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Kindle Paperwhite comes to Big W and Dick Smith

The new version of Kindle's back-lit Paperwhite e-reader is available locally from Big W and Dick Smith.

Michelle Starr Science editor
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Michelle Starr
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The new version of Kindle's back-lit Paperwhite e-reader is available locally from Big W and Dick Smith.

(Credit: Amazon)

Amazon's new Kindle Paperwhite will be available in the coming weeks in local brick-and-mortar stores Big W and Dick Smith, the companies announced today.

The first e-reader to carry E Ink's new Carta display, the 2013 Paperwhite boasts a 25 per cent faster processor — 1GHz compared to the original Paperwhite's 800MHz — a 19 per cent tighter touch grid for more accurate touchscreen control and an updated built-in light that diffuses light more evenly across the surface.

Software tweaks include integration with Goodreads, which allows you to access the book-lovers' community right from your Kindle, as well as share snippets of text, see what your friends are reading and rate books. It also has something called Page Flip that lets you skim content without ever leaving the page you're on. This is similar to its new way of handling footnotes, too: simply tapping a footnote brings up the note without having to turn a page.

A new feature called Smart Lookup integrates dictionary, X-ray and Wikipedia functions for multi-word look-up. This combines with a Vocabulary Builder that keeps a record of all the words you look up in the dictionary.

"Kindle is the best-selling e-reader in the world for six years running, and now it's even better," said Amazon Kindle vice president Neil Lindsay. "The new Kindle Paperwhite has brand-new display technology, the next generation of our built-in light, a faster processor, plus new features like Kindle Page Flip, Smart Lookup, Vocabulary Builder and more. We're excited to make it even easier for our Australian customers to discover Kindle."

The Kindle Paperwhite is available now for AU$159, while the Kindle Paperwhite with Wi-Fi and 3G will be available for AU$229.