The new Amazon Kindle Paperwhite

On June 17, Amazon announced a new version of the Kindle Paperwhite with a high resolution 300ppi display, a new Kindle font Bookerly and a new typesetting engine.

As I was long overdue for a new Kindle (my existing Kindle Touch was purchased in 2012) I decided to place a pre-order and anxiously awaited its arrival.

On June 30th I received shipment notification, and 48 hours later on July 2nd it was delivered.

Immediately I noticed a few differences over the Kindle Touch including the now backlit display (a major reason for the upgrade) and the far superior display. I’ve also noticed that changing between pages seems to be quicker as well with only the changed parts of the page refreshed - vs the full refresh that seemed to be required on the Kindle Touch.

I’m yet to give the new Kindle Paperwhite 3G a full workout however this will happen with a lot of travel over the coming weeks. Initial impressions are that the upgrade is definitely worth it albeit perhaps less so if you have a more recent Kindle.

If you’d like to order, you can order either the Kindle Paperwhite (US$139) or Kindle Paperwhite with 3G (US$209) through Amazon. As a regular traveller I recommend the model with 3G so that when I’ve finished a book while travelling the next one can be downloaded post haste!