iApple Products

From scepticism to acceptance to admiration – the Kindle e-reader has come a long way since its inception. Despite its late entry into the Indian market, action has picked up especially over the last year with Amazon launching a slew of products in India. The latest of these is the new Kindle Paperwhite.

The regular Kindle Paperwhite, launched last year, was one of the best, most user-friendly ereaders we have come across. Let's see how the new Paperwhite improves upon that experience.

In terms of build quality, they look and feel exactly the same. It's a nifty size – 6 inches – which is perfect for travel or commute. I had it in my satchel for more than 2 weeks and never felt like I need to leave it behind because it was a pain to lug around. One of the more significant improvements you see in the new Paperwhite is the new 'Carta' e-paper and Amazon's next-gen built-in backlight. The old Paperwhite had backlighting too but reading on it with the lights switched off would turn out to be a bit stressful or annoying after some time. Thankfully, this isn't the case with the new Paperwhite. You don't need the backlight on during the day, but when I'd read a bit of Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie every night with the lights turned off, the experience still seemed pleasant and not too stressful for my eyes.

My personal favourite is the new pop-up dictionary. Whenever you come across a word you don't know, just tap on it for a couple of seconds and the dictionary will hover over it for your reference. It's a boon for those who hate picking up the dictionary every time you come across a word you don't know.

The new Kindle Paperwhite also has a faster processor (about 25 per cent) than its predecessor which wasn't really slow or anything. But we could tell that the new Paperwhite is a lot quicker when it comes to flipping pages or executing other tasks such as adding a footnote or a bookmark.

There are very few but important reasons why people go in for an ereader. They almost always want something that they can carry around wherever they go; it's easier than lugging a book around, they don't want to worry about charging it every second day; the Kindle Paperwhite lasts for about a week if you read for 2 hours a day or so and finally they want a device which doesn't really come in the way of their reading while still facilitating it and there are have been few who serve that function as well as the Kindle does. And, the new Paperwhite seem to be doing all these and more, better.

₹10,999 (Wi-Fi Only)

₹13,999 (WiFi+3G)

(This article was published on February 5, 2014)