The Kindle Reviews

You Can Pre-Order It Here, Right Away =>>> Amazon's New Kindle 2

And It's better.

You're still able to read when you want. You're still able to have your books and magazines delivered to you in no time at all. You still get to enjoy reading so much that you quickly forget everything but your story. Still no monthly wireless bills, data plans, or commitments.

So what has changed?

Here's how it's better:

• Seven times more storage


• Holds over 1,500 books


• 25% Longer battery life - Read on a single charge for up to 4 days with wireless on. Turn wireless off and read for up to two weeks.


• 20% Faster page turns


• It's thinner - only 0.36 inches thick


• Crisper, sharper images and text


• Your Kindle reads to you (Wow!). With the new Text-to-Speech feature, Kindle can read every book, blog, magazine, and newspaper out loud to you


• Over 230,000 books plus U.S. and international newspapers, magazines, and blogs available from the Kindle Store.

When you pre-order now, it wll be shipped out to you, later this month. But you need to hurry - It's First Come, First Served =>>> The New Kindle 2

The Kindle book reader is a slightly retro-looking, slim, lightweight tablet. Most unassuming in appearance. Then you discover it can download and store a phenomenal number of books, newspapers, reports,documents, magazines, ...

From a choice of over 100,000 , you can download up to 200 books (or the equivalent), carry them all around with you, and read them any time you want to. 200 books not enough? No worries. Simply insert an SD Memory Card and you can stack thousands more.

Wow! 100,000 items to choose from. You could instantly download bestsellers, phrase books and travel guides. Reference books. Business books. Children's books. You can subscribe to magazines like Time, Reader's Digest, Fortune. You can subscribe to US and international newspapers. You can also subscribe to blogs on finance, sports, current affairs, lifestyle, engineering and other personal interests.

Once you subscribe, your publications are automatically delivered to your Kindle before they hit the streets. And your blogs are updated continuously.

The deliriously exciting thing about the Kindle book reader is, you can download all these documents anywhere you happen to be. No PC and cable required, no bulky laptops to lug around, no going out of range because you've left a hot spot (did I just hear "star trek padd"?).

You get all your subscriptions and updates delivered straight to your Kindle. To buy Kindle items, you simply select the Kindle Store from your menu, and you're there. Like your laptop. Like some high-end cellphones.

Buuuuuut,

You don't pay for it!

Amazon is paying your bill!. How remarkable is that? Wireless broadband that you don't have to pay for. So once you buy a Kindle reading device, you only have to buy the titles you want to read. You don't pay extra for the rather stunning available-everywhere online access.

As I write this, it occurs to me that the free broadband makes the Kindle a perfect gift for parents and grandparents. Because you can give them immeasurable joy, being able to read so much, so easily, without burdening them with recurring bills.

Do you like to stretch out on the sofa and read? Or snuggle up in bed ? Do you read on the train? In the plane? On the bus (Oh dear, I'm beginning to sound like Dr Seuss).

I thoroughly enjoy reading when ....

The book is lightweight so I can easily hold it in one hand for a long time.
The print is easy to read because it stands out clearly from the paper
The print is easy to read because it's a comfortable size.
I can smell the ink.... (mmmmmmmm)!

So what happens is I forget all about the book itself. I sink into the story, or study, or report I'm reading.

I love that I can carry books with me and read to fill in little snatches of otherwise wasted time. Time spent waiting ... for people, for trains, in supermarket checkout queues, in heavy traffic...

I'm afraid, in this respect, the reading experience, it is painfully unfair to compare The Kindle to a computer or PDA or iPOD. Because you get an incredibly comfortable reading experience. Okay you can't smell the ink, but you get everything else. PLUS quick turning of pages single handedly. PLUS enjoying ultra lightweight even when you're consulting a normally unwieldy encyclopaedia.

So these are some of the things that make reading such an intense pleasure for me.

How about you?

(Image: www.freeimages.co.uk)

Like when you've been on your feet all day in tight shoes, and you get home, take the shoes off and give your feet a lovely rub. It's sublime. That's how I feel when reading from the Kindle screen.

It's wonderfully restful.

Like a spa for your eyes and brain.

Kindle's display has a remarkable paper-like quality to it. You feel like you're reading from really nice paper. That's because the screen is electronic paper. The images you see are printed on. Sort of.

And because it's not on real paper, you don't get the bleeding around the edges which softens the appearance of words and figures. It's beautifully sharp. Ever so easy and enjoyable to read.

Again because it's printed (sort of), each page is a static image. It doesn't flicker. You probably have to see it to feel how soothing that is.

Also, the Kindle's screen is not lit - it doesn't glow. So your eyes don't get tired after reading a couple of pages. And you can read it clearly in bright sunshine - you don't need to shade it or keep turning it. And you can read it clearly when it's not so bright - indoors, on the train, under a tree ...

The text. You can change the size of the text to make it just right for you. You get nice looking fonts, and you get really nice, smooth, slanting italics - not that (minor I know, but nevertheless jarring) step-like pretend italics.

In response to Linda's question in the comments below, here are some thoughts about back lights and reading the kindle in the dark.

A huge part of the kindle appeal is how good it is to read from the screen. And as we discussed above, that's due to the E-ink material the screen is made out of. Now, this screen does not let light through. It's opaque. So it does not allow a backlight to shine through.

And something else - if you did have back lighting in place, reading your Kindle will stop being so easy. You would find yourself straining before too long.

Also, back lights use up a huge amount of power. You'd find yourself out somewhere, happily reading away and ... puff ... power's gone. You'd find this happening quite frequently. Annoyingly so.

So, when reading in the dark, you could go for a flashlight. But that's a bit ... I don't know ... "Tee! Hee! Mum and dad don't know" ... And uncomfortable.

Here's a better option. Why not just clip a small lightweight light unto your Kindle and continue reading in comfort?

The Mighty Bright Clip-On Light is a good one to look at.

• It's easy to read with.


• It doesn't shine so that you have to keep moving the screen or your head.


• It's cone of light is narrow so it won't shine over anyone beside you. So if you're reading in bed, after "lights out", you won't disturb your partner. Also, if you're reading on a plane or a bus, you won't disturb the person sitting next to you.


• It doesn't take a lot of power so the batteries last a good while.

You can find out more about it here -> Mighty Bright Clip-On Light

She bought it for her mom:
"My mom is getting older and has what is often debilitating arthritis. She passed down a passion of reading and getting lost in the lives of characters in books. She has all the time in the world to read and would be content to put away a book a day...but she can't hold a book for more than 30 minutes at a time and often loses her page and gets frustrated. She also can't read on a computer screen because of eye strain... I could go on and on about the ways the one thing she loves most is being robbed from her. I ordered a Kindle for her. My one wish is that if she can't travel...and can't run marathons...that she be able to read to her heart's content. That's why the Kindle is great."

His wife got one:
"Personally I find the Kindle to be one of the greatest pieces of technology since the Laptop computer. And it saves money. Without her new Kindle my wife's library would have forced us to buy a bigger house by now :)"

She's got a new baby too:
"I'm a new mom with less and less time to myself as my son gets older and sleeps less. My Kindle reunited me with my favorite and only "me-time" activity...reading."

You can get yours here -> The Kindle