Kindle Paperwhite 3G review

I've been carrying a Kindle Paperwhite e-reader in my pocket for a good few weeks, so I decided to write a short review. The only other e-reader I've used is the previous 3G version, so I'll stick to what I expected from this device and what I got.

How I came to Kindle

My path to Kindle wasn't quite straightforward. Plenty of my colleagues own one and sing its praises, but I thought it was fairly unnecessary. I've got a whole queue of paper books on my shelves, and I make slow progress through it because every visit to a bookstore, online or in person, ends with me buying more. I read quite a bit, mostly in the evening when I want to relax. Reading from a computer screen in bed is uncomfortable, at least for me. As a result I read shamefully few technical books. Last summer I went overseas, and on the eleven-hour flight to San Francisco a colleague lent me a Kindle 3G with a built-in keyboard. I got through practically an entire book on continuous delivery during the flight and found it very comfortable to read. My colleague also said this model had unlimited internet access anywhere in the world. That counted in its favor, since I wouldn't have to worry about roaming or hang around cafés with Wi-Fi. So I decided to buy a Kindle. Once I make a decision like that, rational thought tends to take a back seat. I certainly wasn't going to waste time reading rigged reviews. It took about five minutes to place the order. With hardly any research, I picked the Kindle Paperwhite 3G, whose Amazon advertising promised nothing but benefits, good news and social security. All in all, before it materialized on my desk I knew only that it was operated entirely through the touchscreen and that I wouldn't need a separate light source.

First startup

The big day came in early December, when a colleague brought me the Kindle Paperwhite 3G. The first thing I liked was how compact the box was. There was no paper manual in eight languages, none of them any use to you. It was plug and play, with the user guide greeting me straight away. After setting up my Amazon account, the next question was how on earth to get the PDF books on my drive onto the device. The Send to Kindle app answered that quickly. In the first fifteen minutes I sent myself five PDFs through the app and waited in vain for them to show up. After about half an hour with nothing on the device, I started to panic a little. It sounds trivial, but I'd missed the selector with Cloud and Device options. By some logic I didn't bother to work out, all the books were under Device.

Controls

The Kindle Paperwhite is controlled entirely through its touchscreen. The only physical button turns it on. Page turns are intuitive. There's no rocket science here. The display is divided into three areas. Tap to go back a page, move to the next page or open the menu. From the menu you can get to your list of books or choose another action, such as setting the font size or brightness. Hold your finger on the text a little longer or drag it to select text. The menu then lets you highlight it, add a note, share it or, for a single word, look up the definition in the built-in Oxford dictionary or get a translation. Selection works quite well. Its sensitivity is about the same as on an iPhone. A major drawback is that you can't jump between chapters with one gesture. The controls work great until you realize in winter that you have to take your gloves off every minute to turn a page while walking. A physical page-turn button would be handy.

3G

The built-in 3G module gives you another way to connect when Wi-Fi is unavailable. The Kindle uses it to communicate with Amazon, and you can use it to share content and so on. The Kindle also has a web browser. There's a big catch. Over 3G you can access only Amazon and its Kindle services, such as sharing. So forget about free internet access from anywhere. If you have Wi-Fi from time to time, the 3G module is superfluous and you can save yourself a good $60.

Reading

The matte screen and its lighting matter most for reading. I usually read under a lamp or on the metro and hardly ever adjust the light. I originally intended to read books, but so far most of my time goes to articles I export to the Kindle through Instapaper, which I've written about. I make a digest of the articles that interested me and have it sent to the Kindle. Unfortunately, you can't categorize passages you've highlighted, and I'm afraid that applies to books too. Passages are grouped by source. It would also make sense to group them by subject under a keyword, regardless of whether they're from a book or an article. You can share any passage. It appears in your highlights, but unless it comes from a book bought from Amazon, the source will be missing.

Getting content

You can get content onto the Kindle with the Send to Kindle app I mentioned earlier. Another option is the Amazon store, where you can buy books, newspapers and magazines. That sounds great until you discover there are no Czech periodicals. How easy it is to buy things leaves no doubt that this is the point. The selection of books in Czech is dismal, at least on Amazon, but I won't go into it because I bought the Kindle for a different kind of book.

Final verdict

The Kindle Paperwhite is an e-reader and has no ambitions beyond that. If you expect more, you'll probably be disappointed. The monochrome screen alone may put some people off. This is an e-reader. With a few minor reservations, it does its primary job of reading books perfectly. If I were buying it again, I'd definitely choose the version without 3G. In the time I've used it, the Kindle Paperwhite has frozen twice and needed restarting. The size is worth mentioning. It fits easily into a jacket or trouser pocket. Battery life deserves a section of its own, because it's measured in weeks. I'd give it 6.5 out of 10, where one is the worst and ten is the best.