Kindle Touch 3G seems to be the pick of e-readers???

B

Betsy Og

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Not cheap at €200 but seems to have all the bits, including free internet on 3G worldwide forever (where's the catch?).

Other than that its a touchscreen e-reader, but if you havent major computing needs (you only surf & send email) could it be a simple mans tablet? (albeit not in colour)

In terms of content, is kindle & amazon the equivalent of i-phone and app store, are there "android" versions of the kindle out there with cheaper content?

As you can tell I'm a late adopting not very techie but when I enter the market I try to get something decent to do me for years.
 
Whatever about the free 3G forever, I thought I read somewhere recently that Amazon were intending to impose data limits on 3G usage.

In terms of the device itself, the main disadvantage of the Kindle is that purchasing new content is restricted to Amazon only as the device does not support the .epub format (the .mp3 standard for ebooks). Therefore to purchase from other online vendors, you have to use third-party software like Calibre to convert the .epub to .mobi or .lit for use on the Kindle.

The other thing I don't like is the significantly cheaper US price: £169 vs $149...an outrageous mark-up which works out at almost double the price.

Actually looking now, I notice that the 3G is out of stock on Amazon US and they don't know when it will be back in stock. Has it been discontinued?
 
It's not quite free internet, it's free to browse the Kindle store, download books, etc.

The Kindle only has WebKit, which they term as an 'experimental web browser', so you can guess it's far from a full-featured browser. Over 3G, you can only access the Kindle store or Wikipedia, for anything else, you can only browse over WiFi.
 
I've used whispernet (free 3G) to use the browser on the old kindle (now called kindle keyboard), Slow and not an amazing user experience, but it's great to have when you're abroad and out of WiFi range.

Whispernet browsing is available on the keyboard version, but not on the touch.
 
tallpaul said:
The other thing I don't like is the significantly cheaper US price: £169 vs $149...an outrageous mark-up which works out at almost double the price.
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If you're buying a Kindle from Amazon, you've got to buy from the US store (you can't buy it from the UK store unless you have a UK address) - the cheap US price is inflated somewhat by the duty and postage charges.

The basic models are available in Tesco.
 
So if I wanted to check hotmail (& maybe Irish Indo where I have a subscription) etc when abroad I'd be better off with the keyboard version as that gives me whispernet which allows me to look at websites in general albeit not a great experience, whereas the 3g touch version will basically only let me buy more books from kindle/amazon?

What do people think of the touchscreen?, would be a bit of a novelty but I'm sure eventually I'll end up with a touchscreen phone and a tablet so that box will be ticked there. Really all I need is an e-reader (with the decent "ink" experience whatever they call it - which would point me towards the kindle), and free basic internet abroad would be good.

I think I'd get over having to get Calibre to convert other books - presume that would involve downloading to a laptop, converting, and then loading onto kindle?
 
Betsy Og said:
I think I'd get over having to get Calibre to convert other books - presume that would involve downloading to a laptop, converting, and then loading onto kindle?
Click to expand...

Honestly I'd say you are making life far more difficult that it should be by going for such a dedicated solution!

I normally use an IPad, but having seem by daughter using her IPod Touch before our holidays I decided to take one along for a trip to Ireland last month and it was a great solution!

Before I left I did the following:
  • Installed the Kindle app and loaded up 6 books on it
  • Installed the BBC Player and downloaded some documentaries and a couple of other programs I'd been meaning to watch
  • Saved all my hotel confirmations, tickets etc to PDFs and copied them to the IPod Touch
  • My mail accounts were picked up from the IPad automatically, so no issues there.
  • Loaded up about 500 pictures and a few home videos to show the grandparents

It was a really great experience, everything fitted in the pocket of my shirt! Everywhere I went including CIE trains offered me free Wifi, so the lack of a data contract did not bother me at all. Even while there I added a book, downloaded a few PDFs on things to do and so on....

Before you commit yourself, I suggest that you at least visit an Apple dealer and have a look at the IPod Touch to get a feeling for what is possible. I'm sure there are also good competitor products out there, but I did not do any research on it, I just followed my 10 year old daughter's lead.
 
With respect you are not comparing like with like. There is a huge difference reading on a dedicated eReader with an eInk screen and on a tiny iPod screen for any decent length of time. An ereader is a dedicated device and is far more pleasurable to use to read books than a jack of all trades mp3 player!

To answer an earlier question, yes you would need a computer to use Calibre to convert ebooks.
 

I only have experience of the 3g keyboard and its fantastic. I have downloaded books, checked email through gmail and got up to date news on BBC and New York Times websites for free in Japan, UK, France, US etc etc. Ipod/IPAD etc etc are good but different. Just like paper books - its not either or - I still read hard copy books. Highly recommend.
 

Thats not true, you can access lots of sites over 3g, I frequently do.
 
I'm after buying the keyboard version now so no negative comment

The salesperson didnt seem to know a whole lot about it, but seemed to think you needed to get on the internet with a laptop first to get the account going. Maybe she'll be proven right but I thought that one of the main advantages was the connectivity the unit itself has.........

Looking forward to getting used to it this evening.
 
Apparently .. TESCO were selling Kindle covers for EUR 10.00 over the weekend. Same as the one I bought for my Kindle Touch for USD 30.00 .
 
Betsy Og said:
In terms of content, is kindle & amazon the equivalent of i-phone and app store, are there "android" versions of the kindle out there with cheaper content?
Click to expand...
Kindles kinda put themselves in their own category. However, for an android equivalent, the nearest thing would probably be an android slate - like the samsung galaxy tab. As an alternative - another option might be the samsung galaxy note - this covers all bases. Not for everyone - but some find it meets all their needs. (It certainly does mine...although never used it yet as an ereader - no time for reading just yet! Can't justify loading a book on there until I finish reading a paperback I've been kicking around for weeks..
 
I have an Android tablet that I use for reading Kindle books. While it works well for me, and I like having one device for eBooks, browsing, games,etc., as others have pointed out on other Kindle threads, the eInk screens the Kindles use is much better at rendering text and don't have problems in bright light.
 
I started reading ebooks using the Kindle app on a 7" Android tablet. I've since switched to a Kindle Touch and think it's a much better device for ebooks. The start-up time is one feature that I really value.
 
Those Kindle covers in Tesco are selling out rapidly, I got the last cheapish one in Tesco Ballybrack last night so if anyone is thinking of getting one don't delay. And make sure the one you pick up is the right price as Tesco have a habit of putting (accidentally, i'm sure ) other more expensive items in where the cheap stuff is stickered.

Another huge plus for the Kindle over the tablets is the battery life, I got a few weeks out of one charge when I borrowed my mothers. I'm going to wait and see if the Kindle Fire becomes available here first before buying though.
 
I was looking at the kindle fire but for what i saw on all the review it is too big for reading.

I have a kindle and i am surprised how easy it is to read and get into thought i would miss my books
 
I have a Kobo Touch WiFi which is a great e-reader and only cost about €100. why anybody would want to be limited to a Kindle and it's propriety format I just don't know, it's like somebody buying an iPhone when you could have a much better user experience using a decent Android phone. Using an e-reader for email and internet browsing just doesn't make sense to me, with it's limited functionality. if you want to surf with a hand-held device buy a 7" or 10" tablet on Ebay, they are cheap as chips for a non-branded version and will also work great for e-books, (although e-ink in a proper reader is the best). The thing I love most about my Kobo is that I can download books from my local library website, (any other libraries), for free and many of them aren't in the correct Kindle format.
So why limit yourself to a Kindle, don't be a sheep.
Finally: the thing I like least about e-readers is that many e-books are more expensive than the printed version. Ok, so some are cheaper, but in a lot of cases "real" books can be bought online for less than a Kindle e-book.
 
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