Review: Get Lost In Books With The All New Kindle Paperwhite

There’s always a lot of debate about people’s preference for either turning the pages with a book, listening via apps such as Audible or the option for an e-reader such as Kindle. For me, I love switching between all of them.

There are times when I enjoy the tangible experience of delving headfirst into a big solid book and other times I prefer donning my headphones and consume audio books particularly when I’m short on time. I recently listened to The Happiest Man On Earth by Eddie Jaku on Audible for my book club and couldn’t have finished it faster because I did so during my daily walks on what were otherwise busy days.

Now, I’m visiting my family and taking a Kindle with me is perfect because I can easily download the books I want to read and there’s a vast library to choose from at the press of the button – all within a light, easy to carry device.

If you love getting lost in books like me, then the all new Kindle Paperwhite is a must-have addition to your tech arsenal to make your on-the-go lifestyle even easier and well, more fun.

Firstly, the Kindle, which came into our lives 14 years ago now, is more refined and easier to navigate than ever. To start with, it’s simple to set up and use. No need for a manual, you just follow the prompts to register and then it’s a fast process to either download books from the cloud or add more to your collection by heading to the Kindle Store.

The design is sleek, thin and light, weighing in at 205g, making it very portable and with its battery life, you don’t even need to take a charger with you if you’re taking it away on holiday. And one less thing to pack is always a bonus.

Plus there’s a mammoth 8GB of storage on the Kindle Paperwhite and 32 GB of storage on the Signature Edition which means you can download literally thousands of books on one device.

Navigating your way around Kindle is quite intuitive by swiping between the home, screen, library or head back to the book you are reading. Not that it needs to be a book really – it could be a magazine or a newspaper.

One of the great things about a Kindle is the nifty features which really enhance your reading experience. Of course, you will need to download the Kindle app to get the most out of your device.

Some of my favourites include the new feature to add a page transition – available in most books. This adds an animation to your page turn. Simply go to the Aa menu, select More and then enable Page Turn Animation.

BOOK COVERS

This allows you to see the cover of the book you are reading on the lockscreen of select Kindle devices without ads. You can do this by going to Settings and then select ‘On’ for display cover on device options.

X-RAY AND SMART LOOKUP

Here, you can discover the ‘bones of a book’, keep track of characters and key terms. Use the Smart Lookup function to check words in the dictionary, translate language or check what Wikipedia has to say while you are reading by tapping on a word or sentence.

WORD WISE

This is for a short definition that automatically appears above difficult words. Great if you are learning a new language.

WHISPERSYNC

You can use this feature to save and synchronise your last page, bookmark or take annotations from you eBook. Go to Settings and then Advance Options to enact.

FONTS AND HIGHLIGHTING

Without doubt fonts and highlights are the best features of all and it is where Kindle comes into its own because you can’t highlight or change fonts on the books in your library. I love the ability to highlight my favourite quotes and then revisit them further down the track.

Finally back to the debate between traditional book or e-books. One of the big benefits is that an e-book is more sustainable, particularly if you love 800 page books. The new Kindle is made with 60% post-consumer recycled plastic, 70% with recycled die-cast magnesium and 94% of its packaging is made from wood fibre based materials from responsibly managed forests or recycled sources.

For me, that matters. That and the fact big heavy books can be onerous to store and I hate the fact they may end up in landfill.

PRICING