The Kindle Paperwhite is popular. So popular in fact, that unless you’ve already preordered it, you won’t be able to get your hands on it until October 22. While you wait for your order to arrive, Amazon has released a video that shows off some of the technology inside the Kindle Paperwhite.

In the video, VP of Kindle Project Management Jay Marine says ”This is the Kindle we’ve always wanted to build.” It sure seems like it, because a surprising amount of work went into what you might think are minor details of the device.

While the video touches on some other details, the majority of it is dedicated to explaining the front-lighting technique that the Kindle Paperwhite uses. Chances are that if you’re reading this on a screen, it’s backlit. The Kindle Paperwhite, however, uses a reflective film above its capacitive touchscreen that reflects light back at you, like a lightbulb on a book.

It’s more complicated than it sounds, as illustrated by the video below.

Who knew it could be so complicated just to keep a screen evenly illuminated? For those of you who pre-ordered the Paperwhite early, it ships October 1. For everyone else, it ships October 22.

Have you pre-ordered the Kindle Paperwhite already, or are you on the fence about it?

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