Amazon Kindle Paperwhite

New version of the affordable e-reader

When we reviewed the Kobo Glo HD (see our review, Issue 452), we said Amazon had better watch out, because this ebook reader had a sharper screen than its similarly priced Kindle Paperwhite. As it turns out, Amazon already had an answer up its sleeve: a new version of the Paperwhite, upgraded from 212 to 300 pixels per inch (ppi).

This seems like a good time to clear up a misconception. People seem to think 300ppi is ‘like a real book’. It’s true that we talk about 300ppi in the publishing industry, but it’s for pictures, not text. Printing plates are made at 2400dpi (dots per inch), but when we print photos, most of that resolution is used for shading. On solid black text, we get to use the full 2400dpi.

A 300ppi screen doesn’t sound so great now, does it? The digital display has an extra trick, though: it can make each dot a shade of grey. That enables anti-aliasing, which smooths out the edges of characters to make them more distinct. It helps – but it’s still not as sharp as using 64 times more dots. And there’s room for Amazon to give us even sharper screens: Samsung’s Galaxy S6 phone has 571 ppi.

For now, though, we have to admit the Paperwhite (2015) does look very sharp. It seems identical to the more expensive Kindle Voyage, so the Glo HD has some serious competition now. Contrast could be better, but turning on the backlight (technically more like a sidelight) helps, and also means you can read in the dark. The Glo has a similar feature, hence the name. Both work very evenly.

What the Paperwhite, like the Glo HD, stilll lacks compared with thethe Kindle Voyage is an ambient light sensor to adjust the brightness. Instead, you have to fiddle with it yourself to keep it readable. The light uses more power, but that’s not a huge concern when battery life is quoted at six weeks, based on 30-minutesper-day average use. Even if you’re a more avid reader than that, it won’t run out before you finish your book.

The quality of the display also depends on the built-in software. Kindles have never been particularly good at typesetting: the way they space words to ‘justify’ each line is clumsy, and their choice of fonts and styles isn’t great. Amazon is working on it, and a brand new text ‘engine’ is on the way, which will be available to install on the Paperwhite in the near future. You do get a new font, called Bookerly (see our Workshop on page 42), designed specially for e-reading. We like it, but we think more work is needed.

The final difference between the Paperwhite and the Glo HD is that the latter has a shiny screen, while the Paperwhite has a matt finish that feels a bit like paper. This is a matter of personal preference: try both devices in a shop if you can. In both cases, you’ll be touching the scscreen a lot, because that’s the only way to turn pages – there are no buttons.

In other respects the new Paperwhite feels similar to the old one, just more rubbery and fingerprint-resistant. It’s a significant improvement, and as good as the Voyage unless you want page-turn buttons and automatic light adjustment. At £120, or £10 less for the ‘With Special Offers’ option that shows adverts on your lock screen, it’s good value. But the Glo HD is smaller and lighter, with the same screen size, and has twice as much storage. The real choice is whether you want to use Amazon’s Kindle Store or independent ebookshops.

A great e-reader with sharp text, a backlight and long battery life

Both thick-walled old houses and modern insulated homes can stifle wireless networks, so most of us will find far-flung corners of our home where the signal is weak. Powerline network kits are the easiest solution. They come as a pair of three-pin power plugs. You put one in a mains socket beside your router, and the other in your Wi-fi blackspot. They then use the 240-volt electrical ring main in your house to pass data. Any computer connected to the remote plug will receive a signal as if it were directly connected to your router.

It’s easy to set up and doesn’t consume much power (3.7 watts or less, in this instance) and is a breeze to set up. And because the signal can’t pass beyond your fuse box, privacy is guaranteed. Having said that, there have been a few stories flying around about people discovering their unorthodox wiring prevented them from accessing their own broadband, while their neighbours had no trouble. Blame cowboy electricians for that, not the technology.

How fast it works depends partly on your circuitry, but the kits come in varying speeds, and this is one of the fastest, even if the claimed 1Gbps is purely theoretical. We downloaded a one-hour TV programme from BBC iplayer in just under a minute and a half, which was a bit slow. However, a 1GB folder of small files took only a few seconds longer than that, which is on a par with BT Infinity’s superfast broadband. Video also streamed smoothly from one device to another as we watched it.

It’s annoying that there’s no passthrough power socket, so when you plug the unit into the mains you lose a power point. That’s important because for the best performance you shouldn’t use a powerline adapter through an extension lead, so having enough sockets is crucial. It’s not much use if there’s nowhere left to plug in your PC alongside the adapter.

The AV2 1000HD is very reasonably priced, but also pretty basic. There’s just a single Ethernet port on each plug; to connect multiple computers you’d need to add an Ethernet switch (about £20 for gigabit speed). If you need to connect mobile devices via Wi-fi, consider Devolo’s DLAN range instead (see our review, Issue 450). Toshiba Canvio Connect II A hard drive worth getting excited about HP Envy

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It’s easy to set up and doesn’t consume much power, but a pass-through power socket would be nice