Customer Reviews

Kindle, 6" E Ink Display, Wi-Fi, Graphite

5 star:		(3,058)
4 star:		(577)
3 star:		(218)
2 star:		(100)
1 star:		(257)

 

 

Length:: 8:50 Mins

I already have the original Kindle with the keyboard and have been extremely pleased with it. As soon as I saw this smaller, lighter version of the Kindle I thought I would get it to carry around with me when I go to work and in my handbag.

It has the same functionality that is available on the original Kindle, it just doesn't have a physical keyboard. If like me you didn't use the keyboard much then it is worth losing it to gain a smaller reading device. There is an on-screen keyboard available for inputting data which is controlled by the four way selector button. It is more time consuming to use than the physical keyboard but I didn't find it to be too much of an issue.

This Kindle is significantly smaller in size and lighter in weight than the older version. This means that it is much more comfortable to hold for long periods of time without making your wrists ache from holding it. Despite being lighter it still feels sturdy, solid and well made.

The front of the Kindle has the four way controller button which is used for much of the functionality and making selections. There is still a home button which takes you as you would expect, back to the home page of the Kindle. This is where your downloaded books and collections are stored. There is a keyboard button that brings up the onscreen keyboard and a back button that takes you back to the previous screen. The final button is the menu button that contains most of the functionality and options you will need to manage your Kindle.

On the right and left hand side of the Kindle you have the forward and backward buttons that allow you to change pages. By being on both sides of the device it means that you can use your preferred hand to turn the pages. The buttons are less prominent than on the original device but they seem just as easy to access and turn pages with.

The Kindle comes with a USB charger which will enable you to charge it directly from a computer, laptop, netbook etc. Note that this Kindle does NOT come with the plug adaptor for mains charging - this option needs to be purchased separately.

After charging and switching the Kindle on the screen and e-ink looked sharp, it was easy to read the words on the screen - a good contrast between them. Also, your eyes won't get as tired if you read for long periods of time as there is no backlight - something many other e-reader devices use.

This newer Kindle has less storage space than the original one, you can store around 1,000 books instead of 3,000 but this isn't a problem as you can remove books after reading them. Amazon store all the books that you have purchased and you can redownload any book you have removed within a few seconds.

The battery life is also lower than the original Kindle. I normally had to charge my original device up once a month - it seemed to go on forever. So even if this one needs charging every three weeks, so what? You can extend your battery life by turning off the wireless option once you have downloaded your books.

As someone who had virtually stopped reading books before purchasing a Kindle it has made a huge difference to me. I am never without my device and generally get through a book every one to two days. If you enjoy reading books and you haven't already bought yourself a Kindle then I would highly recommend treating yourself to one.

Ordered the new Kindle on launch day as a birthday gift for my wife, who always has her nose stuck in a book. It's her birthday in a couple of weeks and she is going to love this! Received it yesterday 7 days ahead of schedule so that was a good start. I've never used a Kindle (or any other reading device) so thought these few basics would help anyone as clueless as me:

Delivery
I had assumed I would need to sign for this, which can be a pain if you're not at home. In actual fact, mine was delivered by the postman who just popped it through the letter box with my normal mail, so that was a bonus as you don't have to be at home to receive it. Well packaged and it just comes in a cardboard box, with the Kindle, a USB power lead and very basic instruction booklet showing what the buttons are.

Charging
Mine came about 60% charged. I quickly discovered that apart from using the USB to charge from my computer, the Kindle uses a standard USB charger identical to various smart phones, so you don't need to a computer to charge it which is very handy if travelling without your laptop. Mine is currently plugged into my HTC Desire phone charger and is charging away as I type.

User Guide
This is all held within the device and explains everything you need to know - and also lots of other stuff you probably don't. Very informative.

Buying a Book
I decided to download one of the free books (there are loads) to test it out. Rather than using the device, I just went onto the Amazon E-book site, selected a book, logged into my Amazon account and that was it. I had the Kindle turned on whilst doing this and it downloaded the whole book in literally 5 seconds. Amazing!

Screen and General Feel of the Kindle
Brilliant! Looks great, text is very clear and the general 'feel' of reading on it is just great.

Buying as a Gift
As I bought this on my Amazon account it has automatically registered to my account. I'm fine with that and don't mind paying for all of my wife's future purchases. It is easy however to re-register the device to someone else's Amazon account, so if it is a gift for a friend or relative that's no problem.

Overall a great little device and well worth £89 of anyone's money.

On the latest Kindle the screen remains unchanged and is excellent, most significantly in sunlight. The most striking difference is the size of the Kindle - significantly smaller than the keyboard version and now looking more like the Sony eReader range. I don't need a keyboard - although you have access to a virtual one on the Kindle screen but only can only slooooowly select keys using the 5-way control on the front of the Kindle. I much prefer this compact, very light, form. The finish is also better in my opinion. I prefer the silver casing to black, and certainly the white available in US earlier-generation Kindles. Another flagged improvement is the speed of `virtually' turning the page. There is a minimal improvement but it's still not possible to repeatedly press the next page button without the Kindle quickly falling behind.

Lower specs, excluding the keyboard which I think is a plus, is the anticipated time before the Kindle needs to be recharged - one month instead of two. One month is fine for me. The storage is also reduced but Amazon archives all your purchases in the Cloud so when you have Wi-Fi access you can download them just in case you're running out of storage space. As the Kindle will hold more than 1,000 books this is not likely to be an issue. Further, listening to music and audio books is no longer an option on the Kindle (which has no speaker) so the storage won't be clogged with large sound files. Storage space is not critical therefore. I also find that with Wi-Fi pretty ubiquitous these days that the loss of a 3G is fine. Where you're likely to struggle finding a Wi-Fi access point you're also likely not to be in a 3G area but can still rely on a slower GPRS or Edge mobile download. It is possible to connect the Kindle to a PC and move e-books to it via the USB cable so the Wi-Fi less have a work around (but you need Wi-Fi at least once to activate it on receipt).

Overall this is a refreshing update of the Kindle focussed on the key features of an e-reader - a good screen/size ratio, lightweight form, ease of downloading new books, and an excellent screen. And thanks to the focus on core features it's cheaper than earlier versions. Recommended.

Update: If you're considering investing in a new Kindle the Kindle Touch which, as the name suggests, comes with a touch screen might be worth a look. This adds the functionality of a touch screen, innovative searching of content in addition to a standard dictionary, more storage space and a longer battery life. It's currently £20 more than the standard Kindle and available late April 2012. Check out the Amazon Kindle comparison page.

So after reading a lot of the negative reviews, I still went & bought a new Kindle yesterday & glad I didn't just base it on the negative comments - these are some of my reasons:

I bought it to read books on. When was the last time you bought a book and expected it to do anything else other than have pages in it with words on it. Yes, I know that they have some of these other features, and people may like them - however it is an e-reader. Use it as one & you will be happy with it. Try use it for anything else & you may end up being disappointed.

1st impressions of it - not much to it & it just works.
I don't care about having audio - I buy books to read, not to have them read to me (that's what an MP3 player is for & is good at)
I don't care that the browser may not work (that's what a PC/Mac/iPad etc.., are used for and they are good at it)

Some people say that the text is not as crisp or clear as a book, or it doesn't have the same feel as a book - bah humbug to you. It's not a book. If you want to hold a book & have the same feel as a book - please buy a book.

A few people complained about the lack of a keyboard & that the new controller was a problem - really? I got my 8yr old daughter to try it out last night and she had no issues. I can only suspect that people having issues either have a defective unit, or maybe don't have the finger dexterity that they would need. Anyone familiar with using a mobile phone should have no problems using this new interface. Besides, for people who never mark up anything and only want to read (like me), you'll probably never need to use the keyboard after the initial setup very often anyway.

To those of you who are complaining about the price differences between the UK & the US - get over it. yes, there is a $79 version (roughly £52), however you still have to pay tax in the US, so you can add at least another £5 - £10 to this price depending on which state you live in. Did anyone also read that the cheapest one comes with advertising & sponsored screensavers? those companies are effectively subsidising the cost of the Kindle to us end users. Take the Kindle that is exactly the same that we buy here & you're see it's actually $109 plus tax. So there is not much difference in cost at all really, other than we are unable to buy a version that is subsidised by corporate advertising. Not really an Amazon issue or an issue with the Kindle itself - please leave feedback on the actual product, and not about why you won't be buying it because of cost.

I love the reduced packaging as I have less to throw away and there is just a little bit left of the world that hasn't needed to have been dug up/processed just to make a product look nicer for us. I guess some people are expecting more when they open it up & feel deflated when all they get is what they bought plus a cable. No longer do we see a mass of eco unfriendly packaging, pull out nicely packaged cables/connectors & power supply, then get to go through a heap of booklets in different languages & then finally after the excitement & anticipation has built up you finally get to the actual Kindle. Sorry guys, it's just not going to be like when you were a kid opening Xmas presents. Open the box & what you see is pretty much what you get - the Kindle, a cable & a thin 1 page guide to the device. Can't get any better!

As for the power supply not being provided - why do we need yet another power supply? Another plus for those of us wanting to get companies to do their bit to help reduce our impact on the environment. Admittedly if you don't own a PC, or have a mobile phone or any other device that has a USB connection or plug that can be used to charge a standard USB device, then you'll need one. Is suspect this is a very small percentage of people though.

Some people complained that there were no instructions - ok, so they could have included a 1 line sentence on the paper guide they include saying that to turn it on for the 1st time, press & hold for 7 seconds. Once it's turned on though, there is a Kindle user guide on the front screen, why do I need yet another printed copy of it that will only end up going in recycling! I got this to reduce the amount of printed literature I have.

Hope that helps, and please don't let all the negative comments put you off - especially as most of them don't actually relate to the product himself!

I've been playing with my partner's shiny new Kindle and I'm impressed. It's a good bit smaller and noticeably lighter than the Kindle Keyboard and the silver colour is, to my mind, more attractive than the graphite KK. The e-ink and screen are precisely as in the KK and provide really crisp, clear text in a good-sized format. Can't say that I've really noticed the faster page turn associated with this newer model, but it is such a minute timing difference that that isn't entirely astonishing. The reduced 'flash' on page turns is, however, quite noticeable and a distinct improvement. Functions-wise most of the buttons work precisely the same way as those on the KK - the familiar 5-way controller now pleasingly centred, with two buttons on either side (a new feature 'keyboard' button and 'back' on the left, 'menu' and 'home' to the right). The page turn buttons continue to be located on both sides of the screen. They're the same length, but are now narrower and more sloped, saving space on the device. I prefer the new neater design to the ones on my KK - they're slightly harder to press and I don't find myself accidentally flicking through pages without intending to.

As I expected, I'm not a fan of scrolling around the virtual keyboard using the 5-way controller. This is rather laborious (if you didn't like the keyboard, you probably aren't going to like using this either) and I can't imagine wanting to use this to access the Kindle store. To be fair, if you didn't like the keyboard there's a good chance you didn't use it at all and won't make use of the virtual keyboards either - leaving you to simply enjoy the advantage of the new Kindle's smaller size.

Price-wise, the entry level Kindle seems reasonable in view of its quality and features. There continue to be a number of low scoring reviews in which the Kindle is slated for costing more in the UK than the USA. However, the comparisons made tend to wrongly contrast a $79 subsidised Kindle which displays third party adverts on the screensaver and home page (this deal isn't yet offered outside the US, presumably at least in part due to constraints imposed by the advertisers) with the unsubsidised version - which costs $109 - and is the version available in the UK. The prices shown on the US site do not include sales tax - as this varies by state, and (where applicable) is added at checkout, the UK price of £89 DOES include VAT at 20% - so we get no nasty surprises at checkout!

If you don't use the keyboard, aren't worried by the lower storage space and reduced battery life (there's still enough for 1,500 books on the kindle itself, to say nothing of Amazon's backup storage, and at half an hour a day usage, a month's battery life), are interested in core functions rather than experimental audio features and web browsing, and don't need a mains charger, this could well be the Kindle for you. In fact, if you do decide you need a mains charger, since introducing the new Kindle Amazon have put their own brand mains power supply on offer at half price and as Kindle takes the same size charger as the KK then there are a number of unbranded versions available. Indeed, a mains charger comes bundled with Duragadget's new range of cases.

Having tried the new Kindle, I won't be giving up my much-loved KK3G for one of these. I like it a lot - but still want the physical keyboard. My partner's user habits are different from mine and he's going to love it, as it's retained the features he loved from the KK and dropped those he didn't.

***

Edit: I was right, one very chuffed other half has been crooning over his 'precious' like a gollum. He doesn't agree with me about using the 5-way controller to work the virtual keyboard (says it's easy and points out that in fact there's more than one virtual kb to select from: upper and lower case alphabet + numbers; symbols; international characters in upper and lower case). But I'm not convinced. I hate having to use the 5-way controller to input data from just the symbols menu on my KK3G, so I can't see this growing on me, and I really don't like having to fiddle round switching between lower and upper case keyboards every time I need a capital letter.

Having had a good chance to use this now, there is one respect in which I think the new Kindle could be slightly disappointing: and that is in regard to font sizing. What could be done at the press of a button on the KK, is now buried under the menu functions - which makes the new Kindle less accessible to those with sight problems. Combine this with the loss of text-to-speech and the KK seems like a clear frontrunner for those with poor/impaired eyesight.

Overall this is an excellent product, but so are the Keyboard versions: it all comes down to your budget/user preferences.

I use this device day in, day out. It is simple to use. Takes minutes to set-up an account and find the books you wish to read.

I find the device is light, it melts away in my hands as I read - and to be honest I do not notice its there when I am reading - much the same as a book. Suddenly I realize the time, put it on the side and realize I have been lost in the depths of a story for hours, perfect - exactly what I wanted from this device.

Newspapers. I am a big Guardian reader - it is delivered to my device around 3am (GMT) each day. Reads perfect - easy to navigate and SO readable. I cannot speak for other papers, but the Guardian / Observer are included in FULL. Perfect for anyone abroad or fed up with reading a broadsheet on cramped train conditions.

Frequently asked questions,

1. Price? People keep complaining that this device is more expensive in GBP (£89.99) than USD ($79). A bit of reading will put this question away: the US cheap version contains adverts (hence it is cheaper), the UK version does not. The US version does not include tax, so if you take the NON-ADVERT edition ($109) if you use an exchange rate of 1.55, add on 20 % UK VAT, and you end up at £84.99.

2. Why must books be bought through Amazon? Why are E-books so expensive? Well, you do not have too. Any Ereader user MUST have Calibre (easy to download, just type it into google). It is what iTunes is to an iPod for an Ereader. It has automatic links to other Ebook shops - and lets you convert any epub formats into the MOBI format (which is used on the kindle). The expense? This is due to publishers being narrow minded (in my own opinion), they dictate the price of the books, not amazon. (Amazon does have a lot of free novels to start you off), More authors are braking into this market, and indeed some authors have skipped the publishers straight away, going to ebook - and there are some great success stories. One would think with the increasing number of people buying ereading devices the price of ebooks will decrease in the forth coming years.

A further note: I run my Kindle on a Linux OS and Windows Visa. The device has no problem with either OS and calibre works without any problem and is avaliable on both OS.

3. The page 'flick' - when the screen goes blank momentarily while the ink settles, does it annoy me? Quick answer - no. I find I do not notice this at all, its so quick that I cannot measure the speed...reading the paper, flicking between articles - I do not notice it at all, and it is much quicker than turning the page of a book or a newspaper page!

4. Do I miss the 'look and feel' of a book? ....This is a hard question and one that is very individual. Personally I have found only a few of the books I have purchased FEEL good, with a binding that makes you take care and pride in a book. These are usually small publishers. What I miss the most is my book shelf - the old second hand books I have collected and the occasional hard back...but how much space do I really want to donate to books? I use my device as I travel a lot. Sitting at home on the sofa? A book for me is always a winner. The newspaper? Actually I prefer reading it on this device...

5. Is no keyboard annoying? No, not if you just use the device purely for reading with the occasional search. It is not good if you want to add notes to anything you are reading.

Overall I think amazon are on to a winner. Great device that does JUST what it needs. 5 out of 5

Just like the full Kindle but without a physical keyboard instead a digital one appears on the screen and you use the buttons at the bottom to select what you want. The size of the screen is the same as all other Kindles at 6" and has the same resolution. Book wise it can easily hold over 1000 books which lets be frank is more than anyone is ever going to own. Battery life is also good at around 110 hours (that's what i got).

There is no audio but who needs that when you're reading a book anyway. If you really want audio books then pick an iPad or an e-reader designed for audio books. Size wise it's smaller and more compact than the old Kindle Keyboard with smaller page buttons on the sides but it feels just as well made and durable when you hold it. Reading in sun is no problem with it's fabulous screen and ink system so it's great for taking abroad or simply reading out in the garden..where it's not so good is in dark lit rooms so ensure there is plenty of light. Speaking of the display it is black and white with no colour (personally i prefer this) and the characters are clear as day with everything easy to ready, although you can increase the font size if you struggle! There is an in built dictionary so you can select words and search their meaning, which helps you understand complicated sections of books even more.

This is the WiFi only version which suits me just fine, why? well i have internet at home which is where i'm going to put most of my books onto the kindle but out and about in most towns and cities and around the world there are free wifi spots anyway so finding a place to download books isn't much heartache. If you truly want the ability to buy books anywhere at any time then get the full 3G Kindle but personally i think you'll be fine without it.

You link the kindle to your amazon account, that way you can buy books through your computer and they will be sent directly to your kindle the next time you connect it up to the net, equally you can purchase books through you're kindle when connected to the net and your amazon account will be charged so everything works seamlessly and without problem. Speaking of downloading books, did i mention it takes seconds to download a full book? The kindle itself is fast at selecting books and turning pages but obviously you get the refresh pages where it flashes black before it turns the page (all in a split micro second) so speed won't be an issue for you to worry about. In the box you get A USB 2.0 Cable to charge the kindle from a computer which is easy enough although you can buy a plug to stick on the end of the cable and charge from any standard UK mains plug.

Round up time

PROS: Basically everything, it's well made and easy to operate, battery life is huge, amount of books it can hold will never be filled

CONS: The digital keyboard can be annoying to operate but nothing to deter you. no mains charger which means you either need to buy an plug adapter for the cable supplied or use a computer, not touch screen but you don't really miss that.

VERDICT: Yes it's the cheapest Kindle out there but it does everything anyone could possibly want. It's well made and the battery is impressive, a full charge should last you a whole holiday, no need to buy it's bigger brother, just buy this and i guarantee you'll love it!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!

I am one of those thousands of people who never thought they'd switch to an e-reader as I've been in love with paper books my entire life, I love the smell of old books, etc., etc., yadda-yadda-yadda. You've heard it all before in other people's reviews, so I'll skip to what I love about the Kindle, now that I've been converted.

I suffer from a rare eye condition which, unfortunately, means I'm slowly losing my eyesight in such a way that corrective lenses don't help. Back in my days of 20/20 vision, I used to read two or three books per week and reading was very much my first love. In recent years, however, reading has become more difficult and it isn't unusual for it to take me four or five times as long to read a book than it used to. I was getting to the point where reading was more of a chore than a pleasure, which upset me greatly.

Then my wonderful other half bought me a Kindle and all that changed. Thanks to the Kindle's ability to increase the font size of the books you read on it, I've been able to enlarge the text to a size which is once again big enough for me to read comfortably. No more squinting at tiny print! No more sore eyes and headache after just fifteen minutes' reading! Thanks to the Kindle, reading is now a genuine pleasure for me again... and I'm back to devouring books at my pre-sight-loss rate of two or three per week once more.

I also love the fact that the Kindle's screen isn't backlit, as reading from a computer screen also gives me a headache and painful eyes. Yes, it means that you need an external source of light to read it, but you need that to read a paper book, so I really don't see it as a mark against the Kindle at all.

Amazon doesn't seem to want to mention these aspects of the Kindle in its advertising campaign (probably because they want to market the Kindle primarily to young people and emphasising the boon it is to those of us with failing eyesight might give it the stigma of being a device for old fuddy-duddies) but I really can't emphasise enough that the Kindle is a godsend to the partially sighted. (Besides, I'm not THAT old; I'm only 36 and started losing my eyesight at 22. Vision loss can strike at any age, after all.)

Anyway, to the nay-sayers, I really recommend taking the plunge and getting a Kindle. I used to be one of you and, as much as I used to bang on about how I 'love the smell of paper books' I really don't miss it at all.

After leaving my Kindle Keyboard (WiFi only) on a plane 3 weeks ago (gutted!) I was disappointed to find that I could now only replace it with the full 3G Keyboard version which, at £159, was out of budget for my insurer's cheque! So, I opted for the "baby" Kindle, not really knowing what to expect. I have read the positive and negative reviews on this site and can firmly say I am in the positive camp! I received it this morning and what it may have lost in the form of the keyboard, it makes up for in reduced weight and shape. Yes, the page turn buttons are dfferent - BUT they are certainly no less comfortable to use. The 5 way navigation and menu buttons are small but function well and the system responds very quickly. The system itself works in exactly the same way as the previous models. There have been reports that the promised increased page turn speed has not materialised - for me, the jury is still out. The page turn definitely looks different - the words seem to blur rather than "disappear" as they did with the Kindle Keyboard, but I do have the feeling that it is quicker.

I am fairly keen on security and I did have a password to protect my last Kindle (useful when you leave things on public transport) so I wanted to again add one to the baby Kindle. It is more time consuming to enter a password with the on screen keyboard, but, its 30 seconds of minor irritation compared to the cost of numerous unauthorised downloads charged to my account, so I will continue to persevere.

On balance, I can safely say I love it - it does everything it said it would with Amazon's excellent customer service to boot. When my original was lost, it was de registered for me very quickly and now I have the new one, all my previous purchases are waiting for me in the Archive to download. Brilliant!

As for those complaining that it's not backlit - turn the light on! You wouldn't read a paper book in the dark, would you?!

As a Kindle 3 user I was eager to get one of these. The hardware is beautiful, a great size and i'm not going to miss the keyboard.

Unfortunately as part of the upgrade amazon have changed the software, making useless features like the definitions more prevalent and messing up important features like highlighting. I wouldn't mind these changes if I could disable them but you get very few settings to tweak so this is impossible.

Talking of the software, iBooks really beats the Kindle app when dealing with books you bought directly from the publisher. For example with iBooks for any epub you can highlight some text and see the change on other devices. Amazon only supports this for books bought from Amazon, which is a real pity.

Another issue with the Kindle is it doesn't support ePub (a major issue) or the Adobe eBook platform (so no Google eBooks compatibility) which is a shame. Once you start buying Kindle books direct from Amazon you are definitely locked in.

As I say the hardware is excellent, the device is thin and light and a pleasure to hold. Unfortunately the screen doesn't seem durable so you'll want to add a screen protector (flawed approach) or an (over-priced/bulky) case. To me its a real pity Amazon didn't replicate Apples genius in replicating the best feature about the IPod2, the neat and thin clip-on screen protector.

Anyway overall I like the device but the software is noticably worse than I would expect which is the main reason why I've given it a low score.