By Cindy Siebert

Manufacturer: Amazon.com, Inc.
Product Name: Kindle Paperwhite E-reader
Model Number: 2013
UPC: 848719013924
Price As Tested: $119 (Amazon)

Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been self-supplied.

The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is a 7.3-ounce e-ink book reader with a lighted 6″ display. The latest Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, released on October 8th, is the second generation Kindle Paperwhite from Amazon. In this article, Benchmark Reviews will take a look at the features and specifications of the new Amazon Kindle Paperwhite

First introduced in 2007, the Amazon Kindle e-ink book reader has become the standard by which all e-ink book readers are measured. Since that time, many users have taken to reading books on portable devices such as tablets and smartphones. The new Amazon Kindle Paperwhite aims to convince readers that the e-ink reader still deserves to be your “go to” device for reading.

6″, 212 ppi, lighted Paperwhite Screen with e-Carta technology
Dimensions: 6.7″ tall x 4.6″ wide x .36″ thick
Weight: 7.3 ounces
2 GB Internal Storage with free cloud storage for all Amazon content
Battery Life: Up to 8 Weeks
Wi-Fi: Supports 802.11b/g/n
Supported Formats: Native support for Kindle Format 8 (AZW3), Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI and PRC; Through conversion HTML, DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, and BMP are also supported.

The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is en e-reader. Simple as that. It’s not looking to be a music player, a gaming device or a tablet. The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite puts the focus on the books you are reading. And it intends to make reading the best experience possible.

When the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite was first introduced, the focus was on the new, lighted screen. While users loved the new lighted display, there were some complaints regarding uneven light distribution across the display. With the second generation of the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, the light issue has been addressed and the light is now distributed evenly across the display. With the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, users have the option to determine the brightness of the display. At the lowest setting it is almost as if the light has been turned off. At the top end, the display on the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is brightly lit.

In addition to the well lit screen, the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite display has crisp, easy-to-read text. Just as with the brightness, you can make adjustments to the text display to enhance the reading experience. In addition to the eight font size options, you also have six font choices and three options each for changing the line spacing and the margins.

One of the advantages to the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite.is it’s portability. With physical dimensions of 6.7″ tall, 4.6″ wide and .36″ thick, and weighing less than half a pound, the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite can easily be taken with you to work, the beach or when traveling. The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite may be too big for your back pocket, but it will easily fit in your purse, backpack or briefcase.

Thanks to it’s responsive touch screen, the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is easy to navigate. You can access all menus by touching the top of the screen. You move forward from page to page by pressing the right-side of the screen. To move backward, touch the far left side of the screen. Because of the screen’s responsive touch display, all you need is a light touch to move from one page to the next. The quick refresh rate of the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite’s screen has resulted in a big reduction in the screen flash when moving from page to page.

With the new iteration of the the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, Amazon is putting the focus on making the Amazon Paperwhite an easy to use e-reader. That allows you to focus on reading. This is exactly what the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is supposed to do.

If all the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite had to offer was a good reading experience on portable device, it would be a good e-reader. However, the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is looking to be more than just a “good” e-reader. The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite offers several more features that help take the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite to the next level.

One key feature for the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is it’s Lookup features. The most often mentioned Lookup feature is X-Ray. The X-Ray feature is like having an encyclopedia on your Amazon Kindle Paperwhite connected to the books you are reading. If there are people, places or subjects mentioned in a book that you don’t understand, open X-Ray to learn additional information about topics covered on that page, that chapter or the entire book. The downside is that X-Ray is only available on topics Amazon has chosen. In addition to the X-Ray option, you can also lookup information using the dictionary and Wikipedia searches.

In addition to the lookup features, the notes and highlights features make reading on the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite great for students or book club members. You can highlight passages to mark them for easy remembrance later or to add additional notes about a passage. You can also share marked passages on Twitter or Facebook.

The sixteen language translation options and vocabulary builder available on the Amazon Kindle Fire make it a great e-reader for new readers or those learning a new language. Anytime you look up a term in the dictionary, it is added to the vocabulary builder so that readers can go back and review new words. The translation feature on the Amazon Kindle Fire allows readers to look up foreign language words that may be unfamiliar to them. The sixteen translation options include Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

When looking at an e-book reader, one of the most important features is the ability to get access to the books you want to read. A good e-reader with limited content is not going to be a great device. This is where the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite really outshines the competition. There are almost two million books available for your Amazon Kindle Paperwhite including almost 400,000 books that are exclusive to the Amazon Kindle. Over a million of those books are available for under $5.00 You also have the option to subscribe to newspapers and magazines via your Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. Although you probably will not find reading magazines on the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite to be a great experience.

.The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite has a number of features including X-Ray, dictionary lookup and language translation that make it a compelling device. Add in the ecosystem that surrounds the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite and it becomes a device that cannot be ignored.

The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite doesn’t lend itself to many of the tests used when testing the performance of today’s technology. That doesn’t mean the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite has remain untested. For the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite , I performed two different tests. The first test was for readability under a variety of lighting conditions. The lighting conditions used were outside in bright sunlight, inside under low light conditions and inside with all of the lights turned out.

The second test was for battery life. For this test, I turned the brightness up to it’s highest setting. On the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite the highest brightness level is 24. I also left the Wi-Fi turned on 100% of the time. The device was used on average about 20 minutes a day.

I tested the readability of the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite under three different lighting conditions, outside in bright sunlight, inside under low light conditions and in complete darkness. Under all three circumstances, the screen is very readable. I did find it interesting that the brighter the lighting the conditions, the brighter the screen needs to be in order to achieve ideal reading conditions.

I’ve had the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite for about two and a half weeks. Not enough time to determine exactly how long the battery will last as the device is still going strong. Running the Amazon Kindle Fire as described earlier, I am currently at about 50% battery life. I fully expect my Amazon Kindle Paperwhite battery to last about a month. Under the conditions described by Amazon with the Wi-Fi turned off and the light turned to level 12, I would not be surprised if the battery lasted eight weeks as listed by Amazon. I consider this to be more than acceptable for battery life.

The first Amazon Kindle was released in November 2007. Since that time, Amazon has continued to work to provide readers with a great e-book experience. With it’s lightweight design, lighted screen and adjustable fonts the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is a good e-reader. The addition of the Amazon Kindle ecosystem, really gives readers a great reading experience.

The additional features such as X-Ray, Dictionary Lookup and Language translation are great additional features. Add them to the base features of the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite and you have an excellent reading device. I will say that these additional features, while great, will probably go unused by most people.

There aren’t many changes I would make to the new Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. However, I do have a couple of changes that I would like to see. First, I’d like to see the audio return. Amazon owns Audible books and I would like to be able put my Audible books on my Kindle to maximize my reading options. Second, I would like the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite to support the games supported by earlier versions of the Kindle. Admittedly, I rarely played the games. But I hate losing access to games for which I have paid.

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Conclusion

The performance of the Amazon Kindle Fire is excellent. With it’s well lit, anti-glare screen, the Kindle Paperwhite makes reading easy regardless of lighting conditions. The ability to change the fonts increases the readability of the device.

The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite looks nice. The device is made of high-quality plastic and the soft-touch back gives the device a premium feel. The screen on the Kindle Paperwhite resists fingerprints well. The same cannot be said for the back of the device.

The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite feels like a well made device that will hold up over time. The power button feels sturdy and has a solid click when pressed. There is only a single port and there’s no cover that can break over time.

As an e-book reader, the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite functions perfectly. The screen is easy to read and the device is easy to navigate. However, I hate to see any device lose functionality and with the Kindle Paperwhite there is a loss in functionality compared to previous iterations.

I’m afraid the value proposition for the Amazon Kindle Fire is a little lower than I would like. For $119 (Amazon), the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite E-reader is priced above that of an impulse buy for most people. Plus you have to deal with ads at that price.

Is the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite a perfect device? No. However, if you are looking for an excellent e-reader with a strong ecosystem, then the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is the device you are seeking.

+ No glare screen makes for easy reading outside
+ Adjustable Fons
+ Lighting is evenly distributed over entire screen
+ Long battery life
+ Small, light device makes it easy to hold for extended periods
+ Strong ecosystem

– $119 price
– Lack of audio
– Does not support games that were available on older Kindle models
– No support for “I Can Read” series of children’s books
– Includes advertisements

Performance: 9.5
Appearance: 8.5
Construction: 8.5
Functionality: 8.0
Value: 8.0

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