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Amazon Kindle Paperwhite , 6-Inch, Wi-Fi, With Special Offers [Previous Generation - 5th]

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 22,835 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
22,835 global ratings

Customers say

Customers like the portability, performance, size and quality of the Kindle. For example, they mention that it's easy to carry, the screen size is perfect and that the build quality is reliable. Customers are also satisfied with readability, ease of use, and lighting. That said, opinions are mixed on the battery life.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

7,035 customers mention5,725 positive1,310 negative

Customers like the lighting of the book reader. They say the built-in reading light allows for very even lighting, and the front lit screen is bright. Customers also say that the integrated light is the best implementation they have seen thus far, and it eliminates the need for a lamp when reading at night.

"...No, not even a bit. The lighting in Kindle is much better than all the other E-Inks available in the market (Nook and Kobo) and is better than all..." Read more

"...The resolution is sharp, turning pages is quick, and that light is great. The screen is a very very light gray...." Read more

"...I have nice even lighting on my device, and the slight shadowy spots on the bottom of the screen where the LCD lights are are barely noticeable...." Read more

"...carefree battery life, near-perfect device dimensions, and pleasantly illuminated screen make reading on it truly a delight." Read more

5,270 customers mention4,862 positive408 negative

Customers find the high resolution screen of the Kindle Paperwhite noticeably easier to read. They also say the screen surface makes it easier to see under low ambient light. Customers also say that the text on the screen is much more crisp than any other version of an e-reader, allowing them to read without strain. They mention that the fidelity of the text is hugely improved over prior generations and that it's super easy on their eyes.

"...Needless to say, the text on the screen is much more crisp than any of the other version of an e-Ink Kindle I have used, and just to ensure I was..." Read more

"...with its light at the lowest level looks so good, very sharp and texts are crispy, thanks the to the screen resolution...." Read more

"...The resolution is sharp, turning pages is quick, and that light is great. The screen is a very very light gray...." Read more

"...It's still pleasant to read, and I did grow used to that as well, which is why I suspected I'd soon be fine with the PW as well...." Read more

4,559 customers mention3,773 positive786 negative

Customers like the performance of the Kindle Paperwhite. They say it serves its purpose well, and is a nice device. Customers also mention that the browser works reasonably well for reading news articles, and it responds faster and more reliably than the Touch.

"...the Paperwhite is a very good e-Reader...." Read more

"...It is so good and comfortable that I see myself reading more and more with it. Thank you Amazon" Read more

"...The Paperwhite is wonderful. It is nice and light without feeling flimsy or cheap in the slightest...." Read more

"Paperwhite--Nice device! Would love some software improvement...." Read more

4,438 customers mention3,494 positive944 negative

Customers find the book reader easy to use. They mention that the menu is simple and intuitive, making it easy to learn. They also appreciate the outstanding build quality and usability features. Customers say the book is easy to navigate, and the Kindle Cloud is easy. They say it's easy to go to the next page and organize.

"...Navigation is a piece of cake...." Read more

"...The store is very user friendly and easy to navigate.6-Special Offers: I have ordered the one with special offers...." Read more

"...No. But, is it easy on the eyes and a delight to use? For me, that answer is a resounding Yes...." Read more

"...is really great, top-notch, and the technology super helpful, easy to use and visually pleasing...." Read more

3,795 customers mention3,528 positive267 negative

Customers find the book reader very light, easy to hold with one hand, and easy to carry. They also say it's just the right size and weight, and is more portable than an actual book. Some say that the portability and lightness has increased their reading rate from a book a month to over abook a week.

"...It was also very convenient on a plane ride at night as I was able to see the full page of the text vs. a light attachment only reaching most of..." Read more

"...Looks very sleek in black and very light weight. It is so comfortable to hold it for reading than all my other gadgets...." Read more

"...Extraordinary for traveling both on the car ride and at your destination. Great for any other time. I never leave home without it...." Read more

"...I will comment on the device itself first. The Kindle Paperwhite is lightweight and easy to hold--it doesn't tire my had like the Kindle Fire...." Read more

2,647 customers mention2,300 positive347 negative

Customers like the size of the Kindle Paperwhite. They mention that it's perfect for what they use the e-reader for most, and it fits in any purse or backpack. The device is also small enough to fit almost all their pockets. The screen size is pretty perfect, and the page turn area is bigger. It retains a slim profile, and stores enough books on it to keep them busy for years.

"...From an overall standpoint, and considering everything you get (compact e-Reader,touch screen, lighting system)..." Read more

"...4-Storage: Kindle comes with 2 Gb storage and I find this to be more than enough. It is just a matter of how you organize your e-books...." Read more

"...Heck, this thing is small enough that there's no reason NOT to bring it along. The battery (both on my old and new one) lasts for-freaking-ever...." Read more

"...You can make collections! It's about time. The books in the collections are duplicated in the main list, but I can see the pros of that...." Read more

2,287 customers mention1,730 positive557 negative

Customers like the quality of the Kindle. They say it's well-made, reliable, and a great e-reader. Customers also mention that the quality eInk screen is great, and it feels like a finished product. Overall, customers are satisfied with the quality and functionality of the product.

"...highly recommend the Amazon-branded case for it, as it fits snug and firm and automatically puts the unit into sleep mode when you close the cover,..." Read more

"...The battery (both on my old and new one) lasts for-freaking-ever. I think I only charge it once every month to a month and a half!..." Read more

"...3 Kindle readers is that Amazon's is a well designed, functional, quality product that will protect your Kindle and will most likely outlive it...." Read more

"...I do feel that Amazon has mis-represented the quality of the display in it's images that show the new display...." Read more

2,675 customers mention1,793 positive882 negative

Customers are mixed about the battery life of the book reader. Some mention it has great battery life, and lasts for weeks on a single charge, while others say that it's very disappointing. They say that the battery drains much faster than expected, and that it crashes easily.

"...The Paperwhite has a really nice long battery life, something that is welcome after the relatively short battery life of my earlier edition Kindle..." Read more

"...The higher resolution screen, carefree battery life, near-perfect device dimensions, and pleasantly illuminated screen make reading on it truly a..." Read more

"...expected, reading like this for a long time or very often causes a strain on the battery and this bums me out...." Read more

"...It's lighter, the touch controls are more responsive, the battery life I am told is still measured in 'weeks' or even months rather than 'hours' and..." Read more

Finally, a Truly Amazing Kindle Reading Experience!
5 Stars
Finally, a Truly Amazing Kindle Reading Experience!
I bought my first Kindle a couple of years ago now. It was the Kindle Keyboard (i.e. the third Kindle release) and I had gotten it because I felt like the Kindle folks had finally hit their stride. The color was immediately attractive to me, the form factor and weight overall was ideal for one handed reading, and the speed was reasonable enough to where the black flashes on the screen didn't bug me. That being said, I almost never used the keyboard, navigating the screen on the directional pad was a chore, and I needed a $60 case in order to read in dim lighting in an elegant way (the first party lighted leather case). Last winter I jumped on the Kindle Touch bandwagon for one primary reason: the infared touch screen. The idea of not having to use that stupid d-pad was very enticing. Additionally, there was X-ray (which sideloads Wikipedia content for characters, places, and terms in books and tells you where in the book they're mentioned), a greatly improved case (the old case had a serious issue with the connection to the spine), and a page refresh that didn't require blacking out the screen each time. Of course, the case was still $60 in order to read in dim lighting and the smooth leather case attracted scratches like a magnet. All-in-all, this was an evolutionary step forward that I only took because of how much more I loved the Kindle than practically any other device I owned.Flash forward to two and a half weeks ago when I got my Kindle Paperwhite: there's no doubt that this is superior in nearly every way to every single Kindle ever made and now is the time to jump on the e-Reader bandwagon if you've been holding out. I'm very confident that if you enjoy reading or if you're like me and enjoy reading except when it means squinting for tiny text or lugging around heavy books, you will not regret getting a Paperwhite. I'll start out talking about the new features and what I like about it before I get to some of the areas for improvement.With each Kindle, the team has gotten better at making the onboarding experience as pain-free as possible. The Paperwhite was no exception. While I do slightly miss the fact that in the past my Kindle already had my account information on it (could be that for some unknown reason mine didn't while others did), the onscreen tutorial as soon as you switch it on is awesome. You're ready to start using it within a couple of minutes as long as you have connectivity (WiFi or 3G if you got the 3G model). One key difference on the onboarding experience this time is that they no longer make you suffer as an existing customer - getting your content on there is much easier. They've changed the UI to be more like the Amazon MP3 Player UI (and I think even the Kindle UI on non-Kindles) where you have "Cloud" section and a "Device" section with the major improvement of a drop down for type of content (Periodical, Book, etc). So now, you just scroll through your cloud content and tap the stuff you want to transfer over to your device. Since the Kindle Touch, any personal documents you've transferred to your device through Amazon is backed up in the cloud up to a reasonably high limit (books you buy through Amazon are backed up without limit). So I had over 100 items to transfer over, but because the Paperwhite is a bit zippier than past Kindles I was able to tap all the items I cared about (probably 3/4 of my library) in under 5 minutes, and over WiFi it was short work to get them all on there (notes, bookmarks, and all). What's even better though is that you can now sync your collections, as well! Once you've downloaded the content, you can sync that metadata and it'll organize all your content within seconds into their old collections. Cool, huh?Enough gushing about onboarding, let's move on to the UI. I like it, I like it a lot. Instead of the boring lists of text approach of the Kindle Touch that carried over from the pedigree of Kindles lacking a touch interface, there's now more of a cover flow-like interface that uses the covers of purchased books or the first page of personal documents sent via "Sent to Kindle" (otherwise just some text in a box). It fits 6 covers on a page and it totally looks more polished to have this. You still get X-ray as in Kindles past, so nothing surprising there, and you still tap 3/4 of the right side of the screen to go forward (or swipe right to left), 1/4 of left side of screen to go back (or swipe left to right), and top 1/5th of screen for menu (including the home icon). However, there are three new features that are wonderful. The first is the time left in your chapter or book. It's actually quite accurate. If you vary the pace you read at or linger too much on pages caught up in daydreams then maybe it's not so good for you, but it seems to be adaptive. So if you start reading something slowly and then speed up a bunch, it will adjust, I've noticed. I'm still not sure if it's per book or per device, but I do know that information isn't stored in the cloud or anything - that math is done on the device itself and if you were to wipe the device it'd go back to defaults. The sacrifice is that you have to hit the menu area at the top to get to the page number, but if you tap the lower left corner it cycles between time left in chapter, time left in book, and Kindle proprietary location. The second main change is the addition of more fonts - I was taken aback at how cool this is. For certain books certain fonts really pop - I'm reading The Princess Bride right now, primarily, and using Futura makes it feel so much more like a real book to me. As advertised, you can go one font size smaller than before, which I don't ever use but it's just as sharp as you'd expect even at that size. Oh, and of course the physical home button is gone. I thought I'd miss this but I surprisingly enough do not at all. The last major change is in the upper right corner of the navigation screens - you can not only change how you sort but how you filter (collections, novels, periodicals, etc), which is a small detail but very nice to have.Getting down to the screen itself, there are some real revolutionary changes here. First of all, it's capacitive touch. I thought this would never be possible and I could be totally wrong but I haven't heard of another e-reader pulling this off. The Kindle Touch IR touch screen was fine but took some getting used to and meant that objects other than your hands like maybe a piece of cloth from your blanket falling on the screen would turn pages. Now, much like your smartphone it requires your finger specifically to turn pages (or a sausage, but if you're reading with raw meats in your hand then you're an odd duck). Secondly, the lighting technology is phenomenal. While it's true that you can't see the light coming out of one side of the device like you can on the latest generation Nook, you can see around all the edges the slightest hint of the layer of light under the screen if you turn it at the exact right angle. Plus, at the bottom you see the tiniest bit of fading under dark conditions. Other than that, it's stunning. Everyone that I've shown it to has been equally impressed. Even better: even at its lowest brightness (which you control very easily via the top menu from any context on the device you're in), it's a good bit whiter than the Kindle Touch was. For the first time ever, I really at times felt like I was reading a paper back book in high definition. In the past the e-ink has always impressed and been super easy on my eyes, but the grayish brown background always made it feel like an e-reader, which wasn't a big deal to me. However, it's a very nice touch that you'll almost immediately appreciate. I like how under well-lit situations, keeping the light somewhere in the middle just improves the contrast and feels nice on my eyes, and turning it up to the max it doesn't even seem like it's backlit at all, just even prettier than before. In darker situations, I can turn it down to the lower half of the lighting spectrum and read without issue or eye irritation versus a bright white screen. I've only done this for 20 minute bouts because reading in the dark a ton isn't great for you, but if your lamp just isn't that bright, the Paperwhite has got your back. One other thing you may notice in my photos is the contrast improvement. It's subtle, but it's there. I couldn't really tell between the Kindle Keyboard and the Kindle Touch, but I totally can now. Don't get me wrong, it's not a life-changing improvement, but within an hour or so of reading on my Paperwhite I could feel in my eyes that something was just different other than the whiter background, and on super close inspection realized it was the addition of more pixels.A recurring issue for me in the past was the case - so how does this one stack up? This is the first Kindle case where I'd give a five star rating. It's outstanding and a great value at $40. I loved that they brought back the textured leather - it doesn't scratch up and it grips so much better in my hands. The magnetic clasp is an inspired touch. It may have been inspired by Apple, but I'll take it. It's the perfect balance between the Kindle Keyboard strap and the Kindle Touch free-balling look. When held in funky positions or dropped it doesn't fly open, but it takes very little exertion to get it open. The best part for dorks out there like me is the auto on/off thing. I thought it was just a gimmick when I heard about it, but having used it for a couple of weeks now I'm just blown away by how much it enhances my experience. I can literally read a little bit while waiting on an elevator for a second because it turns on so quickly and I love that I can shut it without being worried about hitting the physical home button the Kindle Touch had or even the IR screen itself because I know there is no physical button and that it'll turn off immediately. I like that the inside of the front cover has a nice texture to it that looks really polished and that the side, top, and bottom are a little rubbery to absorb shock better. Just as before, the Paperwhite fits so snug that you'll never have to worry about it falling out of the case or getting damaged because of how solid the shell is.So as I alluded to earlier, I do have a couple of minor gripes. I'm bummed that they did away with the swipe up and swipe down gestures. Formerly, these gestures let you skip chapters and I loved it. I'm probably going to write in to the Kindle folks and beg them to bring back this feature. I don't know why it went away. Speaking of cut features, why can't I toggle WiFi on/off from the top menu? I have to go to settings now to switch airplane mode on/off. That makes it harder to conserve battery life because of the added work so I'll probably sync less often. One other lost feature: text-to-speech. They cut the speakers and headphone jack out very quietly (coincidentally), so you'll have to opt for the cheap Kindle model if you're visually impaired, which probably makes more sense. I'm not a fan of the black color. My favorite Kindle color is still the graphite from the Kindle Keyboard. It's nice that the back is more rubbery than the smooth Kindle Touch back, but the bezel being black means that it retains your hand grease more easily (the screen itself doesn't seem to, mainly just the bezel). The fact that the home screen has a bottom row dedicated to recommendations and hot titles is kind of cool, but I wish it was opt-out. I'd prefer to use the screen real estate for more collections. Plus, it doesn't even exclude books I've already bought, which is disappointing; hopefully that'll get fixed later. Speaking of ads, the ad-supported device only saves you $20 and requires a swipe-to-unlock (because of the new case, I'm guessing). I think going ad-supported is silly now because of this - it was a lot more sensible in past Kindles. One last gripe: the Paperwhite still isn't lighter. I'm guessing they compromised here in favor of the battery life. With the case on, it actually does feel a little easier to hold in one hand than the Kindle Touch, but still not quite as nice as the Kindle Keyboard.A couple of last notes: the jury is still out for me on battery life. It's doing pretty well overall, but after decent usage for a week and some change the battery is at maybe 70%. So I don't think it'll hold up to the two months I was promised (even with WiFi off), but I think it'll easily meet at least the month that my old Kindle had even with the lighted screen, and I'm perfectly satisfied with that. It's slightly zippier overall than the Kindle Touch. Page turns are a little faster and the black screen flashes are so quick that you really barely even notice them. Web browsing is a little better, too, but still nothing to write home about.Ok, I think I've said enough here - as a whole, I hope I've given you a pretty good idea of what the Kindle Paperwhite is like. If you own a Kindle 1 or 2, you need to upgrade to this. Even if you have the Kindle Keyboard and Kindle Touch, I'd say this is a nice upgrade but probably more valuable for the Kindle Keyboard users. Personally, I don't at all regret my upgrade from the Kindle Touch. I really feel like it was much more sensible than my upgrade from the Kindle Keyboard. Book lovers unite - you finally have a device truly worthy of your affection.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2012
5,979 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2012
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5.0 out of 5 stars I got married.... to my Kindle Paperwhite!!
Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2012
First and before starting my review let me tell you that I'm a gadget person. I love to get, try different kind of gadgets if I feel I will be using them for something or another. I have iPad2, iPad3, Kindle Fire, Google Nexus, Samsung Galaxy S2 and Samsung Galaxy S3. I love reading a lot, but I never got any E-Ink reader. I've always been reading on my PC, iPad or kindle. The main reason for not getting one is because I love reading during bed time and that was not possible with the lack of light. And here where the Kindle Paperwhite gained me as a customer. It is my first E-Ink reader.

1-Physical form: The kindle comes with a rubbery feel from the back side and feels really comfortable to handle. You can hold it with one hand and easily use it. Looks very sleek in black and very light weight. It is so comfortable to hold it for reading than all my other gadgets. Now when I hold the iPad I feel the big difference.

2-Setup: Once you press the power button which is the only physical button the setup starts. It is very easy to get it ready. After that you will go through a tutorial which I found to be very beneficial.

3-Screen: Amazon has used a matte screen which is really good to avoid any glare in different lighting conditions. It serves the product very well. The kindle paperwhite with its light at the lowest level looks so good, very sharp and texts are crispy, thanks the to the screen resolution. Once you increase the light to its highest level you know why Amazon has chosen the name paperwhite. Yes the screen lights up so beautifully without hurting my eyes. It is perfect. I read people's reviews here giving the product one star because of the shadowing and this is really ridiculous. DON'T listen to them. They are using the light the wrong way that's why they see these shadows. I will not deny they can be seen if you concentrate on them but they are not that noticeable. The same thing goes to the screen coloring that some have seen. Actually the lighting option clearly suggests you to use a setting from level 20-24 in a brightly lit room and from 1-5 in dark rooms. Follow this and you will have no problem with coloring or shadows. I cannot see anything like that. Actually I was worried before ordering the kindle how I will adopt to it after using tablets with retina display and high resolution but now after I have this Kindle, do I miss my iPad and other tabs for reading? No, not even a bit. The lighting in Kindle is much better than all the other E-Inks available in the market (Nook and Kobo) and is better than all the other tablets as it is very comfortable to the eyes.

4-Storage: Kindle comes with 2 Gb storage and I find this to be more than enough. It is just a matter of how you organize your e-books. I personally load it with my own personal documents and download the rest from Amazon's cloud. Since you have cloud available you do not need to download everything at once.

5-Features: like X- Ray, editing fonts and margins are so good. You can customize your kindle the way you want. You also have the option to create a collection, change the view type between thumbnails and list. The store is very user friendly and easy to navigate.

6-Special Offers: I have ordered the one with special offers. And actually I find the ads to be interesting more than bothersome. These ads look even nicer on the lock screen, but that is just me.

Some people also complained about the lack of speakers so you do not have text to speech. I'm using that sometimes in my other gadgets but frankly Amazon got rid of this for the right reason and that is to reduce the weight of the device and I totally support them in this.

I have to say that I was disappointed with the wait for Kindle Paperwhite until it got shipped to me but was happy for Amazon as this indicated a huge demand for them. Amazon got a big big winner with the Paperwhite. I don't understand how can some people dislike it and give it a one star rating. Criticism should be reasonable and without any exaggeration. In my opinion the best rating the paperwhite can get is 5 stars and the worst it should get not less than 4 stars. This is a great product and I would advise you NOT to be influenced by those negative reviews and look at the positive ones. I know how you might feel because I felt the same way and was about to cancel my order but then I backed off. You will not be sorry for it and you will thank me too. ORDER IT NOW!
I would like to thank Amazon for this wonderful device and I really cannot wait to see how the next generation of Kindles will get even better.

As my title says it :) I got married to my kindle Paperwhite and I think we are going to have a very long honeymoon.

UPDATE: I have uploaded three pictures showing the Paperwhite with different settings in differently lit rooms. It wins in all conditions.

UPDATE: 23 June 2013: just thought to update and say this product is as perfect as I got it first time. It is so good and comfortable that I see myself reading more and more with it. Thank you Amazon
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