# Kindle Touch 5.3.2 w/lighted cover vs Paperwhite



## wiccanhot (Aug 19, 2011)

I have a Kindle Touch 3G that just got the 5.3.2 update.  It works perfectly and I had been thinking of upgrading to the Paperwhite but now I'm not sure.
Besides the screen, what can the Paperwhite can do that the Touch with the Amazon Lighted Cover can't?  It seems to me that the Touch can actually do more because it has speakers and therefore is worth holding on to.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Betsy can probably give you a really good run down, as she has both a Touch and a PW, but, it seems to me that, with the recent update to the Touch, the only thing the PW adds is the lighted screen.  And, as you note, it doesn't have speakers for TTS or audiobooks.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Here are the main differences:

Touch can do audio.
Touch has an infrared screen which means that anything can turn the page--a sleeve brush, a fly (as has been reported here), or the eraser tip of a pencil
Some feel the Touch's eInk screen is a bit clearer and sharper than the PWs.

PW has a capacitive touch screen, meaning it needs either an actual finger or a capacitive stylus to turn the page.  Some people (including me) like the feel of the PW's screen, too.

I'd have to compare the weights of a Touch in the lighted cover vs a PW in the Amazon cover to see if there's any difference. (My Touch does not have a lighted cover, poor thing.)

I think if you already have a Touch with the lighted cover, the fact that it has audio capability actually gives it a slight edge.  But only, of course, if that's something you're interested in.

Betsy


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

I have both the PW and the Touch in the lighted cover and I have to agree with Betsy - if you're not fussed about the screen light on the PW then the expense of upgrading would seem to outweigh the gains.

In addition to the points Betsy noted, I would also say:

- Turning on/off wireless on the Touch hasn't been buried under several menus and renamed like on the PW. 

- You have an actual Home button on the bezel of the Touch, whereas on the PW you tap the top of the screen to bring up the Home button - so two taps instead of one.

- No auto-on/off feature with the Amazon cover on the Touch.

- The weight of the two devices in their respective covers seems pretty even to me.

Really it's all just small things - the kind of things that are important to one person, but not another - only you will know whether they bother you or not.

I was happy with the Touch but I couldn't resist trying the PW and now, personally, I prefer the PW - I really like the whiteness of the background and the eveness of the light covering the whole screen.

Decisions, decisions!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Thanks, Linda, I forgot to mention the home button, which I think is a plus for the KT.  I do wish I could swipe the SO screensaver on the KT to get rid of it instead of having to fumble for the power button.  Points to the PW for that.

I just noticed the accessibility of the Turn Off Wireless option earlier today; I rarely turn off my wireless so hadn't found it before.  But points to the KT for that.

Betsy


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## Someone Nameless (Jul 12, 2009)

I have both and have my Touch for sale right now.  I think a lot of it depends on your reading habits.  Most of my reading is after I've gone to bed and I like having the ability to adjust the light on the PW.  Also it is spread over the entire screen instead of the one light at the top of the screen.  I also like the way the Amazon cover wakes the PW.

However, the Touch does have the audible capabilities, a home button and is a really nice device.

I'm back and forth on selling or keeping mine.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

I prefer the PW, mainly because I don't have to use a cover with it in order to have a light. For me personally, it's just so much easier to hold without the added weight of the cover. I have a sleeve cover to protect it when I'm not reading. Also, the great thing about the PW is exactly what the name suggests - even in a well lit room when you don't need a built in light, you can set the PW light so that it does not look illuminated but merely makes the screen look _whiter_. Which is another thing - you can adjust the PW light whereas you can't with the Touch lighted cover. And although there have been complaints about the unevenness of the PW light, it is still far more evenly lit than the Touch lighted cover.

Also, this is a minor issue, but I prefer the black frame of the PW to the grey Touch. Another small thing I like about the PW is that there is less of a lip between the bezel and the screen - I think it looks and feels better.

Oh, and I much prefer that the screen only responds to my hands on the PW. It annoyed me a bit with the KT when I would go to wipe some dust off the screen with my sleeve and it would mess with the screen. Or a few times when the pull strings on my hood would fall on the screen and turn a page! No more worries about that with the PW.

Doesn't the PW also claim a higher res screen? I don't know that it's hugely noticeable though.

As ever, it just comes down to personal preference.

I thought I would miss the physical Home button but I don't. The only thing I miss on the PW is audio/TTS, I used to use it on non-fiction a lot but I conceded that I never had TTS on printed books so I can live without it.


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## tsemple (Apr 27, 2009)

Pro KT:
- lower price (PW is $20/$30 more for wifi only/3G respectively). Comparison is somewhat moot since Amazon doesn't offer both models, but it's worth noting. 
- audio enables TTS, MP3, Audible
- more storage (3.3GB vs 1.3GB)
- chapter navigation via up/down swipe
- (I believe) higher capacity battery

Pro PW:
- higher resolution screen (enabling 3 additional typefaces)
- screen seems more scratch resistant
- screen light is adjustable and in particular to much lower light levels than KT lighted cover
- option to use magnetic cover to lock/unlock screen
- swipe to unlock prevents accidental screen activation (I set a 1 digit passcode on KT as a workaround)
- capacitative touch screen is more responsive and can be used in ziplock bag in beach/bathtup reading scenarios

Some people are bothered by 'blotches' at bottom of screen and irregular coloration at some light levels on the PW. Hard to say how prevalent these are (both display defects and bothered people), but something to be aware of. 

They're both great devices, especially now that KT has the updated interface.



Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk HD


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

tsemple said:


> - swipe to unlock prevents accidental screen activation (I set a 1 digit passcode on KT as a workaround)


Some would see this as a 'con' of the PW. . . . .you open the cover and _still_ have to swipe to have it go to the home page.

But note, it only works that way if you have special offers: If you buy out of them, opening the cover does, indeed, take you to the home page.*

*edit -- or, rather, wherever it was when you left off and closed the cover.


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## Someone Nameless (Jul 12, 2009)

I did not know that. Now I want to buy out!


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## Eltanin Publishing (Mar 24, 2011)

tsemple said:


> Pro PW:
> - higher resolution screen (enabling 3 additional typefaces)


The additional fonts is certainly a "pro". The higher resolution can be a pro or con. Any images in books, unless the publisher provided large images, will be smaller on the PW than the Touch (because there are more pixels per inch of screen on the PW).


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

If you don't need the audio features I'd go with the Paperwhite--especially if you often read in dim lighting.

While the PW light isn't perfectly even (shadows at the bottom around the lights etc.) it's vastly better IMO than any lighted cover or clip on light.  Much more even than that, no glare etc.


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## Maverick (Nov 8, 2012)

I have seriously considered replacing my KT with the Paperwhite, but decided against it. The fact that my KT is my first kindle is probably one of the reasons not to replace it. I'm quite attached to my reading device.  Save for the emotional side, there are a number of things which I love about the KT. It has: 
1) TTS; 
2) MP3;
3) a connection for your headphone;
4) a one-click physical home button;
5) larger storage capacity;
6) better design.

For me the Paperwhite is not (yet) the earth-shattering reading device to replace my KT with. Though it contains a backlit feature, which for a lot of people makes nighttime reading a joy, it is not convincing enough for me to buy one.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

And I'll offer that you don't actually have to get rid of a device to buy a new device.    It's nice to have a backup; plus, I loan my older Kindles out to family and close friends if there's a book they want to read.

Just sayin'.

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

^^^What Betsy said.  I have. . . . .we'll just say. . . "several".


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

You can have one you carry with you all the time; one you leave on your bed table.

I also have, er, "several."  And because of the joy of whispersync, whichever one I pick up knows where I am in the book.

Betsy


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## Vicki G. (Feb 18, 2010)

I too have both and it looks like I'm the odd person out because I'm seriously toying with the idea of going back to my Touch, the reason being solely the font.  I read at night but I have decent lighting and I also have the lighted cover which I don't keep on the Touch because I'm not overly fond of it and the times I need it are very few and far between.  

The font on the Touch is darker, can I say more dense, and it's larger than that on the PW.  Touch gets a 4 while PW has to have a 5 and that isn't as large (although the difference is very slight) as the same font on the Touch.  Large enough though to change the line in a few instances.  My eyes are bad and prone to get tired very easily and the light on the PW seems to make the font appear much thinner to me.  

BTW, I weighed the two and the PW is .4 oz. heavier with the Touch in the unlit Amazon case and the PW in the Amazon case.

If I switch back to the Touch I'm sure there will be times when I miss the lighted screen of the PW, just not sure if it is worth it.  Jury is still out on the switch and I could just be swapping the 2 around, using  the Touch as #1 and the PW as back-up.


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## Tabatha (Oct 4, 2009)

Vicki G. said:


> I too have both and it looks like I'm the odd person out because I'm seriously toying with the idea of going back to my Touch, the reason being solely the font.


May want to check Mobilereads forum for a non-hack way to add fonts of your choice and other fonts in the firmwares that are not showing up. Good for both the Touch 5.3.2 and the PW. Also a couple of good new fonts are there. I'm using a modified Charis sil compact linked there for download. I now have 21 font choices as opposed to the 6 on PW.

Regretted selling my touch and purchased another because of the added memory and audio, to use as my backup/storage device.


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## Sticks and Stones (Jan 5, 2012)

Like others here have said, most of it just adds up to personal preferences. I used to own the Kindle Touch and I sold it because I just didn't like the look of it. The even bezel size on each side just made it look boxy to me. If I had a choice between the two, I would choose the PW based on design alone. It's just more pleasing to the eye, to me.

One feature that the PW has that the Touch doesn't is the fact that the built in light makes the screen look whiter when you use it in a lit room. It also has a larger font choice. That said, it sounds like you're happy with the Kindle Touch as it is - if you are, I'm not sure you really need to upgrade.


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## Vicki G. (Feb 18, 2010)

Tabatha said:


> May want to check Mobilereads forum for a non-hack way to add fonts of your choice and other fonts in the firmwares that are not showing up. Good for both the Touch 5.3.2 and the PW. Also a couple of good new fonts are there. I'm using a modified Charis sil compact linked there for download. I now have 21 font choices as opposed to the 6 on PW.
> 
> Regretted selling my touch and purchased another because of the added memory and audio, to use as my backup/storage device.


I checked out the Mobilereads forum but it seems as though the fonts do not work with 5.3.3. So sounds like it is the same as all the previous hacks. I'm sure in time the hackers will have this solved as well.


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## shalym (Sep 1, 2010)

Vicki G. said:


> I checked out the Mobilereads forum but it seems as though the fonts do not work with 5.3.3. So sounds like it is the same as all the previous hacks. I'm sure in time the hackers will have this solved as well.


Actually, the "font hack" does work with 5.3.3, since it doesn't require the Kindle to be jailbroken. I'm using it on my PW right now.

Shari


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## Vicki G. (Feb 18, 2010)

I completely forgot about this.  I did finally do the font work-around and it is lovely!!!  My complaint was with the fonts on the PW being thin, pale, not intense, not dark enough... whatever the correct description is.  So I got the additional fonts and if MT Chinese Surrogate isn't dark enough, I need to give up and admit to being totally blind.  

My deepest thanks once again to the folks at Kindle Boards for always having an answer.


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## laurie_lu (May 10, 2010)

I decided against upgrading my Kindle Touch w/lighted cover when I went to Best Buy and played with the Paperwhite.  The illuminated display felt exactly like a backlit LCD screen to my sensitive eyes.


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## FearIndex (Oct 10, 2012)

While I don't own the Touch, I own every other Kindle but the first one. After experiences with the PW I went back to my $79 Kindle "4" and then upgraded to the slightly improved screened $69 Kindle "5". I just couldn't live with the PW screen, instead I prefer how my Kindle 3 (now with family), 4 and 5 look with their Amazon lighted covers. I still have the PW, don't use it much though. PW has better touch than Touch I hear, but the PW screen itself is a tough one to like for me. Even with its improved resolution the PW screen looks the worst Kindle screen ever to me. It looses that paper feeling.

You can look at my signature links for more, but the main thing for me was that the lighted PW screen in the end looks too much a screen and too little a book page for me. The text was also greyer on the PW than on the non-touch Kindles and I understand Touch is on-par with non-touch Kindles on this. So you get blacker text on th new non-PW Kindles. Also, see the defective PW thread for all the issues people have had with PW color uniformity (myself included) and you can see why the PW is definitely not for all.

You may love it or hate it. I'd personally stick with the Touch I guess, but try the PW and decide for yourself.


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## patrickt (Aug 28, 2010)

Ann in Arlington: "Some would see this as a 'con' of the PW. . . . .you open the cover and still have to swipe to have it go to the home page.  "

That's only with the SO version. Since I live in Mexico I have the version without special offers and when I open the Amazon Kindle Cover the book is there.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

patrickt said:


> Ann in Arlington: "Some would see this as a 'con' of the PW. . . . .you open the cover and still have to swipe to have it go to the home page. "
> 
> That's only with the SO version. Since I live in Mexico I have the version without special offers and when I open the Amazon Kindle Cover the book is there.


Yes. . . .as I said in the full post (from over a month ago) you quoted part of:



Ann in Arlington said:


> Some would see this as a 'con' of the PW. . . . .you open the cover and _still_ have to swipe to have it go to the home page.
> 
> But note, it only works that way if you have special offers: If you buy out of them, opening the cover does, indeed, take you to the home page.*
> 
> *edit -- or, rather, wherever it was when you left off and closed the cover.


I actually have the NON SO version myself. . . .


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## backslidr (Nov 23, 2012)

FearIndex said:


> While I don't own the Touch, I own every other Kindle but the first one. After experiences with the PW I went back to my $79 Kindle "4" and then upgraded to the slightly improved screened $69 Kindle "5". I just couldn't live with the PW screen, instead I prefer how my Kindle 3 (now with family), 4 and 5 look with their Amazon lighted covers. I still have the PW, don't use it much though. PW has better touch than Touch I hear, but the PW screen itself is a tough one to like for me. Even with its improved resolution the PW screen looks the worst Kindle screen ever to me. It looses that paper feeling.
> 
> You can look at my signature links for more, but the main thing for me was that the lighted PW screen in the end looks too much a screen and too little a book page for me. The text was also greyer on the PW than on the non-touch Kindles and I understand Touch is on-par with non-touch Kindles on this. So you get blacker text on th new non-PW Kindles. Also, see the defective PW thread for all the issues people have had with PW color uniformity (myself included) and you can see why the PW is definitely not for all.
> 
> You may love it or hate it. I'd personally stick with the Touch I guess, but try the PW and decide for yourself.


I guess that Kindle's must not all be very uniform or something. My K3 has a very nice screen and My $69.00 Basic is even a little better. When I turn the light up on my PW to about 8 to 10 it then matches very well with the Basic. In fact at that point it's better because of the screen resolution and bigger choice of fonts. My Touch has the greyest screen of all, much greyer than my PW without the light on. My K3 is now starting to go through its death throes, but since the screen is so nice and it has 4GB memory and 3G I'm going to order a new one this week and put my old one and my Touch to rest forever.


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## teralpar (May 18, 2010)

laurie_lu said:


> I decided against upgrading my Kindle Touch w/lighted cover when I went to Best Buy and played with the Paperwhite. The illuminated display felt exactly like a backlit LCD screen to my sensitive eyes.


I've checked out the PW at Best Buy and Staples a few times, and was not impressed. The print is much darker and clearer on my Touch, IMO. I thought about ordering a Amazon cover w/light for the Touch, but it looks like they're no longer available on Amazon's website. No worries, though...I'll just continue to read on the KT with the light on.


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## WilliamG (Dec 10, 2009)

teralpar said:


> I've checked out the PW at Best Buy and Staples a few times, and was not impressed. The print is much darker and clearer on my Touch, IMO. I thought about ordering a Amazon cover w/light for the Touch, but it looks like they're no longer available on Amazon's website. No worries, though...I'll just continue to read on the KT with the light on.


Yep, the Touch does indeed have clearer, more contrasty text. It also doesn't have a defective light source as the Paperwhite does. I call it defective because it's clearly not uniformly white (green and pink != white). This has been mentioned numerous times in the "Defective Paperwhite" thread, but I only bring it up again because my mother in-law just got one this past week, and clearly Amazon's Paperwhite build process hasn't changed. The mother in-law doesn't seem to care, though, and I have no intention of mentioning its defectiveness to her.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

WilliamG said:


> Yep, the Touch does indeed have clearer, more contrasty text. It also doesn't have a defective light source as the Paperwhite does. I call it defective because it's clearly not uniformly white (green and pink != white). This has been mentioned numerous times in the "Defective Paperwhite" thread, but I only bring it up again because my mother in-law just got one this past week, and clearly Amazon's Paperwhite build process hasn't changed. The mother in-law doesn't seem to care, though, and I have no intention of mentioning its defectiveness to her.


FWIW, I don't consider the light source of my PW to be defective in anyway.

There is apparently some inconsistency in manufacture, but I suspect far more of them are just fine than are 'splotchy' or whatever it is people are seeing. But the folks with problems are more likely to mention it.

And, for the record, I've seen at least two other PW's 'live' and they both looked fine to me as well.

I never had a Touch so can't compare but consider the screen marginally 'crisper' than my basic Kindle -- purchased very shortly after they were first released.


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## laurie_lu (May 10, 2010)

FearIndex said:


> it looses that paper feeling.


Yes, that's exactly what it is for me too. The PW doesn't look at all like paper. But the other eInk Kindles do.


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## Brownskins (Nov 18, 2011)

7vn11vn said:


> I guess that Kindle's must not all be very uniform or something. My K3 has a very nice screen and My $69.00 Basic is even a little better. When I turn the light up on my PW to about 8 to 10 it then matches very well with the Basic. In fact at that point it's better because of the screen resolution and bigger choice of fonts. My Touch has the greyest screen of all, much greyer than my PW without the light on.


Yes. Read through the reviews in this forum (LTK and Reviews section) and you will find out that for each version of Kindle, someone got a "perfect" one while someone else got a "horrible" one. I've only had e-Ink Kindles but I can attest that the Touch came out with some really clear, bright and crisp ones and some that are so grey and "uncrisp", if there is such a word.


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