I’m considering purchasing an e-book reader and have been looking at the Kindle Paperwhite II.
Anyone have one of these? Do you like/love it? Are there any cons? Is anything else out there better (I only want an e-reader, not a full tablet).
Thanks!
My husband likes his a lot. The front light is useful, the screen is excellent, and the integration with the Amazon ecosystem is wonderful. There aren’t as many customization options as some other e-ink readers, but there should be enough choices for most people.
I love my Paperwhite. The light is wonderful for reading in bed, it’s clear and easy to read in the sun (just like a paperback), it’s light weight, hooked up to GoodReads, and it’s easy to get books onto it, however acquired.
First e-reader for me. You will need Wi-fi to complete the registration but it can be used without otherwise.
It does not read books in .epub format. Get Calibre to convert to .mobi (Kindle).
It’s dead easy loading books off the computer. Connect the USB cable and the Kindle appears as a drive/folder. Drag and drop.
Get a good case that protects the screen. Lots of choices.
I went with the Amazon leather cover, expensive but the Kindle snaps into the frame(I’m not sure if I can get it out again) and closing the cover puts it to sleep, opening wakes it up.
I have an old style Kindle (keyboard kind) which I really like and have recently bought a Kindle White II for my son’s fiancée for her birthday. It hasn’t arrived yet but I assume it’ll be linked to my Amazon account. I hope it’s not too difficult for her/me to assign it to her.
I have been researching this myself in the last several days. I’ve figured out that I want the 2nd gen, paperwhite, 6", wi-fi (no 3g), and with the ads. If you want to talk specifics I can explain how I made the choices.
Now I just have to find the money… Suddenly that $49 Kindle Whatever sounds good.
Thanks for all the info, everyone.
What kind of options are not available?
I’d love to hear your specifics, as I have been doing research for a couple weeks myself. Love to know if there’s anything I missed.
For example, the Kobo Aura has many font style choices including type and thickness, not just size of text. Margins and other options are also more customizable with sliders. Other less well known readers have even more customizations available.
But as I said, the options on the Paperwhite should be enough for most people and the Amazon ecosystem provides a great user experience that isn’t matched by anyone else.
Ok, thanks for that info! I should be ok without those options. 
You don’t need to hook your Kindle to your computer. You can send the docs over the internet. There’s several ways.
Send to Kindle for PC
http://www.amazon.com/gp/sendtokindle/pc
this is software that installs on your machine. You can drag and drop files or rightclick on them and choose the send to kindle option. It also adds an option to the print dialog on the computer. If you’re reading a document in Word, you can go to Print it and select your Kindle as the printer, and it will be sent to your device.
There’s also a Mac version.
Send to Kindle by Email
http://www.amazon.com/gp/sendtokindle/email
Each Kindle device has its own email address. You can find out the email address at the Manage Your Kindle page on Amazon. You can just email the item as an attachment. (There’s a list of acceptable file formats on that page).
Send to Kindle from your Browser
http://www.amazon.com/gp/sendtokindle/firefox
There are browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox and IE. That link is for Firefox. It adds a button to your toolbar and when you find an article you want to read later, you can click the button to send it to your device.
Anything you send this way gets stored in your Amazon Cloud Drive. You can manage the documents stored on that drive via the website:
As far as the Paperwhite goes, it’s my most essential device. I have a first gen and it’s so perfect as it is that I haven’t even wanted to update (although I might when the 3rd gen comes out this fall.)
Merneith, you just blew my mind. Thanks for the info!
Wow! Thanks for those links and tips! That’s great!
I have - and love - a first generation PaperWhite. Has anyone here owned both that and the second generation? Is there a big difference?
Not sure how extensive options on the Kobo or other e-readers are, but the Kindle has six native font options (Baskerville, Caecilia, Caecilia Condensed, Futura, Helvetica, and Palatino) in additon to the “Publisher Font” if made available by the publisher. There are eight size settings for the fonts, three different settings for line spacing, and three different options for margins.
I find these more than sufficient to provide a comfortable reading medium.
I don’t have Wi-fi so I do everything by transfer.
Sounds perfect for me, too!
One quick question - if I were to go to a local office store (Staples, Office Depot, etc) is there a way to determine that what they have is a 2nd gen and not a 1st?
I have one and an older Kindle DX with buttons. The buttons are very nice, but the screen is nicer on the Paperwhite. I have trouble navigating the books on both, but I like Kindle because I always have something to read.
Oh, sure. That’s perfectly viable. I just wanted to mention the options.
There was a problem with the first gen. light. It was often blotchy though it varied. The software can be updated to 2nd gen.
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