Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
3 September 2010
12:4268579Well my new toy arrived, my Kindle and given all the discussion on another thread as to iPad/iPhone versus Kindle I thought I would review it.
First of all it was well packed in recyclable packaging and on opening I was immediately impressed by its build quality. There was the Kindle itself, a getting started booklet and a USB cable with mains plug adapter for recharging.
I was also impressed by the screen. It does indeed have the look of printed paper and is very easy on the eye. The definition is excellent and it responds fast to the controls.
It is very intuitive and in just a few minutes I had it connected to my wi-fi system and charging from the mains.
The unit was already synchronised to my Amazon account when it arrived. As soon as the wi-fi was connected, a book I had already bought, was downloaded automatically to the unit in a matter of seconds.
In fact in just 10 minutes I had gone into the Kindle Store on Amazon via the unit and bought a total of 11 books for under £28. For that money I bought one book that was only just release on hardback at £3 less than the hardback price. Among them were also 8 books that are out of print and cost less than £1.50 each.
However good all that is what is important is what the reading experience is like with a Kindle. Well with nothing worth watching on tv I had an early night with my Kindle to read....
Lying down in bed the unit fit snugly into one hand with my thumb poised conveniently by the page turning button. Weighing the same as my paperback the Kindle was better balanced in my hand and therefore a lot easier to hold. I never realised before just how disruptive to the flow of a book turning a page was, not with a Kindle though. As my eye reached the bottom line I pressed the page turner and when my eye got back to the top the next page was there - smooth, very smooth. The clear screen was easy to read and being able to customise the font further enhanced the reading experience. The size of the screen ideal for paperback fiction and its paper like quality really made it feel as if I was reading a book.
Tired, well just flick the switch at the bottom and a classy 'book cover page' appears on screen of which there are many that change every time. When you flick that switch again the Kindle opens the book on the page where you stopped reading. Exit that book to sample another, no problems because when you re-open a book it takes you right to the page where you left it. Cool.
Being able to accommodate around 3,500 books an good system to categorise and manage books is essential and the Kindle works well enabling me to open files or 'collections' such as 'Lee Child' or 'Unread'.
I bought the 3G version because that means I can download books anywhere there is a mobile phone signal with no extra costs for doing so. Browsing books in WHS? See something you like? Take your Kindle from your jacket pocket, log into the Kindle Store and in seconds you have downloaded that book to your Kindle at a fraction of the cost of the print version.
Yes the 3G version works abroad too, again with no network costs.
OK so is it worth the £109 for wireless only or £149 for wireless and 3G?
After all you could download, for free, the Kindle App to your iPhone, iPad or Netbook. Then you would have access to all these cheap and even free books available on the Kindle.
The iPad is bigger and heavier (as are Netbooks) and there is no way that with one of these you can lay in bed, holding it up, in one hand, reading for 3 solid hours like I did, quite comfortably, with my Kindle last night.
There is no way, with iPad, iPhone or Netbook that you could read all day without recharging. In fact the Kindle battery lasts a whole month without recharging.
As for the shiny screens, out in the sun I know what I would want to read with.
I won't bother to mention the small screen of the iPhone - it just cannot compare with the book like screen of the Kindle.
So what about books v Kindle?
Yes, there is something about the feel and smell of a book that a Kindle cannot replicate. After all some people still prefer their music on vinyl to an iPod....Some people will never be reconciled with technology. As the iPod wins people over with its sheer practicality and versatility so the Kindle is the way to go with reading....Yes, the reading experience is better and easier than a book.
Guest 703- Registered: 30 Jul 2010
- Posts: 2,096
3 September 2010
13:4468584Our mobile library does the job nicely, can order any book we like for free and it's nice to get away from a screen!
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,895
3 September 2010
14:3868593The shop does hardbacks and paperbacks for 50p, how about eleven books for £5.50.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
3 September 2010
14:5668600i will still stick with books as they are now, though i have to admit that £.150 does seem good value.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
3 September 2010
16:3968612I bet you love your vinyl too Ray
Jan - a lot of books are free. You can get the whole Sherlock Holmes collection downloaded free.....and a lot more besides. Depends on what kind of books you like to read.
Besides - price is not the main issue here....
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,895
3 September 2010
17:2868621-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
3 September 2010
17:4368622Jan, if you like a good thriller try Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels, they are brilliant.
3 September 2010
18:1168630In extremis, and in the absence of a loo-roll, I once had recourse to using pages from my diary.
Can't see you doing that with a Kindle!
3 September 2010
22:0968703Another good thing about books is, you can lend them to someone else to read while you get stuck into the next one. Try that with an electronic device.
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
3 September 2010
22:1168707I tried readin post 1 and dozed off about twelve times.
Guest 686- Registered: 5 May 2009
- Posts: 556
3 September 2010
23:0468733Good review BarryW. It will have to join the queue of "would like" items though unless Santa Claus is feeling generous this year! Most of my reading is done on a ferry and it can be very frustrating to finish the only book I have in my bag with nothing to replace it except a trip to the shop! This device would certainly solve that problem.
Phil West
If at first you don't succeed, use a BIGGER hammer!!
Guest 657- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 3,037
4 September 2010
09:4168752Excellent review Barry. I recently got an I pad but it was a close call with Kindle.
Guest 703- Registered: 30 Jul 2010
- Posts: 2,096
4 September 2010
10:4968757Barry, yes I love my vinyl and recently bought a new turntable and amp, and thinking about this I realised that as I get older the possessions I like most are those without a plug on and built to last - my binoculars, cider press, bicycle, fishing rod, guitar etc. But I've also got an iPod.
I guess I'm happy with that as it doesn't need the same concentration as reading a book and fits in with lots of other activities
One thought I have had in reading about these devices is that invariably only ficition is mentioned, does anyone use them for reading non-fiction?
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
4 September 2010
10:5868759ray
if you took the cider press out with you when you cycled to the lake, you could then set up the rod, do a bit of scrumping,
lob them in the cider press and bob's your uncle.
thought you would appreciate the handy hint.
Guest 703- Registered: 30 Jul 2010
- Posts: 2,096
4 September 2010
11:1868760
- I've almost done that in the past but the apples had to be brought home in place of the catch.
Thanks to my cider press I've been in some unusual situations and met some very interesting people, I recommend getting one as great conversation opener (are you reading this Anne, get a cider press and the blokes will flock round!)
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
4 September 2010
11:4168766Tonight I will try again post 1, and hope I manage to really sleep out till tomorrow mid-morning!
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
4 September 2010
12:0168767Ray - I am trying out a newpaper subscription on it and if I like it will save over £20 a month on newspapers. So it is not only for fiction, on the other hand.....
if you log into Amazon and go to the Kindle store you can see the range of books, newspapers and magazines available. It's not only fiction. The Kindle itself come with two Oxford dictionaries, one English and the other American. There is a fair bit of non-fiction available but I really am only interested in fiction for it.
6 September 2010
10:2668961Wow. Really tempting. I long to get rid of all the untidy books cluttering up my bookcase etc, but often when I have a clear out, I later wish that I had kept them. I really think I shall have to invest in the Kindle. As I have said before I have the 100 Classic Books on the DS, but the pages are very small and rarely more than a paragraph per page, added to which the words are just printed so that if you get to the end of a line with, say, the word "back" it appears as "b
ack" which makes reading challenging at best.
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
6 September 2010
10:4968963How do you get Tony Blair to sign a first-edition download of A Journey?
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
6 September 2010
10:5268964Mmmmm.....sounds like a big plus for the Kindle....
If anyone is so made to want such a signature then they could upload a pdf of it to Kindle....
