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Amazon Kindle |OT| of eInk superiority

Manics said:
Personally I don't like the lighted case, my wife has one and the less light at the bottom of the screen bothers me.

I like reading the kindle with NO case, it's so slim and light it's great to hold without a case. I would recommend getting a carrying case only. Something to store the kindle in when you're not reading to protect it from damage, but when you want to read you take it out and read without a case.

As for light sources you can buy any cheap LED clip on light.
I like having Kindle/case/light all in one package and using one battery. But I agree it's much nicer to hold outside of the case, so if the built in light isn't a big deal go the storage-only route, definitely.

It is a lot thicker with the Amazon case, and doubles the weight.
20100901kindle5.jpg
 

Snaku

Banned
HiroProtagonist said:
Engadget Barnes & Noble Nook WiFi review


Edit: This was already posted in the Nook thread, but I thought it was worth posting here too.

Seems like their only issues with it was when it came to highlighting text, and pdf's freezing the device. Listing the lack of 3G as a negative in a wi-fi only device is retarded. It's like docking Bioshock 1 points for no multiplayer.

Interesting to note they've given every nook a 7/10 so far. The only other e-reader to score higher is the Kindle 3 (8/10), and the new nook addressed all of The Bad points in the Kindle 3 review (awkward page turning, no epub support, no memory expansion).
 

Schlep

Member
JoshuaJSlone said:
I like having Kindle/case/light all in one package and using one battery. But I agree it's much nicer to hold outside of the case, so if the built in light isn't a big deal go the storage-only route, definitely.
I'd agree on that. I tried a friend's with the lighted case, and I didn't like that it nearly doubles the weight of the device. I went the cheapo route and got a Timbuk2 padded case, but for what it is, it's pretty good: compact but lots of padding, Kindle slips in and out easily, and keeps dust/debris out.

Click for full size
 

Snaku

Banned
HiroProtagonist said:
Barnes & Noble Nook Touch Reader PC Magazine review

PC Magazine gives the new Nook "Editors Choice" award.

Again with the 3G jab?

Though there's no Web browser on the Nook, if it's necessary to connect to a Wi-Fi network a browser page will pop up, so you can accept terms of service or log in.

The only issue I had with new nook's features was the lack of web browser for this exact purpose. Glad it was addressed.

Great review, and it seems like they didn't have the few troubles Engadget ran into. Can't wait for the 10th.
 
Snaku said:
Again with the 3G jab?



The only issue I had with new nook's features was the lack of web browser for this exact purpose. Glad it was addressed.

Great review, and it seems like they didn't have the few troubles Engadget ran into. Can't wait for the 10th.

It's also weird how he says:
Among dedicated ebook readers, the Amazon Kindle ($189, 4 stars)

Why would you use the more expensive 3G/WiFi Kindle to compare to the WiFi-only Nook when there is a feature similar Kindle at the same price point. Eh? Odd.
 

Snaku

Banned
http://gizmodo.com/5807381/barnes-and-noble-simple-touch-nook-review-this-is-the-e+reader-you-want

Should I Buy It: Absolutely. If you're looking for a no-nonsense e-reader that's easy to use, connects to an online book store, handles your side-loaded content (like PDFs), let you interact with other friends who use the Nook store, and rarely has to be charged up, you will love the Simple Touch Nook. The form, design and guts are superior to the Kindle 3. The offerings from the Nook and Kindle stores are more or less the same, with a small handful of exclusive content from magazines and journals. But each store offers roughly a million books in their store, along with another million books that are free in the public domain. So you don't really lose either way.

http://www.crunchgear.com/2011/06/01/hands-on-with-the-new-nook-watch-out-amazon/

The new Nook is without question the best standalone Wi-Fi ereader on the market. Note that I added a few weasel words there, and if you’re looking for 3G then the Kindle 3G is still a winner, but as a reading device the Nook is nonpareil.

http://reviews.cnet.com/e-book-read...-34748399.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody;3r

Is the new Nook better than the Kindle? That's what a lot of people are asking and the short answer--at least at this moment--is arguably yes.

In related news...

http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2011/06/01/borders-are-out-of-the-ebook-business/
 

Manics

Banned
You have to think Amazon will do SOMETHING with all these positive Nook reviews coming out. At least a new Kindle firmware update to add some new features. They're very secretive about new hardware so who knows when they'll counter with Kindle 4
 
I think the 3G criticism is legit. I'm not sure why they don't offer a model with it. They keep saying it's a simple device but connecting through Wifi makes it a slight more complicated. The great thing about the 3G readers is that they truly are standalone devices. To download a book all you have to do is turn the wireless on.
 

Socreges

Banned
I love how Snaku is the resident Nook guy, identifying any praise and complaining about the Kindle.

Like Manics said, will be interesting to see how Amazon responds. B&N definitely upped the ante.
 
I think Amazon could at least update the home page, add some book covers as a choice instead of having just text. And custom screen savers.
 

brentech

Member
This is to the point that this thread either needs to change titles to eReaders OT, or it needs to be taken as the Kindle community OT. Kind of annoying to have people arguing about other readers in here as the thread is now.
 
Manics said:
You have to think Amazon will do SOMETHING with all these positive Nook reviews coming out. At least a new Kindle firmware update to add some new features. They're very secretive about new hardware so who knows when they'll counter with Kindle 4

I'm sure they will make a big deal come the library launch, but they have been throwing down a lot of book deals lately. Most are seemingly crappy books but I saw today they have Lawrence Block's The Girl with the Long Green Heart for $.99. It's $9.99 in B&Ns store. Hmm, seems like a few of his books are cheaper in the Kindle store.

I definitely see a new e-ink Kindle coming before summers end. Everyone is all about the Amazon tablet rumors so it'll probably be something of a surprise.
 
brentech said:
This is to the point that this thread either needs to change titles to eReaders OT, or it needs to be taken as the Kindle community OT. Kind of annoying to have people arguing about other readers in here as the thread is now.

I posted reviews of the Nook so we discuss how it will affect the Kindle, and future iterations of the Kindle. The Nook > Kindle quotes are a bit much, but I guess I invited it by posting the two Nook stories.

BRB going to post 'Carebears > My Little Pony' in the My Little Pony thread.
 

Kimosabae

Banned
So I noticed these are coming down in price. As someone that actually enjoys the idea of owning physical copies of books because I like to write and make notes in them, are their any details I'm overlooking regarding the Kindle's functionality that would appeal to someone like me?

Has this thing made reading fun again (or, for the first time) for anyone?
 

brentech

Member
HiroProtagonist said:
I posted reviews of the Nook so we discuss how it will affect the Kindle, and future iterations of the Kindle. The Nook > Kindle quotes are a bit much, but I guess I invited it by posting the two Nook stories.

BRB going to post 'Carebears > My Little Pony' in the My Little Pony thread.
Yea, I just worry of the butt-hurt crowd that can't let comparisons be comparisons. Seems some want to make arguments, not help others understand the device for what it is.

If unchecked, I just saw this going down a dark path, but as long S you're aware and keeping an eye on it....
 

Socreges

Banned
HiroProtagonist said:
I posted reviews of the Nook so we discuss how it will affect the Kindle, and future iterations of the Kindle. The Nook > Kindle quotes are a bit much, but I guess I invited it by posting the two Nook stories.

BRB going to post 'Carebears > My Little Pony' in the My Little Pony thread.
Nah, you didn't invite that. Kindle owners should be able to discuss the Nook (and the industry generally) in a Kindle OT without reprisal. Snaku isn't even interested in the Kindle, so his posts aren't really in the spirit of this thread. In separate posts he's called the keyboard "ugly" and "useless fluff", and spent the rest of the time praising the Nook.

Someone make the guy an overall e-Reader comparison thread or something.

For the record, I think the new Nook looks/sounds like an excellent device. Personally, I don't know if I could do without the QWERTY keyboard.
 

Snaku

Banned
Socreges said:
I love how Snaku is the resident Nook guy, identifying any praise and complaining about the Kindle.

I always tend to gravitate toward the underdog. Zune woo!

Socreges said:
Nah, you didn't invite that. Kindle owners should be able to discuss the Nook (and the industry generally) in a Kindle OT without reprisal. Snaku isn't even interested in the Kindle, so his posts aren't really in the spirit of this thread. In separate posts he's called the keyboard "ugly" and "useless fluff", and spent the rest of the time praising the Nook.

It was, and is. If 3G can be levied against the new nook, surely the ugly ass keyboard is a valid criticism.

I held off on getting an e-reader for the longest time, and wanted a Kindle. I do most of my business with Amazon. But when Amazon failed to address the keyboard and unpleasant gui with the third Kindle, I got a nook. B&N seems to have addressed most of my complaints with the original model, so I'll be passing that one along to my dad, and getting the new nook. When Amazon moves beyond better screen upgrades, I'll consider them again.
 

Socreges

Banned
I don't think anyone gives a shit, dude.

[edit]

Snaku said:
It was, and is. If 3G can be levied against the new nook, surely the ugly ass keyboard is a valid criticism.
To explain, I was describing the nature of your posts, not questioning their validity (a separate conversation that I'd rather not have here).
 
Kimosabae said:
So I noticed these are coming down in price. As someone that actually enjoys the idea of owning physical copies of books because I like to write and make notes in them, are their any details I'm overlooking regarding the Kindle's functionality that would appeal to someone like me?

Has this thing made reading fun again (or, for the first time) for anyone?
You can add highlights and notes. There's a menu item that leads to the compilation of all your notes, highlights and bookmarks for each book. So it's easy to find all of them. And I think you can access them online, too, but there may be a limit for how many show up online if any. Pretty sure it's a publisher thing. The kindle keyboard isn't the greatest thing, but I'm still very glad to have it. It makes searching for things easier. I have a Kindle 2 and that has a number row, but the Kindle 3 doesn't. Plenty of people aren't happy about that.

Also Amazon has Sunshine Deals going on over 600 books discounted to $2.99 or less until June 15th. That was what the Lawrence Block book I posted is apart of. Obviously they aren't all great books, but I see 2 Vonnegut books, Slaughterhouse Five and Cat's Cradle for 2.99 each.
 

brentech

Member
So, is it like a general use notepad, or are your notes locked to a book? Or are both available?

I guess what I'm trying to clarify is that for a book series it would be nice if they just had a basic notepad app, while for specific books I'd like it to only pull up notes that are relevant to it (don't want to have to label a bunch of notes and dig for the right ones).
So hopefully it works both ways...
 
There is a Notepad app for $.99. It has gotten great reviews.

The regular notes are for individual books and are tied to it. When you have opened a book you hit the menu button and choose "view my notes & marks". This brings you to a section showing you all the notes, highlights, and bookmarks you made for that book.
 

brentech

Member
I would suppose that is the more important part, so that's good. Though, somewhat surprising there isn't a stand alone notepad on by default.
 

YagizY

Member
Quick question, is the discounted $114 Kindle worth getting? As in, are the ads super annoying and do they in anyway affect the battery life? Debating getting the discounted one but I was wondering how intrusive the ads were.
 
YagizY said:
Quick question, is the discounted $114 Kindle worth getting? As in, are the ads super annoying and do they in anyway affect the battery life? Debating getting the discounted one but I was wondering how intrusive the ads were.

It literally shows everything on the amazon page.
 

bobbytkc

ADD New Gen Gamer
YagizY said:
Quick question, is the discounted $114 Kindle worth getting? As in, are the ads super annoying and do they in anyway affect the battery life? Debating getting the discounted one but I was wondering how intrusive the ads were.


They are not onscreen while reading, so it's not bad. It only comes up on the screen saver and at the bottom of the home screen.
 

Ledsen

Member
I got one for Christmas (arrived at the end of january), but since the first book I read was Game of Thrones, I haven't read anything else since :D Currently reading the fourth book in the series and have pre-ordered the fifth. Absolutely love the Kindle, aside from the obvious advantages over things like the iPad, it's actually better than an actual book in some ways. I usually read paperbacks, and they're pretty unwieldy if you want to, for example, hold them in your lap and read at the same time. Not so with the Kindle! Also I don't need to carry around a 1000+ page tome :) I bought a leather pouch for it from Ebay for something like $3, since I like holding the Kindle without any sort of cover on it.

My biggest problem is that I have 30+ physical books I haven't read, and now I don't want to :( Don't want to re-buy them either. Oh bother.

Oh and another thing I love is that it isn't as obvious how far I have to go in the book :) Sometimes makes me feel stressed when reading physical books.
 
Manics said:
You have to think Amazon will do SOMETHING with all these positive Nook reviews coming out. At least a new Kindle firmware update to add some new features. They're very secretive about new hardware so who knows when they'll counter with Kindle 4
Maybe they can release a firmware that doesn't do anything, but act like the features that aren't in the Nook are new.
 

renitou

Member
JoshuaJSlone said:
I like having Kindle/case/light all in one package and using one battery. But I agree it's much nicer to hold outside of the case, so if the built in light isn't a big deal go the storage-only route, definitely.

It is a lot thicker with the Amazon case, and doubles the weight.
I found that I prefer the added thickness the lighted case provides, personally. Given how thin the Kindle is on it's own, I felt like I was squeezing my hands around it a bit too much for comfort over an extended period.

Though my posture when reading is predominantly to lay the Kindle on one knee while sitting.
 

Manics

Banned
JoshuaJSlone said:
Maybe they can release a firmware that doesn't do anything, but act like the features that aren't in the Nook are new.
Hehe, well for sure they have to release a firmware update to accommodate library lending that they said was coming this year. I wonder if a firmware update can also address the fewer "black screen flashes" that the new nook has. It seems like they're caching a few pages or something so the screen doesnt have to do a full black flash to refresh. If it's just a case of the Nook having a faster processor that accomplished that then Amazon can't match it until a new Kindle comes out.
 

Socreges

Banned
VistraNorrez said:
Also Amazon has Sunshine Deals going on over 600 books discounted to $2.99 or less until June 15th. That was what the Lawrence Block book I posted is apart of. Obviously they aren't all great books, but I see 2 Vonnegut books, Slaughterhouse Five and Cat's Cradle for 2.99 each.
You sure? They're each ~$6 each from what I can see. Unless the Sunshine Deal prices are different depending on region?

And the Notepad app isn't available for me.... dang.

(in Canada)
 

Pollux

Member
Ledsen said:
I got one for Christmas (arrived at the end of january), but since the first book I read was Game of Thrones, I haven't read anything else since :D Currently reading the fourth book in the series and have pre-ordered the fifth. Absolutely love the Kindle, aside from the obvious advantages over things like the iPad, it's actually better than an actual book in some ways. I usually read paperbacks, and they're pretty unwieldy if you want to, for example, hold them in your lap and read at the same time. Not so with the Kindle! Also I don't need to carry around a 1000+ page tome :) I bought a leather pouch for it from Ebay for something like $3, since I like holding the Kindle without any sort of cover on it.

My biggest problem is that I have 30+ physical books I haven't read, and now I don't want to :( Don't want to re-buy them either. Oh bother.

Oh and another thing I love is that it isn't as obvious how far I have to go in the book :) Sometimes makes me feel stressed when reading physical books.

I've heard that books 3 and 4 don't have chapter breaks in the Kindle version has this problem been fixed?
 

Socreges

Banned
JoshuaJSlone said:
I see the Vonnegut books as $3 too. Sunshine Deals must not be applicable in Canada--or at least not the same lineup.
Just a different lineup, looks like. The Jonathon Block book is $2.99 whereas the Vonneguts aren't.

Ah well. Got a very good Spanish language resource book that's apparently 10x more expensive as paperback.
 

Schlep

Member
For those with the special offers version, there should be an offer today for 20% off certain TVs. Not something that I'm in the market for personally, but pretty awesome.
 

Manics

Banned
Socreges said:
You sure? They're each ~$6 each from what I can see. Unless the Sunshine Deal prices are different depending on region?

And the Notepad app isn't available for me.... dang.

(in Canada)


Get someone in the U.S. to gift if to you.

Zaraki_Kenpachi will step up, he loves gifting and being gifted.
 
renitou said:
I found that I prefer the added thickness the lighted case provides, personally. Given how thin the Kindle is on it's own, I felt like I was squeezing my hands around it a bit too much for comfort over an extended period.

Though my posture when reading is predominantly to lay the Kindle on one knee while sitting.
I just got a Kindle 3 a few days ago and I totally agree, I got the official Amazon case (without the light though) and I far prefer reading with the case on. It is too thin without it, with the case on it has more of the weight and thickness of an actual book.

Also, it's so thin that it's hard to find a comfortable way to hold it without the case that gives you easy access to the page turning buttons.

Crossing my fingers that Amazon doesn't come out with a new one over the summer, anything passed October and I won't really mind since I'll get a ton of use out of it over the summer, but it would suck if the Kindle Touch or whatever comes out too soon.
 

Manics

Banned
dr3upmushroom said:
I just got a Kindle 3 a few days ago and I totally agree, I got the official Amazon case (without the light though) and I far prefer reading with the case on. It is too thin without it, with the case on it has more of the weight and thickness of an actual book.

Also, it's so thin that it's hard to find a comfortable way to hold it without the case that gives you easy access to the page turning buttons.

Crossing my fingers that Amazon doesn't come out with a new one over the summer, anything passed October and I won't really mind since I'll get a ton of use out of it over the summer, but it would suck if the Kindle Touch or whatever comes out too soon.


I highly doubt a new eInk Kindle would come out this year. There are rumours of an "Amazon tablet", but that would be LCD based and totally different. No reliable Kindle 4 rumours anywhere so I can only assume 2012 at the earliest.
 

Ledsen

Member
SiegfriedFM said:
I'm kind of interested but is it available in Sweden? That's my main issue, since it's first and foremost for buying books I think I wouldn't want to be tied to the UK store.

I'm a bit late but I'm Swedish and I've got a Kindle 3. You have to go to Amazon US and buy the "International" version. It's super cheap with the exchange rate right now. Since there is no Swedish Amazon, you can only use the US Kindle Store to purchase books. If you want to read books in Swedish, you'll have to buy them online (from AdLibris or someplace) and then remove the DRM (easily done with Calibre). When they're DRM-free you can put them on your Kindle provided they're in MOBI format, if not you can easily convert them, again using Calibre.
 

Manics

Banned
Man, i'm an idiot. I had no idea that Amazon has a "cloud drive" service which gives you 5GB of storage for free. You can easily upload any eBook you own to the cloud, and then download it to your Kindle by navigating to the cloud service webpage on your Kindle. Mind blown.
 
Has anyone got any of the collections of classic authors that sell for a buck or two? I've got a few of the free ones (Poe and a Sherlock Holmes collection) but they aren't organized at all. Are the premium ones nicely put together?
 
My wife is a very fast reader and is clicking the side button every 6 seconds or so. She complains of her hand hurting after a while. I told her to adjust the text size to smaller, but she says that she reads in a parking garage so it would hurt her eyes.

Are there any other solutions other than lowering the text size?
 

Husker86

Member
Anslon said:
My wife is a very fast reader and is clicking the side button every 6 seconds or so. She complains of her hand hurting after a while. I told her to adjust the text size to smaller, but she says that she reads in a parking garage so it would hurt her eyes.

Are there any other solutions other than lowering the text size?
What else could there be? What text size is she on, just curious because that's crazy fast reading.
 
Husker86 said:
What else could there be? What text size is she on, just curious because that's crazy fast reading.
Probably default. I watched her read a few pages and she isn't kidding. Idk how she does it. Is there any kind of auto scroll feature?
 

Jintor

Member
Goddamn, Game of Thrones has me in its iron grip. I'm supposed to be studying property law...

So recommend me some cases, KindleGAF. I've been using some felt-lined envelope thingy I found in one of my drawers but I can't help but feel an actual case that is actual size for the thing might be better.
 
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