It doesn’t have page turn buttons! Deal-breaking, ridiculously stupid design. Why would Amazon not put in dedicated page turn buttons on a device where all you do is turn pages? It makes no sense.
Wow Kindles are really popular here. My Kindle 2 just died. I found out when packing for a trip so I couldn’t bring it 
but hoping for good news soon…
The entire screen is the page turn button. They have it broken up into two sections so there’s about 2 inches on the left, for Back, and 4 inches on the right, for Forward. Because of this, it’s easy to hit the Forward area even when holding the unit in your left hand. When holding it in your right hand, you have to reach a bit to go back a page, but only a little. Seriously, after a few minutes you won’t even notice tapping on the screen. Unless you have some specific motor skills issue, where you need the tactile button, the on-screen buttons are a total non-problem.
ETA: by the way, I have the ad supported version. I find the ads to be another non-problem. They’re unobtrusive and occasionally even provide sales I want.
I felt similarly based on my experience with my kindle that had page turn buttons. But I’ve been using the paperwhite for a month and I don’t miss them. Only issue I’ve run into is that I read while falling asleep, and my fingers sometimes slip as I get drowsy and start turning pages.
Other than that, the blotchy lighting on the bottom was a bit distracting at first, but I also got over that.
All in all, I’m very happy with it. And at just over 100 bucks with the ads (which I don’t remotely notice) it was a great buy.
I went to Best Buy for the 3G (this would be December 29th) and they told me they were out of it, all other stores were out of it, and they couldn’t order them, either. So I went with the wi-fi. Considering there are wireless networks just about everywhere, the 3G issue doesn’t come up as often as I would have thought. And when it does, it just requires a little prior planning. I would prefer to have the 3G but the difference isn’t as significant as I anticipated.
You should at least try it before criticizing. The entire screen is a capacitive “button” - the right 3/4 or so for forward, and the left 1/4 or so for backward. I’ve owned the original Kindle, Kindle 2 and Kindle 3 (aka Kindle Keyboard), and I find the Paperwhite easier to use.
I’ve used the Kindle touch, and I hated having to reach the screen and turn a page. It took away much of what made the kindle awesome for me in the first place - reading with minimal movement. Keep your hands in one place, put slight pressure using thumb - next page. It could make all manner of reading positions comfortable. Turning a page using the touch just felt annoying. Sure it’s mild annoyance per page turn, but making people do that for each and every page of all the books they read when Amazon could so easily put in page turn buttons? That’s a bad design decision. And I don’t want to support it.
Interesting. My paper books seem to be missing page turn buttons as well.
What’s your point? I have a kindle, I love it. I know I wouldn’t love it half as much if it didn’t have the page turn buttons. I know this because I’ve read on a kindle touch
I think the pages on a Kindle Paperwhite turn better than they do on a Kindle Touch, but I’m probably just blinded by my shiny new toy. With the Touch I was all the time accidentally bumping the screen and sending myself back or forward five pages. That hasn’t happened with the Paperwhite even once yet.
Which is not to denigrate anyone else’s choice of e-reader. They are all magic beans to me. I’ve never had one with buttons but I can see the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Generally speaking though, I think we can sum up the overall feedback as ‘‘Kindles are awesome.’’
Speaking of 3G…unlike with the Kindle Keyboard (which I upgraded from) PaperWhite’s 3G ONLY lets you browse Amazon and Wikipedia. I wasn’t aware of this and was disappointed: I don’t have a smartphone, and liked being able to check e-mail on my Kindle in a pinch. I understand why Amazon added the limitation, but still - wish I’d known beforehand.
Other than that the PaperWhite is great! Highly recommended.
That’s exactly how it works on the touchscreens. Put your thumb anywhere on the edge of device and use slight pressure to move to the next page. There’s no reaching necessary.
Adding the cost of the touchscreen controls plus the cost of a physical keyboard would increase the price point significantly - including the cost of adding yet another version fabrication plant and advertising feature. It would also add noticeable weight to the device.
That’s not to say that some people wouldn’t prefer to have all the options on one unit, but that there downsides for doing that as well. Presumably, Amazon didn’t see enough market interest.
Can you tear pages out and use them in the bathroom when the TP roll is empty?
I tried this and holy shit, you’re right. I’ve been ‘‘reaching’’ this whole time and couldn’t find a way to get a comfortable one-handed hold. Thanks for that.
I couldn’t get the Kindle touch to work reliably without taking my thumb off the screen.
Who’s asking for a keyboard? I’m asking for page turn buttons only. Do you really think it costs that much more to put them in? Or increases the weight of the device?
ETA: I read some reviews - People in cold climates - keep in mind that you won’t be able to turn pages with gloves on.
I tripped and fell yesterday - my Kindle Keyboard 3G didn’t make it.
The paperwhite still reads like an e-ink reader and not like a screen?
Also, the one thing I did not like about the keyboard was the 5 direction controller thingy what does the paperwhite use? is less cumbersome?
It reads like an e-ink reader on the lowest light setting, but you can increase the light contrast to your liking. It’s not like an LED screen and does not strain your eyes the way an LED screen would. Honestly the best way to find out if you’d like it is to go to Best Buy or some other electronics store and try it out. Alternatively, this You Tube video does a really good job showing it at various light settings. You see him turn it all the way down at the end and it basically looks like e-ink.
There are no buttons on the Paperwhite (other than the power button on the bottom.) It navigates entirely by touch. I think I could talk about my Kindle all day and all night long and never get tired of it. I’ve had the Paperwhite for 9 days now and my favorite part about it is still that I can read in any light condition. If you do get it, I recommend springing for the $40 official Kindle case - it fits like a glove and will make the device sleep/wake-up automatically.
Yes, you can! I also love these, but they’re more hilarious than useful for reading.
While we’re pimping Kindle-related products, I have this thing called a Beach Buoy waterproof case that protects my Kindle while I read in the tub. It actually navigates pretty well through the plastic and is supposed to be submersible up to 15 feet, but my tub’s not that deep.
That’s very cool, olivesmarch4th! I actually first found out about these kinds of gloves when my daughter bought a pair to use with her iPod while waiting for the bus, so this is general electronics-accessory pimping.
It just did occur to me, though, that my own, less high-tech, solution to safely reading the Kindle in the tub won’t work with the touchscreen model.