Amazon Kindle Paperwhite to hit Europe on Oct. 25; specs & features
Amazon’s new eReader the Kindle Paperwhite is underway. The device is slated to hit the European markets including the U.K., Germany and France on October 25, 2012. Well, the revamped 6-inch eReader was announced at the new Kindle Fire HD release event a month ago. The device is known for a set of brilliant features like a built-in lighting to let you read books in dark and longer battery life up to eight weeks for uninterrupted reading experience. The new Kindle Paperwhite is to add some freshness to the eReading experience of users.
Kindle Paperwhite eReader; Tech Specs
The Paperwhite is a fine product with rich specs and features. It is as solid and ergonomic as all previous editions of Kindle eReaders from the company. The new eReader will rest nicely in your hands with the dimensions at 9.1 x 7.5 ounces. The most important feature is that its battery is so strong that you can use the device for eReading up to 8 straight weeks even if you keep the screen lit up.
The Paperwhite packs many other nice features. It includes Amazon’s new Whispersync that is to help you not lose your place as you switch between devices. Amazon avails X-Ray tracks characters and a lot of other inventive features throughout every eReader. It is easy to access the eReader. You just need to tap the top of the display and it will also bring you font size, type controls and options.
Above all, the new Kindle eReader is recognized for its massive library of eBooks, digital content and others. As per Amazon, the library touts more than 180,000 Kindle-exclusive titles. Users can access to the content on the eReader and have new eReading experience, of course.
Kindle Owners’ Lending Library
Along with Paperwhite, Amazon is also to release its Kindle Owners’ Lending Library in many European countries. As its name suggests, it is a service for its Prime subscribers to borrow an eBook a month for free of cost. As per Amazon, most of the books in the Owners’ Lending Library use Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and so that authors can circumvent conventional book publishers for their eBooks. The library has around 200,000 books for lending as of now.
“Amazon Prime members will be able to borrow books from the Kindle owners’ lending library. 200,000 books are available at the time of this writing. Amazon will increase the KDP Select program fund to catch up with the increase of demand in book lending,” says Tech Crunch.
Kindle Paperwhite eReader; Shortcomings
Kindle Paperwhite is not a perfect device. Amazon has itself admitted it. With the device is about to get official release, Amazon has stated that its new eReader has a number of shortcomings. “Paperwhite is the best Kindle we’ve ever made by far, but there are certain limitations and changes from prior generations that we want you to know about,” Amazon honestly admits.
The company has firstly acknowledged that Paperwhite lacks audio or Text-to-Speech facility. This feature was omitted to make the eReader lighter and smaller, though. “This makes the device smaller and lighter than it would otherwise be,” says Amazon.
Secondly, Amazon notes that the device’s built-in light is not perfect. It will not work well in certain lighting conditions. “These variations are normal and are located primarily in the margin where text is not present. The illumination is more even than that created by a book light or lighted cover,” says Amazon.
Another thing is that Paperwhite does only offer 2GB of storage. It is when all its previous versions have 4GB of local memory. 2GB storage only allows you to store up to 1,100 eBooks; plus, you have free cloud storage options, however.
Kindle Paperwhite eReader; Price & Release Date
Amazon is to start shipping the Paperwhite eReader on October 25 in many European markets. In many markets, Amazon has started to accept pre-orders for the eReader. Regarding price, the U.K. variant of the Paperwhite is to come for £109 (Wi-Fi model) and £169 (3G model). In Germany and France, it will be up for €129 (Wi-Fi) and €189 (3G).
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