Kindle 'Paperwhite' e-reader has backlight

2 hrs.

Suzanne Choney

Amazon's new "Paperwhite"?Kindle will be easier to read, using a display that offers a clearer screen and higher resolution. "It's really so much sharper," Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos told a crowd of reporters in Santa Monica Thursday.

The Kindle Paperwhite, in two versions, one at $119 with Wi-Fi only,?and another at $179 with Amazon's Whispersync 3G and Wi-Fi, ?will ship Oct. 1, with orders starting immediately. The e-readers weigh 7.5 ounces and are thin at 9.1 mm. The current iPad model is 9.4 mm.

"I love the light! It doesn't jump out at you. It doesn't cause any eyestrain, it doesn't even leave the screen," enthused Bezos at the event.

The screen offers 25 percent more contrast than previous Kindles, Amazon said. "Whites are whiter, blacks are blacker," with 62 percent more pixels at 212 pixels per inch. It also offers an impressive 8 weeks of battery life, even with the light on, Bezos said.

"When we set out to build this Paperwhite display, it didn't exist. So we had to build it," Bezos said.

The company also had to build it to keep up with competitor Barnes & Noble's Nook SimpleTouch with GlowLight, which costs $139, as well as to get a leg up on Apple's iPad, which does not have a similar feature. The hugely popular tablet does have what's known as a Retina display, with a screen resolution of?2048-by-1536.

In a release after the press event, Amazon said that the backlit LCD displays direct light:

...?up through the display into the user?s eyes. Kindle Paperwhite?s patented front-lit display guides light underneath an anti-glare layer and down toward the display, away from the reader?s eyes. This means a reader can read for hours without eye fatigue or strain. ?The screen brightness is easily adjusted for reading in any light. ?

A low-end Kindle will sell for $69 ? $10 less than the current lowest-priced Kindle ?? and ship starting?Sept. 14, with orders starting right away. That e-reader will have faster page turns, new fonts and crisper text, Amazon said.

You can learn more from Amazon?about the Kindle Paperwhite?here.

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on?Facebook,?and on?Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/kindle-paperwhite-e-reader-has-backlight-higher-resolution-982621

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