Kindle Paperwhite
Sometimes I’m a slow adopter of technology. An electronic reading device was something I had trouble bringing myself to purchase. I like the feel and smell of books, but hauling several books around can be cumbersome. I blame it on George (R. R. Martin). Carrying around those hefty novels can give you back strain! This past “Happy Holiday” I asked my wife for a Kindle. I originally asked for the Kindle Voyage (the latest/greatest), but the local electronics megastore were out of stock. She bought me Amazon Gift Cards instead (she was ashamed she had to do that). The day after I eagerly logged into my Amazon account and selected the Voyage but before purchasing I noted they were out of stock for the next 5-6 weeks. That got the hamsters spinning I’m sorry to say! I began to weigh the differences between the Paperwhite and the Voyage. Ultimately the deciding factor was that the Voyage was $100 more with relatively minor increase in what we’ll call electronic improvements.
Since I’ve purchased the Paperwhite I have been impressed with how easy it is to read. It looks small when compared to a paperback. Initially I consciously found myself tapping the page-forward quickly as I tore through my first book. I’m not a speed-reader but I read quickly. The frequency of my page-forward tapping was a bit of a distraction. After using it for a month though it rarely notice it. A feature I find useful is the “approximate time to end-of-chapter”. It gauges your read speed and estimates how long until you complete the chapter. I’m the type that likes to break my reading at the chapter or section, so this feature is like what I used to do with a book and that was to thumb ahead to see where the end of the section was and whether I would get there (too sleepy, or the plane was pulling into the gate, you get the picture).
Anyway, I’m rambling now … my first month of owning a Kindle has been positive. My wife calls me a procrastinator but I think in this case dragging my feet was the right call.
Jim in the Matrix 