Contents of delivery
Anyone who has ever dealt with Kindle e-books knows that their manufacturer (Amazon) ships their devices in a very "poor" package.
In the package (of course, besides the book itself), you can find only a USB cable, as well as a brief instruction manual. There is no point in looking for a charger or a case, the user must buy all this for himself.
What is the USB cable for? With it, you can download books for reading, but its main purpose is to charge the built-in battery. It is assumed that the user will do this using a personal computer (or other device equipped with a USB port). If you don't have a PC at home, you can't get away from purchasing an external charger.
Housing
The case is one of the greatest strengths of the Kindle Paperwhite. The front panel of the book is made of black plastic of very good quality, and the back panel is made of a pleasant to the touch rubber-like material, thanks to which the device lies confidently in the hands and does not slip.
Interestingly, the device has absolutely no buttons (apart from the power button) and slots. The control is carried out using the touch screen. It looks very impressive, and the quality of the materials used does not cause the slightest doubt about the reliability of the device. Hull creaks are completely absent.
Screen
This is, of course, the most important element of any e-book. It depends on the screen whether our eyes will get tired after a long reading or not. If we talk about Paperwhite, then the manufacturer has applied a screen based on E-Ink technology. The text displayed on the Kindle looks exactly the same as on the sheet of a regular book. The eyes do not get tired even when we spend long hours enjoying our favorite reading.
It is important to note that the text on the Paperwhite display is perfectly visible even in bright daylight. Basically, the more light falls on it, the better it is to read on it (as in the case of a regular book).
Amazon has also managed to eliminate a flaw that is inherent in most E-Ink devices - poor readability in the dark. A special layer was applied to the screen, spreading the light evenly. Now you don't need a single light bulb to read, just set the appropriate brightness level on the book itself.
It's worth noting that compared to previous generations of Kindle e-readers, the Paperwhite has a higher resolution screen (1024x768 pixels), which makes the font more legible.
Interface and connection
The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite does not have any additional communication modules. The unit I tested only had Wi-Fi and a microUSB slot.
The device interface is very simple. For example, to load a book of our choice into it, it is enough to send the corresponding file via the microUSB connector. There is also another alternative way to send eBooks to your Kindle. When registering the device on the Amazon website, the user is given a special e-mail. If you send a file with a book to this address, then it will be automatically added to the Paperwhite library (of course, after preliminary synchronization of the device via Wi-Fi). You can also use this address to convert unsupported Kindle formats (such as DOC, DOCX, ePUB, or PDF) to MOBI format. To change the format, just enter the word "transformation" in the subject of the message.
The collection of books is displayed as a list or a set of covers. They can also be grouped into folders. Unfortunately, the interface is not translated into Russian. This is one of the biggest disadvantages of the Kindle Paperwhite, which, unfortunately, all people buying this device must come to terms with.
Battery
Paperwhite has an LED screen, so the operating time of the device on the built-in battery strictly depends on what intensity of the backlight is set during reading.In my tests, with minimal backlighting, the battery lasts about 50 hours of reading (with Wi-Fi off). It should be added that even at the lowest brightness level, the screen remains minimally illuminated.
Unfortunately, when the device is used in maximum brightness mode, its battery life is significantly reduced. With Wi-Fi off and maximum backlighting (level 24), the battery lasts for about 2 hours of constant use.
Conclusion
The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is an excellent eBook reader. During testing, the device worked fine. The electronic paper used in Paperwhite is of very good quality, and the high resolution contributes to better display of text than the previous generation Kindle. The 6-inch screen is enough for comfortable use of the book, and if someone has problems reading the fonts, they can be resized.
A big plus for the Paperwhite is the use of LED backlighting. Thanks to this, you do not need a single lamp to read books in a dark room.
The only drawback that I managed to find was the lack of translation of the device interface into Russian. If you can live with it, the Paperwhite is the perfect reading device for you.
** Pros: ** Large display with E-Ink technology, long battery life, Wi-Fi, good functionality, e-mailing books, light weight and compact dimensions, very good build quality.
** Disadvantages: ** lack of the Russian language.
Competitors: PocketBook Touch 622, PocketBook Pro 612, Sony Reader PRS-T2 / WC (PRST2WC).
