Matthew Roach

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite

I finally got a kindle e-reader. I decide to go for the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, I have had my eye on the paperwhite since the adverts for them appeared on the television before Christmas last year (2013) and I had made a few passing comments while my wife was around that I think I would quite like of them. But me being me, I like to take my time over working out if I wish to actually purchase a gadget of such a price (it can take me weeks to decided on purchasing something, after all the researching, looking around, going to stores to try them, etc). After much thinking about the paperwhite I had made my mind up that while they are a great gadget, it was not for me. A couple of reasons for this is:

  1. I have an ever growing collection of paper books that never get read, so would the kindle change this?
  2. I am not a huge reader and it can take me month to finish a book, so it seems pointless to waste that sort of money on the kindle
  3. Do I actually need one?

With those points in mind, I had made my mind up that I did not need one. I tried reacting my words to avoid my wife purchasing one for Christmas, but I had left it a bit late to avoid that. Turns out my wife had already purchased me one for Christmas. After some discussion it was decided that she would return it. Fast forward 8 months, and like I said at the start, I have now got myself a kindle e-reader, and it’s probably the best tech gadget buy for a long time. I’ve always had a thing with books, I really enjoy reading one, but for some reason I really struggle to finish them.

There a couple of things I struggle with when using the kindle, and hopefully I’ll grow out of them over. As it’s a very similar feeling to holding a tablet I find myself trying to do touch screen gestures on it, like scrolling the page to read, and swiping my finger to move page. I sometimes think it may be a better experience if these gestures where implemented, but with it trying to replace a book I am not sure it’s right for the device/ experience.

I would strongly recommend the Kindle Paperwhite to anyone who has their doubts about it. I know it has tons of features, that I’ve not even explored, but the reading experience is second to none, and it’s got me back into reading.