Hey, Kindle Owners:Follow

Have you seen the Kindle Fire that's coming out? It's like a little tablet (looks just like the Nook Color). I haven't seen the price announced but it's been report to be about 1/2 the price of an ipad.

As far as 3G goes, the second gen Nook (the non-color one) did away with 3g presumably because it wasn't terribly useful.

On the Nook you can shop B&N easily without the keyboard - books will insta download to the device, but to shop anywhere else you have to use keyboard and side load books you want on the device. I'm assuming the kindle has a similar set up with Amazon.

I think in a pack-back with a case the screen will be fine. The biggest problem I've had with my reader is high humidity. The screen is sensitive to moisture.

Anyways, if you're strictly looking for a reader with less concern for other apps - I'd take a look at the Nook Smart touch. It's uses the easy-on-the-eyes e-ink screen, has a 2 month battery and I believe it's cheaper than a Kindle.

Good Luck - I love my e-reader.



Edited, Sep 29th 2011 3:12pm by Elinda

I'm not really interested in a tablet because me and devices that need to be recharged frequently aren't good friends. I can barely keep my phone charged, and that's always plugged into my stereo via USB during my ridiculous commute.

I don't know if I want to deal with a touchscreen keyboard on a larger device than a telephone that doesn't have to show movies or webpages (if I had an iPad or something, I'd still purchase a keyboard for it). The only reasons that I prefer touchscreens are that the phone is small enough to where hand placement isn't a big deal, and I like the extra screen space afforded, but I don't like sliders because the cables that run through hinges are always the reason my phones ultimately die.

Also, physical page turn buttons. Then again, there's also the regular Kindle without any sort of keyboard for $109, so I'm just trying to decide about frequency of keyboard use or if I'll just get the books from my phone. Not a big note-taker.

They actually lowered the price of the Kindle keyboard without special offers to $139 (the same is true with the Kindle touch, but that's coming out in November and I want it in two days ), the same price as the Nook touch. I might wait for the Kindle touch, anyway, because it's apparently lighter and the page turns are more responsive, but I'll wait for reviews. I'm kind of going away from the idea of a keyboard after reading Nook touch reviews.

The Kindle store's selection is apparently much better than the Nook's, which swings it more into the Kindle direction.



Edited, Sep 29th 2011 9:40am by Sweetums

How much space have you used on it so far? I know ebooks don't take up much space but the upcoming Kindle touch has 4 gb rather than the 2 gb of the basic Kindle.

1) Yes
2) Never ever, it's a complete waste of space. Although I rarely buy ebooks from the kindle itself.
3) Very, and probably. Depends on what you have in your backpack, I guess.

I've never regretted buying a Kindle. Practical, solid, convenient, reliable. It should really be German.

I almost never use the keyboard on the kindle. If I were buying one now I'd get the non keyboard version in a blink. I'd probably get the kindle touch.

I'm waiting for the colour e-ink screen to come to the kindle. That will probably be when I get a new version, because you could read graphic novels etc on it then.

3G is handy, to say the least imo. I suppose it also depends on whether or not you have a decent coverage of whispernet or not, I've never had a problem with that.

I love my Kindle, it's handy, compact and the screen is amazing. Some downsides: lousy way to turn it on and off, at least my Kindle has that. It's not a regular slide button to turn it on or off, you have to hold it for a fairly long time before it shuts off.

Depending on your country, you can get lousy book service though; I'm guessing that you are from the USA (most posters here are, although there are a lot of exceptions ofcourse) in which case you get a lot of good deals. I'm Belgian and are often told that Amazon can't deliver the ebook to my Kindle due to copyright issues. It annoys the crap out of me, prices are often higher here too and I've had books that I couldn't get at all, not even via Amazon France or Germany. (oddly enough even Amazon UK won't deliver to me due to copyright issues)

But I suppose that isn't really Amazon's fault.


I have only once used the keyboard to look for a book, in about one full year.

As noted above, I have my Kindle for a year now, it's still alive, it's pretty resilient, I did get a screenprotect foil and also a sort of a case. The case is handy, definitely a must have.

I'm not all that happy with the battery though, I tend to have to recharge quite a lot imo. But it's not excessive enough to become a problem, so far anyway.

Still love mine. Space is not a problem, since text takes up very little space and you can always remove a book from the device (and re-download it later as needed).

I rarely use the keyboard.

I think I'd buy the current model rather than the upcoming tablet, personally. It's super easy on your eyes, and if you really need a light source you can get a little clip-on dealy.

If you're moderately careful it should do fine in your backpack. I carry mine around in my bag all the time. Get a cover for it, tuck it in securely and it'll be fine.

I read a lot, so I charge mine about every other week. Something like that.

I usually order up books from my PC and download them whenever I'm in a good spot for a connection on the Kindle. Amazon has a lot of classics available for free, these days.

I suppose the wi-fi decision makes sense - lots of places subsidize or provide wi-fi for libraries and schools, these days.

Nexa and I have two "e-readers".

Nexa has had a nook color for 7 months or so, I've a had a new non touch Kindle for about 24 hours.

We like both of these very much. Like most other people in the world, I haven't had any hands on time with the Fire, but let me start with what I think you should do.

If the idea is a device to read books on BUY THE NEW KINDLE. IMMEDIATELY.

The value proposition for the device at $79 is absurd. The screen looks great, page turns are quick, it's an ideal uncomplicated device to read on. The ads from the "special offers" that are pushed to it are unobtrusive. They don't exist when you're reading a book, at all, and the third one that showed up was $5 off any Amazon purchase of $10 or more. Another was for ATT, and there was also one for a discount on mystery novels and one for the movie Anonymous. They show up as "screen savers" which with the Kindle means a static image of the ad when it sleeps after you set it down. They also show up on the bottom of the home screen, so unobtrusively that I'm assuming it's the same as the screen saver because I literally haven't noticed.

I don't really understand the appeal of a touchscreen for this sort of device. I guess if you took notes, or used the web browser much? I'm never going to do that. I'm going to read books with it.

The Nook Color is also fine for reading books, but really shines for reading comics or kids books. We had Nexa's set up to run Honeycomb from a bootable SD card in about an hour after we bought it, and that was a surprisingly fun experience. I thought it was easy and that anyone could do it, but I think that about a lot of things. All of that said, I wouldn't watch movies on a 7" screen. I know people watch video on phone screens or whatever; it's just not something I'd do. We seem to have 1000 laptops, and I can't really imagine using a tablet for browsing or work stuff, instead, but I realize other people do. I'm not much help there.

Anyway, back to the new Kindle, the build quality seems high, the design is very good. I love it so far. Of course, so far is 33 hours or whatever, but it's been a great experience.

I made my own kindle case out of an old book. It works great, but make sure you spend the extra money and get proper book binding glue. That or make sure you're related to a librarian, which is a cheaper and easier route.

With the proper glue you just close the book with wax paper near one edge, and then paint the glue on the edge. Then after cutting out the inside to fit the kindle, you paint the inside with the glue. With the right glue there is no need to glue layer by layer.