Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 3G

Once Barnes & Noble introduced the Nook Simple Touch With GlowLight , the first E Ink-based?ebook reader with edge lighting, it was only a matter of time before Amazon responded. Enter the Kindle Paperwhite 3G ($179 direct), an edge-lit version of last year's Kindle Touch. There's more to it than that, though. Thanks to the Paperwhite's effective lighting, improved fonts, near-perfect form factor, and robust ecosystem, it's a fantastic ebook reader.?We're withholding our Editors' Choice award for the 3G version because of its high price, and leaving that award with the Nook Simple Touch With GlowLight for now. While we haven't yet tested the $119 Wi-Fi-only Kindle Paperwhite yet, we're pretty confident that it's a better buy given its affordability.?

Design, Controls, and Cover
Let's step through the key changes first. The Kindle Paperwhite is now black, instead of dark gray like last year's Kindle Touch. It measures 6.7 by 4.6 by 0.36 inches (HWD) and weighs 7.8 ounces; the model without 3G weighs 7.5 ounces. It's a tenth of an inch shorter than last year's model on both sides, and it's a few hundredths of an inch thinner, but it weighs the same. The matte, soft-touch finish feels a little more sleek and expensive than the Nook Simple Touch's housing, which is more like low-grade industrial rubber in comparison. And the Paperwhite is significantly thinner than the Nook Simple Touch With GlowLight, although the latter remains almost an ounce lighter.

There are no hardware page turn buttons on the Kindle Paperwhite, like there are on the Nook Simple Touch. This may be a blessing, though, since the Nook's are tough to press, and forums are turning up reliability issues with the base Kindle's buttons. The Kindle Paperwhite also drops the Kindle Touch's home button; now it's just a printed logo, and the top edge of the bezel is blank.?There's still no AC adapter in the box; you only get a USB cable for charging, although an optional $19.99 AC adapter is available.?Another omission: the headphone jack, which used to let you listen to audiobooks, podcasts, and music, is gone. So if that matters to you, go with a Nook.

As far as connectivity is concerned, the Kindle Paperwhite and Paperwhite 3G both support 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi hotspots, with WEP, WPA, or WPA2 encryption enabled. The 3G model works over AT&T's data network as before, and also works on many overseas networks; I had no trouble with it during the review. You never pay for 3G access, but Amazon limits you to either shopping for and buying books, or accessing Wikipedia with it. The?Kindle Paperwhite 3G also connected to our WPA2-encrypted labs network without issue.?

Amazon's optional new Paperwhite Leather Cover ($39.99) deserves special mention. In addition to coming in six colors, it has a magnetic clasp that stays closed. Open or close the cover, and it wakes the reader or puts it back to sleep. And unlike Apple's magnetic Smart Cover for the iPad, the Paperwhite Leather Cover completely encases and protects the entire device?front and back. The new cover isn't as soft to the touch as last year's version, but the textured finish should prove much more resistant to scratches and fingerprints.

Paperwhite Display
The new Paperwhite display is a gem?for E Ink, that is. It still measures 6 inches diagonally, but with an improved pixel density of 212 pixels per inch. It's also a capacitive touch screen, instead of the older IR-based panel. It's more responsive to finger touches than the Kindle Touch, but since you're still waiting for the E Ink to refresh, you won't confuse the Kindle Paperwhite with a glass Android tablet screen. That said, page refreshes are faster and less obtrusive than ever.

So, about the new edge-lighting: It looks great. When placed side-by-side, the Kindle Paperwhite display is brighter and more even than the Nook Simple Touch With GlowLight's screen. Our camera analyst, Jim Fisher, shot each screen with a Nikon D600 which was set to spot meter on each reader's gray background. With ISO and aperture fixed, the shutter speed difference was 20 percent, with the Kindle winning out with the brighter screen.

You can choose from 24 levels of brightness, which in real life range from barely there, to use-your-Kindle-as-a-flashlight level. Some minor bleed from the LEDs along the bottom edge is visible, but there's less of it than there is on the top edge of the Nook Simple Touch With GlowLight. By almost every measure, the Paperwhite's screen is superior.

User Interface and Reading
Amazon finally improved the home screen as well. Instead of the old, boring, inflexible list of books and collections, the Paperwhite displays covers of recently read books and ones Amazon recommends to you. In lieu of the old Home button, there's a Home icon at the left corner of the reworked Kindle toolbar that brings you back to this screen at any point.

As with all recent Kindles, reading is a pleasure. For turning pages, the Kindle Paperwhite's screen is broken up into three zones. The bottom right zone is the largest; tap anywhere there while reading, and you'll advance a page. Tap the slimmer portion to the left, and you'll go back a page. Finally, tap anywhere near the top of the screen, and you'll bring up the Kindle toolbar.

There are now six font choices with eight size options, plus three settings each for line spacing and margin spacing. The new fonts are an improvement, and help bring the Kindle Paperwhite in line with the Nook and Sony Reader, both of which have offered better font choices for some time. There's also an improvement in sharpness, though it's not dramatic.

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