For anyone who doesn't know, the Kindle Paperwhite isn't like the Kindle Fire. The display on the Paperwhite is E ink, which is designed to mimic a printed page as closely as possible.
http://www.eink.com/technology.html
It's supposed to be more like reading a book, than reading a computer screen, and it's very energy efficient so the battery lasts up to 8 weeks. E Ink is nothing new, but the Paperwhite introduced an integrated lighting system so you could read it in the dark (remember, it's like a book, so you need a light to see it in the dark). It's a great idea, but the lighting is not uniform like it is shown to be in the advertising. It's not horrible, but it is disappointing that it so obviously doesn't live up to the claims.
Amazon will give me a refund, exchange, whatever - I'm not worried about that. I'm just disappointed that it wasn't what I expected. Some people are claiming their Paperwhites are perfect, so I'll wait a couple weeks to let them go through their current inventory and give it another shot.