Which Kindle ?

morganlefay

At end Aug Amazon are going to launch two new e readers from their new UK Kindle shop, and I have been saving to get one of these. REALLY STUPID QUESTION FOLLOWS: The more expensive one comes with free 3G and wifi and the cheaper one with only wifi. Please can a kind and patient person explain to me what 3G actually is/ does ? I am an 'older person' and have a very primitive mobile which suits me, a computer and a good camera. I do not want an i pad or a more modern phone as I really don't want all sorts of 'one stop shop' apps, I like using my real camera, and my real computer. Is 3G something which would make the Kindle better as an e reader or is it to do with alll the other stuff these gadgets can do (if you want them to do which I don't).

Sorry - I did warn you it was a dumb question...be gentle with me, please.

pcombo

http://voip.about.com/od/mobilevoip/p/3G.htm

Everything here; :P

It wont really made the kindle any better or worse nor will wifi.

ManAtHome

Basically, 3G lets you pick up (eg buy) ebooks for the kindle though the mobile phone network, the WiFi lets you pick up ebooks through a wireless router. Presumably the alternative is to download the book to your home computer, then connect the ebook thingy with a bit of wire and load it.

You may have WiFi at home (if you can run your computer without wires), or there is a growing number of places offering it 'for free' (eg McDonalds, Wetherspoons as long as you are buying food and/or drinks).

I think both are a bit gimmicky as far as the books thing goes - how often do you have a sudden urge to buy a new book when you're nowhere near your computer? (may impress them down the disco though..). You may be able to use the kindle for web surfing, so I suppose it's one less gadget to carry, but then again you can get mobile phones with ebook functions as well internet stuff (and some of them even let you make phone calls!).

I'm not a Kindle expert (you may have noticed), but isn't it severely limited with file formats (eg buy stuff from Amazon or look at cheap/free Adobe PDF files only) - other readers seem to support a heap of formats.

23n1th

I quite fancied an ebook reader but everything that has come out so far has been expensive and disappointing all at the same time

totalsolutions

3G = mobile phone contract
Used to download more ebooks, your home PC will do this for you.
Will not enhance your experience but drain your pocket really fast. Kindle will suffer from iPad sales though, this sounds like the end for Kindles.

debitcardmayhem

I have used a Sony PRS 505 for over a year, and I have nothing but praise for it. I would imagine that the Kindles will probably have a shorter battery life if they have wifi and 3G on them too (although I would guess you can switch them off until needed). I use calibre for my ebook library management which is free and copes with a huge array of devices . It also allows RSS feeds to be put on my reader so I can read the news feeds down the pub without using my mobile for the pleasure (unless I need the latest feeds),and the sony also plays music too (drains the battery faster tho). I doubt that the ipad will eat into the reader market too much, e-ink is much better for reading especially in sunlight although you will need a light source in low lighting situations, and probably is less stressful than LED/LCDs on the eyes.
I don't find it too much bother to download the books via my PC and the use of calibre allows you to reformat the books to the relevant format if they are not DRM protected. The main drawback at the moment is that a lot of eBooks are expensive compared to paperbacks of the same title. The best thing about ebook readers is that 1 Kg of paperbacks (3-4) adds £20 each way to your Ryanair luggage allowance whereas the Sony weighs less than a paperback and holds more than I can read in a year let alone 3 weeks holidays

flyingscotno1

totalsolutions wrote: »

Kindle will suffer from iPad sales though, this sounds like the end for Kindles.

There will be some affect and it is in a dwindling market, but the iPad is expensive for those who just want to get a device that reads books. What is the price difference between the two- over £350/400. I own neither but I guess the Kindle is also quite good in sunlight isn't it, whereas I'd imagine iPad may be slight worse in those conditions and the Kindle might have a longer battery life. Certainly an iPad would have more things to do. Mind you, it is possible to bypass both and us iPhone/Android devices to do the same.

fitshase

totalsolutions wrote: »

3G = mobile phone contract
Used to download more ebooks, your home PC will do this for you.
Will not enhance your experience but drain your pocket really fast. Kindle will suffer from iPad sales though, this sounds like the end for Kindles.

However, it looks like the 3G element is being provided free of charge by Vodafone and is included in the price of the Kindle.

nitr02007

3G is used to access the Amazon kindle shop, to buy and download books wherever you are in the world assuming that the device can get a signal.
As far as I know there is no cost to actually access the shop, of course you'll have to pay for any books you download. I guess the cost is covered by the higher initial cost.

The WiFi only version will need to be setup to access your home wifi router, or a wifi access point (like a cafe or station) to access the amazon shop.

I'm interested in the cheaper WiFi only kindle - £109 is very tempting.
I'm not really bothered about the 3G access - the kindle can store thousands of books so being unable to download a book when I'm away from home/public WiFi access is no loss.

I currently use a old dell axim PDA for my ereader - but its totally unusable outdoors on a bright day. So an eInk screen is an absolute must have - which puts the iPad out of the question, far too expensive, wrong type of screen and I don't need all the other functions the iPad has.

From the website: the new kindles will support PDF, Kindle (.AZW, .AZW1). Text (.TXT), Unprotected Mobipocket (.MOBI, .PRC) formats. So you should be able to download free ebooks from Project gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) for example and then transfer them to the kindle via USB.

Edit to add: I guess any newspaper subscriptions will be downloaded automatically via the 3G service which could be a good selling point as long as the price is right.

23n1th

I'd not bother with the 3G, especially with wifi at home. Its just complicating things by bringing in third parties (vodafone) to charge you more money.

ciderboy2009

I've used a Sony PRS 300 for a while now & wouldn't be without it.

To save on the cost of ebooks it's worth checking to see if your local library has an ebook section - mine does :-)

The only problem here is that the majority of the library books are in epub format - I'm not sure if the Kindle can use this.

There are a few in mobi format though.