Kindle Paperwhite

[aaronbrethorst]

(warning: meta)

Is it a fair assumption that someone 'de-editorialized' the title of this article? It's really starting to bug me that mods are removing pertinent information from submission titles, like this one from me where the title was changed from something like "Final Retail Oculus Rift Hardware Announced" to "Oculus Rift" (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9701298)

"Kindle Paperwhite" as an article title doesn't mean anything. It would be nice if we were allowed to give such articles meaningful titles, and not have that change on us.

[pja]

Agreed: "2015 Kindle Paperwhite" or "The New Kindle Paperwhite" would be informative titles. "Kindle Paperwhite" alone is not.

[louis-paul]

I submitted the page with the title "Kindle Paperwhite". I assumed that most HN readers would recognize a new Kindle model. I usually get my titles edited, so I am trying to help the mods.

Of course, "Amazon releases the Kindle Paperwhite" or "New Kindle Paperwhite preorders" would be a lot clearer.

[d23]

I agree. No idea why this is being linked or what I'm supposed to be looking for on the page.

[tsieling]

It reads like a sponsored post with just Kindle Paperwhite (an existing product that just got a bump).

[swozey]

I've owned every single small Kindle, since the Kindle 1, I think so far I've bought 4 Kindles including 2 PWs (1st gen, 2nd gen). They keep upgrading things that don't bother me. What I WANT them to upgrade is the software. Why can't I sort books by Genre? Or Tags? Or Series? Making Collections is a pain so I never use it. I've got hundreds of books and the sorting is rough. I'd like to be able to list #SpaceOpera, or #Mystery, #Vampire, etc. Having to be online to get book info sucks. Most books don't have descriptions so I can't pick a random free book I've downloaded and read the jacket to see if I'd enjoy it. I'd like an offline synopsis.

[joekrill]

I primarily use Google Play Books, and have thought the same exact thing. Is there maybe not a high demand for this kind of thing?

[tmd83]

It kind of feels like as bad as it can get. Even my far older sony had options to do some sorting. With good naming of my book files I can get it sort by author at least.

[walterbell]

It's a bit easier to organize books into collections on the iPad Kindle app, than on the slower Kindle devices.

[wkdown]

I want to be able to use it for RSS feeds as well. Even native Pocket or Evernote integration would be great.

[andrewla]

I wish there were more details about the changes from the last paperwhite. From what I read, primarily it's a higher resolution display; the rest of the stuff on there seems like it could just be OS features that will be applied to old paperwhites as well.

Oddly enough, given that they have a higher resolution display, it does not appear that they've changed the smallest font size, which is something that I would definitely like to see. I can't help but wonder why they made that decision, when the smallest font is still noticeably larger than what you would find in a standard print book.

[listic]

What ebook reader would be good for those who would like to read ebooks on their own terms?

After long deliberation (because Amazon doesn't really sell books in my native language) I finally bought myself a basic Kindle 5, because it's made by Amazon, the large company that has enough production prowess to do the hardware and software right and basically it looks like all books are there. I don't like the DRM, locking down my books from me, but I decided I'll figure that later.

When I did try to figure out how to liberate my books [1] from my Kindle, I was basically asked 'Are you asking us for help on breaking the law here? (TOS, actually)' Oops, turns out like I am. Now that I thought this over and figured that I want a reader that provides comforts of reading like a Kindle does, but allows me to read my books on my own terms, I am very reluctant on buying another Kindle. What options are there?

[1] Ebooks StackExchange: How do I liberate ebooks from Kindle device? http://ebooks.stackexchange.com/questions/1192/how-do-i-libe...

[dedrm]

https://apprenticealf.wordpress.com

[Osmium]

> All-new typesetting engine lays out words just as the author intended for beautiful rendering of pages. With improved character spacing and the addition of hyphenation, justification, kerning, ligatures, and drop cap support, our best-in-class typography helps you read faster with less eyestrain.

Finally.

And I say that un-ironically. Would've switched to a Kobo just for this if it weren't for the Kindle store.

Any news for if the Voyage will get a software upgrade? I only got one a few months ago and it'd be a shame for it to be obsoleted by a cheaper product so soon after it was launched.

Edit: Nice to see in-line translate too.

[masonhensley]

Neat, reminds me that I want to turn an older one into an uptime / analytics monitor sorta like this:

http://mpetroff.net/2012/09/kindle-weather-display/

[lucaspiller]

Unfortunately since the 5.6 firmware, you can't root it without opening it up and connecting a serial port.

[rob-alarcon]

I want more cpu and memory specs, I really like my kindle but it's extremely slow.

[TheDom]

I'm kind of bummed out that they didn't update the Voyage too. The Voyage still seems to be better but I don't want to buy an "old" model. I specifically waited for the next Kindle generation to update mine...

[lambdaelite]

Yawn.

I upgraded from a Paperwhite 1 to a Voyage because I thought the screen and haptic buttons would be improvements. I can barely see a difference in the screen quality when I'm deliberately looking (and don't notice any while reading), and the haptic buttons are poorly placed so I rarely use them. The Voyage is nice but was questionably worth the extra money over the Paperwhite 1. Now with the Paperwhite 3? Fuggetaboutit.

You know what feature would be a great improvement? A backlight without blue light, for reading at night without screwing up sleep cycles.

edit: clarified

[DennisP]

Note that this is the upgraded Paperwhite, not the Voyage, and it's the same price as the previous Paperwhite.

Personally, if I set the light near the lowest setting I drop right off to sleep. It might not be campfire light, but it's not so far off from moonlight. Still, if they offered a warmer color option I wouldn't turn it away.

[tmd83]

That doesn't sound good. I really want to use physical button with my kindle. Thats my biggest complaint.

One thing I couldn't find anywhere is how strong is the glass? A reader is much bigger than a phone and I wonder how safe such a big glass screen is.

Agree about the light though, its very glaring at night. I have to lower it to uncomfortably low to read to stop it from hurting the eyes. It actually feels a lot like backlight to me at night.

[fencepost]

Thanks for mentioning the haptic buttons on the Voyage - my wife hates touchscreens, so she alternates between the last generation of e-ink Kindle with page turn buttons and the last generation with a keyboard. I'd given up on the Kindle line, but knowing there's an upgrade path for her requirements is helpful.

Now if only there were current phones being made with keyboards..... sigh

[acconrad]

Is the Paperwhite worth upgrading from the regular Kindle? I've never bought one before but considering it

[listic]

Wow, 'Holds thousands of books' is now technical details. How do we stop this trend of dumbing down the specs?

[Artemis2]

The previous versions of Kindle Paperwhite did include 4gb of storage space. Consumers may start to compare the storage between their ebook reader and their phones, and feel that they are getting ripped off by Amazon. Of course, 4gb for a reader is a lot more appropriate than 16gb for a phone (I'm looking at you, Apple).

[lukaslalinsky]

In my opinion, Kindle 4/5 was the perfect product. It's the lightest of all Kindles, and it can survive pretty much any environment. Maybe I'm a minority, but I'm using Kindle like I'd use a paper book, not as an electronic device. I couldn't care less about any feature besides opening a book and turning pages. I take it with me hiking and camping, so it's often in freezing temperatures. The screen often gets wet, because I like to read while taking a bath. I can't imagine using something with touchscreen in similar conditions.

[_nullandnull_]

I wish Amazon or someone would make a smaller kindle. I'd really like something the size of an iphone (6 or lower). It would be nice to have an ebook reader that could fit in my pant or jacket pocket.

[DanBC]

Kobo mini?

It has some unpleasant requirements to connect to the Internet to set it up. This can be avoided with a bit of SAL on the microSD card (which is hidden inside the device).

http://uscoffings.net/clc/tech/embedded/kobo-touch/

> Connect the Kobo via USB, and mount its onboard storage on your desktop machine.

> Ensure you have an SQLite3 database browser installed, or some way to execute SQL. For example, sudo apt-get install sqlitebrowser

> Open /mnt/onboard/.kobo/KoboReader.sqlite.

> Execute this SQL: insert into USER values("foo", "foo", "foo", "foo", "foo");

> Save, unmount, and disconnect.

[walterbell]

There's a dual-screen e-ink phone, http://www.engadget.com/products/yota/yotaphone/2/

[Splendor]

This looks nice but until Kindle supports EPUB it's a no-go for me.

[baq]

i haven't seen an EPUB that calibre couldn't convert into a MOBI with less than good results.

[eternauta3k]

I've been using Liberator, a much better reader which supports epub, djvu and other formats (sorry, couldn't find a download link).

[joshuapants]

I'm glad that the display has improved. The screenshot shows better typography than ebook readers typically have, but I bet that won't be the norm.

I have a Kindle touch that was gifted to me, but I don't think I'll buy one of these to replace it. I'd rather stay away from the Amazon ecosystem as much as I can.

[micheljansen]

Ouch, they ran a father's day promotion for all of last week in the UK where they sold the Paperwhite with £10 discount and then they announce a new model just before Father's day. I wonder how many geek dads will get a disappointing gift on Sunday.

[ableal]

Not-too-informative notice at Wired: http://www.wired.com/2015/06/kindle-paperwhite-upgrade/

[jwr]

Same bad typography (and full justification), no page turn buttons, still heavier than my Kindle 4.

I would really like to buy a newer Kindle, but everything past the 4 has been a disappointment.

[andor]

Better typography is "coming soon":

"All-new typesetting engine lays out words just as the author intended for beautiful rendering of pages. With improved character spacing and the addition of hyphenation, justification, kerning, ligatures, and drop cap support, our best-in-class typography helps you read faster with less eyestrain."

[Grue3]

Why would you name your product to sound like "paperweight"? What's next, Apple iBrick?

[polskibus]

I really hope they bring back the large screen version. For PDFs the screen size really matters.

[listic]

At least they do upgrade the resolution. I guess it should help as well, if one has good eyesight.