Ordered a Kindle with free 3G

Posted on May 18th, 2011 by Sacha Chua

After much consideration (and you know how I analyze my decisions), I ordered the 6″ Kindle with free 3G and WiFi. I chose the smaller Kindle instead of the DX because I have tiny hands, and the Internet said that the DX might get a little tiring to carry if you have small hands. I chose the Kindle instead of an iPad or Android tablet because I wanted a device for travel (decent battery life and the ability to search for addresses / public transit directions). Roaming data charges for iPad or Android use would be really expensive. Even if Amazon discontinues Whispernet (as it might – who knows?), it’ll be worth it if I can get a good couple of years. Books will actually be a nice bonus, not the key selling feature.

I read a ton of books~~, and the Kindle can read the EPUB books I check out of the Toronto Public Library~~. It can also handle PDFs. You can bet that I’m going to try Albert Harkness’ “An Easy Method for Beginners in Latin” as soon as I get the Kindle unboxed and charged up. I might as well learn something on the way to the airport. =) It’ll be better than my Android, which has problems viewing PDFs with images in them. The Harkness e-book is all images (it’s a scan of an out-of-copyright book), so I haven’t been able to read it at all on my Android.

Of course, there’s actually buying books from the Kindle store and having them delivered on the fly… Tempting! I will have to set a book budget. I hardly buy books now – the library’s been enough for me – but I may get swayed by the new releases that will be instantly available.

Here’s hoping that Amazon’s delivery mechanism goes without a hitch and I receive my Kindle on Friday! If not, I’ll have to figure out how to reship the package back home.

Fingers crossed!

2011-05-18 Wed 22:09

More posts about: geek, kaizen, travel // 8 Comments »

Short URL: http://sachachua.com/blog/p/22242

Joel Garza

I recently ordered the wifi-only version, and am very happy with the device. I have used it to read books via Books24x7 using the included “experimental” browser, and I’ll likely join up to ACM to view their selection of the O’Reilly Safari Online books. The e-ink display has been an eye-saver.

You’ll definitely want to check out/tinker with the Calibre application.
jenn

Hey!
The reason I went for the Kobo over the Kindle was that the Kindle can’t handle the ePub books with DRM on them. Has this changed?
Jenn
http://sachachua.com Sacha Chua

It seems the Kindle 3 doesn’t support library EPUBs. No big deal. I’ll read those on my Android. =) Still looking forward to trying the browser!
Joel Garza

Kindle will support some sort of library lending later in the year. I do not have firsthand knowledge of how technically the ePub lending works, but I have heard “overdrive” mentioned in both cases, which appears to be the system that manages the DRM on electronic lending. There is hope… ;-)
Joerg

Hi !
i really like the kindle, but viewing pdf’s sucks (the fonts look bad).

You have to convert pdf files to plain text before you copy them to the kindle.

Regards,
Joerg
Joel Garza

@Joerg,

I haven’t converted any of the PDFs on my Kindle (latest generation), but I had read that earlier versions of the Kindle were pretty unsatisfactory with native PDF.

Things that help improve the experience on the latest generation Kindle are: use the screen rotation in landscape mode to view the page slightly larger (half at a time) and increase the contrast. It’s not as nice as native .mobi/.azw files with adjustable font size and reflowing, but I haven’t had to resort to conversion.
Paul

I have WiFi only version as I don’t have cell coverage at home. Agree that PDF is not ideal, you need to scroll back and forth, it helps to turn the document landscape, but still a pain. Calibre works well, but I’m not impressed with the update method, i.e. download the whole program with each update. But it is a shareware, contribute if you can, program.

For saving battery turn off your WiFi, I assume you can do the same for the 3G connection, and you will get close to a month. I love it when traveling and also for new releases that I just have to read on the first day.
- http://sachachua.com Sacha Chua
  
  Battery life is good so far. I turn wireless (WiFi+3G) off when I feel like conserving battery, although I haven’t particularly worried about battery yet. It’s a relief to have a device that I don’t have to charge every night!

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