The new Kindle 3

[GTI]

I think Amazon have trounced the competition with this one, the slimmest, lightest eReader on the market with wifi and 3G for only 149 squid. I've just placed my order

Spoiler:

[wulliec]

Sell me this thing, GTI.
My house is full of books. They are everywhere. I like the feel of books and one of the first things I do when going into someone's house for the first time is nose around their bookshelf.
I've thought about getting a Kindle a few times now but always talk myself out of it.
How do you find it?

[GTI]

This will be my first Kindle, but I did have the Sony PRS-505 ereader and thought it was great. After the first 20 pages you forget that you're holding a slab of plastic or metal and just start getting into the content. And with the new Kindle with its higher contrast, whiter screen and lighter weight should make it more book-like than ever. You just have to look at take-up of the Kindle worldwide to know that this is going to be the future. The only downer I can see is lending books to mates, however if they also have Kindles there are ways and means The other massive advantage is the free, global 3G coverage. You can be sitting on the beach in Marbella downloading the latest best sellers and you only pay the Kindle book store price... no delivery or data. In addition you can also get newspaper subscriptions which are wirelessly (3G) delivered to you before you board the train for work.

For me its novels on the Kindle and magazines, newspapers and PDFs on the iPad.

[spraky]

Never had a Kindle or a Sony, but my mouse was hovering over the buy button on this one.
As I have an iphone 4 and an Ipad, and I don't get much reading time, I'm having difficulty justifying it, but that never stopped me before.

Decisions, decisions.

[GTI]

Never had a Kindle or a Sony, but my mouse was hovering over the buy button on this one.
As I have an iphone 4 and an Ipad, and I don't get much reading time, I'm having difficulty justifying it, but that never stopped me before.

Decisions, decisions.

I have the same set up as you and I do see a place for the Kindle. I've realised that the iPad is a lousy book reader due to its weight, battery life and poor outdoor viewing so I use it for other things. The Kindle on the other hand was built to read novels, its 6" screen is roughly equal to a paperback book and it doesn't weigh that much more. All the other stuff e.g. web browser, blogs, newspapers etc.. are simply frivolities, and much better handled by the iPad.

[Goldberg]

Guy at work got the 3G version of this last week and I am a fan!
I just wish that when you bought a physical book that you got the E-Reader version thrown in. I love collecting books but love the idea of a Kindle too.

It comes with an experimental web browser that works really well, so for £150 you get an E-Reader with 3G for free pretty much all around the world and internet access!!

Amazon have just snapped up Microsoft's Gaming Director too... Games for Kindle?


One word of advice though, the official case is quite heavy... I would look for a 3rd party alternative if they exist yet.

[spraky]

I have the same set up as you and I do see a place for the Kindle. I've realised that the iPad is a lousy book reader due to its weight, battery life and poor outdoor viewing so I use it for other things. The Kindle on the other hand was built to read novels, its 6" screen is roughly equal to a paperback book and it doesn't weigh that much more. All the other stuff e.g. web browser, blogs, newspapers etc.. are simply frivolities, and much better handled by the iPad.

Grrrrr, now look what you have done, you made me press that "buy" button.

[flik]

Could have sworn I have seen adverts for these on TV for £109. Are they different to these ie none 3G ?

[GTI]

Could have sworn I have seen adverts for these on TV for £109. Are they different to these ie none 3G ?

You can get a Wifi for 109 or Wifi+3G for an extra 40 notes. Definitely worth paying a little more for the Wifi+3G IMHO

[flik]

Seeing as the 3G service is free abroad I wonder if someone will work out how to tether off it ? Now that would be nice

[wulliec]

I'm coming from the same place as Goldberg. Love book, love the look of the Kindle. I think an E version with every real paper book is a great idea as I'm still unconvinced about the ebook prices.

It can be a pain in the arse dragging a few books around when travelling with work though, so the "buy" button has been hit. The impressive battery life tipped me over the edge. I'm not sure whether to thank you or not for this, GTI!

Roll on the 20th!

[flik]

Seriously thinking of getting one tbh. I have no issues with the iPad for reading books even outdoors apart from the fact that it shuts down if the outside temperature gets too hot making it unusable abroad and at home during hot Weather ! Will the Kindle operate outside when the temp is 90 degrees or so ? If so that would be a deal breaker for me !

[GTI]

Seriously thinking of getting one tbh. I have no issues with the iPad for reading books even outdoors apart from the fact that it shuts down if the outside temperature gets too hot making it unusable abroad and at home during hot Weather ! Will the Kindle operate outside when the temp is 90 degrees or so ? If so that would be a deal breaker for me !

It should do mate, the operating temperature for its larger brother the Kindle DX is — 32°F to 95°F (0°C to 35°C). Once you've switched off the wireless radios the unit is pretty much inert. The image on the screen is like an etch-e-sketch, it takes no energy to keep it there, just to change. Therefore these eInk readers don't generate, and and are not affected by heat in the same was as an iPad.

[spraky]

Small technical hitch. Amazon Uk won't ship it to Ireland, they say use USA store, that way I would get hit by customs.

[GTI]

Small technical hitch. Amazon Uk won't ship it to Ireland, they say use USA store, that way I would get hit by customs.

I ordered mine from the US (International) store for delivery to Switzerland and they included customs in the price as you can see by this breakdown (CHF = Swiss franc)

Item(s) Subtotal: CHF 199,70
Shipping & Handling: CHF 22,17
Import Fees Deposit CHF 16,86
Grand Total: CHF 238,73

CHF 238 is roughly equal to 150 pounds sterling, so even with shipping and import duties its pretty much the same price as the UK Amazon store.

[steve10574]

Can you add your own books? and is the 3g free for web browsing too?

[Goldberg]

3G is free web yes, as to own books I am not sure. PDF I think is ok but books?

[Klark]

Can you add your own books?

You can add your own books, but you will first need to convert them to mobi format which the Kindle seems to handle well.

The program Calbre is the best for converting ebooks.

The Kindle can also handle PDFs natively but for your existing ebook collection converting to mobi format is the best.

[GTI]

Yup, Calibre is like the iTunes of the eBook world. It inter-converts formats, stores your books and transfers them to almost any device. Therefore you don't have to buy your books from Amazon, you can buy them anywhere and just convert to Mobi format for viewing on the Kindle.

[spraky]

roughly equal to 150 pounds sterling, so even with shipping and import duties its pretty much the same price as the UK Amazon store.

Cheers m8,
Works out at £172 vs £149 here though.