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Nov
07
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Amazon Kindle
The Amazon Kindle International Reader is now officially available in the UK, although it’s sold through the US store. It brings a new feature to the UK eBook Reader market, that of being able to have books delivered wirelessly to your device rather than needing to download titles to a PC as part of the process.
This facility has been available to US purchasers for some time now, but the US version Kindles use a wireless technology that’s not widely available outside the US, whereas the International versions are based on the standard 3G wireless technology and use the standard 3G phone networks, so coverage is widely available. It’s also free to use!
The main point to be aware of before purchasing is that the Kindle doesn’t support the EPUB format, which is the commonly-sold format in the UK. As a result, the majority of your purchases are going to need to be from the US Kindle Store and billed in US$s – on the other hand, the Kindle Store does have a large number of books (currently onver 290,000 available to UK purchasers) and some particularly useful features such as the ability to download the first chapters of novels for free, to allow you to “try before you buy” rather than having to just rely on reviews. Of course, Amazon’s Kindle Store has the normal set of Amazon ‘additions’ such as reviews, wish-lists & suggestions to go along with the wireless download feature!
Other than the Amazon-specific AZW format, the Kindle also supports TXT and unprotected MobiPocket formats natively. Amazon also offer a conversion service for other formats such as PDF, HTML & DOC where you can have the converted documents either downloaded wirelessly for a small charge or emailed to you for free, allowing you to copy them to your device via USB cable.
The Kindle’s display is a 6″ e-ink display, which is a display that reflects light just like paper, rather than requiring a backlight as needed by LCD screens. What this means is no more of the eyestrain common to users of those devices – these are comfortable for long periods of reading at a time. An additional benefit of this type of screen is that it only requires power when the text is changing, which results in the Kindle lasting a long time between charges – the actual time depends upon the amount of use of the wireless during that time.
Features
- Slim: Just over 1/3 of an inch, as thin as most magazines
- Lightweight: At 10.2 ounces, lighter than a typical paperback
- Books in Under 60 Seconds: Get books delivered wirelessly in less than 60 seconds; no PC required
- 3G Wireless: 3G wireless lets you download books right from your Kindle; no annual contracts, no monthly fees, and no hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots
- Global Coverage: Enjoy 3G wireless coverage at home or abroad in over 100 countries.
- Paper-Like Display: Reads like real paper without glare, even in bright sunlight
- Carry Your Library: Holds up to 1,500 books – 2GB storage with approx 1.4GB available for user content)
- Long Battery Life: Read for days without recharging (Up to 4 days with wireless on; Up to two weeks with it switched off)
- Read-to-Me: With the experimental Text-to-Speech feature, Kindle can read newspapers, magazines, blogs, and books ou loud to you, unless the book’s rights holder made the feature unavailable
- Free Book Samples: Download and read first chapters for free before you decide to buy
- Large Selection: Over 360,000 books, including 101 of 112 New York Times® Best Sellers, plus U.S. and international newspapers, magazines, and blogs. For non-U.S. customers, content availability and pricing will vary.
- Low Book Prices: New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases are $9.99, unless marked otherwise. When traveling abroad, you can download books wirelessly from the Kindle Store or your Archived Items.
