the Paperwhite I tested. They’re almost completely nonintrusive and they don’t show up when you are reading. If you’re in the market for a new Kindle, buy one with ads and see if they bother you; if you don’t like them, you can pay to turn them off). ou might as well order the cheaper model and see if they bother you.

Dislikes

I love the light but wish that it adjusted automatically depending on the brightness of a room. Failing that, I wish there were brightness controls on the side of the Paperwhite (where the volume controls are on the iPad) so that you could adjust the brightness as you read. Since you can only access the brightness controls through the touchscreen, you have to interrupt your reading to adjust the light.
I miss the physical home button — the Touch has one but it’s gone on the Paperwhite. Instead you have to tap the top of the screen and then press the home icon. I’m used to reading on the Touch and kept automatically tapping the Paperwhite’s logo (where the home button is on the Touch). I get that this is a touchscreen device, but just a couple buttons would actually make things easier.
This has been written before, but it’s annoying that Amazon continues to sell the power adapter separately ($9.99). If you already have an adapter for an older Kindle, though, it will also work with the Paperwhite. (Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble dropped the price of the Nook with GlowLight to $119 today and is sure to note that the power adapter is included.)

As I noted above, if you order it today the Kindle Paperwhite will ship toward the end of October. Those who pre-ordered it when Amazon announced it in early September, though, may have received shipping notices today and will get their new Kindles in a couple days.

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Why e-readers evolved a lot today: Kindle Paperwhite and Kobo Glo

Laura Hazard Owen — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 23:43:38 +0000

For all of the good things about e-readers — their portability, capacity and convenience — they seem a bit old-fashioned. That isn’t just because they are single-function devices (after all, books are, too) but because the grayish tinge on e-ink screens looks outdated. Today, though, with the announcements of the front-lit Kindle Paperwhite and Kobo Glo, e-readers took a big step forward and became more appealing for avid readers.

To be sure, Barnes & Noble was first to launch a front-lit e-reader, the $139 Nook Touch with GlowLight, and until today it’s been the only front-lit e-reader on the market. Unfortunately, Barnes & Noble experienced “production scaling issues” that prevented it from fulfilling GlowLight orders for a few months. The Nook with GlowLight is back in stock now, but as of today it doesn’t matter since the Kindle Paperwhite and Kobo Glo have better displays.

Nook with GlowLight has a regular e-ink screen. When you hold it (without its light turned on) next to a Nook without a GlowLight, their screens look the same — grayish. Compare the Kindle Paperwhite to an earlier generation Kindle, though, and their screens don’t look the same. Amazon says the Paperwhite contains 62 percent more pixels and 25 percent increased contrast, and you can see that just by looking at it — even when the light isn’t on. (Update: Some commenters, using other photos online, say the Kindle Paperwhite does not have a brighter screen when the light is turned off. Holding my Kindle Touch up to the Paperwhite at the event, I could see a difference in resolution but should have been more hesitant to claim anything about the brightness of the screen with the light turned off. When we get a Paperwhite for review, I’ll have more pictures for you.) In other words, we’re not just getting a light here, we’re getting an improved display overall. The Kobo Glo has an XGA e-ink screen, which also means better resolution and contrast.

The biggest difference between the Kindle Paperwhite and the front-lit devices from Barnes & Noble and Kobo, though, is battery life. Jeff Bezos said during Thursday’s press conference that Amazon expects people to leave the light on all the time, even in bright rooms. While Barnes & Noble stressed the Nook with GlowLight’s use in bed, in a dark room, as your partner sleeps next to you, Bezos says Amazon “figured out early” that people want the light on by default. We’re used to staring at well-lit computer and tablet screens, after all. So the Kindle Paperwhite’s battery life is 8 weeks with the light on (based on half an hour of reading a day). Meanwhile, Nook with GlowLight’s battery life is a month with the light on (based on half an hour of reading a day) and two months with it off. Kobo’s is worse: A month with the light off, “up to 55 hours of continuous use” with the light on.

Finally, assuming that you’re okay with ads, Amazon beats the competition on price as well as other features. The Kindle Paperwhite WiFi is $119 with special offers, $139 without, and the Kindle Paperwhite 3G is $179 with Special Offers and $199 without. (Yes, $199 is a lot to pay for an e-reader. It’s as much as the newly announced 7-inch, 16 GB Kindle Fire HD.) Nook and Kobo don’t have ads, but the Kobo Glo is $129.99 and Nook with GlowLight is $139.

Overall, we saw today that e-readers can continue to improve even without adding more tablet-like features. The Kindle Paperwhite and Kobo Glo are still single-function devices (Kindle’s “experimental browser” aside), but they’re substantially better than what was on the market before. That suggests we shouldn’t rule e-readers out, or assume that tablets are going to subsume them.

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Amazon’s September harvest: new HD Kindle Fires, Paperwhite ereader

Rani Molla — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 20:09:57 +0000

Amazon announced at a press conference Thursday four new tablets and one new ereader, the Kindle Paperwhite, as well as Kindle Serials a feature where users can buy a serialized publication that will update automatically. Despite rumors, Amazon did not announce a smartphone. GigaOM’s Laura Owen live blogged from the LA event. Here’s a quick summary of what Amazon is rolling out:

Kindle Paperwhite

high-def front-lit display
longer battery life
starting at $119; 3G $179

Kindle

small revamp
$69

Kindle Fire

faster processor
twice the memory
longer battery life
$159

Kindle Fire HD

16 GB
Front-facing HD camera
7 inch and 8.9 inch
$199 (7-inch) and $299 (8.9-inch)
11 hours battery life (7 inch)

Kindle Fire HD 4G LTE

32 GB
8.9 inch
$499

Kindle Serials

episodes update automatically
$1.99

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