[Archived] Kindle

[Alan75]

In order to avoid carrying a load of books around, especially when going on holiday, been thinking of getting a Kindle.

Anyone use or experienced Kindle.

Views would be appreciated.

[Cocker]

In order to avoid carrying a load of books around, especially when going on holiday, been thinking of getting a Kindle.

Anyone use or experienced Kindle.

Views would be appreciated.

My mum has one and its fine if you are just reading however if its a kindle you want you should wait for this:-

Click

If you want to spend a little more cash though grab a Samsung Galaxy Tab or Ipad. They all have book apps that you can use.

[HemelRover]

I got the mk4 one without the keyboard in November.

I have to say I love it. The screen tech is really smart, the page turn is super quick.

Its also really easy to build up your library with kindle e-books if you, erm, "shop" around the internet.

[Kamy100]

I have a kindle and would highly recommend it. I've got Ibooks on my Ipad but prefer my Kindle for reading, love the screen. I have also found that books on the Kindle store are cheaper than books on the Ibook store.

[Paul]

Views would be appreciated.

I bought my wife one for Christmas - it was that or me getting knee-capped! I spent a lot of time researching this, difficult to achieve as there are only two models to chose from!! I read lots of reviews on Amazon in particular and the consensus seemed to be the older model with external keyboard etc is the better one when set against the new £89 job. I bought this: My link

My reasoning was this is not a touch screen device and having to use up/down/ sideways buttons to navigate an on-screen keyboard would be frustrating. This model has Wi-Fi and 3G. 3G reception can be iffy around the country. The £89 model only has Wi Fi. I wanted to avoid being nagged about not being able to download when away from the house, on holiday for example, and felt the extra £60 was good value for a quiet life.

I haven't used it much other than to have a quick browse, the screen readability etc is superb. If you're used to a touch screen device you'll end up stabbing the screen every now and then and wondering why it doesn't respond!!!! My wife hasn't had a single complaint and compare this with the many requests I get from her for help with her iPhone and laptop. Battery life is excellent - about 3 weeks for my wife who reads a lot. It's a doddle to set up initially.

Many of her friends have them and I've yet to hear a complaint. The monthly Book Group is soon to be renamed the Kindle Group!

The model I bought wasn't available via Amazon at Christmas, presumably they wanted to push the £89 one. I got ours from Tesco mainly because of the no quibble returns policy if went wrong.

[dr_awol]

Got one for xmas

the two main things ive noticed is that the battery life is excellent,

after two weeks use the screen went faulty,I phoned amazon uk and they handle the situation well and sent a replacement out to my workplace within a week :-)

[Stuart]

My mum has one and its fine if you are just reading however if its a kindle you want you should wait for this:-

Click

If you want to spend a little more cash though grab a Samsung Galaxy Tab or Ipad. They all have book apps that you can use.

Point of note, the Kindle Fire isn't e-ink, which for me was the whole point of getting an ereader.

The Fire is basically a very basic pseudo-android based tablet. There are much better tablets out there. Nothing beats the iPad 2. Although there are definitely alternatives out there. There is a deal on at the moment for the Blackberry Playbook (smaller than ipad probably similar to the Fire) which is about half price (c. £169) with a software update imminent (much needed though apparently).

I really wanted a Fire but a lot of research pit me off based on the fact I only really wanted to use it for reading, and for that the Fire is overkill.

I did want a touchscreen though, however, much like the Fire, Amazon don't appear to be releasing the Kindle Touch in the UK any time soon.

In the end, I went for the Kobo Touch which is currently reduced (@ WHSmiths) to £89 - the same price as the non-touch Kindle 4. (non-keypad).

The only reason I could see to go for e Kindle Keyboard was the free 3G Internet - supposedly accessible wirelessly worldwide. But the idea of navigating the web using a 'D' button sounded like hell.

Spec for Kobo Touch isn't bad and I'm enjoying using it so far. Really got me back into books. Only problem is that ereaders don't use the same format. Amazon sells in proprietary "amz" format. Kobo uses ePub - same as Sony reader.

If anyone knows of any converter software....?

[OhmiBRFC]

I use something called Calibre for my Kindle. Which works very well.

http://calibre-ebook.com/download_windows

[Stuart]

I use something called Calibre for my Kindle. Which works very well.

http://calibre-ebook.com/download_windows

Cheers. Do you know if Amazon kindle files are DRM protected?

[Roverdale]

Cheers. Do you know if Amazon kindle files are DRM protected?

Pretty sure they are.. I use Calibre it syncs any epub files to your Kindle with very little hassle. I very rarely get my books through amazon I get most through friends recommending things to me and just sending me the epub file. Add to Calibre, Sync device, finished.

The way the Amazon files work is that they're synced with your amazon account. You then log into this account on your Kindle and boom the files work. I'm not sure if you can have more than one Kindle per amazon account. Someone may have to clear this up.

I have both a Kindle and an iPad but for reading alone the Kindle is so much better. Particularly when you're on holiday and may have glare from the sun or similar things to worry about. The iPad screen is shiny and very difficult to read on in some lights. The brightness can also become a strain on the eyes in low light levels.

The Fire as mentioned above I believe is just pointless. It's a very basic tablet that looks to be terrible at it's main purpose (the book aspect).

Overall the Kindle gets 9/10 for me.

Losing it's final mark because the case with the extendable light on it costs in the region of £50!!!