Amazon prices up Kindle Paperwhite for Blighty Amazon has priced up the Kindle Paperweight - sorry, Paperwhite; Freudian slip there - for the UK. The Paperwhite is Amazon’s first e-reader with a backlit E Ink display, the notion being that the illumination doesn’t merely make it possible to read books on the gadget in the gloom, but also that it makes for a higher contrast …
I think you will find that the light is actually in front of the display, otherwise you would not see the light.
Here is a clue in the amazon prodcut description:
"Paperwhite guides light towards the display from above instead of projecting it out at your eyes like back-lit displays".
"But since most folk will still call this a backlight, I think we can afford not to be too pedantic about it."
Well it's your party so you can be not too pedantic if you choose. But I have to say that for me, "backlit" = LCD screen - at first glance I assumed this was another tablet-style screen rather than eInk screen. Arguments still rage which is better, but they're clearly different. Of course the article itself makes it clear this is an eInk screen, but first impressions matter a little bit.
Looks like an excellent e-reader... Bezos `admits` sold at cost (great advertising) at $119 / £74.5 and £109 in the UK (109-74.5)/74.5
Reckon all purchasers should acquire their ebooks to a value of £34.5 and donate a bit to authors declared favourite charities...
Reckon I feel pissed that yet again the UK is exploited by the lack of equivalency to the US.
http://www.reghardware.com/2012/10/12/amazon_ceo_bezos_confirms_content_pays_for_kindle/
The $119 version is without sales tax and is ad-supported. The non-ad-supported version is $139 and is the version we get in the UK.
$139 = £86.53 + VAT = £103.84
A £6 difference isn't that bad. Amazon are one of the better companies for price equality between the US and UK.
You are missing out on things like tax and such.
Americans have different sales taxes levied by different states so it is impossible to quote a single price for the whole of the US unless you go excluding tax.We have the luxury of having a national single rate so it can be included in the sticker price. I know that doesn't account for all of the difference, but it does take the edge off it. They would also have to deal with different financial pressures in different markets, shipping and have to price it based on an estimate of what they reckon the exchange rate is going to do over the next year or so.
I persnally do not think it's that bad a differential.
"The display is 6in in size and sports a higher resolution - Amazon didn’t say what"
Assuming the screen dimensions remain within a gnat's of the current Kindle, highly advanced arithmetic on my 1977 Casio fx-39 leads me to believe that the screen resolution will be 1024 x 768 pixels.
I don't see why there is such a fad for touchscreens. (I have a kindle keyboard 3G but I would probably get one of these if it didn't have a touchscreen).
The main reason why this is good is negated by scumming up the screen with fingerprints.
If you use a screen protector you remove one of the great properties of eink.
(If the screen stays immaculate for a year for most people perhaps I will reconsider).
It sucks you don't even get a wall charger anymore with kindles as well. (I am glad I have two already one free with a replacement kindle).
I'm drowning in USB mains and car chargers here, and in the very unlikely event that the all go missing overnight, a new one can be purchased for a few pounds, and while I'm waiting for it to arrive I can charge from my PC. I really don't see the point in shipping out a new one with every device.
GJC
I was concerned about fingerprints on my Touch, but in practice I have not noticed them on the matt screen and they certainly don't affect reading. This is from someone who hates fingerprints and other marks on screens.
I am hoping that the capacitive touch display will stop the accidental page turns and presses I get with the IR sensors on the Touch if something other than a finger comes into contact with it. Although the buttons on the non-touch models avoid this particular problem, I find the touch interface ideal for publications which require more interaction with the content (such as The Guardian), and find the non-touch Kindles frustrating now.
I'm not a Kindle fan (Sony PRS-T1 here) but it's got 1.3GB of storage onboard.
At 500KB per book (size of the Iain M Banks latest on my desktop), that's 2600+ books. If you read two books a week and never ever delete anything, you'll need memory expansion in 25 years. You need a PC to load up the SD card anyway, so why not just plug the Kindle in and miss out a step.
I'd probably still buy the Nook, but not because of the storage options.
I already have an older Kindle, but I shan't be buying a new one as they still don't support ePub format. My local library now has ebooks, but you need a reader that supports ePub to use them, I can't be bothered with having to use a relatively cumbersome process including conversion tools like calibre to enable what should be a quick, simple process.
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