Kindle Classic vs Paperwhite
September 17, 2013 10:58 AM   Subscribe

Back in the day I owned a regular kindle (it died), and I'm considering getting a new one. Since Amazon recently came out with their new Paperwhite e-reader, it seems the big rage with all sorts of praise. I'm trying to understand what the real advantage of the Paperwhite is over the regular kindle and all I can come up with is that Paperwhite lets you read in the dark. I have no interest in reading in the dark so this isn't an issue for me. Am I missing something? Should I just go for the regular Kindle?
posted by aarondesk to Technology (35 answers total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
turn pages by touchscreen
posted by thelonius at 11:08 AM on September 17, 2013


I don't read in the dark, but I have found myself reading in less than ideal light and the paperwhite can compensate for that. You can also turn it down all the way making it feel like a regular Kindle. It just gives you flexibility.
posted by cecic at 11:10 AM on September 17, 2013 [2 favorites]


I have the previous Paperwhite, and the contrast is better than in the non-Paperwhite Kindle I had before that. Also the pages turn faster.
posted by The corpse in the library at 11:10 AM on September 17, 2013 [2 favorites]


I have a Paperwhite. Not the newest Paperwhite, I got mine about a month ago. OH HOLY JESUS IT IS AMAZING. IT IS THE BEST THING.

I was a longtime holdout on getting an e-reader, but I've given them as gifts before. I was planning on getting the regular old kindle ("I don't need to read in the dark, psh"), and actually in fact bought one, and during the waiting-for-it-to-ship-to-me time, a coworker told me I should get the Paperwhite, and that I would regret it forever if I didn't. (Those were actually his words.) The extra 50 bucks was not a hardship, so I cancelled the regular Kindle and got the Paperwhite.

I saw my mom (who has a regular kindle) over Labor Day weekend and wanted to see how they stacked up side by side. It's not even funny how much better the Paperwhite is.

1) Screen is just much, much nicer looking.
2) Touchscreen. TOUCH SCREEN. I had no idea how to navigate with the buttons on the regular one. I mean, I'm not an idiot and I'm sure I'd figure it out in no time, but the touch screen is just so much nicer.
3) I can read in bright light, which is generally the case when I'm on the train into work in the morning.
4) I have started reading in the dark/very low light, which I've found is much more conducive to the transitioning to bedtime for me.
5) My coworker was right. Knowing what I know now, I would have been sorely disappointed with the regular Kindle.
posted by phunniemee at 11:10 AM on September 17, 2013 [3 favorites]


Lovelovelove my paperwhite. I had a Kindle touch before (so, touch screen, no buttons, and also no light), and it was fine. I do read in the dark, but the paperwhite also makes reading outside even better. The resolution is better, the pages turn faster, all that. And being able to pinch-zoom in order to embiggen the font is great.
posted by rtha at 11:14 AM on September 17, 2013


I don't know if this is an issue for you, but in addition to the features already mentioned, the Paperwhite will display non-Roman text.
posted by Tanizaki at 11:18 AM on September 17, 2013


The touchscreen is great - not just for turning pages, but for using the keyboard to search, and for hilighting. I love the dictionary feature on the Kindle so it's nice to just touch a word and have the definition come up.
posted by radioamy at 11:20 AM on September 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


The only time I don't use the light on the Paperwhite is when I'm outside in the sun. Yes, the light is great for reading in the dark, but it also just makes things look more contrasty without blowing your eyes out with light like a backlit LCD screen can.
posted by zsazsa at 11:21 AM on September 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


I have the regular one, but the paperwhite seems way more awesome. The keys are awkward to use. The touchscreen seems much more useful. The light is probably not that big of a deal.
posted by kbennett289 at 11:26 AM on September 17, 2013


Used to have Kindle. Now have the Paperwhite, and the pages turn faster, the constrast is better (which is nice on my eyes, and the keyless operation lets me finally achieve my dream of being able to read one-handed while brushing my teeth.
posted by joyceanmachine at 11:31 AM on September 17, 2013 [2 favorites]


My kindle Keyboard was FRAGILE. This was a few years ago, but my newer Paperwhite has shrugged off injuries/drops/strong breezes that would have left ol Keys smoking in a crater of its own dust. Overall, love my paperwhite.
posted by Jacen at 11:33 AM on September 17, 2013


I just bought a normal Kindle because I am a sucker for buttons (plus, the touchscreen on the demo unit at Best Buy didn't work, which boded poorly). The new non-Paperwhite Kindles have noticeably better contrast than the older ones did, but the Paperwhite looks so much better than that. If you don't mind – or prefer – touch screen controls and don' t mind spending the extra $50, you'll probably be happier with the Paperwhite.

One thing that does annoy me about the Kindle without a touch screen is footnotes! Using the 5 way button to select the footnote to click it is a real pain.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 11:34 AM on September 17, 2013


I don't have a Kindle, but I can't imagine having an eBook without a touchscreen (I have a relatively old Sony eReader).
posted by muddgirl at 11:37 AM on September 17, 2013


Response by poster: Ok, ok, I think I get the point. If I don't get a Paperwhite I'll be a pariah! :) Perhaps I'll just wait to see if they go on sale this Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Thanks for the comments!
posted by aarondesk at 11:39 AM on September 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


I have had both a non-glowy ereader (Sony) and a glowy one (Kobo). Both have touchscreens. Sony has buttons too, which are amazing (and which I used most of the time for in-book navigation), but if you cannot get both a touchscreen and a button, get the touchscreen. (I don't know the details of Kindle because I won't buy one because it might force-switch my Kindle account from a US account to a Canada one if I do so, I just convert.)

If you ever read in bed, the glow reader is just so much better -- it has a perfectly even light. This also helps in a darkish room where the light isn't perfectly placed, or outside where the shadows are on and off. It's just massively, massively convenient. I bought mine shortly after it was made available because I read in bed regularly, and I do not regret it at all even though my old ereader worked fine.
posted by jeather at 11:41 AM on September 17, 2013 [2 favorites]


I just bought a Kindle 4 because I hate swiping/touching on my Fire and missed the buttons on my original Kindle.

Hate touching. Hate. The bezel is too far in and it hurts the tendons in my wrist, it makes me hold the reader funny, and I guess I just live a greasy fucking life because the screen is always schmutzed up. Haven't turned my Fire on in two weeks since I got my K4.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:56 AM on September 17, 2013 [2 favorites]


Love my Paperwhite. A friend played with it this weekend and loved it so much she ordered one.
posted by michellenoel at 11:58 AM on September 17, 2013


I also hate hate hate touchscreen readers because they mean I have to constantly worry about accidentally touching the screen. The paperwhite screen would be nice but I couldn't live with the touchscreen.
posted by katrielalex at 12:04 PM on September 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


2) Touchscreen. TOUCH SCREEN. I had no idea how to navigate with the buttons on the regular one. I mean, I'm not an idiot and I'm sure I'd figure it out in no time, but the touch screen is just so much nicer.

Funny. I haven't used a paperwhite but I expect I'd hate hate hate it because I'm fat-fingered enough to keep smacking the touchscreen when I don't mean to turn the page. I really like having a defined, off-screen, click-required button to turn pages. Also schmutz, yuck.

You can get a lighted cover for the regular non-touch kindle (and it is great), but regular+cover is about as expensive as paperwhite and no cover.

So to me it's really just a question of whether you want to turn pages by clicking buttons like the old kindle or by touchscreen-and-no-buttons.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 12:04 PM on September 17, 2013


Not to go outside the scope of the question (sort of like saying "not to be racist"), but having owned an earlier model Kindle, I really wouldn't replace mine with anything from Amazon.

I've got an iPad and my fiancee has a Nexus 7, and the Kindle app on both of these is, in our experience, at least as good to read and interact with as the dedicated Kindle, while the hardware lets you do a hell of a lot more for your investment.

Unless you've really got a jones for e-ink, I'd just go ahead and merge your kindle functionality into a portable tablet.
posted by Naberius at 12:22 PM on September 17, 2013


Yup, I'm another person with both an old-skool Kindle and a Paperwhite, and while I enjoy being able to read in low-light situations, I absolutely LOATHE the touch-screen. If they made a version of the Paperwhite with no touchscreen I'd probably upgrade, I hate it that much. I was a die-hard paper-book reader and I think the original Kindle really replicated that which is why I liked it so much when I switched over; moving towards a more tablet-esque Kindle with a touchscreen is not an improvement in my opinion.

I am a Luddite, though.
posted by iminurmefi at 12:27 PM on September 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


Incidentally, I have a tablet too, and I read on it pretty much never, because I find it's terribly unpleasant to read on -- it's too bright and too heavy. If you want it to read on, e-ink is much better.

As far as I know, no one makes a lighted e-reader with physical buttons.
posted by jeather at 12:38 PM on September 17, 2013


Hmm I would never have guessed that touch screens would be controversial (although my ereader has both a touchscreen for selecting words and links, and a few buttons for turning the page if I want to use them...) so I'd recommend physically getting your hands on the Paperwhite and a regular Kindle before buying.
posted by muddgirl at 12:46 PM on September 17, 2013


Lack of audio makes the Paperwhite smaller. I prefer access to text-to-speech on older Kindles. Tastes will vary.
posted by gregoreo at 1:03 PM on September 17, 2013 [3 favorites]


"As far as I know, no one makes a lighted e-reader with physical buttons." - Just wanted to hop in to say my Nook glow is lighted and has physical buttons (to turn the pages, at least).

I don't have a Kindle, but the glow feature is nice, especially in low-light, such as in a restaurant, bar, car with tinted windows, etc.
posted by dearwassily at 1:13 PM on September 17, 2013


I got my wife a Paperwhite in July (with an inexpensive green case) just before I went out of town for a week and she LOVES it. We have an iPad and the eyestrain difference (much worse on iPad) is very noticeable. Plus the ability to read in any lighting is great, and it weighs less than an iPad or most books (certainly Game of Thrones books).

About the only problem we have is the confusing plethora of ways to get content (Amazon, library, emailing to device, etc.). That's more a problem with the state of the market though. The device is great.
posted by freecellwizard at 1:44 PM on September 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


While not a direct answer to your question, I'd like to suggest a third alternative.

A generic Android tablet (I love my Nexus 7) along with an e-reader app (Moon+ Reader, is my current favorite) makes a fine substitute for a Kindle minus wacky DRM and Amazon branding. There is, of course, also a dedicated Kindle app if you really want that Amazon stuff.
posted by cedar at 1:56 PM on September 17, 2013


I have a Kindle Touch (no light), and I had had an original Kindle 2 (keyboard, joystick, no touchscreen). I vastly prefer my Touch. I do not want a tablet (meh, I have an iPhone for that), but it is SO much easier to look things up on the touchscreen (I read a lot of non-English books with the dictionary feature!) than it was on the old Kindle. Plus, it's lighter, faster, etc.

I don't really care about the light feature on the new Paperwhites (my partner has one), but I wouldn't go back down to the keyboard one.
posted by lysimache at 2:03 PM on September 17, 2013


I have a Kindle 2 (with keyboard) and an original Kindle Paperwhite. I prefer the paperwhite's screen but miss a physical page-turn button. I don't miss the keyboard or the text-to-speech feature. I haven't seen the "new" paperwhite, but I assume it's incrementally improved compared to the one I own.

I also have a Nexus 7 tablet, and prefer the paperwhite for reading mostly because of the lower weight and bulk. However, when traveling and I know I'll want the tablet for other reasons (maps, e-mail) I'll pack it and leave the dedicated reader at home.

Of course, on an Android tablet you can read most of the major ebook retailers' products—Amazon, B&N, and Google. I think I even saw a kobo app. You can't read Apple on anything but Apple devices, naturally.
posted by jepler at 3:10 PM on September 17, 2013


I have an ordinary Kindle, and I'm deeply envious of the Paperwhite display, but the buttons are essential for me. I read lying on my side in bed every night, and a touchscreen just wouldn't work for me at all. Seconding anyone who said if the Paperwhite came with buttons, I'd buy it immediately. I use the kindle app on my tablet and phone, and they're fine, but I prefer the Kindle.
posted by Kaleidoscope at 4:44 PM on September 17, 2013


I love my Kindle 2 because I can slip it in a ziploc bag and take it in the bath with me. Probably not going to do that with a touch screen.
posted by rebeccabeagle at 5:36 PM on September 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


I had an early Kindle and loved it for its ability to access the internet and update my Twitter feed while we were traveling or whatnot. Then I dropped it, and it broke. :-( Does the Paperwhite have the Whispernet connectivity feature and the "experimental" browser?
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 5:41 PM on September 17, 2013


I read my Paperwhite in the bath with it in a Ziploc bag, and the touch screen works just fine.
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:44 PM on September 17, 2013


The "experimental" browser on the paperwhite is pretty much a horror, and should be used only in dire need, like if you're trapped in an elevator.
posted by rtha at 8:06 PM on September 17, 2013 [2 favorites]


> I don't know if this is an issue for you, but in addition to the features already mentioned, the Paperwhite will display non-Roman text.

So does the regular Kindle (I have one, and I mainly use it for reading Russian novels), so that's not an issue period.

Me, I wouldn't like a touchscreen. Tastes differ.
posted by languagehat at 7:41 AM on September 18, 2013


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