[frankmehta]

Hey guys. I dont know if anyone of you'll owns the Amazon Kindle, but there are 2 new models on the horizon. The new, NEW kindle and the larger screened kindle DX.

Does anyone own any of these? They look pretty overpriced, and the yummy e-ink screen, slim size and wow factor are the only excuses to own one. I don't do much reading, but paying upwards of $300 for an ebook reading device is slightly criminal.

Anyone having it can justify why they bought it.
Cheers!

[quickdraw]

Hi frank, the kindle doesnt work outside the USA as it uses the Sprint Network to download data, so its useless.

[frankmehta]

Wi fi? Anything to use the kindle as a device to carry your books downloaded off the internet from the PC?

[anurag_p80]

Ummm.....I do not know of anyone using a digital ebook here. But the Kindle seems to be quite popular and has good reviews. Am a bit skeptical of the availability here of the competitors though, apart from the Sony Reader. Guess you should take the plunge, v&v, and let us know how you like it. Be the guinea pig so to say....

[greatpower]

Ebooks come with paper-ink technology which makes them much easier to read without glares and reflections which you get in phones or laptops. So those looking to use a phone to read ebooks, note this.

Now I think Kindle is available internationally, in india as well.

[Ketan]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

Hi frank, the kindle doesnt work outside the USA as it uses the Sprint Network to download data, so its useless.

One version (global, not the DX) of Kindle should work in India. I can see the coverage in India as well - its going to use GSM network (or 3G) if available.

I own, Sony PRS-700BC. It was big money when I bought it a year back. I feel I have not used it to fullest capacity. I was also thinking of selling it off and buying the new Kindle (Global Wireless), but then again, I could not justify based on how much I read. I have started reading more since I bought it (may be because I put so much of money after this reading device ).
However, I would say its a real good device if you read a lot. PRS 505 is a bot older model and doesnt have search, annotation, touch screen functionalities, but it has got better e-ink contrast screen (compared to 700 since its a touch screen device - touch screen has actually impacted the readability a bit).

Now Sony has brought newer devices - sony devices look much better compared to Kindle and it really make sense to buy one with good contrast if you read a lot - but still Sony is very costly, If I were to sell this device and buy a new one, I may buy Kindle (global wireless) - that gives access to wikipedia and I guess a dictionary lookup too which I guess would be good features. Also you can subscribe to some newspapers and get them delivered to your device every morening before you get up - such features only make wireless useful - I dont think buying books and downloading them over wireless is a big benefit. I always transfer books using USB and never felt that wireless could have made a difference for transferring books.

I dont like reading books using cell phone or PDAs. I had one of the big screen phones a while back (O2 XDA), but never liked reading books using those devices. This dedicated e-book readers are good especially with e-ink tech - nor I like to hear music or pictures on them (except if you are listening to audio book). Use it for pure reading purpose or use traditional books, use phones for the core functionalities.

[Samurai]

I looked for discussion on Kindle and was surprised to find it hidden in Sony e-bok thread. Kindle deserves a separate thread. So, it is done.

Ok, now that both kind of Kindle are usable in India, and can be synced via Internet instead of Whispernet, has anyone bought it in India? Yes, Amazon.com will ship Kindle to India.

I am very interested to try the smaller version. Since I travel a lot these days, I need a portable book. I can't carry my technical+liesure books all the time.

[Ketan]

Sharath,

Find out more about both the versions. If you have enough space to carry the 9.7" device all the time, go for it. It will be close to the real book experiance (with smaller ones, have to flip the pages frequently - but gives nice feeling with a compact device and form factor advantages). Also, find out more about pdf support on that. When you come across different pictures / figures / diagrams / charts in the PDF, the bigger version is always good. I have to increase the fonts / zoom in when I encounter such situation with the 6" screen.

9.7" shouldnt be too heavy to handle. If you can handle that, go for 9.7" device.

[ampere]

Many folks in my office have (though I dont own one!). But the word is that its much better to buy the larger one.

[Samurai]

The bigger 4GB device is not cheap, you can get an entry level 16GB iPad for that price, which can do lot more.

[Samurai]

Check how many eBooks were sold. I think this could be the end of Kindle. Now Apple has cornered 22% of the US eBook market.

Apple Has Paid $1 Billion To App Developers (And Other Key Stats)

[ritayan]

I have a kindle for some time now. Will post a review soon.

[Samurai]

Please do, after hearing that the iPad is backlit, I am not sure iPad is good for e-book reading.

[knp]

you can try our own indian Pi from Infibeam, Infibeam Pi: India's First eBook Reader, Digital Reading Device India - Infibeam.com
I had bought one and it's good ebook. I am pretty happy in using it.

[Samurai]

The e-Book reader decision heavily depends on the content provider. I doubt Infibeam can come any close to either Amazon or Apple in that area.