Other Kindle Paperwhite questions

sabby

ex-Mod
I'm considering buying an e-book reader for the first time and have narrowed it down to Kindle basic touch and the Paperwhite since nook and kobo readers are not readily available here. I have no budget constraint as such but want it to be worth the price. I have the following questions for the owners :
1. Does the Paperwhite sold at amazon.in come with 4GB or old 2GB memory ?
2. Besides the obvious front light and a higher res screen, what else is the difference ? Is the Paperwhite worth the 5k difference ?
3. How is the battery life for both ? I was originally planning to buy the iPad mini 2 but changed my mind to e-reader for much longer battery life and because they are easy on the eye. All I want from the e-reader is to read books, I can get the upcoming iPad/mini for other stuffs.
4. Seeing that the pricing is even higher than the ad free version in US, is it safe to assume that the Kindles sold in India are ad-free ?
 
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1) 4 GB. It's the latest gen Paperwhite on Amazon.in
2) Only those two, the backlight is the major selling point and is worth it. I would advise you to go for the PW Wifi if budget permits.
3) Several weeks. The kindle does not use any power while in standby mode.
4) Yes.
 
1) 4 GB. It's the latest gen Paperwhite on Amazon.in
2) Only those two, the backlight is the major selling point and is worth it. I would advise you to go for the PW Wifi if budget permits.
3) Several weeks. The kindle does not use any power while in standby mode.
4) Yes.
Thanks for your reply. I know Amazon mentions weeks of battery life but that is based on a 30 minutes reading everyday. Could you give an estimate in continuous hours ?
 
It depends a lot on the backlight intensity. Typically, I think I get about 25-30 hrs for a single charge which lasts me a couple of weeks.
 
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1. FYI: the size of an average ebook is 1MB . So it may not matter between 2GB and 4GB
2. Depends on how much 5k means to you and whether you plan to read in dark rooms / at night.
3. For normal kindle its excellent! 1 to 2 months depending on usage in my case.
 
I'm considering buying an e-book reader for the first time and have narrowed it down to Kindle basic touch and the Paperwhite since nook and kobo readers are not readily available here. I have no budget constraint as such but want it to be worth the price. I have the following questions for the owners :
1. Does the Paperwhite sold at amazon.in come with 4GB or old 2GB memory ?
2. Besides the obvious front light and a higher res screen, what else is the difference ? Is the Paperwhite worth the 5k difference ?
3. How is the battery life for both ? I was originally planning to buy the iPad mini 2 but changed my mind to e-reader for much longer battery life and because they are easy on the eye. All I want from the e-reader is to read books, I can get the upcoming iPad/mini for other stuffs.
4. Seeing that the pricing is even higher than the ad free version in US, is it safe to assume that the Kindles sold in India are ad-free ?
1. Doesn't make much difference. You will never read that much at one go. It is just a spec which has no real life significance.
2. No it is not worth. The improved resolution hardly makes any difference to the text. Perhaps photos may be rendered more beautifully - but then we are talking about black and white books. Not glossy color magazine with tons of photos. Paying 5K extra for built-in lighting? Crazy!
3. No idea about battery life of paperwhite, but the normal kindle lasts at least two weeks with one hour daily reading + few hours on weekends. Charges to full in minutes.
 
A paperwhite Kindle user who has used non-paperwhite version.

1. As said by the other poster, memory won't make much of a difference.
2. Yes. Paperwhite screen is worth the difference. Two reasons, 1. Sharper image (combination of backlight and contrast setting) 2. Usability at nights or when travelling
3. WiFi only version has standby time of around 6 weeks with WiFi enabled. Should be even higher with Airplane mode enabled. Battery charge should last for 4 weeks at the very least with couple of hours of daily usage.
4. Yes. I have not seen/used US versions but Indian Kindles do not carry ads.
-> 5. Worth considering 3G version if one travels a lot. One would not want the hassle of tethering to phone each time he/she needs to browse for new books or sync weeklies/dailies.
 
I own a Kindle 3 WiFi (Bought in 2010). I maintain my eBook Library on my Computer with Calibre and many books are attached with the Kindle account too. In any case, I don't put too many books on the Kindl because the library management would become a pain on the Kindle. I don't know about the latest generation, but I can just add them in collections, that's it.
There are so many books which are available for the Kindle in the Amazon India store which are cheaper than the US kindle book price :)
 
Btw the back light is very helpful when there is a shadow falling on the side of the screen as well. I don't turn it off even during the day.
 
Btw the back light is very helpful when there is a shadow falling on the side of the screen as well. I don't turn it off even during the day.
I thought there's no option to completely turn off the front light.
I own a Kindle 3 WiFi (Bought in 2010). I maintain my eBook Library on my Computer with Calibre and many books are attached with the Kindle account too. In any case, I don't put too many books on the Kindl because the library management would become a pain on the Kindle. I don't know about the latest generation, but I can just add them in collections, that's it.
There are so many books which are available for the Kindle in the Amazon India store which are cheaper than the US kindle book price :)
Even if you maintain the library in your PC or cloud, won't the book be downloaded to your kindle when reading ? Otherwise I guess you'd need wifi connection.
 
I thought there's no option to completely turn off the front light
In the first paper white you couldn't completely turn off the light, I think in the next version they added this option.
btw the brightness of the backlight in paperwhite can be adjusted..
 
I thought there's no option to completely turn off the front light.

Even if you maintain the library in your PC or cloud, won't the book be downloaded to your kindle when reading ? Otherwise I guess you'd need wifi connection.
I just do "send to Kindle" on my calibre. It emails the books directly to kindle after changing to appropriate format. Or it transfers by wire if kindle is attached by wire. At any time , I have about 70-80 books on my Kindle, many of which are textbooks. The novels are deleted once read, since a copy is there on the desktop, and no one needs them after reading.
 
I own a 3 to 5 yr old Kindle (can't remember when I bought it!). When new it used to give me about 2500-3500 page turns. Now I get about 750. 2500 pages is about 3-5 novels, and that's a fair bit. 750 is just about enough for a single book, not great, but good enough as I'm hardly ever far from a charging port.
Depending on how much you read the battery can last from between a day to a couple of months.
My Kindle isn't backlit, so it'll probably have better battery life than the backlit ones. But the backlight is something I really wish I had. I'd definitely do more of my reading in my garden or terrace if it did. If you're not married/sharing your bed with someone, and don't plan to read outdoors late in the evening, then get the regular Kindle, otherwise it's not worth the premium IMO.
 
I'm leaning towards the Paperwhite as of now. I figured most of reading would probably in the evenings or while travelling. Although can't believe the 40$ difference from the basic translated to 5k in India.
 
Why not consider this?
Pretty good deal after coupon.
Thanks for the link, looks real tempting. But I am skeptical about the warranty and support ?
Also, the Kobo Glo HD just got released, do you think it would its make way to India ? It costs 130$ which should be 8-9k and also has much higher resolution and better carta display. :S
Another thing, from the reviews, I kinda liked the Amazon software and it looked a bit faster as well. What are your views about that ?
 
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IMO screen resolution doesn't matter so much. HD's nice, but not something you're going to notice until you start actively looking for pixelisaton.
Once you start reading a book I don't think it matters too much what software your device is running.
It's going to be easier to manage the library on your e-reader from a desktop rather than from the device itself. I use Calibre to load books and make collections, and it's orders of magnitude easier than doing it on the Kindle directly.
Consider from where you'll be buying books as well.

And you can get after market lamps for your Kindle. Won't be as nice as a glow, but they're much cheaper @ ~Rs.500.
http://in.mobilefun.com/32496-defau...eEKgqiYjUHutTc9cXMrnufwqE8Xe3S4xGpRoC-Dzw_wcB
http://in.dhgate.com/product/kindle...hEwAJP-AdektDy64zDKzZJtkq0CQa0wdULBoCTG3w_wcB
 
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