All your books, no paper.

During a recent trip to Shanghai I had the potential to carry over 3000 books. Fortunately for the airline, I would be able to do this (if I wanted) and it would only weigh the plane down by around 200 grams.

I love eBook readers at the any time, but during this overseas trip I found a new appreciation for them. When I would use a Kindle at home I love the fact I dont need a book shelf for the storage of ink filled trees aka “books”. I loved laying in bed, being able to read a book and turn the pages using just one hand. And I loved the backlight display in the Kindle to allow me to keep the bedside lamp off. When you travel though, there are new appreciations.

The lightness of a Kindle really plays into your hands when you travel. The one I am using at the moment fits into a jacket pocket and weighs almost nothing. The other benefit I find with this compared to reading on my iPad is the battery life. I charged the Kindle before I left and kept the charger at home, I could travel for weeks without needing a charge and plowing through books without a problem. This model has 3G and wifi capabilities so if I finish one book and want to buy another, no problem – less than 60 seconds to download and start reading another, from anywhere in the world.

This new Kindle Paperwhite has an improved pixels per inch (PPI) display, now – over 300 tiny dots fit into a square inch which basically means crisp letters, words, paragraphs and images. The Paperwhite is an all touch display from a navigation perspective but it is very easy to use. Features that Kindle add to your eReader such as an easy way to research difficult words is extremely handy. Highlighting important quotes, sharing them socially and seeing popular highlights from around the world also make this a more engaging experience. The costs of books are less and you can still lend them to friends and family for 14 days at no cost. My favourite feature (and I noticed this more-so while traveling) was that if you are up to page 56 on your Kindle Paperwhite, you are also on that same page when you continue reading it on your iPad, or your iPhone… or your laptop… anything.

EFTM don’t have a vested interest in pushing you towards a Kindle, we just love eReaders. Save the environment, take up less space, simplify your life and be more engaged. If you are in the market for an eReader though, the new Paperwhite is one of the best we have seen.