Amazon flips out with better book browsing in new Paperwhite

Amazon is aiming to improve book browsing in its new version of the Kindle Paperwhite with a Page Flip function and is also building Goodreads into the device.

Flipping heck: New Kindle Paperwhite offers an easier way to browse through a book.

Kindle Page Flip allows readers to skim page by page, scan by chapter or skip to the end of your book without losing your place. Amazon gives an example of being able to quickly flip back and forth to that map of Beyond the Wall in A Dance With Dragons.

Some of the features of the new Paperwhite, which will be available from early October, include:

  • New display technology with higher contrast.
  • Next-generation built-in light.
  • New, 25% faster processor—Books open faster and pages turn faster.
  • New touch technology.
  • Goodreads integration
  • New Kindle FreeTime—Built-in parental controls have been extended to give parents a simple, engaging way to encourage kids to spend more time reading. Hand-select books for your kids to read, and hand out achievement badges when they hit reading milestones. A progress report keeps parents updated on total time spent reading, number of words looked up, badges earned and books finished.
  • New Vocabulary Builder—Compiles words you look up in the dictionary into an easy-to-access list. Use these lists to quiz yourself with flashcards and instantly see words in context.
  • New Smart Lookup—Integrates a full dictionary definition with other reference information about a word, character, topic or book via X-Ray and Wikipedia. For example, using an ordinary dictionary to look up “credit default swaps” in Michael Lewis’ The Big Short would give the individual definitions of “credit,” “default” and “swaps.” Smart Lookup recognizes this is an important topic and phrase in the book, and gives you the correct definition of “credit default swaps” via X-Ray
  • New In-line Footnotes—With a single tap, read the complete text of each footnote in-line without changing the page or losing your place in the book.

Amazon has also set out a new MatchBook service which will enable people who have bought a print book from Amazon since 1995 to get a Kindle edition of the book for $2.99 or less if the book’s publisher enrols for the scheme.

The company says Kindle owners read four times as many books—print and ebooks—as they did before owning a Kindle.

The Goodreads integration and FreeTime feature will be delivered later this year as part of a software update.