So I guess I joked a few too many times about how cool the Paperwhite looked, because Margie bought one for me for Christmas, even while I had a perfectly good v3 Keyboard version. Silly goose …
GOOD STUFF:
– Compact form factor, even with a case on it. Much more pocketable.
– A proper case (Amazon's, of course, but also MoKo's) will turn the unit off.
– The touch interface works fine. I haven't missed the keyboard at all yet.
– Greater importance given to book covers in the interface.
– Crisp screen, more fonts for display, and the backlight works just great for low light situations.
NOT-SO-GOOD-STUFF
– The battery life doesn't seem as good. Not sure why, even with the backlighting turned off. Still playing with this.
– Amazon has changed the OS to make the categories file unreadable by external programs, meaning that I can't use a Calibre plug-in to push my collection into categories I set up in that program, rather than the much less convenient manual options the Kindle allows. There are some possibilities I'm following up on to see if I can get around this in a somewhat less annoying fashion. Since I like to have a huge library on the Kindle, rather than just the "dozen books I'm likely to read next," this is an issue for me.
– The Paperwhite comes by default with sponsored ads on — both on the screen saver and on the home page. It's $20 to disable that, and I decided to do so — I could afford the $20, and it was kind of annoying (imagine if every tenth page in your paperback was an advert). Even after I did that, though, I got Amazon ads — "Daily Deals" — in those spaces. It took a factory reset to make the change go through and give me an un-advertising Kindle.
NET-NET?
Me like. Thanks, Margie!
Not sure what I'm going to do with my other Kindle — all the family members already have one, but I can still use it via Calibre (since I manually load stuff on anyway). Or maybe I'll refresh it and … find someplace I can donate it?
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You could always send your old one to me. 🙂
A Paperwhite-using friend advised me to turn off wifi as much as possible to improve battery life. (They gifted me with a Paperwhite for Christmas but I haven't yet set it up.)
Dave, it is a lot like the Fire, turn off the WiFi unless you are syncing it and the battery life will do pretty good.
@BD – I expect turning off the WiFi will be my SOP.
Yeah, +Melissa Gutierrez, I've been leaving the Wifi off (despite Amazon's promises that the New Energy-Efficiency Management Features give it long live even with Wifi on). Oddly enough, it's not a matter of turning Wifi on or off, but turning Airplane Mode off or on. Wifi on is the result (doubtless to maximize ad pushing and store shopping).
Leave the old one somewhere where you might want to read, but might forget to take your new one? Maybe in the glove box of your car?
I would say leave one in a place where it won’t get lost or stolen…you know…a back up.
Well, that’s not a bad idea, either.
The list of recommended content (which takes a row on home screen) is a setting you can turn off in Options.
The battery life is longer with Airplane mode on but not a big difference, like an hour or two longer.
The reason behind Airplane Mode is used so that Kindle's all work the same to turn off the WiFi/3G.
Yeah, but it wasn't turning off for some reason. Until I did the factory reset.
It does feel like the batter life is not as long on the Paperwhite as on my 3. But it's still pretty good.
Okay, I can understand wanting it to be a consistent interface. The problem is, I don't see WiFi on as the "natural" state for a Kindle ereader as for a Kindle tablet.