Amazon Kindle (3rd Gen) Review

Hello one and all.

I have had a request from Anna to post a review of my Amazon Kindle, and so I shall.
I've had my Kindle (which is the 3G + WiFi version) since the end of September 2010, so I've had plenty of time to get used to it.

An Introduction
For those of you who have not seen the device.  Here's what it looks like.

The screen size is 6 inches on the diagonal, and it uses e-ink technology.  For the uninitiated, electronic ink screens work using ink, just like books and newspapers, but display the ink particles electronically. E-ink displays require no power to keep the current image being displayed, they only require power to re-arrange the page into something else (i.e  when you turn the page).  It also doesn't require any backlight, which means you can read it in bright sunlight, unlike most laptops.

What this means for the user is that the battery life is quite long (Amazon say upto 1 month if you've got the wireless turned off, and 10 days with it on).  I'd say the figures are about right, I usually get somewhere between the two given that sometimes I use the wireless and sometimes I don't.
It also only weighs a featherlite 247 grams, which is usually less than the paper books I tend to read.

It has enough memory to store literally thousands of books (3500 or so if you're wondering), and this is main reason I bought it.  If you've ever read Peter F Hamilton's books, you'll know that they are generally 1000 page monsters that can take a lot of room to pack into your holiday bag, whereas this thing can store his entire collection in a tiny package.  Lovely.
Even if you bought more books than the device can store on its own, you can delete the books you don't read and they'll still be there available for you to re-download from Amazon at any time and at no cost. 

Any Colour You Like.... As Long as It's Graphite

There are two options when it comes to the latest Kindle, WiFi only, or 3G and WiFi.
Regardless of which one you pick, the network connectivity is used to connect back to the Amazon Kindle store so you can buy your books.

As I mentioned, mine is the 3G and WiFi version.  The bonus with the 3G is that you can use it for free in over 100 countries (it uses the Vodafone Network in the UK).  This is great when you're out of the house or on holiday with no access to free WiFi.  I've already used it twice on the train to buy the next book in whatever series I was reading.

Nitty Gritty

So what's it like to read a book with?  Basically, it's great.

The screen is just about big enough, and the fonts are crisp and clear.  You have a choice of three typefaces: regular, condensed and sans serif.  You can also adjust the line spacing and the font size, so it'll be no problem for those people that need their reading glasses for everything.  It includes a built in dictionary (two actually, one US and one UK), so you can find out the meaning of words as you read (or just look them up when you're playing Scrabble).

To turn the page, you just use on the of the buttons on the side.  They're positioned on both edges, so you can use either hand.  Page turns are pretty quick, under a second, and I'd say they're faster than you can do it by hand.

When you need a new book, you just fire up the menu and select the "Shop In Kindle Store" option and you get taken to the storefront. You can either search for the book you want with the built in keyboard, or browse through the various categories.  Amazon say they have about 550,000 titles to choose from (and more get added every day), so there is sure to be something to your liking.  A notable exception as far as I noticed is the Harry Potter series, but the Twilight Saga is on there if that's your thing.


When you find what you want, you just click to buy it and it downloads a few seconds later.  You really can be reading something in less than a minute, another big plus for me, because I hate having to wait for 5 days to get a book through the post (and I'm too tight for next day delivery).

Price wise, ebooks are subject to VAT, but I find them to be at least on a par with their printed versions, if not a bit cheaper (certainly cheaper than the list price).  It does mean however that you are tied into Amazon for your books though, as the Kindle only supports certain formats:

Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion.

It also includes some other features.  You can put MP3s on it and listen to them (through the inbuilt speakers or the headphone socket), and you can even try out the "experimental" web browser.  I have tried this feature, and it's a bit odd, e-ink has its limitations, but if you were out and about and you really needed to check your web mail with it, it could just about manage it.

It's also not so great with pictures.  I actually bought a couple of textbooks for work, and the pictures can be a little pixellated.  Fortunately, all is not lost, because as well as being able to use your Kindle to read the ebooks, you can download the app for your PC, Mac, iPhone, iPadsych up to Amazon with where you last left off, so you could read your book on your PC, and then when you get home, turn on your Kindle (with the wireless on) and continue where you left off, and then switch over to your iPad and continue on that.

This is a really handy feature, as the Kindle doesn't do pages, it does locations.  As you can imagine, if your font size was set to the smallest, then your tenth page would be different to someone else's tenth page with the font size set larger, so it does take little getting used to.
[Edit:  They've added the ability to use page numbers in the latest software release]


It Ain't Easy Being Green

One thing I've heard about elsewhere is the green credentials of this thing.  Allegedly, once you get to your 23rd book download, the Kindle has saved you CO2 when compared to the printed equivalent.  That study was for the previous model, though I doubt much has changed (the Kindle 3 is actually a bit smaller).  I'm on my 16th book so I think I'm fast approaching that point.

Result

I love my Kindle, and I'm a definite convert to ebooks.  I've stopped buying paperbacks ever since I bought it. That's not to say I will abandon the printed word entirely ( I do still love the tactile nature of books, and some books are better in print), but the Kindle has opened my eyes to a new way of doing things.  The arguments are little similar to the days when Vinyl, Tape and CD were all replaced by the MP3.  We carry our music libraries around in our iPods, why not our reading library as well?

Further Reading
I've not really covered everything the Kindle can do, so for more information, feel free to follow the link to Amazon's Kindle site.