[tomtom]

Bought MrsTT a Kindle for her birthday (one of those Amazon electronic book reader things for the unitiated) and I'm really impressed... its simple - easy to read and the display is ace.. non backlit fancy ink effect lcd or something - but its on all the time and the lack of backlight/non-glowing nature of it makes it really good.
Quite surprised - and she likes it too!

[Serpico]

Glad you said that - I'm just waiting for mine to arrive.

[SA Chris]

Serious question, why? Not trying to prove anything, just trying to figure out what's wrong with a paperback?

[tomtom]

Good question... for me I'm not sure I'd bother..
Personally I'm happy with the paperback - but I dont read much ~ 5-10 books a year.. I think there are a couple of reasons...

Cost: MrsTT has just downloaded a couple of bestsellers for £3-5 each - approx 1/2 price..

Bulk: The thing can take 3500 books - its really light. Lighter than a book, thinner than a pencil -  about the same face area as a paperback So she can load the thing up before she goes on holiday. MrsTT reads alot 1-2 a week (thats a lot in my book - boom boom) and so thats ideal for her. The thing can easily fit in her handbag for journeys/work etc.. No more watching her drop 10+ paperbacks in her (already full) suitcase when going away...

I thought reading on a screen would be wank - and I find lit screens (computer/phone/ipad (only played with) a bit tiring. But this one has no backlight and no depth - it looks pretty much like slightly pixellated written on paper.. The screens on all the time.. battery lasts over a month before needs charging...

Its £110... so not cheap - but not ipad stupid money.. its simple but effective! Like I said, I'm not sure I'd bother  - but i suspect for a bookophile it might be good... (also reads the text and you can up/downscale the fonts so probably good for poor sighted people..). MrsTT has already done 30 pages this evening...

TT

[Serpico]

   plus I like the idea of being able to get a newspaper subscription downloaded to it every day (via wifi) even while I'm abroad, also it has a basic web browsing capability so I can access here (V important) and email.
As an alternative I did consider one of the cheaper Android Apads (~£100) but the Kindle's superior battery life swung it.

[Falling Down]

Serious question, why? Not trying to prove anything, just trying to figure out what's wrong with a paperback?

I'm very tempted as I travel so much and some of the books I like to read are pretty lengthy that are mostly impossible to lug around on planes and trains in a laptop bag.  I'm hanging on until I have a go of someone elses though.

[tomtom]

If you like I can make a little vid putting it through it's paces?'the 3G version £150 has no network access fees and works in 100 countries.. Apparently..

[underground]

Serious question, why? Not trying to prove anything, just trying to figure out what's wrong with a paperback?

I'm very tempted as I travel so much and some of the books I like to read are pretty lengthy that are mostly impossible to lug around on planes and trains in a laptop bag.  I'm hanging on until I have a go of someone elses though.

Just PM'd you FD - have a lend of mine if you like. I've been impressed with mine. I love books, big books, and don't think it would replace them - I like to have reference books with colour plates and so on and the Kindle doesn't do them at all. However for paperbacks, a lot of stuff I read are the 'classics' that I don't want to keep on the bookshelf forever, and end up really shabby, I can download free to the device, which is, as tomtom said, a nice bit of kit.

The other use I've found very handy is as a way of having documents to hand without having to open a laptop or carry sheaves of paper about. I set up a '@kindle.com' email address on the device, and can email any readable document to it - the device will download on the 3G connection (although this is at a slight cost unlike the books service - '@free.kindle.com' causes it to wait until a wifi signal is available and downloads for free) and they end up on the Kindle ready to look at - pdfs render really well.

[Bubba]

When they can display colour I suspect a lot more people will buy them.

[magpie]

I think they're pretty cool, for someone who reads a lot they're really handy, especially when travelling.

I can go through 10+ books on a fortnights holiday and having to carry them back and forth is a pain and impossible with a lot of airlines weight restrictions, it would totally solve that.  Also, I am forever wrecking books by carrying them to and from work to read on the train and at lunch, having a Kindle would stop that too so I can definitely see the attraction.

[Paul B]

instead of wrecking a book you'd wreck a considerably more expensive kindle shirley?

How are they in bright sunlight? I've been steering my family away from this direction for a while now but I think I'm losing.

[Dolly]

Our accountant has one and brought it in last week.
Worked in all light - bright and dim.
Even the sceptical techies were convinced.

[magpie]

instead of wrecking a book you'd wreck a considerably more expensive kindle shirley?

My name's not Shirley.

By wrecked I mean the pages get bent and it gets bashed about, I'd carry a Kindle in a sleeve things and probably be more careful with it, and it doesn't have pages to turn down.

Saying that, I could just be more careful with the books, couldn't I?

[SA Chris]

It's all a question of need I guess. I only read a few pages before bed, don't really travel that much with work and when I go on holiday I don't really read that much, just take a fat book that will last me for reading a page or two when I get a chance.

Most of my books come from charity shops or the library, so am either dead careful with them or not at all. And never had a flat battery in a book yet /

[Dolly]

I understand that battery life isn't that much of an issue TBH.
IIUC the device only draws to screen once so the battery doesn't get that much of a hammering (techies please correct if wrong )

[tomtom]

Made a little film for you... (it's in HD but may take a while for Schmootubee to process it.)



Interesting what Dolly said - the screen flashes when turning a page - which may be the updating bit - hence not needing any power to display the page.. neat. When off it displays a cover from random books - nice touch. The video makes it look a bit like the screen is a bit glary (reflections etc..) its really not like that - seems to be an artefact of the filming...

[slackline]

Interesting what Dolly said - the screen flashes when turning a page - which may be the updating bit - hence not needing any power to display the page.. neat. When off it displays a cover from random books - nice touch. The video makes it look a bit like the screen is a bit glary (reflections etc..) its really not like that - seems to be an artefact of the filming my #iphonegaylord...

 

[Falling Down]

Nice one TT - I want one now 

Bubba - I'm not so sure about the colour thing.   It's why the Kindle is so popular isn't it? The B&W and easy reading similar to paper...

[Bubba]

Definitely for reading a straight up book, B&W would rule.

But if I were ever to buy such a reader, I'd like it to be able to double up as a pdf reader and show full colour when appropriate.

Amazon are developing a colour version, but it's a while away yet.

[lagerstarfish]

the 3G version £150 has no network access fees and works in 100 countries.. Apparently..

You mean that it can be used for free web browsing via 3G? Forever?

That's impressive; still only in black and white, but impressive. I assume there are some restrictive "fair use" conditions?

[tomtom]

the 3G version £150 has no network access fees and works in 100 countries.. Apparently..

You mean that it can be used for free web browsing via 3G? Forever?

That's impressive; still only in black and white, but impressive. I assume there are some restrictive "fair use" conditions?

I dont know - I 'think' (not having bought the 3g one) that the access is free only when you are buying/downloading a book.. maybe not? The Browsers not great TBH. Does the job but the screen works best with text not loads of different colours/images etc..

[underground]

the 3G version £150 has no network access fees and works in 100 countries.. Apparently..

You mean that it can be used for free web browsing via 3G? Forever?

That's impressive; still only in black and white, but impressive. I assume there are some restrictive "fair use" conditions?

I think the browsing experiencece via a button only interfa is shit enough to impose its own 'fair use policy' - i.e. I wouldn't use in preference to phone / laptop etc. but it' nice to have if needed.

[chris05]

I had a look at the forum on amazon and there's pages discussing this, it seems many people have bought the 3G version expecting worldwide coverage for web browsing etc, however this option is called experimental by amazon and many people dont seem to get this functionality. The forum is worth a look if you are in the market/have any questions.

[SA Chris]

browsing experiencece via a button only interfa is shit

Do you have an Acer laptop btw? Mine does shit like that all the time.

[Dolly]

browsing experiencece via a button only interfa is shit

Do you have an Acer laptop btw? Mine does shit like that all the time.

Just guessing but you're not into the Kindle are you Chris ?