Back in 2013, I got myself a Kobo mini e-reader hoping that it would encourage me to read more. Or to me more precise, to read more non-technical books. I’ve read more technical books and papers compared to most ordinary people. But I read so little of fiction stories or even those self-improvement books to the point I sometimes had no clue when someone was trying to initiate a conversation by bringing up such topics.
Many people repeatedly told me I can easily read books on my iPad. That’s true. But with vibrant screen, fast internet and massive number of apps, it’s kinda hard to stay within my reading app. Your experiences may vary, but at least that’s what happened to me. I started up trying to read a “popular” book and always end up doing something else.
My Kobo reader failed to achieve its main purpose. There is nothing wrong with the device itself. But I simply end up not using it so much.
Triggered by some random chat at work several weeks ago, I decided to give myself another try. This time, I aimed for an e-reader that has built-in light so that I can read something during my cooling down session at night, without touching my iPad. I was tempted to get myself another Kobo reader (Kobo Glo and most of its newer models come with built-in light now). However, after a bit of consideration, I decided to try Kindle instead, hoping I can get a totally different experience given that Amazon has significantly larger book collection.
The latest iteration of Kindle Paperwhite is the third generation model, released back in 2015.
Before the release of 2015 model, Kindle Voyage has clear advantage being the only model offering 300 PPI screen. However, after Paperwhite 2015 offers the same screen resolution, most people would find less reasons to spend more money to get Voyage (even though Voyage still offers more features like PagePress, adaptive front light, thinner and lighter body).
At the beginning, I was torn between choosing Kindle Paperwhite or Kindle Voyage. Since I consider this purchase as an experiment (I may end up not using my Kindle frequently) and Paperwhite offers the same screen resolution anyway, I decided to go with the cheaper model: Paperwhite.
Setting up Kindle Paperwhite is easy. I already have Amazon account to read books in my iPad, so I only need to login and can instantly access my purchased books. Library access is generally easy. Changing fonts and size are just as intuitive as anyone would expect. Everything works as expected, but also nothing extraordinarily different. Basically, this is a device made to perform one function, and it delivers. As simple as that.
Now the extra built-in light does make me use this reader more often at night. I have owned my new Paperwhite for about a month and I’m happy to share that I spend at least 15-30 minutes of reading almost every day now. Quite an achievement for my standard.
What makes such difference when I barely touched my Kobo? One, the font is nicer. Might sound like something trivial, but when what we do is reading, the shape of the letters we read actually matters, a lot. Two, high resolution display gives more pleasant experience in reading. Three, I really love how I can email my own book files (in MOBI format) into my cloud storage. This is not just for convenience of putting books into my reader, but also very important in achieving a feature that I don’t normally get for custom books (not purchased in reader’s store): sync.
I read regularly using my Kindle, my iPhone and my iPad. The best thing about my new reading experience is that I finally get synced reading experience (furthest read page and bookmarks) across my devices for my own books (not only for books purchased from Amazon store). This is achieved through emailing the book into our Amazon cloud storage, then download the books from all our devices. Kobo also allows me to sync my furthest progress in a book, but only for books that I purchased from their store.
Arguably, allowing better syncing experience for my custom books might be the reason I now enjoy reading anytime I have a bit of extra time (such as tram journey to work).
So far I really like my new e-reader. The last month has been my most active reading month (for non technical books).
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