This is actually my second Kindle Paperwhite. Prior to this, I was using the Paperwhite 2012 model (which lasted me five years!) before it started malfunctioning, and though in this all-new Paperwhite Amazon has retained some of its most prominent features, it has also made some seriously good improvements.
As a postgrad student in English Literature, a Kindle is absolutely indispensable to my everyday life. Not only is it easy for me to procure copies of expensive or out of print books, it also becomes convenient to read into the night as I often do, thanks to the amazing backlit screen. In this review, I hope to not only outline the positives and negatives (if any) of the Kindle, but also to tell you how you can go about obtaining free books for your Kindle.
Pros:
1. Unlike the previous Kindle, this one comes with an extensive font choice (including a thoughtful dyslexic-friendly option), which allows you to truly personalise your reading experience
2. Easier to highlight and make notes: simply holding your finger over a piece of text will allow you highlight, unlike the previous Kindle where you had to select and then tap a highlight button
3. Wordwise is a blessing: every time you look up the meaning of a word, it gets saved as flashcards so you later revise whatever you've learned.Especially useful for kids
4. 4 gb of data is more than enough: If you're skeptical about the 4gb of data and are thinking of purchasing the more expensive Oasis or Voyage, then don't! My previous kindle held close to 800 books and used only about half the storage
5. There are 24 levels of brightness so you can choose whatever fits your needs
6. Beast of a battery life: I bought this nearly a month ago and have so far charged it only twice
7. Sleek, premium built: Fits into my purse without any hassle and feels so incredibly sleek and elegant in my hands
8. Glare-free screen offers an undoubted advantage over PCs and smartphones, I can read for hours without the slightest discomfort to my eyes
9. Goodreads integration allows you to rate and review your current reads, and also suggests new books for you to read
10. E-ink technology is unsurpassable
11. I personally love the lack of physical buttons for page turning; this way, I'm not fumbling in the dark every time I want to turn the page
12. Distraction free reading: no annoying apps and notifications to take you away from your book!
13. Xray feature is a blessing, especially if you want to know more about the book you're reading
14. Read articles on your kindle using chrome extensions like Instapaper
15. Wikipedia (can only access w internet connection) is a useful feature and allows you to instantly look up people/events/etc
16. All your highlights and notes are neatly stored in the 'My Clippings' folder for your convenience
17. Lightweight device means you can comfortably read for hours without any strain to your hands
18. Footnotes and endnotes are available at a tap: with physical books, you have to keep flipping to the end of the book to access them; my favourite part about the Kindle is that tapping the superscript above a word allows you to view the notes without having to lose track of what you're reading (useful if you're reading a lot of academic texts or essays)
19. easy to transfer files to your kindle: just connect it to your laptop and drop files to the "Document" folder of your kindle!
20. Plastic screen means it's less prone to scratches and scuffs
21. Kindle ebooks are always available on an excellent discount
Negatives:
1. nothing against the kindle personally, but when I received my package, I noticed a small, minuscule scratch on the Kindle display and filed for a return; weirdly enough, Amazon took ten whole days to pick up the return and process the exchange
2. A basic case and wall charger should come bundled with this; for 10k, I think it's a fair demand
3. Auto brightness would be a great feature, but again, not a deal breaker
How can you get free ebooks?
Want to read more but unwilling to shell out the big bucks? Use libgen.io (or other libgen mirror websites) and project Gutenberg! Project Gutenberg has a fairly limited collection (mostly classics), but libgen is your go-to if you want almost any book under the sun! I also read a lot of papers and academic articles (a lot of which is paywalled) by using sci-hub to bypass paywalls.
If you have a PDF, I would highly recommend converting it to mobi before transferring it to your kindle (you can convert for free using zamzar or pdf2mobi.com
Go for it blindly!
Books
10 Days Returnable
You can return if you receive a damaged, defective or incorrect product.
Used Books
10 Days, Refund
Returnable if you’ve received the product in a condition that is damaged, defective or different from its description on the product detail page on Amazon.in.
Refunds will be issued only if it is determined that the item was not damaged while in your possession, or is not different from what was shipped to you.
