Amazon Kindle Review

The Amazon Kindle is a brand new wireless reading device from the world's largest online book seller, Amazon (You can watch a video of the Kindle in action here). The Kindle has been in development  for three years under the direction of Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos.

Few would dare argue against Bezos' knowledge of books and their distribution. Under his direction Amazon has become easily the best known online book store in the world. Its success has made him a billionaire. He's even married to a novelist. 

Bezos clearly hopes the Kindle will ignite a revolution amongst book lovers and change the way they read. The Kindle also clearly takes aim at publishers, prompting them to think of new ways to deliver their content to the end user.

Interestingly, anyone will be able to list their work for sale through the Kindle service, bypassing publishers completely. The author will get an unprecedented 35% of the sale price. Authors will also be able to remove their works at any time, giving them a freedom that they wouldn't have with a publisher.

The Kindle could unleash a wave of self-published authors, who would use the service to promote and sell their works. Such authors might find that their Kindle sales figures attract publishers who might not have considered them previously.

Does the Kindle offer enough for people to give up their trusty paperbacks? It certainly offers a number of innovative features.

Perhaps the most appealing feature of the Kindle is that it is completely wireless. Surprisingly, the wireless feature is commitment free. There is no need to sign up to any service plan. Amazon handle the wireless delivery so the user can simply buy and read their chosen materials without any other hassle.

The Kindle streamlines the process of downloading reading material. It connects to the Web via the "Amazon Whispernet", which is a free high speed EVDO  wireless cellular network (Sprint Network). This wireless connectivity delivers free access to both free and paid material. This means users will not have to find a Wi-Fi hotspot before they can download content.

The Kindle's wireless functionality is backed up by a USB 2.0 port so that users can quickly transfer files to and from their PCs.

The Kindle is also revolutionary in that it features a sharp high-resolution screen which aims to look like real paper. The Kindle screen is based on E Ink Technology. Wikipedia has good articles on both E Ink Technology, and more generally Electronic paper. This technology successfully  tackles one of the past deficiencies of readers, namely that they were tough on the eyes.

Amazon claim that the Kindle will look and read like real paper, yet allow the user control of such things as font size and the ability to add bookmarks and annotation via the keyboard. The incorporation of the New American Oxford Dictionary also aids note-taking. The ability to change font size will be a boon to people with poor eyesight.

The annotation facility might be of specific interest to people who frequently find themselves wanting to share specific parts of texts with others. Students, for example, might appreciate the Kindle when writing essays. It could be used to easily highlight pertinent areas of texts to refer back to at a later date, while avoiding the need to lug heavy books around.

The Kindle clearly has a use as a study aid. Perhaps places of learning will find a use for the Kindle and its successors as an alternative to buying vast numbers of books, with the associated problems of cost, availabilty, tracking and storage.

It might also be a useful tool for getting people to read more, particularly young people encapsulated in the Internet and gadget age.

The Kindle Reader includes free wireless access to Wikipedia, which will be an attractive feature to many people.

Another feature is the ability to email pictures to the Kindle, so that they can be enjoyed anywhere.

The library of works available for the Kindle is undeniably huge. There are 88,000 books available, including 90% of the current New York Times bestseller list. The average price af a bestseller is around $9.99. Users can download the first chapter of books for free, to sample them before they buy. The process of downloading a book is painless and takes around a minute.

It's not just books that are available though. The Kindle can auto-deliver the latest editions of top US and International newspapers, as well as 250 of the world's top blogs. Users can sample periodicals for a two week trial period before subscribing.

Battery life is good - with wireless turned off the user can read for up to a week without recharging. With wireless on the reader will need recharging every other day. The process of recharging is also simple, and accomplished in around 2 hours. The battery can be replaced if battery life starts to drop.

The Kindle weighs in at a meagres 10.3 ounces, which is lighter than a paperback book.

Storage-wise the Kindle can hold around 200 titles. If the user runs out of storage space he or she can simply delete material. If deleted material is required again at a later date the user can quickly download it again free of charge (Amazon keeps track of all purchases).

An SD card slot provides an outlet for additional storage space. An SD card can also be used to transfer new content onto the Kindle.

The wireless functionality of the Kindle can be turned off completely, if for example, you are on a flight and wireless devices are prohibited. 

The Kindle is a very innovative and interesting device. It allows the user to have their own personal library at their fingertips. It clearly aims to delight book lovers everywhere by combining the familiarity of a book with the functionality of modern technology. Amazon hope that the Kindle will do for reading what the iPod did for music.

 
Included in the box is the Kindle Electronic Reader, Kindle Book cover, a Power adapter and a USB 2.0 cable.

The Kindle is currently available from Amazon.com for $399.00.

This price includes free 2 day shipping.