Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite lights up a new generation of ereaders

One of the top complaints of ereaders - both the devices and the people who use them has been that they can't be read in the dark. No backlight means no sneaking in a chapter while your significant other snoozes beside you in bed.

Amazon seems to have solved that with the release of its first front-lit Kindle - the Paperwhite. I had a chance to test one for a few weeks and was generally pleased with the result.

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The device does live up to its name and makes reading everywhere easy, thanks to its very bright and vivid screen, which boasts a higher contrast display and more pixel density than previous models. The front-lit screen even makes reading in bright conditions a pleasure, such as my my daily bus trip to and from work.

The touch screen also benefits from new capacitive technology, which seemed to account for fewer accidental swipes and taps (compared to my own Kindle Touch).

I didn't have the Kindle long enough to fully test the claimed 8 weeks of battery life but it performed as well as previous ereaders I have owned and tested, so I suspect that the Paperwhite's battery will perform something close to that timeline.

Perhaps the best addition to the Kindle Paperwhite is not in the device itself but the addition of the Kindle Store in Canada. Canadian users can now buy ebooks through Amazon.ca in Canadian dollars. The Paperwhite comes in WiFi only and 3G models and accessing the store on the device is very easy to do, with a large selection of books to purchase in the Kindle Store - 1.5 million books and counting.

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Verdict: Amazon's Kindle Paperwhite is a superb device for those who want to read anywhere and everywhere, regardless of the light conditions. It is comfortable to hold, has an easy-on-the-eyes front-lit screen and boasts superb battery life.

The Paperwhite is available online through Amazon.ca, or in person at Staples, The Source and Shoppers Drug Mart locations, starting at $139.

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