Amazon revealed a new Kindle device today called the Kindle Paperwhite, which comes with “patented Light Guide” frontlighting and a “Paperwhite” display, aimed at creating a more paper-like appearance for book pages.

It has higher resolution, higher contrast, and perhaps best of all, an 8-week battery life, even with the light on. It is said to have 25% more contrast than Pearl screens in previous Kindle models, and 62% higher resolution.

“Paperwhite is the Kindle we’ve always wanted to build — the technology didn’t exist to build a display with this level of contrast, resolution, brightness and battery life, so our engineers invented it,” said CEO Jeff Bezos. “62% more pixels, 25% higher contrast, built-in front light, perfect for bed, perfect for beach, even thinner, 8 weeks of battery life — this is a quantum leap forward and the best Kindle we’ve ever built by far.”

Here’s what the company says about the battery life in the announcement:

Kindle Paperwhite’s built-in front light is designed to be used at all times — both in daylight and in a dark room — for the clearest, crispest reading experience. In order to use the light at all times, Kindle Paperwhite requires exceptional power management to maintain the battery life that customers love about Kindle. Amazon’s light guide technology precisely diffuses the light across the screen and only requires four LEDs to light the entire screen (unlike LCD screens which can use up to 50 LEDs). The light guide is so efficient that Kindle Paperwhite has a remarkable 8 weeks of battery life, even with the light on at all times.

It’s drawing comparisons to Barnes & Noble’s Nook SimpleTouch with GlowLight, thanks to the frontlighting.

It will cost $119 for the WiFi version. 3G is $179.

The company also announced that the $79 Kindle is dropping to the $69 Kindle. This will ship on September 14th.

The Kindle Paperwhite will ship October 1.

More news from Amazon here.