Amazon Kindle
Amazon Kindle 3G
Amazon’s Kindle ebook reader
Basically, it takes away the physical paper or hardback book as we know it and replaces that contents of that book on an Amazon reader screen (which can be either 6″ or 9.7″ depending on the model you buy). It is an ebook reader and you hold the tablet in your hands and can read books, magazines and newspapers as well as various blogs, on the Kindle.
Click here to find out what people liked and didn’t like about the Kindle 3G
It is a sophisticated gadget that often causes a lot of confusion because there are a few different versions of the Kindle.
Briefly, the first ebook reader device from Amazon was called the Kindle First Generation and was released in November 2007 in the United States only and was not available for sale outside of here.
This was commonly referred to as “Kindle” but since then there have been 3 other newer models available. They are:
Kindle 2
Kindle DX
Kindle 3
The 2nd generation of Kindle devices was launched in the US in February 2009. This was known as Kindle 2. In October 2009, the international model of Kindle 2 was available and worked in over 100 countries. The US Kindle 2 and international Kindle 2 were similar looking models and differed only in the mobile network standards that each of them used.
The Kindle DX was announced by Amazon in May 2009 and this was the first generation of Kindle DX. At 9.7″, it has a larger screen than the 6″ display of its predecessors, is much thinner and can support PDF files. It is purported to be better suited to displaying newspaper content and has the ability to display pages in landscape or portrait views depending on how the user is holding the Kindle (this is done through the accelerometer which the Kindle DX has).
Kindle 3 is the term given to the newest model of the Kindle that was released on 28 July 2010 and is the 3rd Generation Kindle and has 3G support.
This latest generation product is simply referred to as “Kindle 3″.
To add further confusion, there are 2 versions of the Kindle 3: the Kindle Wi-Fi and the second version is a replacement to Kindle 2 and is slightly more expensive than the Kindle 3 Wi-Fi version.
Being the latest generation of Kindle, this newer product naturally has some extra features such as an extremely long-lasting battery that can last for up to 1 month of reading if the wireless radio is turned off. It has text-to-speech navigation, internal memory expanded to 4 GB, support for extra fonts and Unicode (international) characters.
The Kindle DX Latest Generation was released in July 2010.
The beauty and appeal of using the Kindle (as opposed to a lightweight laptop) is that it can be used without any computer connections. Therefore, unlike a computer which has to be plugged into a mains socket (if the battery is low) and will need to be plugged into a socket for an internet connection (if there is no wireless connectivity), the Kindle has free access to the Internet over the cellular networks in the United States.
Although the Kindle 3G is newly launched, it already has a staunch following who love its features, some of which include:
- Longer battery life - Kindle 2′s battery can last at least 7 days or more and the battery on the Kindle 3 is supposed to last longer
- Weight – Satisfied customers love the lightweight of the Kindle even when compared to other ebook readers such as the Nook. The Kindle 3 comes out about 3 ounces lighter. This makes a big difference when you read as you have to hold the Kindle in your hands and need an object to be light as opposed to heavy.
- Page refresh – This is the speed at which the pages refresh when you go to a new page, you want the data to be there instead of waiting for it to appear because this would make your reading experience quite laborious and unpleasant. Well, the page refresh speed on the Kindle 2 is about double the speed on the Nook and the Kindle 3 is slightly faster than that
- Navigation speed – This is when you move the cursor around on the screen and select items. The speed of this is very important because, just like the Page refresh speed, these elements need to be fast otherwise they severly affect your experience. Imagine if you had to wait a few seconds before moving the cursor around to select something and it took a few seconds to carry out the action? Well, the Kindle has an amazing navigation speed and many customers report this as a major advantage of the Kindle over other ebook readers
- Screen Contrast- The screen contrast is the ability of the screen to display the dark writing against a lighter background. Just as when you read a book, having black letters against a white page background means you can read easily because the words stand out more, due to the contrast. You need a similar thing on ebook readers and the Kindle e-ink is meant to have a 50% better contrast which is really important especially if you have very low light around you when reading. What you don’t want to do is strain your eyes trying to make out the words you are reading. Hence, the more screen contrast you have, the better and this is another place where the Kindle comes up trumps. The Kindle 3 (and Kindle DX) is better with its screen contrast than both the Kindle 2 and the Nook.
Read an in-depth view from a customer who bought the Kindle 3G
Where the Kindle seems to be inferior in regards to something like the Nook is that the Nook has a user-replaceable battery which fairly inexpensive. You will most likely need to replace a battery after about 2 years of good use. The Kindle lets you down here because you have to ship your Kindle back to Amazon and they ship you back a different Kindle to the one you had previously. Most people would just prefer if they could buy the battery from Amazon or have Amazon replace the battery on their existing Kindle.
You can find out more about comparisons of ebook readers or look at the ebook reader matrix.
Visit Amazon and find out more about the Kindle 3G Wireless Reading Device with Free 3G and Wi-Fi
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