Amazon has just announced a new Kindle Paperwhite, which includes a high-resolution display with 300PPI. The new eReader is available for pre-order immediately in the UK, with Amazon taking orders to ship out on the 30th of June, which is great news as the UK has lagged behind the US before when it comes to such upgrades.
The new model looks identical to the old one according to the specifications, but appears that new screen is a bigger drain on battery life. The specifications for the old Paperwhite claimed 8 weeks of battery life (with light use) while the new model has only six weeks. It's not a huge problem, but if you're making a straight upgrade, you will have to plug it in more often.
The new sharper screen is certainly worth having, though. We've seen 300PPI screens already, primarily on Amazon's own flagship Kindle Voyage. The gap between the Paperwhite and that reader has now largely disappeared, for £60 more you're now only getting a sleeker design, page turn buttons, and best of the bunch, an ambient light sensor.
And that's our second dissapointment, it's amazing that in 2015 Amazon's biggest-selling eReader still can't adjust its backlight to match the lighting conditions. It seems a bizarre omission given that automatic backlight control is standard on even the cheapest smartphones and tablets.
The new model comes with Amazon's Bookerly font, which has been specially designed with eReaders in mind. It will also benefit from its new typesetting engine, which should make eBooks look far more attractive onscreen. These changes will also be rolling out to other recent Kindle models too.
The new model is similarly-priced to the old one, but this time Amazon is offering it with and without lockscreen advertising, for £110 or £120 respectively. The old Kindle Paperwhite is now on offer for £99, but it's not worth buying at that price.
Only two weeks back, chief eReader rival Kobo released its own 300PPI Kobo Glo HD, at the time it blew the old Paperwhite away, but with this sharp response Amazon once again positions its hardware up there with the best.
