Kindle Paperwhite (8 GB) – Now with a 6.8" display and adjustable warm light – Without Lockscreen Ads – Black

It's light, has a good size screen, and has been pretty durable so far. It fits in the inner chest pockets of my jackets which is an incredibly convenient way to take it with me in fall and winter. I take it everywhere when traveling or just on public transit. I used to browse social media a lot to kill a few minutes, now I read instead. Feels better for me in the long run. In the past year and a half I've read about 6 million words. Yes, the entire Wheel of Time series, plus other stuff. Mostly thanks to the Kindle.The built-in backlight with adjustable warmth (white to burnt orange) is also a great feature. Unfortunately it doesn't adapt to current light levels, but it's 2-3 presses to change the light level so no big deal. I have mine very low and almost max orange so it drains nearly 0 battery in the daytime, and doesn't keep me up too late at night. Ebooks on my phone had some issues with the light management at night, but Kindle's e-ink and its very low minimum brightness are a dream.I've also accidentally tested its waterproofing - it's as advertised, both freshwater and saltwater. Not sure I'd call it sand-PROOF but it definitely holds up to incidental contact at the beach (just be really careful to avoid rubbing sand into your screen)My only complaint is that it doesn't display images that well. It works, but it's not very crisp so heavily illustrated texts are a no go. Text though is great as you'd imagine. Maybe there's something I'm missing. Or maybe the universe decided that tablets should have at least 1 advantage over e-ink for cosmic balance?As a side note, while it does have a primitive web browser (not really though, it's bad) it has very limited features beyond buying books and reading. So don't expect a swiss army knife here, it really is an e-reader specialist. The refresh rate on the screen is also only about 1 Hz (a limitation of e-ink) so any dynamic content is off the table.One more thing: the battery life is TERRIFIC. I occasionally download and transfer a new book from my PC via the USB cable, and those 5-10 minute connections are enough to cover 90% of my charging. I only plug in solely for charging only about every other month.

The Kindle Paperwhite has been better than expected. I'm not exactly a super reader or anything, but enjoy a good book from time to time, and reading on the Kindle is the most convenient way ever. There is still something to be said about a physical book - the smell, the color, the texture of the cover and pages - and I thought I would have a hard time reading without those features. But the Kindle replaces them with convenience. It's light, easy to hold with one hand, readable at all times of the day in any lighting, pages don't blow in the wind, and getting a new book is just a few taps away. The "paperwhite" has been better than expected also - as it's probably the closest you'll ever get to reading paper on a screen. It honestly feels like I'm like looking at paper - my eyes don't hurt after a while from staring at a screen. You can adjust the brightness and screen warmth with a swipe down menu. Battery life has been great so far, and I haven't tested the waterproof feature (I probably won't ever) but it's nice to know it's there. The only slightly negative comments I have are that I wish the main homepage was a bit more customizable or simpler looking... It displays your library but then Amazon's recommended books and Amazon's "Discover" reading section. I wish there was a separate link to open Amazon related things instead of feeling like I'm always tied to it when on the homepage. And yes yes, this is a paperwhite kindle, but I was caught off guard by it only being in black and white. For some reason I didn't put two and two together that paperWHITE means the screen and display is made to look like paper - so book covers and images are just in black and white; no color. Oh, and one other thing, I bought the ad free version and I definitely think that's worth it. It sucks we even have to pay for something like that now a days, but I felt like ads would be annoying and would take away from the "book" experience, which has already been diminished to a screen.