Amazon Kindle Paperwhite ?

[dks]

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite

any good?
Is it the best e-reader?
Is there any free material for it?
Can it be used as a tablet too?

[Whoey]

there are free (legit) sources such as http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page where you can get a lot of interesting books. AFAIK all kindles accept stuff from there, and there are other similar sources out there. You may however have to download on your computer and transfer to your kindle (but then again I have a super ancient kindle).

Last kindle I had contact with was the kindle touch we bought for my mother in law... she loves it, but purely as an e-reader.

[dks]

Many thanks. The one I am looking at has Wi-Fi so maybe it can download books directly.

I am trying to see if it will be cheaper/better to get a kindle (to give as a present) compare to just buying, used, books.

[Gareth]

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite

any good?  It's basically the same as the standard Kindle e-reader
Is it the best e-reader?  I don't know about the best, but it sure is good
Is there any free material for it?  Lots of free books on Amazon as well as sites like Whoey linked to
Can it be used as a tablet too?  No, it is just for reading books/documents. 

[dks]

Many thanks, again. I hope the price drops a bit after the holidays (Amazon.uk) as for the money you can get a decent tablet, again to give as a present. I assume for reading it should be significantly better than a tablet; even the amazon kindle tablets.

I assume the screen is just B&W; no colours?

[Whoey]

Yeah, all kindles pretty much have wifi, and the alternates have 3G.

They really are specifically made for reading only, however you can surf the net if you don't mind the lack of colour.

[Gareth]

Many thanks, again. I hope the price drops a bit after the holidays (Amazon.uk) as for the money you can get a decent tablet, again to give as a present. I assume for reading it should be significantly better than a tablet; even the amazon kindle tablets.

I assume the screen is just B&W; no colours?

I'll quickly say I don't own the paperwhite, just a standard kindle, but I have had a good look at one in a shop.  With that said there is little to no difference between the two I believe, certainly not enough of a difference for me to want to upgrade.  In fact, unless you tend to read in the dark, I don't quite see the point, I'd still buy the standard kindle especially given the price difference.

[Gareth]

Yeah, all kindles pretty much have wifi, and the alternates have 3G.

They really are specifically made for reading only, however you can surf the net if you don't mind the lack of colour.

or a keyboard, or a touch screen.

[dks]

So, I assume the increase in resolution is not noticeable?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007HCCOD0/ref=fs_sz#kindle-compare

[Whoey]

paperwhite is touch screen from what I'm reading.

I have the old kindle with the chicklet keyboard at the bottom. My motherinlaw's touch is far superior to ours, and seems the paperwhite is the same as hers but with backlight.

[Gareth]

So, I assume the increase in resolution is not noticeable?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007HCCOD0/ref=fs_sz#kindle-compare

I didn't notice it.  The one big change is the touch screen for the paperwhite, with the standard kindle you are still navigating with buttons.  This isn't half as bad as it sounds.

[Whoey]

I find the touch nice, swiping to change pages is nice... but yeah in general with buttons is fine.

Touch is better for searching etc and any sort of input, where as the button based ones (even with the keyboard like my 3rd gen kindle keyboard) can be tedious, but I don't think it's something that gets used a whole lot...

[dks]

I want to buy it so that it will be used as a replacement for books.
I have no idea how useful/necessary the touchscreen will be and the reviews on amazon vary. The build quality gets some stick too.

I will have to see if the price gets lower. There is an increase of 40 pounds between the basic and the paperwhite (paperweight  ) model and I do not see any significant improvement, justifying that.

Many thanks for the insights

[bmot]

I've got no experience whatsoever with Kindles, but I really like my Kobo E-reader. It's got a build in light, the software is quite okay, and I really like the screen. Had a Kobo Touch first (but sat on it, and it broke -.-  ) I now have the "Aura" which is very nice, has a back lit screen (which you can turn off, so it's only on when you need it) which is really nice. It's faster than my old one, with turning pages, stuff like that.


So, probably not helpful at all, but I'll suggest this totally different one


Besides, I didn't see Kobo pull weird stunts like deleting books from E-readers, I don't trust Amazon too much with things like that..

[Grail Knight]

My wife has the latest Paperwhite and loves it.
It has touchscreen and wi-fi.
Battery life is very good.
Wi-fi is a piece of cake to set up.
The back-light is uniform and adjustable as are fonts. Speaking of fonts they are clear and sharp.
The reader is very light so you can read for hours on end without tiring
out your arm.

Shopping for ebooks is as easy as it gets if you use Amazoncom.
Managing ebooks is equally as easy.

If you have Amazon Prime you can also borrow e-books from Amazon and if not there are still
plenty of free ebooks.

[dks]

Thank you all.  I did consider other options too, but the WEB says that the Kindle is the best, currently, so I did not do any research on other brands..... yet 

good to hear from a happy user too. 

[mrynnr]

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite

any good? Yes! I love my first gen paperwhite. Really worth it if you read a lot in bed.

Is it the best e-reader? I think so.

Is there any free material for it? Here's a list of places where you can get free books http://freebies.about.com/od/onlinebooks/tp/free-kindle-books.htm including your local library if you live in the U.S.

Can it be used as a tablet too? Not really. If you want a tablet you might want to look into the fire. It integrates books and audiobooks really well. The new ones also have the mayday button where people can ask amazon CS for help on their device. CS can either guide you or take control (kind of creepy )

[dks]

 

I assume the Kindle tablets will not provide such a good reading experience, as the actual kindle.

[Gareth]

While I do read on my tablet the Kindle is a much nicer device to read.

[dks]

Yes, if I m going to read anything long on the computer or phone or tablet I just end up printing it to make it easy to read; the Kindle should replace the printed copy.

[Farmman]

the wife has just bought herself the kindle fire hd after going between that and the paperwhite.  the fire hd was only 10 gbp and so the hd seemed the better deal.  however time will tell


Sent from my Hudl HT7S3 using Tapatalk

[Etherealicer]

I own both the Kindle 4 and the Paperwhite, I have read almost 200 books on the Kindle 4 and about 20 on the Paperwhite. The backlight of the Paperwhite is nice, though I did not use it so much, the great thing about eReaders is that you can use them in broad daylight. Ultimately I prefer the Kindle 4 and its not a marginal difference, it is simply the eReader that suits my needs far better. Ah forget about diplomacy, the Kindle 4 rules, Paperwhite sux.

Here is why:
Buttons: Thanks to the position of the buttons on both sides I can read really well one handed (with either hand), its possible too with the Paperwhite but not as comfortable.
Touch Screen: Worst feature on a E-Book-Reader ever. Why would I want to touch my perfectly clean screen with my dirty finger, leaving smears all over the place and reducing readability??? Oh and I have ODC
Backlight: My eyes tire far less if I read in a well illuminated room without backlight rather than in a badly illuminated room with backlight. Even on a plain I can read perfectly well from my Kindle 4 (though depending on the airline that is one of the few places where backlight could be helpful).

Software: I use the Calibre Software to manage books and transfer them to the Kindle (also available as portable software). The Kindle itself is not suitable to maintain a larger collection (and so far I have not found any eReader that is).
Free books: Also check local laws. In Switzerland its legal to give copies to your friends.

[bmot]

Oh, about free ebooks... Lots of older "classics" can be gotten for free from various websites, completely legally, as the copyright on books is only valid for a certain amount of time (like, 40 years or something?). This means books like Sherlock Holmes ( ) and things like that can be downloaded for free.  The Kobo store has a "free" section, and I imagine Amazon having such a thing, as well, but if not, you can always look around on the internet a bit

[dks]

 

[Whoey]

When I got my Kindle Keyboard (gen3), I had to order it via amazon.com, as they had not yet sorted the euro distribution yet. and back then I only had an option of binding it to amazon.com or amazon.co.uk. Where the account is anchored seems to have an effect on what books are free from Amazon, what may be free on .com may not be on .co.uk and vise versa. When we ordered the touch for my mother in law we were able to get it via .es, which had recently launched. The only real issue is that there are sometimes a lot more material available on the other sites. I really wish that in todays global internet connected world they would launch it for everywhere instead of region blocks and delays. Same goes for movies, music and video games... it's really ridiculous. Also that has to do with price inflation in some areas.

Region encoding has been the bane of my existence for quite some years and seems to carry on regardless.

On a side related note, on my new win8 laptop the "games" menu wants me to sign into an XBOX Live account. I don't have one, and it won't let me sign in my region (Spain) in English.    I use Ebay.ie so that my prices are in euros and the website in English as it's not an option on ebay.es  surely it can't be more than adding a field to a profile in the database to select the users preferred language and currency?

[dks]

Update:

I ordered the paperwhite, in the end.

Even though I would have preferred the version with the buttons, and the quality between the cheaper and this version was similar, the fact that it will be used a lot in the dark clinched it.

I tried to order it from amazon uk, but I was not allowed to and had to order it from the US site. The price, including import tax, is the same from both sources.

[Gareth]

Update:

I ordered the paperwhite, in the end.

Even though I would have preferred the version with the buttons, and the quality between the cheaper and this version was similar, the fact that it will be used a lot in the dark clinched it.

I tried to order it from amazon uk, but I was not allowed to and had to order it from the US site. The price, including import tax, is the same from both sources.

Well that really does make the decision very easy.  I hope you enjoy it.

[dks]

Its a present, but maybe I will get to play with it too.