The screen on Amazon’s new Kindle Paperwhite has received a great deal of attention since the company announced the next-gen device. Unlike previous Kindles, the Paperwhite uses a front-lit display with a fiber optic mesh to evenly distribute light across the entire viewing area. The idea of using a front-lit display isn’t new, and Barnes & Noble actually beat Amazon to the punch when it debuted the Nook Glowlight earlier this year.

The primary difference between Kindle Paperwhite and its competitors is the uniformity with which the light is distributed. Amazon claims that it uses a fiber optic waveguide to ensure that the screen maintains a uniform brightness. It’s the waveguide that makes Paperwhite’s display stand out. Here’s how it works:

The top bar shows light propagating from right to left across the display, passing through the waveguide as it travels.

The waveguide channels the light downwards, towards the capacitive touch screen.

Mainstream display panels, in contrast, tend to use backlighting. LEDs have made major inroads here and can be deployed either in place of CCFLs (cold cathode fluorescent lamps) or in an edge-lit backlight configuration.

Note that both the Kindle Paperwhite and our hypothetical mainstream LED-lit LCD panel incorporate an edge light. The difference is that edge-lit backlight panels fire light directly toward your eyes, edge-lit front-light panels fire light directly at the screen.

Early reviews of the Paperwhite have hailed its screen uniformity and quality. One of the known downsides to displays like Barnes and Noble’s Nook GlowLight is their fragility; it’s possible to damage the light structure without causing visible damage to the screen itself. Amazon claims to have solved these problems as well; product representatives have publicly stated that the company conducts multiple drop tests on the Paperwhite to ensure that the optic fiber waveguide isn’t easily damaged.

Amazon has also released a video with more information on the Paperwhite’s display for those of you who’d like to see more data.

Subscribe Today to get the latest ExtremeTech news delivered right to your inbox.

© 1996-2022 Ziff Davis, LLC. PCMag Digital Group ExtremeTech is among the federally registered trademarks of Ziff Davis, LLC and may not be used by third parties without explicit permission.