I’ve been comparing Kindle, iPad & Nook and have pretty much decided on the Kindle 3G.
Two things make me pause, though:
My primary concern is low-light reading. I would hope to use it in bed before falling asleep (and not disturbing Mrs. Mustard); how much external light is needed? I know there are Kindle lights - are these effective, or a pain in the arse to use?
My only other thought is the lack of a color display. I guess I would miss this only when reading an e-magazine, which I’m not sure how often I will do. Might I wish I had color in any other instances?
I’ve got the older version but got my mom the new one for her birthday this year. You do need light to read it (although the new ones are better contrast) - it’s just like a book in that regard. If you don’t mind a regular book light you won’t mind the Kindle kind.
I’ve never missed color - don’t read magazines and such on it. I’m pleased as punch with the eink display and don’t really miss anything (except maybe better diagrams.)
I just use ordinary book lights bought at the dollar store. They’re actually easier to use with a Kindle than with a book, because there’s a smaller area they have to illuminate, and they don’t get in the way when you turn the pages.
Not when you’re reading text. Maybe if you were reading comics or graphic novels or picture books.
As of right now, all the available color displays are back-lit. If you want an e-ink screen (with its greater battery life and lower eyestrain), you’re limited to black-and-white. This is likely to change in the future, but not in the immediate future.
I got a Kindle in September and also got the cover with built-in booklight, and it works like a charm – perfect for reading in bed at night. There were some negative comments on Amazon about the light not reaching the far corner of the Kindle, but I find that there is plenty of light to read by.
I have a Kindle for reading books, not magazines, so the lack of color doesn’t bother me at all.
The recent update of the Android Kindle app allows magazines to be read - previously only books were synced to the device. This is handy for the rare instance I need to see a color photo or diagram.
I just got a kindle for Christmas. It’s pretty amazing how clear the screen is. Remember- a backlight takes power. If they made it like a computer screen, you’d need to charge the thing every few hours. Instead, the Kindle’s battery lasts for days and you occasionally need a little light to read by. I like the tradeoff.
I had the previous generation Kindle, until I destroyed it in the field. If you turn of the wi-fi and 3G you can have the thing go for weeks without a re-charge. As I understand with my 3rd Generation Kindle I got as a replacement for Christmas you can go up to a month without recharging. It’s a wonderful little device.
I also received a 3rd generation Kindle as a Christmas gift. I discovered that I can use the “experimental” browser to go to gutenberg.org and directly download from it to the device. Gutenberg has tons of public domain classics (Twain, Doyle, Dickens, Kafka, etc.) in Kindle format that you can download for free.
Someone please tell me if I understand the difference correctly:
Wi-Fi can only be used to connect to the internet in a Wi-Fi area, such as home, the local library, Starbucks, etc. If I am at the beach, I’m SOL.
3G can connect from virtually anywhere.
Are there any other differences?
Also, since Kindle has no web browser, am I correct in assuming that the only times you would need to connect to the internet would be to download a book?
In other words, if I see no real need to purchase a book from the beach or the middle of a cow pasture, it would make sense for me to save the $50 difference in price?
My ex-wife just got a Kindle for Christmas. On Christmas day she was trying to get it set up and was reading through some of the on-device instructions out loud and I am pretty sure that she read out that it now does now come with some sort of web browser (maybe an “experimental” one or something like that). IIRC it said that it does run JavaScript, but not Flash or any other plugins.
Last I saw of it, she did not have this browser up and running (nor did she yet have any books on the Kindle), so I can’t confirm this for certain, but unless one or both of us misunderstood something quite badly, it appears that it does have some sort of browser (although probably with a lot of limitations).
my daughter has a 3G Kindle, and one of the best features is that you can even send and read email on it. She’s never had a problem with coverage, even in the middle of nowhere Australia. When she was stuck in Heathrow it was a life saver. Another big benefit is getting English books from the US Amazon site in Germany. She has bought some, but she has gotten a lot of free books also. I thought she got them from Amazon too, but it could have been Gutenberg. So, she is very happy she got the 3G version and if I get one I would.
I’m very dubious about book readers myself, having well over 1,000 real books on hand I haven’t read yet, but the Kindle seems to be far better than my bias said it would be.
See my post number 10. It does come with a browser, it’s under the “experimental” menu.
Mine has both 3G and WiFi. I think the difference is that there is a small charge for doing some things over 3G. I don’t think there are any charges when using a WiFi connection. I’m not positive about that so research it first if you’re concerned about the charges.
Go for the 3G. It’s a one time cost and when you REALLY need to get a new book you won’t be where there’s free wifi - hospitals, airports, that sort of thing. You don’t appreciate the Kindle until you head on up to Pittsburgh for what you think is a vacation but end up spending a week in a hospital waiting room, trust me.
I just got a Kindle 3G+WiFi for Christmas and I lovelovelove it already. And I used to be a die-hard “I need dead trees between my fingers” girl. I am so looking forward to traveling with it - every summer my suitcase ends up being half books. And it’s much more comfortable when reading in bed.
[hijack] Miss Woodhouse, has your husband had any problems with “mystery restarts” and the last page he was reading not being saved on his K3? I had to return my (non-lighted) cover because the metal hooks that hold on the cover were in effect shorting out the Kindle and causing me all kinds of irritation with having to page forward from the beginning or from the place where I had left off 3 nights before and search in vain for my place in the book. Google searches took me to a forum where there was a huge thread about all the same problems others were having with these covers. If I knew the lighted cover was not causing the same kinds of problems, I’d consider it [/hijack]
I can’t be bothered to find/link to a cite, but I remember reading online that the covers with the built-in lights do not have the same problems. When I read about the Amazon recall of the non-lighted covers I kept searching, because I have a 3-month-old cover with a built-in light.
I got a K3 for xmas and I love it. I feel like I am reading an actual book, no eyestrain at all. For work I have converted several PDFs to Mobi and uploaded via Calibre. I bought an eBook fro 99 cents called “Free Kindle Books and How to Find Them”. The guy has a blog that I subscribe to and yesterday for example he listed about 10 books on Amazon that were on sale for free.
I tried the browser, and wasn’t too impressed, but that isn’t why I wanted it anyway.
