![]() Pricing for the new Kindle Paperwhites remains the same as before: $119 for a version with Special Offers, $139 without, and $189 for one with 3G cellular connectivity. It also locks the store and browser access. Taking a page from Amazon's Kindle Fire tablets, FreeTime lets you create profiles for each of your kids, set goals for them, and let them track their accomplishments and remaining challenges. This begins to turn on its head the idea that an ebook reader is a distraction-free experience, as compared with a tablet, although it's still you the reader calling the shotsfor example, there are no notifications or text messages coming in to disturb your reading.Īnother new feature coming soon is Kindle FreeTime. You'll also be able to read Goodreads reviews of books, even if they're for the Nook version of the book, thankfully. When this is pushed out, you'll be able to access friend Updates, My Shelves, and Friends right from the Kindle Paperwhite. The big one is Goodreads integration, following Amazon's Goodreads acquisition back in March. We also got a chance to preview some of the new features coming in an over-the-air update a few months from now. Once you know a word, you can tap "Mark as Mastered," which then removes it from the vocabulary builder. The X-Ray tab is context sensitive an Amazon spokesperson demonstrated that by tapping the word "credit," X-Ray knew the full context was "credit default swaps," although the context sensitivity doesn't carry across to the Dictionary and Wikipedia tabs.Ī new vocabulary builder keeps track of words you've looked up in the past, and offers to teach them to you with a flash card-style interface. Tap on a word, and you get a single window with Dictionary, X-Ray, and Wikipedia tabs. Tapping on a footnote now shows you the actual footnote itself in a pop-up window. You can now navigate between multiple bookmarks in a book, again with preview thumbnails. This should help a lot with a perennial e-reader problem, which is that it's difficult to pick one up and scan through a book for an earlier or later chapter, the way you can easily do with paper books. You can scan page by page or chapter by chapter as you do so, a large preview thumbnail shows you what the page you're about to jump to looks like. Kindle Page Flip lets you scan across the book using a slider near the bottom of the page. Before, it was one every six page turns now, an algorithm will decide when it's necessary in order to preserve font sharpness, but it will always be less often than before.Īmazon has also improved the Kindle's software. Amazon has also reduced the frequency of full-page screen refreshes. This is one fast ebook reader loading books and turning pages is considerably snappier than those functions were on the first Kindle Paperwhite, at least in the brief time I spent with the device. The touch responsiveness is also improved-by 19 percent, according to Amazon-but the old model was already quite good to begin with.Īside from the backlight, the most visible difference hardware-wise is in speed. Fonts are darker once again, thanks to improved contrast. It's also more evenly lit, with little trace of the edge-lit blooming the previous model exhibited along the bottom edge. The screen is significantly brighter at the maximum setting. The display is the single biggest upgrade-and it's a good one. The micro USB charging port, LED light, and power button on the bottom edge remain the same. It's still encased in a soft touch black housing that feels comfortable to hold, although the back panel now has a snazzier Amazon logo instead of a Kindle one. ![]() The dimensions are the same, but at 7.3 ounces, the new model is two-tenths of an ounce lighter. But is it enough to be worth upgrading? We got a chance to spend some time with a Kindle Paperwhite ahead of the announcementlet's find out.Īt first glance, the new Kindle Paperwhite looks almost exactly like the old one. As can be expected, the new version is clearly an incremental but still welcome improvement. Keep in mind that the existing Kindle Paperwhite is still our Editors' Choice for E Ink-based ebook readers, even though it's one year old. Today, Amazon looks to cement its lead with a new, improved, sixth-generation Kindle Paperwhite. It's almost like clockwork: September rolls around and Amazon upgrades its Kindle ebook readers. How to Set Up Two-Factor Authentication.How to Record the Screen on Your Windows PC or Mac.How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Files. ![]()
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