Amazon Kindle (2014) review: A Paperwhite experience (sans front light) at Rs 5,999

There are few product categories in the tech world which have become synonymous with the a single product. As far as e-book readers go, the only product that has the most recall value is the Kindle. Entering its seventh generation, the Amazon Kindle has had almost no competition in the space, at least as far as India is concerned. While we are seeing hyper-competition in other tech product categories, e-ink readers is one category that is an exception. Is that good or bad? Well, competition is always good. But Amazon has known to impress with its Kindles, last year’s Kindle Paperwhite being a case in point. Does the new Amazon Kindle continue the tradition? Let’s find out.   Build and Design: 7/10 [caption id=“attachment_242269” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] Amazon Kindle sports a 6-inch e-ink display[/caption] The first thing that will strike you when you hold the all new Kindle in your hand is the weight, or the lack of it. Weighing in at just 191 grams, it is only slightly heavier than the gen 2 Kindle Paperwhite (206 grams). Unlike the Paperwhite, the edges aren’t rounded, but are slightly angular. In fact, the plastic back slopes up and you have a flat rectangular surface with the glossy Amazon logo carved in the top half. This design element is quite similar to that seen on the Kindle Fire HDX tablets’ rear side. Instead of the rubberised finish seen on the Paperwhite, there is a matte plastic finish on the rear side of the new Kindle. Thanks to the fine texture on the plastic, it gives a good grip. But it does not seem like the sturdiest of materials. [caption id=“attachment_242262” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] The side and top edges of the Amazon Kindle are clean, but at the base you have the microUSB port for charging / data transfer, a status indicator and a power/standby button[/caption] The top and side edges are clean, whereas the bottom edge has the microUSB charging/data transfer port, a status indicator and the power/standby button. There’s no audio jack, so you cannot listen to audio books. On the front face you have a central 6-inch e-ink display area surrounded by a smooth plastic bezel. The lower bezel portion has the Kindle branding and is slightly larger than the sides. One handed operation is easy thanks to the light weight. [caption id=“attachment_242260” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] The Kindle cover has a leather finish and its shape on the rear side mirrors the Kindle’s rear side[/caption] For the review purpose I got the Kindle cover as well, which will need to be bought separately for Rs 2,399. It has a tough plastic compartment which houses the Kindle, and the rear cover has the same shape as the Kindle. The flap has a velvet portion on the inner side. On the outside, the cover has a textured leather covering.   Features: 8.5/10 [caption id=“attachment_242261” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] The Kindle cover has an elegant finish and placement of the Amazon logo. This needs to be bought separately for Rs 2,399[/caption] Those of you who have been following the Kindle over the years, will remember that Kindle Touch was the first touch-enabled Kindle launched two generations ago. Last year Kindle did not have any update to that. In fact, along with the second generation Kindle Paperwhite, the entry-level previous generation Kindle had physical buttons for navigating. The new Kindle ditches all the buttons for an all-touch experience. On the hardware front, you have a 6-inch e-ink Pearl display which has a pixel density of 167 ppi. This kind of display reduces glare and helps with reading comfortably even in sunlight. It makes use of the neonode infrared (IR) technology to sense when the screen has been touched. [caption id=“attachment_242264” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] The new Amazon Kindle comes with 4GB space of which 3.04 GB is available to the user[/caption] The make of the 1GHz processor make is unknown, but Amazon claims that it is 20 per cent faster as compared to the previous gen Kindle. But the real innovation is on the software front where the user interface looks similar to that seen on last generation Kindle Paperwhite (sans the front light, of course). The Kindle comes only in the Wi-fi configuration. The main navigation menu is on top having soft keys for Home, Back, Shop, Search, Goodreads and Settings. There is an Experimental Browser as well under the Settings menu. Features such as Kindle FreeTime, Vocabulary Builder, Smart Lookup, Goodreads integration have been ported from the Paperwhite, making the Kindle seem just like a Paperwhite, on the software front at least. [caption id=“attachment_242327” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] Features such as time left in the chapter / time left in the book / reading progress add a lot of value to the entry level Kindle[/caption] Things such as Time to Read, which lets you know your current position in the book and how long you will take to finish it, based on your reading speed are quite handy as well. Vocabulary builder lets you test your vocabulary, by arranging the words you marked to look up, by using flash card like training technique. The X-Ray feature allows you to do a deep-dive on a character or a place in the book and you can also find out areas where that particular character or place has appeared in the book. It resembles a horizontal bar code on the bottom edge of the screen. It will be applicable only on books which support it. [caption id=“attachment_242325” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] X-Ray feature which was seen in the higher end Kindle Paperwhite, is see on the new Kindle as well. It lets narrow down on a character, see where all the character is mentioned in the book and so on. Only applicable on ebooks supporting X-ray feature[/caption] As compared to the last generation Kindle or any entry level Kindle across generations, the new Kindle provides a much better user interface and comes packed with features. The Kindle comes with 4GB space of which 3.04GB is available to the user. That can translate to a lot of ebooks. And plus you always get the Amazon Cloud storage which offers 5GB of free online storage space.   Performance: 8/10 The first thing I did after starting the Kindle, was opening a book and doing page flips. Having used the Kindle Keyboard and previous generation Kindle,one is used to seeing a lag in page flips, but with the new Kindle that wasn’t the case. The touch response is smooth as you are flipping pages, or when you are scrolling horizontally or vertically as you are browsing through the library. The page flipping is convenient for both right as well as left handed users, so that one handed reading is not an issue. [caption id=“attachment_242272” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] The cover layout on the home screen. The lower carousel has the Special Offers[/caption] The contrast ratio is good and text is legible even at the smallest font size, without any dithering. With serif fonts you will see some some mild dithering as you flip pages, but it isn’t that bad considering the device has a lower pixel density than say the Paperwhite or the flagship Kindle Voyage. You can always increase the font size. You can also use pinch zoom gestures to adjust the text size. While reading with higher font sizes, one thing I really missed were the physical page flip buttons which were there on the edge of the Kindle Keyboard or the previous generation Kindle. One may think touch option is great, but with the physical buttons, your thumb only moved along the vertical plane. With touch it has to move in a horizontal plane, which can get mildly annoying if you are a fast reader. The on-screen keyboard is quite responsive. You will have slow down your speed while typing lest you make typos. Ghosting of text as you are flipping pages wasn’t noticeable. But while surfing on the experimental browser and while flipping between cover images and text heavy pages, you will notice mild ghosting. But after a couple of page flips, the issue gets resolved. I had noticed this issue with the Kindle Paperwhite as well. [caption id=“attachment_242270” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] Highlighting, adding notes and sharing passages on your social networks is quite easy[/caption] After selecting a text in a passage, you can add notes to it, highlight it, share it on your social networks or even translate it. The settings drop down is contextual and changes depending on what menu you are in. On the home page, under settings you will get device options as well as personalisation options, whereas when you are in a book, the settings drop down will give you other options. In short, you are getting control over a lot of features on the Kindle, which wasn’t present on earlier entry-level Kindles. Battery life of the Kindle is one of its main selling point. In my testing, I found that reading for a couple of hours daily can make the Kindle easily pull through 7-10 days at least. If you are a light reader, then you can even charge it once a month. Officially, the website says, “A single charge lasts up to four weeks, based on a half hour of reading per day with wireless off.” But for someone who loves reading, 30 mins is barely much. The Experimental Browser lets you surf the web without any hitch. Although note that with image heavy websites, you may see a lot of ghosting. Also zooming on the text may not always be convenient.   Verdict and Price in India Amazon already had a Kindle Touch a couple of generations ago, which was discontinued when the Kindle Paperwhite (first gen) launched. The latest Kindle borrows the touch philosophy from the Kindle Touch, but drops the audio jacks for audio books. As far as the entry level Kindle is concerned, this is the best to have come out of the Amazon stable. For all practical purposes, this is as good as using the Paperwhite, without the front light of course. With software features which are at par with the Paperwhite, and a smooth touch response, the latest generation Kindle priced at Rs 5,999 is an ideal purchase for the book lovers who have been on the fence of making the switch from physical books to e-readers. It can also make for a great gifting option to your book-loving friends or relatives. Barring the relatively inferior build quality, as compared to the Paperwhite, there really isn’t anything major to complain about with the new Kindle. You will need to buy the accessories such as a charger (the box only has a data cable) and the leather cover separately. I think the charger should have been included in the bundle, if not the cover. For those of you who are on previous generation Kindles (or the Kindle Keyboard), unless you want a touchscreen experience, it does not make sense to get the Kindle (2014). If you are a voracious reader, and want the best experience, invest in a Kindle Paperwhite (2nd gen) instead, or if you have no budget, then the Kindle Voyage (you’ll have to get it from abroad for now). Agreed, Rs 5,000 is a huge premium for the front light on the Paperwhite, but having been a Kindle Keyboard user myself, I have faced issues reading it while commuting as the ambient light isn’t always the best. Also if you are the kinds who love reading before going to bed, you can do so comfortably using the Paperwhite, without having to turn on the main lights in the room and disturbing your room mates. For others who like the physical buttons, Amazon is still selling last years basic Kindle for Rs 4,999.