Hello Kindle Paperwhite

It's been three months since that bi*ch Jane Austen took over the screen of my Kindle Keyboard. She's still refusing to budge, thank you for asking!

I have since resigned myself to an e-book existence that isn't half as fun as e-carbon ink with no back light that can be held in one hand, stores over 3,000 books and doesn't die for a month if it can help it. Even the arrival of an iPad 2 hasn't cheered me up because while it's really fun reading glossy magazines and flipping through equally delicious reading apps, the pleasure of reading a book still lies in the yellowed paper of a real book or the paper-stimulated screen of a Kindle.

I have since (out of desperation) realised that a book is a book no matter what. The technology you use for reading, be it print, online, mobile or tablet, is just a medium to get to the wonderful world within a book. Sure it's hard. It can even strain the eyes, but once you're immersed, the world around you disappears. I thus resigned myself to a Kindle-free existence -- one can only accommodate so many devices, not to mention wires, manuals, passwords and cardboard boxes.

Why then am I so stoked about the news this morning of the launch of the Kindle Paperwhite £109 (wi-fi only)? Sure, the paper white screen with a in-built light goes against what I loved in its simple, straightforward and functional Keyboard version, as does the lure of the hand tuned fonts and the 62% more pixels -- honestly, is the alternative that bad? Although, you have to give it to them for extending the battery life to approximately 8-weeks and with the impending Kindle Owners' Lending Library on the horizon, it seems like book lovers are finally getting their wish. (I for one, will be quite happy to lend my books out to people having the technology to finally tell who is refusing to give them back *big grin*)

As with our lives, networks, reading habits and technology, the Amazon Kindle too has the right to evolve. I'm still holding on to the Kindle Keyboard. But The Paperwhite's going to the top of my wishlist, just above a vacation in the Caribbean, a Shadow of the Wind walk in Barcelona and a puppy.

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