Amazon released the 11th generation Kindle Paperwhite 5 a week ago and the company has just started shipping pre-orders of the Paperwhite Signature Edition in the first week of November. Demand for this model has exceeded supply and new orders on the Amazon website won’t be fulfilled until early December. There are a few major selling points, it has 32GB of internal storage, a light sensor to automatically adjust the front-lit display and color temperature system, and is compatible with fast charging.
The Paperwhite Signature Edition features an E INK Carta 1200 touchscreen display with a resolution of 1430 x 1080 and 300 PPI. The screen is completely flush with the bezel and protected by a layer of glass. There are some tremendous benefits of the new Carta display panels, such as a 20% increase in performance and this directly allowed Amazon to create the new animated page turn system. One of the nice things about body, is that the bezels have been thinned out along the sides and the top, the largest bezel is at the bottom, this is where the internal battery is.
The Kindle Paperwhite 4 had an excellent lighting system, with 5 LED lights, but the Signature takes it to an entirely new level, it has 17 white and amber LED lights, giving users the ability to get a candlelight effect on the screen, simply by blending the two. It is also possible to just use the amber lights, or the white lights and not blend them. If you don’t feel like fiddling around with sliders, there is a new auto-adjusting light sensors. The sensor is on the top of the unit, which is kind of hidden. Most brands simply use your devices clock to determine how bright the screen is, so it is refreshing to see one of the best elements of the Kindle Voyage, come to the Paperwhite.
Underneath the hood is a NXP/Freescale 1GHZ processor, 1GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. You will be able to connect it up to your MAC or PC via an all-new USB-C port. This device also has Bluetooth, but Amazon has not disclosed the version number, it is likely 5.1. This will allow you to connect up a pair of wireless headphones or an external speaker and listen to audiobooks from Audible.
You will get around 10 weeks of battery life, based on a half hour of reading per day with wireless off and the light setting at 13. Battery life may vary depending on use. Audible audiobook streaming over Bluetooth will reduce battery life. Fully charges in approximately 5 hours from a computer via USB cable; fully charges in less than 2.5 hours with a 9W USB power adapter; fully charges in less than 3.5 hours with any compatible 10W Qi wireless charging pad. Amazon has announced a new Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition Dock. It has foreign object detection and temperature control features help to provide a safer wireless charging. When you insert into the dock, it will be in portrait mode. The charging coils are in the middle of the unit, there is some documentation that tells you exactly where it is. The dimensions are 174 x 125 x 8.1 mm and weighs 208 g.
Amazon has totally designed the retail packaging, it has the recycled cardboard stock, which results in extremely flimsy packaging. It basically is a very thin blue box, with a picture of the Kindle on front and some brief selling points on the back. The Kindle rests inside, and in a thin cardboard sub-container is the quick start guide, black USB-C cable, and a link to the Amazon website to learn more.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
