Amazon publishes a disclaimer on Kindle Paperwhite limitations

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The Paperwhite has become a real hit in the ebook market and both the improved contrast and front lit display are looking like great improvements, but Amazon wanted to familiarize their buyers with the limitations it has so they posted a disclaimer about it. They concentrated on three features that differ from the previous version so users can be aware of what they are getting with the new device in the Kindle family. Firstly they stated that “Kindle Paperwhite does not have audio or Text-to-Speech.” This appears to be part of price it had to pay to be smaller and lighter than it would be with that feature.

The second thing they wanted to emphasize is that “Under certain lighting conditions, the illumination at the bottom of the screen from the built-in light is not perfectly even. These variations are normal and are located primarily in the margin where text is not present. The illumination is more even than that created by a book light or lighted cover. The contrast, resolution and illumination of the Paperwhite display is a significant step-up from our prior generation.”. You can see this problem in the pictures.
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The last thing they wanted to say is that the Paperwhite has 2GB of storage, unlike some of the previous Kindle devices that had 4GB. However, they also noted that it's enough for up to 1,100 ebooks locally. Beside that you can store them in the Amazon cloud and download them to the device when needed. All this doesn’t mean that Paperwhite is bad; it's just a nice way for Amazon to deal with their customers. Amazon also gets to point out the limitations that the device has, and if you look at them, they are not really something huge that will repel you from buying it, since it's currently one of the best ereaders available.

[Ed – this could also have a big impact on end user satisfaction as they should be aware of these before they pick up the product and find out that it is not all they thought it was. This along with the FCC approval of the Kindle Fire is sure to win Amazon some points in the consumer market especially considering the fact that the market seems to be waking up to unrealistic claims and marketing spin…]

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