The new Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 5 and Paperwhite 5 Signature edition both have a new trick up their sleeves. The latest 5.14.1 firmware update, introduces a new page animation system, which seamlessly blends two pages into each other. When you enable the feature in the Aa menu and select other, the pages will have directional animation, which quickly fade into each other. This occurs when reading ebooks and manga.
The new line of Kindles are the most responsive ones that Amazon has ever released. Page turn speed has been increased by 20% and overall the entire responsiveness has basically been increased by over 50%, compared to the Kindle Paperwhite 4. Tapping on UI elements, launching the store, clicking on menus or settings, occurs instantly. You can checkout our YouTube review to see how snappy the entire e-reader really is.
Why is the Kindle Paperwhite 5 so responsive? This is primarily attributed to the new E INK panel that are using. I believe it is E INK Carta HD, which comes with some obvious benefits, and are further enhanced with software optimizations.
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.