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Size. First, the Paperwhite is light and small -- less than half a pound, about the height and width of a small trade paperback, but a lot thinner. At that size, I never think about whether to bring the tablet with me or not: the benefits of having it with me for the odd moment during the day outweighs the space and weight it takes up. Screen. The Paperwhite's screen is an e-ink display, like all of the Kindles except the Fire, and like e-readers such as the Barnes & Noble Nook. The advantage of the e-ink display over an LCD display on a tablet is that it's easier on the eyes because it's more like paper and ink. I've certainly found that to be true. The screen on all the other tablets I've ever looked at seemed dingy to me: gray text on a gray background. But the Paperwhite's screen has two improvements. The light, which is on even in daytime, makes the screen white and so improves the contrast. More important, the Paperwhite's screen has a 212 PPI resolution, whereas the earlier Kindles have resolutions of 167 PPI. The bump in resolution means that text on the Paperwhite is appreciably sharper -- not as crisp as text in a printed book, which I think is usually around 300 DPI, but crisp enough. I bought the Paperwhite fully resigned to not being able to read PDFs on it, which was previously an essential qualification for any e-reader I considered. But I was surprised to find that the Paperwhite does an adequate work of reading most PDFs, as long as the type isn't too small and as long as you put the Paperwhite in landscape mode. I've read a number of journal articles, white papers, and a few 19th-century books from Google Books on the Paperwhite. The Light. The light is one of the main features of the Paperwhite. The light is designed to illuminate the text through reflection, rather than by shining a light in your face. I find it perfectly good for reading in complete darkness, though I do prefer a lamp when I read. I rode an airport shuttle through sunlight and tunnels, and didn't have to adjust anything about the device to keep reading through the changes in light. The light does illuminate the page unevenly at the bottom, as a number of reviews have pointed out. It doesn't bother me, but the severity of the problem might vary from device to device. Battery. The Paperwhite's battery life makes it unlike any other device I've used: I never think about whether it's going to need a charge or not. Amazon's specs claim a battery life of eight weeks, based on half an hour of reading with the light at full power. My own experience confirms that claim. I waited two weeks to recharge the Paperwhite for the first time, using it during several flights and lots of time waiting around an airport or hotel, plus time reading each evening. Even after the two weeks, there was still charge left for several days. Since then I've gone several weeks at a time before charging the device. Storage. The Paperwhite has 2GB of storage, the equivalent of 1,100 books, according to Amazon. It can certainly hold a lot of books and periodicals in Paperwhite format -- more than you're ever likely to read between chances to connect to the internet. But PDFs or Word documents will fill up the Paperwhite much faster than Paperwhite e-books. The limited storage space is something to keep in mind. But Amazon's ecosystem is pretty good. With those caveats in mind, Amazon has the best ecosystem for e-books, hands down. Almost any book that you can find as an e-book, you can find as a Paperwhite e-book. Usually the Paperwhite version can be had at a discount, often a steep discount. For ephemeral reading, cheapness matters more than durability. Amazon also has many periodicals available in Paperwhite edition. It's nice to have those periodicals appear on your Paperwhite when they're released. The downside is that you are Amazon's customer, not the publisher's, so deals like access to a publication's back issues are usually not available. Need more information? http://www.thekindlereader.weebly.com
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