Amazon have recently introduced the Kindle e-book reader to the UK market.<a href="http://www.carmont.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/subKindle1 buy tadalafil online.jpg”>
E-book readers have been a personal interest for some years now as my wife is disabled and, while loving to read, finds holding books and turning pages difficult at times. Over the years we have tried a number of different e-book readers with varying degrees of success. Common difficulties have included difficulty reading the displays, limited availability of books, incompatible/proprietary formats.
Until the Kindle the most successful device we have tried turned out to be the Apple iTouch which has served well as an e-book reader, the main limitations being the screen size and the visibility of text in bright sunlight.
The Kindle has now become a firm favourite for reading, it doesn’t challenge the iTouch in many areas but, there again, the Kindle makes few claims to be anything more than an e-reader.
The plus points for the Kindle are as follows
- Crystal clear screen, easily ready in direct sunlight. Text size can be changed to 8 different sizes if required.
- Connectivity is straight forward with two models available a Wi-Fi only version or a 3G + Wi-Fi option allowing you to connect via 3G for no additional fee. Books downloaded in a few minutes even on 3G.
- File transfer is simple using either USB to connect to a PC or by sending documents to the Kindle using its individual e-mail address.
- Multiple file formats supported including MS Word, PDF, HTML, TXT, RTF and many others.
- Text to speech although lacking in intonation is still one of the best implementations I’ve heard
- Significant savings on book prices, hard backs and recent releases are less discounted, but there are thousands of classics available for free from the Kindle store
- Integrated dictionary
The Kindle also provides a rudimentary mp3 player and a web browser. Amazon classes these as experimental and they have that feel about them. The sound quality from the Kindle speakers is surprisingly good but you cannot control the playlist, files are played in the order that you loaded them. The web browser suffers from the lack of a touch screen which leaves you navigating web pages using the cursor keys which is slow and often frustrating.
One of the most impressive features of the Kindle is what Amazon refer to as Whispersync which allows the Kindle to synchronise with other devices so you can pick up reading a document from where you left off reading it on another. Devices supported as PC’s, Android, iPad, iPhone/iTouch and MAC.
The Kindle is, without doubt a fantastic e-reader and well worth the investment if you want a e-book reader that allows you to purchase the latest titles, read personal documents on the go, check webmail etc. It is not a smartphone or PDA and doesn’t claim to be, it does what it says, its a reading device and it does it well.
