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Amazon Kindle Paperwhite hands-on pictures and video

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite hands-on pictures and video

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Amazon announced a new lineup of Kindles at an event in Los Angeles, and we took the new ebook readers for a test drive.

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Kindle paperwhite
Kindle paperwhite

We're here at Amazon's event in Los Angeles, where the company just announced the newest version of its wildly popular Kindle ebook reader. There are a number of new features in the new Kindle, but two stand out: a new "paperwhite" display technology with a new backlight on the device itself.

Much of the new Kindle's build is like that of old versions — it's small, light, thin, and sturdy, though without a single button anywhere it's even sleeker than old models. The real hook, obviously, is the paperwhite display, which Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said is so good that people won't want to turn it off. It does look great, noticeably sharper and crisper than older models. The backlight is also a nice touch, and it's more evenly distributed than on a device like the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight.

Compared with the $79 Kindle (now known as the "$69 Kindle"), the new Paperwhite feels more refined — it helps that there are no buttons or ports other than the lock / unlock button on the bottom and an adjacent micro USB port. There are no hardware page turning buttons — this is a touch-only device. It's hard to get a good feel of the backlight's full potential in a well-lit hangar, but so far it's very promising.

Update: Now with video!

Ross Miller contributed to this report.

Amazon Kindle paperwhite hands-on pictures

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