Kindle Paperwhite Unboxing

Well, you had to know it was only a matter of time before I purchased the new Kindle Paperwhite after my great first impressions at launch. The exciting day for my new Kindle to arrive came about one week ago.

 

Above is what I saw once I opened the box: my lovely new case and a nice, sturdy looking box with my new Kindle Paperwhite inside! This is what I saw once I opened the box, along with a picture of what you get (just the e-reader itself along with a USB cable):

 

After a few quick set-up options (like choosing English as my language), I got my first view of the new home screen. I really like the more visual layout of actually seeing the book covers on the home screen. And of course, one of my very first tests had to be trying this puppy out in a dark room:

At first, I found myself missing the physical home button now missing from this newest Kindle version. But, the touchscreen performs so much better than my Kindle Touch that I adjusted within a few days, and don't miss the home button at all now.

I love the way they've done the lighting. I can now sit or lie in bed, or sit in the dark while my hubby watches a movie, with no need for a flimsy book light that ends up being an annoyance to others in the room. Reviewers seem to agree that Amazon did a better job with this screen lighting technology than Barnes and Noble did with the Nook, but I haven't tried out the Nook with Glowlight to verify that.

There is really only one thing I will miss and that has at least briefly held me back from selling my Kindle Touch: there is no headphone jack, no speaker, and therefore no way to listen to audiobooks, have the text to speech option from Kindle e-books, or listen to music on my new Kindle Paperwhite. I didn't spend much time on these activities as I tend to use my e-ink device for longer reading sessions and either my Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone or iPad 3 tablet for other uses. But, it usually does make me sad when a manufacturer feels the need to remove features from a product. I suspect this was necessary to keep the size nearly the same as the past few Kindles and to keep costs down, but I wish it still had audio capabilities.

Other than that, this is a great product, one I will have no trouble recommending to friends and acquaintances.