I prefer this approach, as my finger didn’t need to hover in a single place to turn the page instead, I could move my hand and still turn the page with my palm heel, or even the length of my thumb-a vastly superior experience. The much slimmer buttons for this third-generation Kindle now depress away from the screen, like a rocker-style button that melds into the edge of the device. One thing I disliked about the second-gen Kindle was that the page-forward and -back buttons depressed inward, into the screen the result was a noisy, mechanical press. And the new Kindle is 15 percent lighter than its predecessor (which weighed in at 10.2 ounces). But the Kindle feels dramatically lighter than Barnes & Noble’s Nook (11.6 ounces for Nook Wi-Fi, 12.1 ounces for Nook Wi-Fi + 3G) and it’s lighter and more balanced than Spring Design’s Alex eReader, which weighs 11 ounces. It’s not the lightest e-reader the Kobo eReader, which also has a 6-inch display, is nearly one ounce lighter and the Bookeen Cybook Opus, with a 5-inch display, is lighter still, at 5.3 ounces. This is actually the first time I can say I comfortably held a Kindle e-reader in one hand. That alone makes a strong argument in favor of a dedicated e-reader.īut it’s not just about comparing the third-gen Kindle against the iPad. I can’t say the same thing for the multipurpose iPad: At 1.5 pounds (25 ounces), the iPad is nearly three times the weight of the new 8.7-ounce Kindle. In fact, the resulting design is actually extremely pleasing to hold: I could hold the Kindle to read for a couple of hours and not feel as if I was encumbered by the device in my hands. Doing so doesn’t affect the functionality: In extended use, I still found I had enough room around the edges for my fingers to rest comfortably while hand-holding the device. To achieve this smaller design, Amazon has primarily trimmed the superfluous, wasted space around the edges, so the device is now dominated by its 6-inch screen. But when you look at the two devices side-by-side, it’s clear that its dimensions have shrunk. By the numbers alone, it doesn’t seem that much is shaved off: The new model measures a stout 7.5 by 4.8 by 0.34 inches, versus the 8 by 5.3 by 0.36 inches of the Kindle 2. The newest Kindle’s streamlined design enabled Kindle to shrink by 21 percent, per Amazon. Another benefit of the Pearl display: Faster screen refresh rates, which provides a significantly improved user experience (more on that later).
In use, the difference in the screen contrast is striking: As on the Kindle DX (Graphite), blacks look more solid, and text looked smoother.
However, the display itself has been enhanced, too: Like the Kindle DX (Graphite), the Kindle now has a 6-inch E-Ink Pearl display, one of whose benefits is 50 percent better contrast. That was indeed still my impression with the Kindle. In my experience with e-readers, a darker border enhances readability, giving the perception of better screen contrast. That said, it’s worth noting that this is the first smaller-sized Kindle in two colors: eye-pleasing graphite (the same as the Kindle DX launched earlier this summer) and standard Kindle white.
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