
Kindle Paperwhite - Artemis2
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OQVZDJM
======
aaronbrethorst
_(warning: meta)_

Is it a fair assumption that someone 'de-editorialized' the title of this
article? It's really starting to bug me that mods are removing pertinent
information from submission titles, like this one from me where the title was
changed from something like "Final Retail Oculus Rift Hardware Announced" to
"Oculus Rift"
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9701298](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9701298))

"Kindle Paperwhite" as an article title doesn't mean anything. It would be
nice if we were allowed to give such articles meaningful titles, and not have
that change on us.

~~~
Artemis2
I submitted the page with the title "Kindle Paperwhite". I assumed that most
HN readers would recognize a new Kindle model. I usually get my titles edited,
so I am trying to help the mods.

Of course, "Amazon releases the Kindle Paperwhite" or "New Kindle Paperwhite
preorders" would be a lot clearer.

~~~
serge2k
With the amount of completely random crap that gets posted, some indicator
that you didn't just find out about paperwhite/want to talk about the
paperwhite for some reason seems justified.

Could also link to [http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/17/8793511/amazons-kindle-
pap...](http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/17/8793511/amazons-kindle-
paperwhite-2015-high-resolution-screen) which has a much better title.

------
swozey
I've owned every single small Kindle, since the Kindle 1, I think so far I've
bought 4 Kindles including 2 PWs (1st gen, 2nd gen). They keep upgrading
things that don't bother me. What I WANT them to upgrade is the software. Why
can't I sort books by Genre? Or Tags? Or Series? Making Collections is a pain
so I never use it. I've got hundreds of books and the sorting is rough. I'd
like to be able to list #SpaceOpera, or #Mystery, #Vampire, etc. Having to be
online to get book info sucks. Most books don't have descriptions so I can't
pick a random free book I've downloaded and read the jacket to see if I'd
enjoy it. I'd like an offline synopsis.

~~~
joekrill
I primarily use Google Play Books, and have thought the same exact thing. Is
there maybe not a high demand for this kind of thing?

------
andrewla
I wish there were more details about the changes from the last paperwhite.
From what I read, primarily it's a higher resolution display; the rest of the
stuff on there seems like it could just be OS features that will be applied to
old paperwhites as well.

Oddly enough, given that they have a higher resolution display, it does not
appear that they've changed the smallest font size, which is something that I
would definitely like to see. I can't help but wonder why they made that
decision, when the smallest font is still noticeably larger than what you
would find in a standard print book.

------
listic
What ebook reader would be good for those who would like to read ebooks on
their own terms?

After long deliberation (because Amazon doesn't really sell books in my native
language) I finally bought myself a basic Kindle 5, because it's made by
Amazon, the large company that has enough production prowess to do the
hardware and software _right_ and basically it looks like all books are
_there_. I don't like the DRM, locking down my books from me, but I decided
I'll figure that later.

When I _did_ try to figure out how to _liberate_ my books [1] from my Kindle,
I was basically asked 'Are you asking us for help on breaking the law here?
(TOS, actually)' Oops, turns out like I am. Now that I thought this over and
figured that I want a reader that provides comforts of reading like a Kindle
does, but allows me to read my books on my own terms, I am very reluctant on
buying another Kindle. What options are there?

[1] Ebooks StackExchange: How do I liberate ebooks from Kindle device?
[http://ebooks.stackexchange.com/questions/1192/how-do-i-
libe...](http://ebooks.stackexchange.com/questions/1192/how-do-i-liberate-
ebooks-from-kindle-device)

~~~
dedrm
[https://apprenticealf.wordpress.com](https://apprenticealf.wordpress.com)

~~~
TheLoneWolfling
I quote from the grandparent's link:

> I use Linux, so I can't use Apprentice Alf because apparently it is Windows
> and Mac-only (even though Calibre works on Linux)

~~~
DanBC
Apprentice Alf is not windows / mac only. The Apprentice Alf tools work on
Linux.

~~~
TheLoneWolfling
I was just going by what the linked Stack Exchange post said. If they are
incorrect, correct them.

~~~
DanBC
They get to see my reply so I am correcting them with that post. Also, I'm
letting you know. How should I have worded the correction? (Genuine question.
I'm not good at communicating and want to do better.)

~~~
TheLoneWolfling
You handled that pretty well. Although you may wish to directly reply to them
as well.

------
Osmium
> All-new typesetting engine lays out words just as the author intended for
> beautiful rendering of pages. With improved character spacing and the
> addition of hyphenation, justification, kerning, ligatures, and drop cap
> support, our best-in-class typography helps you read faster with less
> eyestrain.

 _Finally._

And I say that un-ironically. Would've switched to a Kobo just for this if it
weren't for the Kindle store.

Any news for if the Voyage will get a software upgrade? I only got one a few
months ago and it'd be a shame for it to be obsoleted by a cheaper product so
soon after it was launched.

Edit: Nice to see in-line translate too.

------
masonhensley
Neat, reminds me that I want to turn an older one into an uptime / analytics
monitor sorta like this:

[http://mpetroff.net/2012/09/kindle-weather-
display/](http://mpetroff.net/2012/09/kindle-weather-display/)

~~~
lucaspiller
Unfortunately since the 5.6 firmware, you can't root it without opening it up
and connecting a serial port.

~~~
RexRollman
But it does have a web browser. Could always serve a website with the uptime
that auto-reloads every so often.

------
rob-alarcon
I want more cpu and memory specs, I really like my kindle but it's extremely
slow.

------
TheDom
I'm kind of bummed out that they didn't update the Voyage too. The Voyage
still seems to be better but I don't want to buy an "old" model. I
specifically waited for the next Kindle generation to update mine...

------
lambdaelite
Yawn.

I upgraded from a Paperwhite 1 to a Voyage because I thought the screen and
haptic buttons would be improvements. I can barely see a difference in the
screen quality when I'm deliberately looking (and don't notice any while
reading), and the haptic buttons are poorly placed so I rarely use them. The
Voyage is nice but was questionably worth the extra money over the Paperwhite
1. Now with the Paperwhite 3? Fuggetaboutit.

You know what feature would be a great improvement? A backlight without blue
light, for reading at night without screwing up sleep cycles.

edit: clarified

~~~
acconrad
Is the Paperwhite worth upgrading from the regular Kindle? I've never bought
one before but considering it

~~~
hakcermani
For me the swipe / touch has been worthwhile ! The page turn buttons on the
regular used to drive me nuts. Others might be used to it. The Paperwhite is a
bit smaller, but has no audio, so the old Kindle is still useful to listen to
audio books - though the Audible app on iphone/android is what i use nowadays
for audio books. Oh and the backlight - very useful. (as @lambdaelite) pointed
out.

~~~
listic
I, on the other hand, love the page turn buttons on my Kindle 5 and reluctant
to upgrade for exactly the lack of this feature. I'm afraid I will keep
stubbornly refusing to get used to swiping for turning pages. Why couldn't
Amazon provide both options (swiping and clicking) for page turning, at least
on some of their newer devices?

~~~
to3m
I've got a version 1 Kindle Paperwhite, and you can tap the screen to turn a
page. That's what I do.

Random ramble time... (because this aspect of the Kindle Paperwhite annoys me
every time I think about it)

The tapping bit is fine, so reading books is no problem, but to be honest, in
general, the touch UI is no more than resoundingly adequate. The tapping is
fine, and the swiping works, but it doesn't feel as nice as it does on iOS.
For me, swiping works best when the UI updates pretty much instantly as your
finger moves (e.g., iOS, Android). The Kindle, on the other hand, doesn't do
anything until your swipe is finished and the action has been registered.
Feels like somebody who's never used an iPad read was given a one-sentence
summary of what swiping was, and then wrote some code to do what they
imagined. (Maybe they were worried about the screen going all blurry? Well,
that's fair enough. But technical reasons won't make the touch UI suddenly
brilliant.)

This makes the experimental web browser rather hard to use - a shame, as this
could have been such a great feature! - and the book list a bit annoying.

But, still, compared to the non-Paperwhite equivalent, it has a backlight, and
it's a bit smaller. And there's never anything wrong with a few more pixels.
So overall, I don't mind, and the Kindle Paperwhite gets a thumbs up. It would
still have been improved by some more UX work and/or a couple of physical
inputs. I think this is what annoys me about it so much - the device is good,
_but it could have been better_ , and it's really obvious.

Ramble over. Phew! Sorry about that.

------
listic
Wow, 'Holds thousands of books' is now _technical_ details. How do we stop
this trend of dumbing down the specs?

~~~
Artemis2
The previous versions of Kindle Paperwhite did include 4gb of storage space.
Consumers may start to compare the storage between their ebook reader and
their phones, and feel that they are getting ripped off by Amazon. Of course,
4gb for a reader is a lot more appropriate than 16gb for a phone (I'm looking
at you, Apple).

------
lukaslalinsky
In my opinion, Kindle 4/5 was the perfect product. It's the lightest of all
Kindles, and it can survive pretty much any environment. Maybe I'm a minority,
but I'm using Kindle like I'd use a paper book, not as an electronic device. I
couldn't care less about any feature besides opening a book and turning pages.
I take it with me hiking and camping, so it's often in freezing temperatures.
The screen often gets wet, because I like to read while taking a bath. I can't
imagine using something with touchscreen in similar conditions.

------
_nullandnull_
I wish Amazon or someone would make a smaller kindle. I'd really like
something the size of an iphone (6 or lower). It would be nice to have an
ebook reader that could fit in my pant or jacket pocket.

~~~
DanBC
Kobo mini?

It has some unpleasant requirements to connect to the Internet to set it up.
This can be avoided with a bit of SAL on the microSD card (which is hidden
inside the device).

[http://uscoffings.net/clc/tech/embedded/kobo-
touch/](http://uscoffings.net/clc/tech/embedded/kobo-touch/)

> Connect the Kobo via USB, and mount its onboard storage on your desktop
> machine.

> Ensure you have an SQLite3 database browser installed, or some way to
> execute SQL. For example, sudo apt-get install sqlitebrowser

> Open /mnt/onboard/.kobo/KoboReader.sqlite.

> Execute this SQL: insert into USER values("foo", "foo", "foo", "foo",
> "foo");

> Save, unmount, and disconnect.

------
Splendor
This looks nice but until Kindle supports EPUB it's a no-go for me.

~~~
baq
i haven't seen an EPUB that calibre couldn't convert into a MOBI with less
than good results.

~~~
ascagnel_
I find that some more advanced things get messed up pretty badly and need
manual tweaking (ie table of contents).

------
joshuapants
I'm glad that the display has improved. The screenshot shows better typography
than ebook readers typically have, but I bet that won't be the norm.

I have a Kindle touch that was gifted to me, but I don't think I'll buy one of
these to replace it. I'd rather stay away from the Amazon ecosystem as much as
I can.

~~~
DennisP
I don't see why it wouldn't be the norm, given that they have half a million
books converted already. If Knuth could make good typography happen in
software decades ago I'm sure Amazon can do it now.

~~~
joshuapants
I was guessing that books might have to be reformatted. Hopefully not, and if
it works on any text you supply it with I might very well buy one.

------
micheljansen
Ouch, they ran a father's day promotion for all of last week in the UK where
they sold the Paperwhite with £10 discount and then they announce a new model
just before Father's day. I wonder how many geek dads will get a disappointing
gift on Sunday.

------
ableal
Not-too-informative notice at Wired: [http://www.wired.com/2015/06/kindle-
paperwhite-upgrade/](http://www.wired.com/2015/06/kindle-paperwhite-upgrade/)

------
jwr
Same bad typography (and full justification), no page turn buttons, still
heavier than my Kindle 4.

I would really like to buy a newer Kindle, but everything past the 4 has been
a disappointment.

~~~
andor
Better typography is "coming soon":

 _" All-new typesetting engine lays out words just as the author intended for
beautiful rendering of pages. With improved character spacing and the addition
of hyphenation, justification, kerning, ligatures, and drop cap support, our
best-in-class typography helps you read faster with less eyestrain."_

~~~
nutate
It does look pretty good on iPad. I guess we'll just have to wait for them to
figure out how to release it for their... ya know, flagship e-reader.

------
Grue3
Why would you name your product to sound like "paperweight"? What's next,
Apple iBrick?

------
polskibus
I really hope they bring back the large screen version. For PDFs the screen
size really matters.

~~~
listic
At least they do upgrade the resolution. I guess it should help as well, if
one has good eyesight.

