Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've always been a person who's adamantly disliked ebooks. I preferred the real thing, the feel of the book, flipping the pages, the smell of the paper and ink. I briefly gave the first generation Nook a try, mostly for the ease of carrying a ton of books with me in college without adding to my already overloaded book bag, but honestly didn't like it at all. Yet after being bombarded with Kindle Paperwhite commercials for the past month, and coming face to face with the device in a Best Buy, I finally decided to give it a look, and after investigating all the features on the Amazon page for it, decided to take the plunge. And I'm seriously glad I did! The device is so small and light, it's really comfortable to hold in pretty much any reading position with one hand or both. I love to read in bed, and I can even balance it on a pillow one handed without having to worry about it slipping out of my hand as I tried to turn pages, and snapping shut to lose my place. When you read thick, monster sized books like I do, this is a real concern! The screen is brilliant, evenly lit across the entire surface, with a gorgeous, no glare finish. I was able to read in bed in complete comfort, in the dark, after my husband had already gone to sleep. The light adjusts from being exceedingly bright to very dim while all still being evenly lit, so I'd imagine anyone would be able to find a setting comfortable for their eyes in various environments. The screen itself is slightly recessed into the black border, so the chances of accidentally turning a page are reduced. The system controls wonderfully. Everything is snappy; the pages flip fast, the browser loads the store quickly. Downloading books really is as quick and simple as advertised. When you first start the device, there's a brief setup to pick your language, set up the WiFi, and link to your amazon account. After that, there's a a brief tutorial showing you the ropes of controlling the system, which I feel that anyone should be able to learn. The ability to change the font size and the font itself is quick and easy to access, but not something I've yet used. From the looks of the settings however, I imagine there would be something to suit everyone's needs. One feature I thought I'd rarely if ever use is the 'Lookup' feature. I hardly ever bother to look up words I don't know when I come across them whilst reading as I can almost always infer their meaning from context. However, when I have a dictionary or Wikipedia article right at my fingertips, there's just no reason not to look them up. It's not necessarily a feature used only for little known words you haven't encountered before; today while reading, I came across a passage involving a tray of food. Besides the tea, cookies, bowl of olives and other things on the tray, there were two items in french. Simply by tapping and holding on the words themselves, I discovered through the dictionary that the items were actually a plate of various cold cuts, and a type of french sausage. Did I need to know exactly what these items were to understand the passage? No. Did it lead to a more detailed image of the scene and a more enjoyable passage? Most definitely! This feature even works on character's names within the text when it's enabled by the publisher, and will bring up a description of the character- very helpful for any books with a large cast of characters. But what really won me over was the ebooks themselves. You can buy pretty much any book in a somewhat less expensive digital format, and Amazon has sales all the time apparently. I've already picked up three full novels from the monthly sale for only $1.99 a piece. Add to that the lending library from Amazon Prime, and being able to check out ebooks from the public library without even having to leave the house, on top of being able to email myself PDF's and other files of my own... It's just fantastic. Plus, with Amazon adding in the 'Kindle Matchbook' feature at some point, I'll be able to buy the print version of books I'll definitely read again and want to own a physical copy of, and still be able to get the digital to read on the go with ease for a significant discount. I can still have my print collection of my favorite author's works grow, while being able to enjoy the ease and convenience of the ebook as well! I've seen a lot complaints about the ads that appear on the lock screen, but I personally don't mind them at all. The ads are for new releases and sale books, which I don't mind seeing anyway- I might want that book, who knows! Besides, it's more interesting then a blank lock screen anyway. You can pay extra to get rid of the ads apparently, but I wouldn't waste the money to do that when the ads are likely to be of interest anyway. The battery for me is not lasting as long as specified, but I'm also not using it in the specified way either. Amazon's advertised battery life is for 8 weeks with airplane mode on, only using a light level of ten, and reading for only 30 minutes a day. My Paperwhite's Battery hit less then half full in about 2-3 days, but I was also reading for hours each day, with the light higher set higher then ten. The battery should be plenty to last you the time of a plane, car, or train trip no problem- and it charges fairly quickly. It's a shame that the Kindle itself doesn't come with a wall outlet adapter for the USB cable, but the Paperwhite uses the same connector that my Galaxy S3 phone uses (which I believe is the same as most phones nowadays) and I should be able to use one of those cables. It's nice to have the option to buy the adapter separately, rather then building one into the price; most people should have plenty of charging cables with wall plugs laying around from their other devices. The Kindle Paperwhite was the perfect ebook storm to make me finally take the plunge and become a dedicated e-reader. The crisp book like display, ease of getting and carrying books with me, being able to read in any light level, perfect size and shape for any reading location or position. It's just... unbelievably good. I love my Kindle far more then I ever thought I would, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone. Even if you're completely dedicated to your physical bookshelves, give Paperwhite a try- it's worth it.