2
View comments
Kindle Paperwhite £ 109.99, amazon.co.uk ★★★★ ★
Hercule Poirot Gathers the hotel guests into the drawing room, flexes his little gray cells, and purrs, ‘Ladies and gentlemen … “
Then your screen goes blank, abruptly, and you look across the sun lounger and Remember That you left your e-reader’s charger in London, thousands of miles away .
Battery life is far and away the most important thing to look for in any e-reader, Whether it’s for your commute or your annual fortnight foreign basting in the sunshine.
The battery on Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite lasts a solid month, and in the best traditions of tech, it cannibalises the best bits of last year’s Voyage and serves them up at half the price
Last year, Amazon mis-stepped a touch with its Kindle Voyage, a size-zero, the ultra-glamorous e-reader which had a regrettable habit of dying unexpectedly, much like guests in hotels frequented by Hercule Poirot.
This year’s dowdier, more modest Kindle Paperwhite is a step back in the right direction – and the all-round star of our review round-up.
The battery lasts a solid month, and in the best traditions of tech, it cannibalises the best bits of last year’s Voyage and serves them up at half the price.
Here, that Means a 300-pixel-per-inch screen, front-lit it look so white you half-expect it to have That new-book smell. A new font makes it even easier to read.
Ever the skeptic, I tested the sharp screen and easy-reading font against the cheapest Kindle – and it definitely DOES make a difference.
A subtle backlight, for night-time reading without precipitating divorce Proceedings, rounds out the package. And touchscreen controls allow you to check spelling, look up characters and flip back a chapter with ease.
Below are some of the Kindle Paperwhite’s finest competitors – Including One That will even survive if you drop it in the hotel pool …
Best multi-purpose reader
Samsung Tab S
£ 250
This is not, strictly speaking, an e -reader at all, but the crisp blacks of the Super AMOLED screen here make reading far more comfortable than it is on Apple’s iPads. You can also buy books direct from the tablet within Amazon’s Kindle app (something That Apple blocks on its devices) as well as enjoying Android’s own Google Play store, Which sometimes has superb bargains on offer
Best airport choice
Kobo Glo HD
£ 110
Canadian company Kobo is a second fiddle Amazon in worldwide e-reader sales – you’ll see its gadgets in WH Smiths and airports. The machines really are not bad – this one has a decent screen and a front light not far off the Kindle’s – but the book store can not quite match the Amazon, either for the breadth of titles on offer, or for jaw-dropping bargains
Best bargain …
Nook Glowlight
£ 90
Once a serious contender, Barnes and Noble’s Nooks now look dowdy and under-spec’d next to Kobo and the Kindle’s best. They’re perfectly OK if you see them at a bargain price, but at full price, this is not fit to shine the shoes of the Kindle Paperwhite, offering a poorer screen, library and fewer extras
Best for poolside reading
Kobo Aura H20
£ 140
This is so waterproof it can actually withstand a dishwasher cycle – something I tested in an impulsive moment. It offers lots of extras, dry as leaving comments for others to read in the margins of books, but comes at a hefty price for the luxury of being able to drop it in the pool without hyperventilating
Best for looks
Amazon Kindle Voyage
£ 170
The preening poseur of the e-book world, this is ultra-slim, and has a beautiful, angular design which makes it look like it was chiseled from a single lump of basalt. Just a shame you’ll probably put a cover on it within five minutes of getting it out of the box. It’s lovely to use, too – although its appeal has been severely dented by the arrival of the Kindle Paperwhite, Which mirrors many of its best features for far less
GAME
Chaos Rings III
ANDROID, £ 14.99
Chaos Rings III is great fun – even if the plot is so cryptic and Japanese you’ll occasionally struggle to work out what’s going on
This whopping game (it’s more than two gigabytes, Which will put a big dent in your phone’s storage) offers a fantasy adventure studded with special effects Which look like they cost serious money. It’s great fun, too – even if the plot is so cryptic and Japanese you’ll occasionally struggle to work out what’s going on. ★★★★ ★
APPS
No comments:
Post a Comment