Kindle Paperwhite Features: Top 20

Why the Kindle e-reader doesn't deserve the hate it gets.

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite.

One of my most prized possessions as an avid reader has to be the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite that I had received as a present from my father in the Christmas of 2015. I probably have never been gifted anything so damn useful and long-lasting in my entire life so far (apart from all the wonderful books that relatives and friends have given to me as gifts over the years.) First of all, let me make my stand clear on the Kindle versus physical books debate now itself - I love both the media immensely. While nothing can beat the satisfaction of turning the pages of a paperback or hardcover novel as you go on devouring the story within, or even the heavenly scent of books both old as well as new, the Kindle e-reader is a fascinating invention that is in complete sync with the technologically-advanced times of the twenty-first century.

I fail to understand why many old-school book lovers are having a hard time accepting electronic reading devices. I absolutely agree that the feel of paper between our fingers is worth more than all the gold in the world to us. But if reading is said to broaden our horizons, shouldn't we as readers be slightly more appreciative of newer developments? I personally do not think that e-readers pose any kind of threat to books. In fact, books are probably here to stay forever because bibliophiles shall never let them become obsolete. However, in this gratuitous prejudice against the Kindle, we are forgetting that it can never wipe out the existence of physical books. It is not a substitute to them, but a supplementary invention that aims to revive and promote the habit of reading in our mobile phone-dominated culture. Isn't this such a good thing? And why should we object to any particular medium, be it either e-books or physical copies, as long as they are making one read?

The need of the hour is being able to strike the right balance between the two. I have been using the Kindle Paperwhite for about three years now, and I treasure it like it is my baby. Yet it hasn't managed to draw me away from paperbacks; I keep hoarding them all the same. I read an equal number of e-books and regular books every year. But the Kindle boasts innumerable features that enhance the overall experience of reading that a printed book (with all due love and respect) - though armed with the power of ink and paper and the fragrance of vanilla - doesn't have as of now. Here I list the top 20 features of the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite that will convince you to show the e-reader some much-needed love:

1. Offers a large amount of storage.

Vast storage space in Kindle Paperwhite.

A prime feature of the Kindle Paperwhite is definitely the vast amount of storage space it offers. The version that I'm using allows me approximately a 3 GB memory which - I am not kidding - is MASSIVE. I have currently loaded it with over three hundred books, and it still shows me 2.33 GB of free space. Going by these figures, one can stock it up with almost one thousand e-books at a time! Not just that, you can easily delete unwanted e-books from your shelves at any moment to create extra space for more. Light-weight and easy to hold, the Kindle is not just a device but a portable library that you can carry with yourself wherever you wish!

2. A convenient travelling companion.

The Kindle is a super-light and compact travel buddy.

Goes without saying, I am a huge travel enthusiast and I love exploring different places. In addition to that, being a voracious reader I have always ensured that I carry along with myself a stack of books whenever I am headed out of town. Though I may not always find the time to read on a vacation, I feel restless without a book around. But again with travel come luggage restrictions and it is tough to accommodate multiple books in your bags to last you for your entire holiday. However, this is where my Kindle Paperwhite comes to my rescue! I can carry a truckload of e-books in it without ever having to worry about exceeding my baggage limit! It is surely the best travel buddy any book addict can wish to have.

Also read: Places to visit in Pondicherry: A Complete Guide

3. Makes it possible to read in the dark.

Reading in the dark is easy with the Kindle.

We book lovers have always daydreamed of books having pages with glow-in-the-dark ink so that we can read in bed all night without disturbing family members who share our room with us. Not sure when this can become a reality with print, but the Kindle is already making it happen! The built-in light within the Kindle Paperwhite display is gentle to the eyes and doesn't produce a harsh glare. Moreover, we can also adjust the brightness of the screen as per our requirements. So now we can indulge in a book all night long without shooting up our electricity bills or bothering our roomies.

4. Long-lasting battery life.

The battery as seen on the top right of the screen.

An argument that orthodox book lovers often pose against the Kindle is that unlike the e-reader, physical books can never get switched off due to low battery since they don't need power to function. Though it is true that the device is dependent on power, it doesn't need daily charging or even twice-a-day charging like our cellphones. The Kindle Paperwhite boasts a battery that lasts for weeks without getting drained after only one full session of charging. I swear, I am not lying! I need to charge my device only once or twice a month! It is indeed very low maintenance.

5. Settings similar to mobile phones.

Kindle Paperwhite has mobile phone-like settings.

The Kindle Paperwhite offers Wi-fi connectivity so that users can access the internet easily while reading, whether it is to upload notes on social media or looking up any kind of information or even to buy e-books online. This is unlike how when one is reading a regular book they grab their phone to search stuff and end up getting distracted by other irrelevant notifications on it. The Kindle makes sure that while you are enjoying a read, you remain focussed on it. It also comes with the Aeroplane mode option at your disposal that you may select whenever you cannot or do not want to use the internet.

6. Customisable page display.

Kindle Paperwhite has different page display customisation options.

Provision of customisation options within the e-book is one of the most wonderful aspects of Kindle Paperwhite. As long as the e-book is not a PDF file, you can change the font size and style (Paperwhite has about 9 different font styles to choose from); you can customise the page layout by selecting the spacing, margins, orientation, and alignment; and there are also three page display themes to choose from - Compact, Standard, and Large. Doesn't it sound like so much fun to be able to format the content within the pages according to your liking?

7. Supports various e-book formats.

Kindle Paperwhite supports various e-book formats.

Kindle Paperwhite supports different formats of e-books, namely .txt, .prc, .azw, .azw1, .mobi, and .pdf. Most of these formats adapt themselves well to the customisation settings of the e-reader - one can view the books in just about any style they prefer thereby making the reading experience seem as authentic as possible for the user. An exception to this however are PDF files, which stick to their original style and cannot be customised in any way whatsoever.

8. Page refresh and E-ink.

The Page Refresh button.

When the page refresh button is turned on, the Kindle Paperwhite is instructed to refresh each page on the display as we turn it over. This avoids showing the traces of previous page's words on the next page which may sometimes occur if you haven't turned the button on. The Kindle's display screen is a non-reflective one, so one can read on it even in bright sunlight. Also, the device comes with the fascinating concept of e-ink, or electronic ink. This e-ink can be made a few shades lighter or darker by changing the settings, so you can adjust how dark you want the contents of the page to appear.

9. Supports illustrations in the e-book.

An illustration inside an e-book.

Don't we all love books that have illustrations? I totally dig it when a book comes with photos and maps and family trees and sketches and other graphics. The art just livens up the story somehow. When I hadn't started using the e-reader, I had this pre-conceived notion that the Kindle was all about text and not graphics. I was so glad when I discovered that that wasn't the case! Select formats of e-books supported by Kindle Paperwhite do show illustrations as well as the written content. I am truly amazed by the amount of thought that the makers have put into making the device seem as close to a physical book as technically possible.

10. Dictionary and Vocabulary builder.

Kindle Paperwhite has a dictionary and vocabulary builder.

The dictionary is my personal favourite feature of the Kindle Paperwhite. All you have to do is press and hold to select a word whose meaning you want to look up and instantly a detailed explanation of that word shows up from the dictionary. Furthermore, all the difficult words that you have searched are automatically stored in the Vocabulary builder section so that you can revise all of them at one go. Having an extensive vocabulary always makes one stand out from the crowd when it comes to verbal communication. What's more, this whole dictionary feature works even without the internet or Wi-fi!

11. Instant access to Wikipedia.

Wikipedia can be instantly accessed on Kindle Paperwhite.

I know that many people doubt the credibility of Wikipedia as an information source (since almost any person can edit it), it is still the go-to website for most of us when one is searching for info about a topic that we know nothing about. And on the Kindle Paperwhite, it is accessible at the tip of your finger! All the user has to do is select the word or phrase concerned, and the Wikipedia page opens up next to the dictionary window when you swipe left. This allows the readers to conveniently clear all their doubts without having to put down the book that they had been so engrossed in reading.

12. Translation from one language to another.

Translation feature of Kindle Paperwhite.

The Translation feature in Kindle Paperwhite is a boon to readers! Many a times we come across random passages (especially in classic novels) where a certain character starts conversing in a foreign language and we aren't always able to comprehend what they are saying. If we are reading a physical book we most often choose to ignore it and move on. But not being able to comprehend what you are reading is just so annoying! The Kindle, however, helps us to translate huge chunks of text into any language that we can understand. This makes the process of reading infinitely better!

13. Virtual bookmarks and Easy navigation.

Bookmarking facility and easy navigation within the e-book.

Whether one uses fancy bookmarks for regular books or inserts random items like clothes tags into them, it's really quite simple to mark the page where you stopped reading last on the Kindle Paperwhite. It comes with a virtual bookmarking option that is located in the corner of the screen where it also shows us the list of all the pages that we had bookmarked earlier in the same e-book. Smart, right? Besides, it is super easy to navigate within the e-book - by clicking on the 'GO TO' menu we can view the complete index of a book being currently read and jump to any location in it in a jiffy.

14. Helps track reading progress.

Tracking reading progress in Kindle Paperwhite.

The Kindle Paperwhite displays the percentage of book portion that has been read, shows the location or page number, and can also show the time left to finish either the chapter or the remaining book at the footer of each page. This helps the user to track his or her reading speed and progress. If you think that you won't be able to accurately guess how much of the e-book you've managed to cover since it is not three-dimensional like a physical copy, you couldn't be more wrong, because the e-reader has considered absolutely everything.

15. Highlighting notes and Social media sharing.

Passages can be highlighted and shared on social media.

I don't know what kind of a reader you are, but I have some pet peeves regarding my books - I never dog-ear the pages, I never use pens or markers or highlighters on them, I never spill food or drink on them. I am quite particular about these things, which is why I am always scared to lend my precious books to other people who may not be as thoughtful. In this context, my heart overflows with gratitude for my Kindle Paperwhite. Because firstly, no one would dare to ask if they could borrow your device (Hell no!), and secondly, it lets us virtually highlight the passages or quotes that we like from the e-books and make notes about them. You can even share them on social media like Facebook and Twitter within seconds. Clean and mess-free, I say!

16. Direct access to your Goodreads account.

Exploring Goodreads on Kindle Paperwhite.

Goodreads is a one-of-its-kind website that almost all reading addicts use to look for book recommendations, to post reviews, to follow their favourite authors, and to befriend like-minded fellow readers. It allows us to set reading targets, join book clubs, and participate in reading challenges. It even helps us to categorise books into three sections - the ones you have already read, the ones you wish to read, and the ones you may be currently reading. Readers can use it to track how they are progressing with their current reads. Kindle Paperwhite gives direct access to your Goodreads account with a button on its top menu so that you can easily indulge in all these bookish activities through one single device.

17. Shopping for e-books from Amazon online store.

Amazon e-store on Kindle Paperwhite.

Okay, so you may have got yourself a Kindle, but you do need to stock your e-reader with good books from time to time. So, where do you get them from? As we all know, the Kindle Paperwhite is the brainchild of online retailer Amazon, so needless to say, the shopping website is directly accessible from the device. We can purchase all our e-books from here and have them transported into our Kindle library in no time. All this from the comfort of your couch. The payment of course has to be done via online methods.

18. Saves you money while book shopping.

Kindle versions of books are cheaper.

We become rather uncontrollably extravagant while buying books! Our appetite for more books can never be satiated even if we have piles and piles of unread ones gathering dust on our shelves. I get that this bibliomania is incurable, but wouldn't it be great if we get some nice deals on our purchases while we are at it? No reader can deny that as much as we are fond of books, they are getting more and more expensive. But a good thing about the Kindle versions of any book is that they are such steals! Since Amazon wants to encourage people to read e-books it offers huge discounts on them, with prices starting from as low as INR 10. Go splurge!

19. Downloading free book excerpts.

A free e-book sample.

When we buy a regular book, all knowledge we have of it comes from the summary on the back cover or the blurb. The farthest you can get to knowing more is by reading the first page. But this isn't always enough. And trying to read random pages in between is a risk none would take. 😂 Kindle Paperwhite allows us to download a free excerpt of the book which gives us a glimpse of the story and writing style without revealing too much. I was once curious about reading the bestselling YA novel 'The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants'. I first read its excerpt and found the writing quality unimpressive. So I didn't buy the book but watched the movie instead (which I love, BTW!) This feature is so helpful to decide whether to buy a book or not!

20. Best medium to read free e-literature.

Free e-books can be read on Kindle Paperwhite.

The Internet is a wonderful place that has vast stores of informative material about almost anything and everything - this includes free literature for stingy bookworms. Most vintage books that have long crossed their copyright period are now available in the public domain at zero cost. But simply downloading free e-books is no fun if one doesn't have the right platform to read them. Trust me when I say that reading on your PC or laptop is rather boring. But if you have an e-reading device, like the Kindle Paperwhite, you could transfer all those free e-books onto it and read them comfortably! Kindle is surely the best medium to read e-books (free as well as purchased.)

These features pretty much sum up all the brilliant qualities of the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. I reiterate that the magical charm of physical books cannot be entirely replicated, but the Kindle is trying its best - not by threatening to act as a replacement but by serving as an additional medium that has welcomed more readers into the fold. And it is doing a good job, so let us give credit where it is due, and continue to spread the love of books both physical and electronic. Happy reading!

Disclaimer: Amazon has not paid me to promote their product. I genuinely enjoy using the Kindle Paperwhite which is why I voluntarily decided to share its positives with others through this post.

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