New Kindle Paperwhite with backlight to launch on 6 September alongside Kindle Fire 2?
We’re all waiting with baited breath for the launch of the Kindle Fire 2, Amazon’s tablet successor and iPad rival that’s expected to land at a San Diego press event on September 6th. It now seems all but certain that it’ll be joined by new eReader models, including the Kindle Paperwhite, rumoured to be a backlit E-Ink reader device.
A picture of the Paperwhite made its way onto The Verge, looking very much like the button-free Kindle Touch, but boasting an edge-lit display while still retaining the easy-on-the-eye, paper-like E-Ink screen. In other words, it’ll work as great during the night as it will in direct sunlight.
The images leaked show some French text onscreen, which also hints at a few of the improvements made to the Kindle device. Contrast ratio should be slightly higher, leading to darker text on a lighter background, and the resolution should be improved too. That lighter background will no doubt be elevated by a slight illusion, with a new darker chassis making the digital pages appear lighter too. Battery life is expected to be still around 8 weeks long, regardless of whether or not the light is being used or not.
With September 6th just a week away, we’ll soon have confirmation of the device’s specs, and indeed whether or not it exists at all or is coming to the UK.
