[itzme]

Hello all,
I am thinking of getting a Kindle to force myself to get off the Net and start reading (classic novels are free) and since my budget is small, I was going to go for the one that costs 89 pounds. But is it worth it? What are the downsides of it?

Many thanks.

[Sentenashi]

Yes.

[Spottedleopard]

I brought one at Christmas time and have barely used it, its flimsy and really small to hold in my hands- I like the sturdy, thickness of a book!

That said, when I travel (and I do alot!) I take it with me on holiday and just manage as I read 4/5 books on holiday and that would fill my hand luggage with my laptop and phone!

In between travelling it has just sat in the bottom of my hand wheelie and it won't come out untill August to download more books on it.

[Hype en Ecosse]

I got the Kindle Keyboard, which is slightly more expensive than the £89 Kindle you're looking at, and I'd say they're definitely worth the money for loads of reasons, if you want to know more, or have any specific questions, go ahead and ask!

As for downsides I can think of:
-Not great at displaying images/diagrams
-Not practical for flicking back and forth; only good for reading for pleasure
-Typing and searching takes ages on the normal 5-way controller
-The buttons could be in a bit better place, but they're good for now!

[The Polymath]

(Original post by itzme)
Hello all,
I am thinking of getting a Kindle to force myself to get off the Net and start reading (classic novels are free) and since my budget is small, I was going to go for the one that costs 89 pounds. But is it worth it? What are the downsides of it?

Many thanks.

Waste of money - you can get the Kindle app on a tablet instead, along with all the other apps you can get on Android. I bought a tablet for £125, and, well, the extra £40 over a Kindle gives me so much more functionality: I can listen to music, watch videos (TV, iPlayer etc.) browse the internet, emails etc.)

[VickyTink]

The £89 is all you need really if you have a wireless connection/access to wifi to download books. I'd recommend getting a case for it (it's quite light, as it's not thick, so easier to drop, plus a case will protect it and make it easier to hold, these are around £10 from play.com, or cheaper in other places if you can find them! Silicone cases aren't as good as the 'leather' ones), and maybe a light if you plan to read in bed since there is no backlight, but this is stated as a positive since there's a smaller risk of eye damage.

I would tell you to look into the other ereaders available to see if they have better free books/a bigger range of free books in what you're interested in, since books CAN get expensive, though you could ask for books as presents I guess!

If you have any other questions, feel free to pm me or quote me!

[iSoftie]

No I wouldn't lol I love books even the smell of a fresh book

[VickyTink]

(Original post by Junaid96)
Waste of money - you can get the Kindle app on a tablet instead, along with all the other apps you can get on Android. I bought a tablet for £125, and, well, the extra £40 over a Kindle gives me so much more functionality: I can listen to music, watch videos (TV, iPlayer etc.) browse the internet, emails etc.)

They wanted to get OFF the net, not buy another gadget which will distract them from reading!

[TobeTheHero]

incredible piece of stuff, get it! plus books are cheaper(kindle version)

[Hype en Ecosse]

(Original post by Ape Gone Insane)
Advantages:

• It's incredibly light and comfortable - can't be carrying several large hardbacks everywhere
• E-Ink. No eye-strain, the ink - it's hard to believe but it's exactly like that of an actual book. So you're not missing out on anything, or straining your eyes like you would with a LCD screen or reading text off a computer.
• Page turn buttons - ever lay in bed on your side? Then you'll know that reading with an actual book can be a pain for the 'other page'. Kindle only has one screen and there are page turn buttons on both sides so your free hand can always turn the page with ease.
• Capacity - it can hold hundreds/thousands of your favourite books. Don't have to worry about bookshelf space, or trying to decide which book to take with you when you travel or go out.
• Battery - unlike many electronics, Kindle has a brilliant battery. It can go a whole month without charge.
• Instant book download - I don't need to travel to a bookshop or library. If the Amazon store has it, a few clicks of the button - I have it.
• It's not only books, it can display newspapers, magazines, emails and PDFs.
• Dictionary - built in with instant look up.
• When you're tired of reading, it can play Audiobooks - get some of that Stephen Fry Harry Potter narration

Disadvantages:

• Initial cost
• Not good for finding or flicking to certain pages quickly.
• Terrible PDF support and support for images, tables or footnotes.

The magazine and newspaper features are terrible at the moment.
I haven't tried the audiobook feature yet, might get one of Stephen Fry's lovely voice off Audible or something and check it out.

With PDF support, there are lots of free conversion programs. I use calibre, but you'll probably need a second. Calibre is awful at converting from pdfs, so find another converter that can do pdfs and take them to ePUB, then use ePUB to convert to AZW.

[itzme]

thanks everyone! What other extras should I consider (a cover has been mentioned and I will take this into consideration). Would you say the more expensive versions are worth the extra cost?
What I am looking for mainly is to just read (when was the last time I did this?), although I could enjoy listening to an audiobook when wanting to relax. Also, I am not very good with things that have touch screen because they make my fingers feel too big!

[itzme]

would the 2 years warranty come in handy (is it a fragile device?)

[jamie092]

I can't recommend kindle's enough. I'll write down a list of pros and cons:

Pros:

• You can carry loads of books at once
• They are really light and easy to carry
• They are durable, much more so than a book
• The screen is easy on the eyes, it's exactly like reading off of a page
• A kindle is much easier to handle than a book, you can do everything with one hand, leaving the other hand free for... whatever you want.
• They can read pdf documents, allowing you to view lecture notes e.t.c.
• It tells you how far through the book you are
• It has an inbuilt dictionary, which I find really useful. Usually if I'm reading and I come across a word I don't understand I just try and guess it's meaning from the context it's used in, whereas with a kindle it takes like 5 seconds to get the definition up. You actually expand your vocabulary a lot faster when reading from a kindle than you do normally.
• It saves your page (which is really important for me as my bookmarks always used to fall out)
• Amazing battery life, mine really does last at least 3 weeks, and I read quite a lot.
• You can change text size
• You don't have to go out to buy a book, you can just download it from home. If you have a 3g version, you can buy a book on the way to the train station when your realize you have nothing to read

Cons:

• You can't lend kindle books to mates
• Kindle's are harder to navigate through than a book, for example I find it much easier to search for information in a real book due to being able to flick through pages. While you can use the "go to page x" function on a kindle, you just can't browse as quickly, so I wouldn't recommend downloading school/uni textbooks on to them.
• You don't get the nice smell/feel of a real book. I used to think this would matter but I've found that I don't really miss it, and there's nothing to stop you reading a real book once in a while if you do.
• You need a light source to be able to read; there's no back light. Personally I prefer that the screen isn't backlit, but it would be nice to have for situations where it's dark and you have no light (or in my case when I'm in bed and I can't be bothered to get up and turn off the light when I've finished reading).

In case you don't know how kindle's battery works, it basically doesn't use any power to display text; it's changing the page that saps the juice. So you can actually save power by having a smaller text size (because you are therefore turning the page less often).

There are also kindle apps that you can use on your phone/tablet pc, which are handy in case you forget your kindle / are out and don't want to carry anything other than your phone. I've got an ipad, android phone and kindle and I still find reading from my kindle to be the better experience of all three, because of it's size, weight, and easiness to read from. I wouldn't really like to read from a backlit screen for any long period of time, which is the main reason I love the Kindle's e-ink screen.

Durr someone beat me to it ;(

(Original post by itzme)
thanks everyone! What other extras should I consider (a cover has been mentioned and I will take this into consideration). Would you say the more expensive versions are worth the extra cost?
What I am looking for mainly is to just read (when was the last time I did this?), although I could enjoy listening to an audiobook when wanting to relax. Also, I am not very good with things that have touch screen because they make my fingers feel too big!

They're pretty durable, but I'd recommend a case to make sure that the screen doesn't get scratched. I'm not sure you'll need a 2 year warranty, I've had mine almost a year and I've dropped it loads, even spilled water on it and it's working fine. I have the full keyboard version and I've found that I haven't really used it (the keyboard that is, I've used the actual kindle loads). However, as someone mentioned in another thread a while back, the extra physical length that the keyboard adds to the kindle means that you can lie down and rest the kindle on your chest, while still being able to see the screen. Not really worth paying extra for by itself, but an interesting function of the keyboard version nevertheless =). Again the 3g isn't really necessary, it's nice for those - oh I've got a long journey and I've got nothing to read - moments (if you ever have those), but is otherwise pretty useless as you'll probably be downloading via a wifi connection. People can email documents to your kindle e-mail address so you could potentially access them on the move, but I've never felt the need to do this as most phones can access e-mails anyway.

You can listen to mp3's (i.e audiobooks) on a kindle by going to the mp3 player under the experimental sub-menu. I know that my model has a standard headphone jack but I'd check for one on other models before buying.

(Original post by itzme)
thanks a lot! Just one more question: does it enable USB connection? I am currently using a t-mobile internet connection and need to plug in the usb key to connect to the internet.

Well no it doesn't have a USB input socket on it, but it does connect to the computer via USB, much like a phone. So one end of the cable is a USB connector, the other is a smaller connector that fits into the charger socket. It's actually the same shape as the htc mobile phone chargers.

[itzme]

(Original post by jamie092)
I can't recommend kindle's enough. I'll write down a list of pros and cons:

Pros:

• You can carry loads of books at once
• They are really light and easy to carry
• They are durable, much more so than a book
• The screen is easy on the eyes, it's exactly like reading off of a page
• A kindle is much easier to handle than a book, you can do everything with one hand, leaving the other hand free for... whatever you want.
• They can read pdf documents, allowing you to view lecture notes e.t.c.
• It tells you how far through the book you are
• It has an inbuilt dictionary, which I find really useful. Usually if I'm reading and I come across a word I don't understand I just try and guess it's meaning from the context it's used in, whereas with a kindle it takes like 5 seconds to get the definition up. You actually expand your vocabulary a lot faster when reading from a kindle than you do normally.
• It saves your page (which is really important for me as my bookmarks always used to fall out)
• Amazing battery life, mine really does last at least 3 weeks, and I read quite a lot.
• You can change text size
• You don't have to go out to buy a book, you can just download it from home. If you have a 3g version, you can buy a book on the way to the train station when your realize you have nothing to read

Cons:

• Kindle's are harder to navigate through than a book, for example I find it much easier to search for information in a real book due to being able to flick through pages. While you can use the "go to page x" function on a kindle, you just can't browse as quickly, so I wouldn't recommend downloading school/uni textbooks on to them.
• You don't get the nice smell/feel of a real book. I used to think this would matter but I've found that I don't really miss it, and there's nothing to stop you reading a real book once in a while if you do.
• You need a light source to be able to read; there's no back light. Personally I prefer that the screen isn't backlit, but it would be nice to have for situations where it's dark and you have no light (or in my case when I'm in bed and I can't be bothered to get up and turn off the light when I've finished reading).

In case you don't know how kindle's battery works, it basically doesn't use any power to display text; it's changing the page that saps the juice. So you can actually save power by having a smaller text size (because you are therefore turning the page less often).

There are also kindle apps that you can use on your phone/tablet pc, which are handy in case you forget your kindle / are out and don't want to carry anything other than your phone. I've got an ipad, android phone and kindle and I still find reading from my kindle to be the better experience of all three, because of it's size, weight, and easiness to read from. I wouldn't really like to read from a backlit screen for any long period of time, which is the main reason I love the Kindle's e-ink screen.

Durr someone beat me to it ;(



They're pretty durable, but I'd recommend a case to make sure that the screen doesn't get scratched. I'm not sure you'll need a 2 year warranty, I've had mine almost a year and I've dropped it loads, even spilled water on it and it's working fine. I have the full keyboard version and I've found that I haven't really used it (the keyboard that is, I've used the actual kindle loads). However, as someone mentioned in another thread a while back, the extra physical length that the keyboard adds to the kindle means that you can lie down and rest the kindle on your chest, while still being able to see the screen. Not really worth paying extra for by itself, but an interesting function of the keyboard version nevertheless =). Again the 3g isn't really necessary, it's nice for those - oh I've got a long journey and I've got nothing to read - moments (if you ever have those), but is otherwise pretty useless as you'll probably be downloading via a wifi connection. People can email documents to your kindle e-mail address so you could potentially access them on the move, but I've never felt the need to do this as most phones can access e-mails anyway.

thanks a lot! Just one more question: does it enable USB connection? I am currently using a t-mobile internet connection and need to plug in the usb key to connect to the internet.

[Roseystonios]

(Original post by itzme)
Hello all,
I am thinking of getting a Kindle to force myself to get off the Net and start reading (classic novels are free) and since my budget is small, I was going to go for the one that costs 89 pounds. But is it worth it? What are the downsides of it?

Many thanks.

I've recently bought a Kobo e-reader, as it was a lot cheaper than the Kindle (£45 compared to £89), but still does its job just as well.

I'd recommend looking into Kobo, if money is a deciding factor. Kobo e-readers are also a lot better at handing different formats.

[itzme]

(Original post by Roseystonios)
I've recently bought a Kobo e-reader, as it was a lot cheaper than the Kindle (£45 compared to £89), but still does its job just as well.

I'd recommend looking into Kobo, if money is a deciding factor. Kobo e-readers are also a lot better at handing different formats.

hey thanks! I just had a look and it does look interesting!

Do you know if they allowone to read books in other European languages?

[TenOfThem]

We have a kindle each


Husband now has the original
Daughter has the 2nd gen no keyboard
I have the touch

They are excellent

The e-ink means you can read even in bright sunlight
More portable than 1000s of books ... we reduced by a whole suitcase for last years holiday ... 2 weeks for the 3 of would usually require 25 or so books

The ease of reading in bed is useful ... they are also easier to read in the car/on the train

I have not used it for magazines but my husband uses it for his newspaper on the train and is more than happy

Nor have I used it for PDFs but my daughter has downloaded revision materials onto it and seems happy with them

It easily adapts other formats so you can buy from anywhere on the net (whereas other machines cannot use the kindle books)

I like the fact that I can read the same book on my iPad too ... with synchronisation between the 2 ... I can use the iPad in the dark

[willoram]

Got one for Christmas as an undetected message to GET YO ASS OFF THE COMPUTER. Worth every penny, great choice of free books too.


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[TheRustaman]

I definitely don't get all my books for free now...

[djshine88]

Kindle is a wonderful device for reading novels and good books HOWEVER it isn't brilliant for reading computer books or etc.




This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App