I recall learning to read at the age of two. It was a Dr. Seuss book I had picked up at my KinderCare, and it turned me into a voracious reader. For many years I'd read everything I got my hands on. Then one day, reading became work, and it wasn't so much fun anymore. Most of my reading nowadays has become confined to news articles- actually buying books is a rarity for me.
Not too long ago I picked up a Kindle Paperwhite, and reading is fun again. Why? Because Amazon has turned the Kindle into a device that not only facilitates reading- it takes the experience of reading to an entirely different level.
Amazon currently produces Kindle apps for just about every mobile device, tablet and computing device. After buying a Kindle, the difference between reading on these devices is different- you just know your phone and tablet aren't truly meant for reading books, as powerful as they are. The Kindle is a reading device, and I have found myself going out of the way to read on my Kindle rather than my other devices.
The Kindle Paperwhite has a six inch touchscreen display wrapped in an all black body. A charge port and an unlock button are located on the bottom, but those are the only two bumps you'll find on the otherwise smooth outer shell. It's so small that I can put it in my jacket pocket and knock out a few pages during longer Uber rides.
The operating system is fairly straightforward. Tap on the left and right sides of the touchscreen to move from page to page; tapping the top of the screen at any point brings up a list of options that allow you to customize you Kindle and go to the store. Here you'll also find brightness settings for the backlight. As someone who does a lot of late night and early morning reading, the backlight makes a world of difference for me.
There are a number of great features that really help to customize your Kindle outside of the general font options. Word Wise automatically provides on-screen definitions for lesser known words. X-Ray summarizes major characters and plot devices throughout the book. You can even turn on Popular Notes to identify what passages other people are highlighting in their copies of the books you own. Every feature offered here has been created to enhance your reading experience, yet nothing feels out of place.
The most beneficial feature of the Kindle, however, is the battery life. We've become so conditioned to charge all of our devices at night- it's became a ritual alongside brushing our teeth. The Kindle spoils us with a battery that lasts for weeks. I could probably count on one hand the number of times I've charged it in the two months I've had mine.
The Kindle store offers a wide range of bestsellers, newspapers and games. Purchases can be made from any device, and purchases from another device can be instantly pushed to your Kindle so they're ready when you are. Another cool feature that Amazon offers is called Kindle Matchbook- for a select number of books, if you've already bought the print edition from Amazon, you can buy the Kindle version for $2.99 or less. It's a great way for people to build up their Kindle library without spending a ton of money.
My only gripe, albeit a small one, is the difference between the ad-free and ad-supported versions. For $20 less, you can purchase a Kindle that comes programmed with lockscreen ads. The only suggestion I make is that there should be an option to pay to turn off the ads after you've bought the Kindle. Many ad-supported games have offered this option for years, but in Amazon's defense, the ads aren't intrusive and sometimes can turn you on to new books you may not have heard of.
Amazon currently sells three Kindle models. The Paperwhite sits as a mid-range model between the Original and the Voyager. The Paperwhite is backlit and has a higher PPI than the Original, but doesn't have the adaptive backlight or crazy-high PPI that the Voyager does. At $199, however, I'd only recommend the Voyager to true Kindle enthusiasts. With a $119 (discounted to $99 periodically) base price, the Kindle Paperwhite offers enough new features over the $79 Original that make it a no brainer to buy.
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