MOBILE

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite - First-ever Paperwhite Display (Part 2)

6/15/2013 11:46:06 AM

Display

Paperwhite: Surely, it is a stupid name, but it helps us understand why this is the Kindle that Amazon thought that they were trying to create from the first generation:  this device holds the promise of a crisper, easier-to-read display. The addition of front lighting technology is clearly a big part of it, but there are also many other things. There are also many more pixels for Amazon to work here - more than 60%, according to the company's numbers, and the contrast is increased to 25%. Even with the built-in light turned off, it's immediately apparent with the reader and its predecessor placed side by side on similar settings. It is the main difference between this e-reader and the Barnes & Noble's model. In other words, the Simple Touch loses its contrast when upgrading to GlowLight version, the offering text is quite erratic.

The problem is that you really will not need to worry about how the text looks like with lights off. If data from Amazon are reliable, you'll be spending all of your time reading with the light on. The company says it paid special attention to selecting LEDs that didn't wear down the device's battery. According to Amazon's own estimates, it did quite well on that: it rates the battery for eight weeks of reading time with the light on.

If you have any doubts about how much the company believes in their calculations, please note that the light up immediately when you take it out of the box and start it. That bodes well, we'd say. Of course, the result will be different depending on the setting you choose. We let it run at full blast for a long time (save for when it automatically shuts off to go to sleep, of course) with 3G open, and we had a pretty significant battery drain.

One other remarkable thing about the screen is how evenly the light is distributed. Given the attempts we've seen at front-lit e-readers in the past, we were fairly impressed even with what Barnes & Noble was able to do with its patent pending GlowLight technology. But, if you put it next to Paperwhite, the difference is as clear as day and night. A quick look at the Nook shows a much brighter top, making it immediately apparent where inside the device the light is coming from.

Look carefully and you will see spots at the bottom of the screen

Look carefully and you will see spots at the bottom of the screen

In case you're still not sure, leaning Nook and you will see it come from the bottom bezel.  On the other hand, Amazon has tried to reduce the gap between the bezel and the screen. If you look for it, you can see the light source, but unless you peer closely, the light appears to be coming from all sides. Look carefully and you will see spots at the bottom of the screen - when on a white page, with the light turned up to full blast. Under these conditions, you may have noticed some unevenness at the bottom. However, in general, the light is more evenly distributed than GlowLight did.

You also immediately understand the "White" of this whole Paperwhite proposition. While the screen of GlowLight has a bluish tint, Kindle Paperwhite deserves more of a Timex comparison. Maybe that's a bit dramatic, but you get our point: the new Kindle's lighting allows for significantly whiter pages than what you'll find on the Nook and most E Ink displays.

How dis Amazon has achieved such feats? According to the company, lighting technology is the result of nearly four years of R & D (i.e., this isn't something the company just cooked up when it heard about Barnes & Noble's GlowLight). To explain how the technology works, Amazon has described the setup as an optical fiber laid flat across the display, above the screen, accompanied by a nano-imprinted light guide that allows for even light distribution.

Kindle Paperwhite’s front light technology

Kindle Paperwhite’s front light technology

Of course, even with that hurdle is overcome, Paperwhite still have some issues that we had with E Ink screen. First, we met a bit of ghosting - more than what we see on the Nook, but not as much as most of the latest Sony Reader. You still get a full page refresh every six pages or so, which has been the industry standard for about a year.

Software

Improving the reading experience is not just a matter of decorative screen. The company also has plenty of new tricks about the software. You will still be welcomed by a "Special Offer" (unless you are willing to pay $ 20 to get rid of them). In the case of the Kindle Touch, starting things up was just a matter of hitting the Power button. With Paperwhite, you will have to swipe the screen to unlock. Hitting the button will only light up the screen.

Hitting the button will only light up the screen.

Hitting the button will only light up the screen.

Amazon's relying a lot more heavily on images, taking advantage of that increased pixel count with a row of three book covers, each of which represent your recent choices. Fresh download has the word "New" and takes up more screen space. You will also see a small dotted progress bar that let you know how much you've read. You can access the rest of the download library by clicking below them, and you can also mix and view everything by title, author or collection. Under this, you have a collection of "Singles" stories that Amazon thinks you should buy for $ 2 per story. They are located just above a small banner of Special Offer ad.

Other  
 
Top 10
Review : Sigma 24mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art
Review : Canon EF11-24mm f/4L USM
Review : Creative Sound Blaster Roar 2
Review : Philips Fidelio M2L
Review : Alienware 17 - Dell's Alienware laptops
Review Smartwatch : Wellograph
Review : Xiaomi Redmi 2
Extending LINQ to Objects : Writing a Single Element Operator (part 2) - Building the RandomElement Operator
Extending LINQ to Objects : Writing a Single Element Operator (part 1) - Building Our Own Last Operator
3 Tips for Maintaining Your Cell Phone Battery (part 2) - Discharge Smart, Use Smart
REVIEW
- First look: Apple Watch

- 3 Tips for Maintaining Your Cell Phone Battery (part 1)

- 3 Tips for Maintaining Your Cell Phone Battery (part 2)
VIDEO TUTORIAL
- How to create your first Swimlane Diagram or Cross-Functional Flowchart Diagram by using Microsoft Visio 2010 (Part 1)

- How to create your first Swimlane Diagram or Cross-Functional Flowchart Diagram by using Microsoft Visio 2010 (Part 2)

- How to create your first Swimlane Diagram or Cross-Functional Flowchart Diagram by using Microsoft Visio 2010 (Part 3)
Popular Tags
Microsoft Access Microsoft Excel Microsoft OneNote Microsoft PowerPoint Microsoft Project Microsoft Visio Microsoft Word Active Directory Biztalk Exchange Server Microsoft LynC Server Microsoft Dynamic Sharepoint Sql Server Windows Server 2008 Windows Server 2012 Windows 7 Windows 8 Adobe Indesign Adobe Flash Professional Dreamweaver Adobe Illustrator Adobe After Effects Adobe Photoshop Adobe Fireworks Adobe Flash Catalyst Corel Painter X CorelDRAW X5 CorelDraw 10 QuarkXPress 8 windows Phone 7 windows Phone 8