This review is from: Kindle Keyboard 3G, Free 3G + Wi-Fi, 3G Works Globally, 6″ E Ink Display (Electronics)
I hemmed and hawed a lot before ordering the Kindle; my first e-reader. I thought perhaps I’d miss something about the experience of reading a book. Perhaps I’d miss the feel of it, or the smell, or turning the pages. In actual fact, the only thing I miss is being able to re-read the cover and back page when I put it to rest after a long read. There’s something satisfying about absorbing the cover and imprinting it on your memory, especially after you finish the last page of a book. Anyway, it’s a minor point. In every other detail the Kindle is a superior reading experience.
The weight of the Kindle is a significant factor. A large paperback or hardback can be annoying to read, especially if you’re in bed. Remember holding a heavy paperback above you? Or how annoying it is when you lie on your side and one page of the open book is easier to read than the other? Or pinning a book open on the pillow with one hand as you read? Well, all that’s out the window. Reading a lightweight e-reader is comfortable and handy and it’s almost impossible to lose a page. Need to stop reading for a moment? Just put the Kindle to one side, and when you return it’s still there, on the same page. The only time I lose a page is when I grip either side of the device wrongly and turn a page forward or backward unexpectedly; easily resolved though.
I’ve tried turning pages on other devices. For example, on the iPad there’s a page-turning graphic where the page rolls across the screen under your fingertips. Fact: page-turning is NOT the exciting part of reading a book. If you’re enjoying a book you don’t even notice that you’re turning the pages. However, when I tried a different brand of e-reader I was dispapointed at the slowness of the page turns and the way the device seemed to have a fit as the page refreshed. It was distracting. This is not a problem the Kindle suffers from. The page turns are swift and delicate and do not interrupt the reading experience. On top of all this, you’ve got a crystal clear display and the ability to adjust the font size.
The first book I downloaded and read was “I Shall Wear Midnight” by Terry Pratchett, which had just been published. I found that, just like with a book, you soon forget you’re turning pages and you get lost in the story. This is exactly what I hoped for. If the device had intruded into the reading, it would have been a lesser experience than using a book. I hope the day never comes when the Kindle beeps when an email arrives – this device is geared toward reading and I hope it stays that way. At the moment it is unobtrusive and the reading experience is fantastic.
The book browsing and buying experience is good, as expected. It’s perfectly fast on WiFi. I haven’t really had cause to test the 3G yet. The experimental web-browsing function works quite well on Wikipedia, although is not something I’m particularly interested in on an e-reader. The music plays nicely, and the text-to-voice function is pretty good, although everything sounds like it’s being read by Stephen Hawking. However, the quality of the speakers is very good (better, I think, than on my iphone) and so proper audiobooks come across loud and clear. These are certainly interesting features and it doesn’t do any harm for them to be there.
There’s a free Minesweeper game if you press ALT+SHIFT+M. This is quite a fun ‘easter egg’, but I wouldn’t want to encourage Amazon to detract from the main function of the device: reading. Not sure why there’s an unused microphone on the device either. Goodness knows what they’re planning. 🙂
I’ve had the device running with WiFi turned on for 6 days now and it’s just started telling me that the battery is beginning to run low. I’d say there’s still about 10% left in it, judging by the little battery symbol. That’s impressive, considering I’ve been using it a lot. I’ll probably turn the WiFi off between book purchases in future, though. It’s going to be great for holidays.
I’ve also tried sending a Microsoft Word document by email to the device. It was a fast transfer and the final result was startlingly decent. It was nice seeing it displayed so well on the device.
The pricing of the ebooks is a bit odd; always shifting, and sometimes books disappear from sale (not from the device, though, as far as I know). I’ve been lead to believe this is because the UK prices are sometimes tied to the US prices. As the exchange rate fluxuates it affects the pricing. There’s also some kind of dynamic pricing where Amazon will beat competitors’ prices while they’re having a sale. I don’t know if this is true, but it seems to go some way to explaining why a Stephen King book will be £5 one day and £9 the next. It seems at the moment that there’s a lot of significantly discounted bestsellers – which is a Good Thing. 🙂 Hopefully prices will continue to drop as Kindle uptake increases. It certainly seems to be…
I just love it. I first saw an e-reader a few months ago when I was shown a Sony one – I wasn’t that impressed. Then I was shown a Kindle 2 while in America – this was more like it I thought. On returning to the UK I thought I would have a look in more detail at the Kindle and compare it to other readers. How thrilled and surprised was I to log on to Amazon and see there right in front of me the all new Kindle 3! I read all about it with mounting excitement. It did so many things, was Wi-Fi (I don’t need the 3G version), so many of the classic books are free, and it just seemed to have all the added extras to make it almost too good to be true. The most amazing thing was the price – I couldn’t believe it. Although it was out of stock I thought I shouldn’t rush into buying it, it wasn’t my birthday or Christmas so how on earth could I justify buying myself a present?
I pondered this purchase for a few days, and gradually the reviews started coming in which confirmed all my aspirations for the Kindle – the more reviews I read the more I felt that I just had to have one. I placed my order on August 20th and also bought a Kindle cover in burnt orange. The cover came very quickly which was almost unkind as it felt incomplete (as obviously it was waiting for the Kindle)! I waited and waited for the actual device to arrive and kept checking back to see if I was lucky to have the ‘dispatching’ notice. When I read that other people were receiving their Kindles from a later ordering date, I decided to ring CS. They were very helpful and although they said I would still have about a week to wait, that very day I received the ‘dispatching’ notice and it arrived within a few days. If anyone else has been waiting longer than they think they should, my advice would be to give CS a ring – it can’t do any harm.
I was so excited when I opened the ‘easy open’ box – very clever minimal packaging, makes such a change from all this horrid plastic that comes encasing everything.
My one dread about switching my Kindle on was that it would not recognise our WiFi and then I wouldn’t know what to do. No worries. I switched it on, up came our WiFi network and within a couple of seconds I had downloaded a free book that I had been wanting. Amazing. All the instructions that came with the Kindle were superb. The simple fold-out paper ones in the box were brilliant and the manual actually on the Kindle is very good. I have looked through all of it, but every now and again I like to go back to particular sections of it to refresh my mind of how to do something.
The reading experience is brilliant. I am not a great reader – I would like to be, but there always seem to be other things to do and I find actually going in to a bookshop quite muddling. With the Kindle I can look in the comfort of my own home, find a book of interest, download a sample and click ‘buy now’ if I so wish. So much easier than going to the shop or library. I was recommended a book the other day while talking to a friend, within seconds I had it on my Kindle ready to read! How clever is that!
I very much like the in built dictionary. I changed the default dictionary to the Oxford English – very simple. When I am reading I just highlight the word and instantly the definition comes up. I can then highlight it and save it to look at a later date – my vocabulary is already improving (I have to add that this is a very old classic that I am reading with unusual and unfamiliar words!)
I find the different size fonts very useful. I also like the way the screen can be changed from portrait to landscape instantly. Mostly I read my Kindle in portrait with the keyboard at the bottom, but at night when I am in bed I change it so that the keyboard is at the top – I find this less intrusive and somehow easier to use.
Although the Kindle is compact and comfortable to use, I have found that I find it easier to prop it up in a stand on a table to be even easier when I am sitting on a chair, or in bed I lay it on a small cushion which just gets it at the right angle without having to hold it all the time. Luckily the well designed cover folds completely back and the inside of the cover is non slip. I think it would be very useful if it had a folding support at the back, similar to a free standing picture frame, so that it could prop itself up on a hard surface. Likewise Kindle should design some ‘Kindle inspired mini bean cushion’ for use on a lap or in bed.
All in all I think it is a superb piece of kit. I never thought I would want an e-reader let alone buy one, but I have and I am very very pleased with my purchase. I can highly recommend it to everyone.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
This review is from: Kindle Keyboard 3G, Free 3G + Wi-Fi, 3G Works Globally, 6″ E Ink Display (Electronics)
Customer Video Review Length:: 9:59 Mins
I decided that most of the features of the Kindle are fairly hard to comprehend without seeing them so I decided to create my first video review.
I have tried to cover most of the Kindle’s features, like Speech to Text, music, books (of course!), web browsing, notes, pdf’s and I have compared it to my Sony PRS-505. Which is not as big a difference as you might expect.
*Please note that I didn’t cover newspapers and periodicals on the Kindle in this review as I like those in paper form and don’t use the device for this. I browse papers heavily and like to skim back and forth and the Kindle is not ideal for this. I think that is why people might be saying the review is not helpful. I think I covered everything else though!
Overall I adore the Kindle, I am very happy with it and if you’d like to see why please feel free to watch! If you own an e-reader already this may help you decide whether the upgrade is worth it or if you are new to them you can see what the Kindle uniquely offers! Thanks for watching!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Everything I hoped it would be,
I hemmed and hawed a lot before ordering the Kindle; my first e-reader. I thought perhaps I’d miss something about the experience of reading a book. Perhaps I’d miss the feel of it, or the smell, or turning the pages. In actual fact, the only thing I miss is being able to re-read the cover and back page when I put it to rest after a long read. There’s something satisfying about absorbing the cover and imprinting it on your memory, especially after you finish the last page of a book. Anyway, it’s a minor point. In every other detail the Kindle is a superior reading experience.
The weight of the Kindle is a significant factor. A large paperback or hardback can be annoying to read, especially if you’re in bed. Remember holding a heavy paperback above you? Or how annoying it is when you lie on your side and one page of the open book is easier to read than the other? Or pinning a book open on the pillow with one hand as you read? Well, all that’s out the window. Reading a lightweight e-reader is comfortable and handy and it’s almost impossible to lose a page. Need to stop reading for a moment? Just put the Kindle to one side, and when you return it’s still there, on the same page. The only time I lose a page is when I grip either side of the device wrongly and turn a page forward or backward unexpectedly; easily resolved though.
I’ve tried turning pages on other devices. For example, on the iPad there’s a page-turning graphic where the page rolls across the screen under your fingertips. Fact: page-turning is NOT the exciting part of reading a book. If you’re enjoying a book you don’t even notice that you’re turning the pages. However, when I tried a different brand of e-reader I was dispapointed at the slowness of the page turns and the way the device seemed to have a fit as the page refreshed. It was distracting. This is not a problem the Kindle suffers from. The page turns are swift and delicate and do not interrupt the reading experience. On top of all this, you’ve got a crystal clear display and the ability to adjust the font size.
The first book I downloaded and read was “I Shall Wear Midnight” by Terry Pratchett, which had just been published. I found that, just like with a book, you soon forget you’re turning pages and you get lost in the story. This is exactly what I hoped for. If the device had intruded into the reading, it would have been a lesser experience than using a book. I hope the day never comes when the Kindle beeps when an email arrives – this device is geared toward reading and I hope it stays that way. At the moment it is unobtrusive and the reading experience is fantastic.
The book browsing and buying experience is good, as expected. It’s perfectly fast on WiFi. I haven’t really had cause to test the 3G yet. The experimental web-browsing function works quite well on Wikipedia, although is not something I’m particularly interested in on an e-reader. The music plays nicely, and the text-to-voice function is pretty good, although everything sounds like it’s being read by Stephen Hawking. However, the quality of the speakers is very good (better, I think, than on my iphone) and so proper audiobooks come across loud and clear. These are certainly interesting features and it doesn’t do any harm for them to be there.
There’s a free Minesweeper game if you press ALT+SHIFT+M. This is quite a fun ‘easter egg’, but I wouldn’t want to encourage Amazon to detract from the main function of the device: reading. Not sure why there’s an unused microphone on the device either. Goodness knows what they’re planning. 🙂
I’ve had the device running with WiFi turned on for 6 days now and it’s just started telling me that the battery is beginning to run low. I’d say there’s still about 10% left in it, judging by the little battery symbol. That’s impressive, considering I’ve been using it a lot. I’ll probably turn the WiFi off between book purchases in future, though. It’s going to be great for holidays.
I’ve also tried sending a Microsoft Word document by email to the device. It was a fast transfer and the final result was startlingly decent. It was nice seeing it displayed so well on the device.
The pricing of the ebooks is a bit odd; always shifting, and sometimes books disappear from sale (not from the device, though, as far as I know). I’ve been lead to believe this is because the UK prices are sometimes tied to the US prices. As the exchange rate fluxuates it affects the pricing. There’s also some kind of dynamic pricing where Amazon will beat competitors’ prices while they’re having a sale. I don’t know if this is true, but it seems to go some way to explaining why a Stephen King book will be £5 one day and £9 the next. It seems at the moment that there’s a lot of significantly discounted bestsellers – which is a Good Thing. 🙂 Hopefully prices will continue to drop as Kindle uptake increases. It certainly seems to be…
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|I just love it!,
I just love it. I first saw an e-reader a few months ago when I was shown a Sony one – I wasn’t that impressed. Then I was shown a Kindle 2 while in America – this was more like it I thought. On returning to the UK I thought I would have a look in more detail at the Kindle and compare it to other readers. How thrilled and surprised was I to log on to Amazon and see there right in front of me the all new Kindle 3! I read all about it with mounting excitement. It did so many things, was Wi-Fi (I don’t need the 3G version), so many of the classic books are free, and it just seemed to have all the added extras to make it almost too good to be true. The most amazing thing was the price – I couldn’t believe it. Although it was out of stock I thought I shouldn’t rush into buying it, it wasn’t my birthday or Christmas so how on earth could I justify buying myself a present?
I pondered this purchase for a few days, and gradually the reviews started coming in which confirmed all my aspirations for the Kindle – the more reviews I read the more I felt that I just had to have one. I placed my order on August 20th and also bought a Kindle cover in burnt orange. The cover came very quickly which was almost unkind as it felt incomplete (as obviously it was waiting for the Kindle)! I waited and waited for the actual device to arrive and kept checking back to see if I was lucky to have the ‘dispatching’ notice. When I read that other people were receiving their Kindles from a later ordering date, I decided to ring CS. They were very helpful and although they said I would still have about a week to wait, that very day I received the ‘dispatching’ notice and it arrived within a few days. If anyone else has been waiting longer than they think they should, my advice would be to give CS a ring – it can’t do any harm.
I was so excited when I opened the ‘easy open’ box – very clever minimal packaging, makes such a change from all this horrid plastic that comes encasing everything.
My one dread about switching my Kindle on was that it would not recognise our WiFi and then I wouldn’t know what to do. No worries. I switched it on, up came our WiFi network and within a couple of seconds I had downloaded a free book that I had been wanting. Amazing. All the instructions that came with the Kindle were superb. The simple fold-out paper ones in the box were brilliant and the manual actually on the Kindle is very good. I have looked through all of it, but every now and again I like to go back to particular sections of it to refresh my mind of how to do something.
The reading experience is brilliant. I am not a great reader – I would like to be, but there always seem to be other things to do and I find actually going in to a bookshop quite muddling. With the Kindle I can look in the comfort of my own home, find a book of interest, download a sample and click ‘buy now’ if I so wish. So much easier than going to the shop or library. I was recommended a book the other day while talking to a friend, within seconds I had it on my Kindle ready to read! How clever is that!
I very much like the in built dictionary. I changed the default dictionary to the Oxford English – very simple. When I am reading I just highlight the word and instantly the definition comes up. I can then highlight it and save it to look at a later date – my vocabulary is already improving (I have to add that this is a very old classic that I am reading with unusual and unfamiliar words!)
I find the different size fonts very useful. I also like the way the screen can be changed from portrait to landscape instantly. Mostly I read my Kindle in portrait with the keyboard at the bottom, but at night when I am in bed I change it so that the keyboard is at the top – I find this less intrusive and somehow easier to use.
Although the Kindle is compact and comfortable to use, I have found that I find it easier to prop it up in a stand on a table to be even easier when I am sitting on a chair, or in bed I lay it on a small cushion which just gets it at the right angle without having to hold it all the time. Luckily the well designed cover folds completely back and the inside of the cover is non slip. I think it would be very useful if it had a folding support at the back, similar to a free standing picture frame, so that it could prop itself up on a hard surface. Likewise Kindle should design some ‘Kindle inspired mini bean cushion’ for use on a lap or in bed.
All in all I think it is a superb piece of kit. I never thought I would want an e-reader let alone buy one, but I have and I am very very pleased with my purchase. I can highly recommend it to everyone.
Was this review helpful to you?
|A stunning little device,
Customer Video Review Length:: 9:59 Mins
I decided that most of the features of the Kindle are fairly hard to comprehend without seeing them so I decided to create my first video review.
I have tried to cover most of the Kindle’s features, like Speech to Text, music, books (of course!), web browsing, notes, pdf’s and I have compared it to my Sony PRS-505. Which is not as big a difference as you might expect.
*Please note that I didn’t cover newspapers and periodicals on the Kindle in this review as I like those in paper form and don’t use the device for this. I browse papers heavily and like to skim back and forth and the Kindle is not ideal for this. I think that is why people might be saying the review is not helpful. I think I covered everything else though!
Overall I adore the Kindle, I am very happy with it and if you’d like to see why please feel free to watch! If you own an e-reader already this may help you decide whether the upgrade is worth it or if you are new to them you can see what the Kindle uniquely offers! Thanks for watching!
Was this review helpful to you?
|