[Editor's Note]: Zuo Zhijian, the author of this article, is a famous media person.

Kindle Paperwhite

Three dimensions: 169mm x 117mm x 9.1mm

Weight: 212.6g

Price: $119 (about 750RMB, excluding tax)

Supported formats: mobi text、word、pdf、prc、html、azw……

I used to chase every generation of Kindle products, and constantly fooled my friends into buying them. Roughly speaking, I helped the Kindle attract at least 40 or 50 users.

After the release of paperwhite this time, I ordered two at Amazon's US official website for the first time. After the National Day, my colleague helped me back from the United States, and now it has been used for more than a month.

It is said that paperwhite is also in short supply in the United States, and many people have to wait because they can't get the stock. However, when the news of the Kindle's entry into China became very popular and the official Chinese system had been provided, I could not recommend this latest product to my friends as warmly as before.

I have complex feelings about paperwhite. I can't say a word or two clearly. Let's see the evaluation!

1、 Hand feel and appearance

1. Portability:

There is no pear in one hand. Therefore, they become intimate companions on the toilet, before going to bed, subway, train and plane.

For a long time, the standard configuration of my business trip was iPhone+Kindle, while the iPad was left at home. Because the iPad is too entertaining and easy to waste time. and The books on it are enough for you to spend a long travel time.

For people who want to be extremely light, you don't even need to bring a charging device when you go out, because the Eink device can be used for at least one week at a time. The charging data cable can be found everywhere. I usually use the iPhone charger to connect the mini USB cable to charge the Kindle.

2. Display effect

According to the official introduction, the paperwhite resolution has been improved to 1024x768, 63% more effective pixels than the previous 800x600. The contrast is increased by 25%.

This is true. But in fact, this improvement in paperwhite resolution can only be seen with the naked eye. This is different from the retina screen of the iPad 3. The retina upgrade is very significant compared with the iPad 2. People who use the retina screen will be very uncomfortable watching the iPad 2.

However, the significance of upgrading paperwhite is limited. The reason is very simple. The resolution of the Kindle 4 is already high enough.

In terms of contrast, there is a big problem. The Kindle 4 has black characters on a gray background and looks very comfortable. But the paperwhite is black on a white background, which is obviously more eye-catching than gray. This involves the new backlight technology used by paperwhite.

2、 Magic backlight

1. Backlight layer

Before paperwhite, the biggest problem with the Eink screen was that it could not be displayed in the dark, and additional light sources needed to be configured. This is a burden for those who like night reading. So when the backlit paperwhite came out, all the K fans cheered. The principle is shown in the figure below.

Figure 1: Paperwhite adds a light-emitting layer on top of the TOUCH SCREEN

2. Backlight problem

Backlight is the biggest selling point of paperwhite. In various official pictures, we can see the comparison between paperwhite and its predecessor. In practical use, 24 level backlight adjustment is set for the user.

Figure 2: The propaganda picture of paperwhite (left) is very attractive

However, in reality, backlighting has brought new problems, at least not as perfect as advertising pictures.

First, under normal brightness, when the brightness of the 24 level backlight is adjusted to half, that is, 12 level, the naked eye can detect dark lines at the bottom. For those who like reading, there must be some interference. The higher the brightness, the more obvious the dark lines will be. Even in an all black environment, if you turn the brightness to 0, you can see obvious dark lines;

Second, not only are there dark lines at the bottom, but the light distribution in other parts of the page is also uneven. Of course, compared with the dark lines at the bottom, the dark lines are not so obvious, especially in the middle of the page, which is generally large black characters. This problem can be ignored most of the time;

Third, even with the lowest brightness, paperwhite still emits weak light, which means a waste of power. Before that, as long as you don't turn the page, the Eink screen doesn't consume power, so the power of paperwhite is not as durable as the previous generation of products.

Figure 3: The bottom of the backlight has dark lines, which is the biggest failure of paperwhite

3. Advantages of backlight

Of course, the backlight is not useless. Its advantages are:

First, in any case, the built-in light source is more uniform than the external light source, and the brightness can be adjusted;

Second, in the low light environment, it can protect the eyes, without the need for additional reading lights;

Third, under strong light conditions, the backlight can be turned to the maximum without dazzling.

4. Comparison with leather case with lamp

Because of my habit of reading at night, I use the Kindle 3 and Kindle 4 with official leather covers with lights.

After the lights are turned off at night, the lighting effect of K3 and K4 with light leather covers is also OK, but the bottom will appear slightly dark.

Compared with Paperwhite, it is better than even light, which will make eyes more comfortable. This is also the biggest selling point of Paperwhite.

3、 Touch screen experience

One cool thing about Paperwhite is that there are no buttons on the surface. Not only are there no page turning keys on both sides, but also the HOME key has been removed. It seems that the kindle has full confidence in its touch screen.

1. Page turning speed

When I started using it, I felt that touch flipping was really fast, so I used to compare the flipping speed of paperwhite with that of iPad. Because the iPad will also have a momentary pause when turning pages, the speed of paperwhite is significantly faster than that of the previous generation, and it has shrunk very little compared with the speed of the iPad.

However, the new problem is that after I loaded more than 100 books, the pages of some thicker books did not turn smoothly. The problem of jamming for several seconds often occurs. This problem rarely occurs on Kindle 4.

I don't know whether it's the memory or the CPU, but in combination, there are some books whose pages are not smooth enough for software or hardware reasons. However, most of the time, it is relatively comfortable.

2. Menu and daily operation

The daily menu operation is generally smooth.

But I am not used to turning the page, the most commonly used gesture.

First of all, there is no response when the touch is light, and the touch is too heavy for fear of hurting the machine. In short, it is not as sensitive as the LCD screen; Secondly, when holding with one hand, you need to use your fingers to get out of the screen, which is a little troublesome. The keyboards on both sides of K3 and K4 are extremely comfortable to use.

Of course, it all depends on personal habits. When the K4 was released, I bought the Kindle Touch at the same time. I was not used to the touch screen of Eink at that time, so I gave the Kindle Touch away. Some of my friends prefer the Kindle Touch style interaction.

3. Does the Kindle need a touch screen

The Eink screen is affected by the refresh rate, so every touch and click must pause. This problem occurs when you take notes, translate English words, and turn pages.

Touch based operation, originally catering to human use habits, can make human-computer interaction more smooth. However, due to the slow response of the screen, I have always wondered whether the Kindle is suitable for touch operation. Because compared with other touch devices, the Kindle is not smooth.

Moreover, touch operation may consume more system resources and power

Although the keyboard style Kindle is inconvenient to interact with, it just matches the "slow" of Eink and is suitable for a leisurely reading state. Reading needs to be slow. Or in the opinion of petty bourgeoisie, keyboard operation is more in line with the rhythm requirements of "slow life".

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