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Amazon Kindle |OT| of eInk superiority

Randy Lanzarote

Randy Lanzarote

Member
Couple of questions for my Kindle owning bretheren.

In the market for a Kindle, as I'm in the UK I'll probably be going for the Non-keyboard Kindle 4.

- Would it be worth me paying the extra £30 to get an imported Kindle Touch? Does it have any significant advantages over the basic Kindle 4 (ie. audiobooks, mp3 playback, brighter screen)
- Would I have an issue using an imported US Kindle in the UK (ie. access to the uk kindle book store)?

Thanks.
 
C

chiQ

Member
sionyboy said:
Couple of questions for my Kindle owning bretheren.

In the market for a Kindle, as I'm in the UK I'll probably be going for the Non-keyboard Kindle 4.

- Would it be worth me paying the extra £30 to get an imported Kindle Touch? Does it have any significant advantages over the basic Kindle 4 (ie. audiobooks, mp3 playback, brighter screen)
- Would I have an issue using an imported US Kindle in the UK (ie. access to the uk kindle book store)?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I'm in NZ with a US-only Kindle Touch, though they do now export, so recheck your options.

It rocks, and is, in my opinion, a much better option than any of the non-touchscreen Kindles.
 
A

a secret-boss

Banned
claviertekky said:
For those of you suggesting the Touch over the Kindle, do you use your Kindle for reading only or do you also write notes?

I just need a solid e-reader. I see complaints of lack of page turn buttons and confusing UI on the Touch version.

However, the Touch version does have more memory.
Click to expand...

I just mine for reading since I already have an iPad and a smartphone for other digital stuff

Another thing I like about the Kindle 4 is I can put my finger on the screen while holding it and reading and the page will not be disturbed. Like reading a book
 
C

Clever Pun

Member
sionyboy said:
Couple of questions for my Kindle owning bretheren.

In the market for a Kindle, as I'm in the UK I'll probably be going for the Non-keyboard Kindle 4.

- Would it be worth me paying the extra £30 to get an imported Kindle Touch? Does it have any significant advantages over the basic Kindle 4 (ie. audiobooks, mp3 playback, brighter screen)
- Would I have an issue using an imported US Kindle in the UK (ie. access to the uk kindle book store)?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I love my Touch, but I think £30 seems like a lot. I thought the $20 difference I paid was worth it, but I'm not sure if I would have paid much more for it.

Sorry I can't help on the second part!
 
C

clav

Member
Still haven't bought a Kindle because I keep reading about screen defects within days or a few months of use. How are yours holding up?
 
C

chiQ

Member
claviertekky said:
Still haven't bought a Kindle because I keep reading about screen defects within days or a few months of use. How are yours holding up?
Click to expand...

Where do you keep reading about these? I've never come across any issues Amazon didn't fix with a new device, and nobody I know has had any trouble.
 
L

LiQuid!

I proudly and openly admit to wishing death upon the mothers of people I don't like
claviertekky said:
Still haven't bought a Kindle because I keep reading about screen defects within days or a few months of use. How are yours holding up?
Click to expand...

There's being an educated consumer and then there is you. Sooner or later you are going to have to come to grips with the fact that you will never purchase a Kindle.
 
A

AndyD

aka andydumi
chiQ said:
Where do you keep reading about these? I've never come across any issues Amazon didn't fix with a new device, and nobody I know has had any trouble.
Click to expand...

This. There are no screen issues that I have heard of other than people dropping it or crushing it or whatnot. And Amazon customer service seems to be so good that any issues are likely resolved immediately.
 
C

Chorazin

Member
AndyD said:
This. There are no screen issues that I have heard of other than people dropping it or crushing it or whatnot. And Amazon customer service seems to be so good that any issues are likely resolved immediately.
Click to expand...

I've never heard of screen issues, but if there was one, Amazon would replace the defective model ASAP. They have GREAT CS!
 
I

Izayoi

Banned
Izayoi said:
Doesn't anyone have a recommendation for a Kindle Fire case/cover? I'm going to get the matte screen protector, but as far as cases go I'm lost. All of the cases on Amazon have good reviews, and price isn't that huge of a deal, so I'm a little miffed. The store where I bought it had no Fire cases to look at.
Click to expand...
Anyone? I saw a Belkin case today and it seemed pretty decent, but I don't want to make an impulse buy on a $30+ case, if possible.
 
C

clav

Member
brentech said:
I've had my Kindle3 for almost a year now, no problems. My wife has had the new no-keyboard model since Christmas, also no issues.
Click to expand...

Good to know thanks.

chiQ said:
Where do you keep reading about these? I've never come across any issues Amazon didn't fix with a new device, and nobody I know has had any trouble.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

LiQuid! said:
There's being an educated consumer and then there is you. Sooner or later you are going to have to come to grips with the fact that you will never purchase a Kindle.
Click to expand...

:lol come on. I'm going to purchase one. Just need to know if it's a reliable device because the negative reviews claim their units break within an year or less.


AndyD said:
This. There are no screen issues that I have heard of other than people dropping it or crushing it or whatnot. And Amazon customer service seems to be so good that any issues are likely resolved immediately.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

Chorazin said:
I've never heard of screen issues, but if there was one, Amazon would replace the defective model ASAP. They have GREAT CS!
Click to expand...

All right.

Supposedly, buyers can return the device within 30 days if they don't like it.

$79 model is a go.
 
edgefusion

edgefusion

Member
I know I'm a bit late to the praise party but I bought my mum a Kindle for last years mother days and since then she has taken it with her everywhere, every day and there's not been a single problem with it. This year I bought her a Kindle case, she had one before but it was shitty.
 
I

idwl

Member
My brother bought me a kindle touch, now I just have to wait till someone comes here so they can bring it :p

Just curious have you guys put any skins on? Are they distracting when put on the front?
 
L

LiQuid!

I proudly and openly admit to wishing death upon the mothers of people I don't like
I like it raw dog. I'd stick it in a case if I were a chick and stuffing it in a purse with jangly shit. Otherwise I don't see the point. It's so comfortable and light to hold and read one handed.

Man I love my Kindle. I should have gotten one of these so long ago.
 
Randy Lanzarote

Randy Lanzarote

Member
I finally stump up the cash for a kindle, then one day later amazon finally announce the official launch of the kindle touch in the uk.

Still, it probably says a lot about amazon UK prices that you can buy a brand new, imported kindle touch for cheaper on ebay :-\
 
S

Screaming_Gremlin

My QB is a Dick and my coach is a Nutt
idwl said:
My brother bought me a kindle touch, now I just have to wait till someone comes here so they can bring it :p

Just curious have you guys put any skins on? Are they distracting when put on the front?
Click to expand...

I have the Amazon-branded lighted leather case. I wouldn't be opposed to going caseless (I do with my iPhone), but I do a lot of traveling for business and I don't want to damage the screen when it is in my messenger/laptop bag.

On another note, for people with the Kindle Touch, have you had any issues with books that have footnotes? I was reading a few books last month that were very heavy on the footnotes and it could be very frustrating trying to hit the link on the footnote without just changing the page. Not sure if it is the publisher or the Kindle that determines the hit box surrounding the links, but I wish they could be larger without blowing up the font size.
 
J

JoshuaJSlone

Member
animlboogy said:
Is there a good way to get manga or any other black and white comics onto a Kindle? Is there any on the store and I'm just not finding it? I'd really love to read through some longer series like Lone Wolf and Cub on my Kindle Touch instead of having all those volumes taking up so much space. I move so often I just can't take collecting shitloads of comics right now.

Love this thing, by the way. I can't imagine not having the Touch. Tapping a word to look up the definition and easy highlights for throwing in a note is something I can't do without. And even that word game is better with just tapping the letters on the screen.
Click to expand...
There are some comics on the Kindle store, though they don't seem a very big presence. They mostly seem to be original for Kindle by people self-publishing, or reformatted to fit the screen better by moving the panels around and having fewer per page.

If you've got image files of comics, though, there are programs like Mangle that try to make mass conversion to the right size and palette as painless as possible.
 
C

chiQ

Member
idwl said:
My brother bought me a kindle touch, now I just have to wait till someone comes here so they can bring it :p

Just curious have you guys put any skins on? Are they distracting when put on the front?
Click to expand...

Skin and lit leather case. The case is for peace of mind. I've heard too many stories about dropped kindles dying. I got the lit version because it seemed a good idea, and I use the light a lot.

The skin, was a whim, because I saw one I loved. No regrets.
 
C

Castor Krieg

Banned
How is the reading of newspapers on Touch vs. regular Kindle? I'm tempted to get one, but with possible FT subscription I might hold on to Touch at the end of April, if it makes things better.
 
D

Data West

coaches in the WNBA
I haven't been reading novels regularly in the last few years due to lack of motivation to go out and look through a book store and then take it home, finish it, and send it to the thrift store because i probably won't read it again.

did the kindle make any of you start reading more regulary? I was looking for something to wind down with before bed, but I'm worried that I'll just buy this and never use it.
 
C

chiQ

Member
zoner said:
I haven't been reading novels regularly in the last few years due to lack of motivation to go out and look through a book store and then take it home, finish it, and send it to the thrift store because i probably won't read it again.

did the kindle make any of you start reading more regulary? I was looking for something to wind down with before bed, but I'm worried that I'll just buy this and never use it.
Click to expand...

I've been reading ebooks for years, so no, but ebooks in general did, yes.
 
N

Nymerio

Member
zoner said:
I haven't been reading novels regularly in the last few years due to lack of motivation to go out and look through a book store and then take it home, finish it, and send it to the thrift store because i probably won't read it again.

did the kindle make any of you start reading more regulary? I was looking for something to wind down with before bed, but I'm worried that I'll just buy this and never use it.
Click to expand...

I definitely read more since I have the kindle. Was really apparent when tried to read a 'normal' book last month, I'm really accustomed to the reading light my kindle and not being able to read with it at night really bothered me. I also find it easier to just pick up my kindle and read a few pages and the whole dictionary thing was a complete game changer for me.
 
M

megateto

Member
So with the Touch finally coming out in Europe I preordered one. That's the great news. The bad news is that the lighted cover's price is 55€, way too high, I think.
Are there any good alternatives?
 
D

Danj

Member
megateto said:
So with the Touch finally coming out in Europe I preordered one. That's the great news. The bad news is that the lighted cover's price is 55€, way too high, I think.
Are there any good alternatives?
Click to expand...

The main problem I have with the official Touch covers is that there's no fastener of any kind to hold the thing shut. I haven't seen any other really good lighted covers though so I ended up going with a Casecrown case and a Verso clip-on light.

A note for anyone else who gets the Verso light - take the batteries out when you're not using it, it's very easy for it to get switched on while it's in your bag.
 
C

Castor Krieg

Banned
Ordered a 99EUR Kindle, should be here tomorrow. Can't wait to try it. What pushed me over the edge was 1088 pages trilogy, I simply cannot walk with things like that, not to mention read in bed.
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
claviertekky said:
:lol come on. I'm going to purchase one. Just need to know if it's a reliable device because the negative reviews claim their units break within an year or less.
Click to expand...

The device is reliable. They don't spontaneously break. They are fragile; the eInk screens crack. Don't sit on them. Don't try to bend your Kindle. Keep it in a case if it's going to be beat around a bit, but you're fine to go without a case if you're just doing normal stuff with it. Amazon's warranty is good and they offer hassle-free cross-shipped replacements.
 
Z

Zaraki_Kenpachi

Member
I don't know if it was posted but the complete series of Harry Potter has finally been put up on the kindle store if anyone is interested. Took long enough.
 
C

clav

Member
Stumpokapow said:
The device is reliable. They don't spontaneously break. They are fragile; the eInk screens crack. Don't sit on them. Don't try to bend your Kindle. Keep it in a case if it's going to be beat around a bit, but you're fine to go without a case if you're just doing normal stuff with it. Amazon's warranty is good and they offer hassle-free cross-shipped replacements.
Click to expand...

Seems like a lot of people have had problems with the Kindle Keyboard within two years.
 
A

AndyD

aka andydumi
claviertekky said:
Seems like a lot of people have had problems with the Kindle Keyboard within two years.
Click to expand...

We have had K3s for about that long with 0 issues. I think part of the problem is that people treat the kindles as a paperback and throw it in a backpack or somewhere where it gets crushed. In our experience, and out friends who have kindles, there have been no spontaneous issues, only impact issues of some sort (drop/crush...).
 
L

LiQuid!

I proudly and openly admit to wishing death upon the mothers of people I don't like
Is there any way to get the Kindle to display the number a book is in a series aside from just adding it to the book's title in the metadata? Got a bunch of John Carter books and short of looking it up on Wikipedia I can't keep track of which order they're supposed to be.
 
S

SystemShark

Member
claviertekky said:
Seems like a lot of people have had problems with the Kindle Keyboard within two years.
Click to expand...

I bought my wife a Kindle Keyboard in September of 2010 and it's still going strong. She keeps it in an expensive Oberon cover and besides some cracks on the bezel that I believe were created from her holding it in a death grip, it's perfect. And the cracks appeared about a week into owning. Haven't gotten any worse since then.

And I'm sure I could have sent it in for a replacement but my wife didn't want me too.

I am thinking of buying another Keyboard edition just because the Oberon cover is going to last longer then this Kindle and the new Kindle's are smaller so they won't fit.

I opted for the 3G version and the experimental browser, though slow and fairly junky, is a wonderful thing to have when you are travelling abroad and don't have wifi access.
 
D

Danj

Member
LiQuid! said:
Is there any way to get the Kindle to display the number a book is in a series aside from just adding it to the book's title in the metadata? Got a bunch of John Carter books and short of looking it up on Wikipedia I can't keep track of which order they're supposed to be.
Click to expand...

I would also like to know this, I have the same problem with a number of book series I have on my Kindle.
 
L

LiQuid!

I proudly and openly admit to wishing death upon the mothers of people I don't like
C

Castor Krieg

Banned
Is there a problem with switching Kindle accounts back and forth? I bought a Kindle, before it arrived I can already see it is set to US. I live in Germany, pay in Euros, so I simply set it to Germany, so I can buy the books directly from Amazon.de.

Am I losing a lot of books which are not available on Amazon.de (English ones)?
 
J

JoshuaJSlone

Member
Hey guys, a bit of Kindle-based entertainment I wanted to share. Since using eReaderIQ's customizable RSS tool to follow free books, I'd sometimes see something that would give me a double-take and share it with folks on Twitter. I realized a few days back if I took it to another format I'd have more room to share oddness beyond just the book titles, and not bug any of my Twitter followers who don't care. So I set up a Tumblr.
 
P

Protome

Member
Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
What were the problems? Most I've seen in this thread are them throwing it in a bag unprotected and cracking the screen.
Click to expand...

Half the screen on mine went blank and wouldn't change no matter what, making it completely useless. I've heard it's a known but not common problem with them.
Amazon sent me a new one the very next day though.
 
C

chiQ

Member
Castor Krieg said:
Is there a problem with switching Kindle accounts back and forth? I bought a Kindle, before it arrived I can already see it is set to US. I live in Germany, pay in Euros, so I simply set it to Germany, so I can buy the books directly from Amazon.de.

Am I losing a lot of books which are not available on Amazon.de (English ones)?
Click to expand...

I think it's more about which site you use than your country. I have set mine to different countries without issue, but I don't think you can switch between Amazons, i.e. .de, .com, .co.uk, etc.
 
C

Castor Krieg

Banned
chiQ said:
I think it's more about which site you use than your country. I have set mine to different countries without issue, but I don't think you can switch between Amazons, i.e. .de, .com, .co.uk, etc.
Click to expand...

You can. Your Amazon login and password is the same for all Amazon websites. I'm buying my DD games from Amazon US, my regular items from Amazon DE/UK, depending on which one is cheaper.
 
C

chiQ

Member
Castor Krieg said:
You can. Your Amazon login and password is the same for all Amazon websites. I'm buying my DD games from Amazon US, my regular items from Amazon DE/UK, depending on which one is cheaper.
Click to expand...

Okay, that's new to me! I have separate accounts on the two sites I use, because when I signed up you couldn't have a global account :)
 
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