Reply to: Amazon Kindle

[portseven]

Ordered a 3g one, due to arrive 2nd Oct

Can anyone confirm the deal regards Web Browsing over 3g? Are they going to charge for it? How will they take the money?

I just wanted to use that for e-mail, wikipedia etc.

[lightng]

Owning a Kindle 2 - Day 1

I have some programming books on PDF. The PDF support isn't brilliant. I've found it slightly better on sony e-readers. On the Kindle, you can zoom in and scoot around a page but on a display that doesn't update very quickly (although the Kindle is one of the fastest), this isn't ideal.

I converted some of these books to MOBI format using a free app called Calibre (I agree with MikeC's recommendation). Calibre works great but I did find that code snippets lost their indentation. Not something I'm surprised about really as I've experienced loss of white space whilst doing a datamining project on financial PDFs using C sharp.

Navigating to a page by number isn't quite as slick as the Sony. The Sony has separate keys for each number so you can quickly enter a given page. On the Kindle, you dont have number keys so you have to press the symbol key, and choose your numbers using the five-way controller from a sub-window. This is a minor gripe though and overall navigation and searching is superb.

The in-book dictionary is really good and doesn't interfere with the reading of your book. It's great for someone with a relatively limited vocabulary like myself. Use the five way controller to navigate to your word and a small box appears at the top or bottom of the screen with a brief definition. Hitting enter sends you straight into the dictionary allowing you to read the full definition. Great feature.

I did download a Stephen Hawking book yesterday to get the full effect of the text-to-speech feature. I was gutted to find that text-to-speech is disabled for this book. Bah!

[MikeC1408]

If you put "convert" in your email title, it converts the doc to Kindle format.

I'm going to play with loading documents via both USB and email tonight. Will report my findings later.

I'm looking at the WiFi version and I didn't know about the auto convert. Have a look at Calibre for converting other format eBooks to the Kindle format, It gets some very good reviews.

Should save carrying reference books full of post-its around.

Let us know what you think it after a few days use

[lightng]

PDF documents

Yes Durbs, lots of free books there. I'm going to catch up on some classics to patch up the holes in my education ... and holes there are many.

I have a few PDF documents with diagrams. I'm going to try converting these to kindle format tonight as I will then be able to take advantage of text-to-speech and font resizing.

You can email documents to your kindle account. They charge for 3G but it's free over WiFi. To use the free version, you use your.name@free.kindle.com rather than your.name@kindle.com.

If you put "convert" in your email title, it converts the doc to Kindle format.

I'm going to play with loading documents via both USB and email tonight. Will report my findings later.

[Durbs]

I was surprised that there are actually readable books for FREE in the Kindle store!

Not just the normal, old 'Dracula' and aged bodice rippers/classics.

I downloaded one called 'Blood, Sweat & Tea', its a blog by a London Paramedic compiled into a book. Very good!

[lightng]

Its here!

Got mine this morning. Absolutely brilliant!

I spent a while trying to peel off a sticker on the screen, only to find out it was the default display. It really does look like stuff is printed on top of the screen.

I have looked at other readers and am quite impressed with the Kindle's page turn speed. Still a bit of a flicker with page turns as with all e-ink readers but still, it's pretty rapid.

The search functionality is great. It allows you to search for keywords across a single book but not multiple books.

I like the fact that there are page turn buttons on left and right sides of the kindle as I often read books lying on my side.

The dictionary is good. You get both american and english dictionaries; strangely, I couldn't find the word updation in either.

The text-to-speech feature sounds very like Stephen Hawkins. I will probably buy a Stephen Hawkins book just to get the full effect.

All in all, 5 stars. For the £109 price-tag, I'm very impressed.

[Pogle]

I've just ordered one of those 3G ones for Mr P's birthday - aren't I nice

[DaveB]

Wouldn't it be nice if i could use tethering for the iPhone data i've paid for and use it on my iPad? Not Googled this in anger yet but as I remember, they blocked this even though is perfectly technically do-able.

You can but the iPhone needs to be jailbroken.

There is an app called MyWi that turns the phone into a wireless router that you can then connect the iPad to.

[Durbs]

What worries me about the iPad is not only the cost, but the rip-off on phone tariffs. I find it incredible that people are willing to shell out hundreds of pounds a year to use these things, after having already paid a fortune up front for the device. We need a UK wide WiFi network that charges minimal fees. </rant>

Yup, totally agree, i went for the wi-fi only base 16gig model as i already pay a 3G tarrif for my phone so there was absolutely no way i was gonna shell out for yet another monthly fee. The prices they charge for 3G data is just ludicrous.

Thats a big plus point of the Kindle, the free 3G sounds great although its fairly obvious that this would not be do-able on something like the iPad and its potentially monsterous bandwidth useage.

Wouldn't it be nice if i could use tethering for the iPhone data i've paid for and use it on my iPad? Not Googled this in anger yet but as I remember, they blocked this even though is perfectly technically do-able.

[Spacecadet]

What worries me about the iPad is not only the cost, but the rip-off on phone tariffs. I find it incredible that people are willing to shell out hundreds of pounds a year to use these things, after having already paid a fortune up front for the device. We need a UK wide WiFi network that charges minimal fees. </rant>

what you are talking about is wimax (the 4G network) which is slowly coming around
WiMAX - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[TimberWolf]

Nah, as in books about iPhone dev.

Treated myself today and went for an iPad instead of a kindle.

Very shiny it is too, typing this now on it's jumbo keyboard. Went for the Kindle app on it instead of the apple one and bought a couple of books. Reads really nicely.

What worries me about the iPad is not only the cost, but the rip-off on phone tariffs. I find it incredible that people are willing to shell out hundreds of pounds a year to use these things, after having already paid a fortune up front for the device. We need a UK wide WiFi network that charges minimal fees. </rant>

[Durbs]

Not sure from that if you're saying you have an iPhone? If you do, there's a Kindle iPhone App.

Nah, as in books about iPhone dev.

Treated myself today and went for an iPad instead of a kindle.

Very shiny it is too, typing this now on it's jumbo keyboard. Went for the Kindle app on it instead of the apple one and bought a couple of books. Reads really nicely.

[d000hg]

Going to order a Kindle today myself as currently using various iPhone books crammed with bookmarks and post-its and reckon an eReader would be better as AFAIK you can add notes and bookmarks electronically.

Not sure from that if you're saying you have an iPhone? If you do, there's a Kindle iPhone App.

[TimberWolf]

Has anyone tried web browsing and email (limited as it is) on the latest Kindle, using 3G? Even if it is limited and primitive, free web/email without needing to find a WiFi hotspot is a definite attraction. Also, can the screen be read in the dark?

Experimental web browsing is free to use over Wi-Fi.

Ah, this suggests not, using 3G

I see that in order to read in low light, or the dark, you need to buy the cover accessory (for £50), or a torch. One of the Amazon comments also mentions that free 3G data is limited to I think 100 Mb/month.

[TimberWolf]

Has anyone tried web browsing and email (limited as it is) on the latest Kindle, using 3G? Even if it is limited and primitive, free web/email without needing to find a WiFi hotspot is a definite attraction. Also, can the screen be read in the dark?