Kindle pricedrop

meoklmrk91

Since the Kindle has now dropped to $189 i'm thinking of getting one. Irish kindle owners what has been your experience with buying and owning a kindle. I heard that the library of books available here was pretty bad after the international version launched, how is it now? How do prices compare to actual books? And finally how is the 3g on it? Other than that anything you think that any perspective user might need to know is much appriciated.

Bruscar

I have mine since end of last year. I'd highly recommend it. In fact I like it so much I got it as a gift for someone a couple of weeks ago. Old price. Ouch.

The selection of books is pretty good - check it out yourself on amazon.com. I'm never ever stuck for something to read and I read quite a bit. I have noticed that the amount of available books has greatly increased over the last couple of months. So too has wireless options. When I got it initially I'm pretty sure I couldn't even browse the web, but now it's available.

Some books seem quite expensive - the price is not much less than the paperback. Others the Kindle version is considerably less, it varies. At the moment there appears to be quite a few free books available from Amazon. There are lots of sites (Guthenberg, Manybooks etc) that have free books available. There are also sites where unpublished authors put up a Kindle version of their work - I've downloaded a few - most are unpublished for a good reason, but some were interesting and one or two have actually been not that bad. Personally, I find that since I got it I'm reading a much wider variety of books.

No negative points really. Screen size is small - but I've adapted. Same with the page turning - initially I didn't like it and though I'd never get used to it, but I dont notice it now. I've never noticed glare from the screen, even reading it outside on a sunny day. Recently they appear to have been updating the software, because my menus have changed slightly. A bit annoying. And the button clicks. They grate after a while, I sometimes get conscious of them if I'm sitting beside someone.

As for the wireless - it's ok. Browser is classed as experimental - it's really basic. Connectivity wise, some areas slower at times, but generally always usable. I wouldn't use it as a main browser, but it's fine for checking news headlines etc and of course access to shop is good. I find it handy because I travel a bit and I've had no problem using it throughout Europe. I buy a lot of books but generally use my desktop to browse books (maybe one purchase in 4 is made using the Kindle).

The one click purchase makes it really easy to buy. Sometimes too easy, I'm buying a lot! The preview sample is handy, but you cant always tell too much about a book from the few pages. I basically skip it now and if the description looks interesting and the reviews good (and it's a fair price) I'll get it - generally it works out well (as an aside, I find some of the reviews on Amazon totally garbage, many people voting an average of 4 stars for utter dross etc).

Amazon provides the feature that if there is an updated version of the book you've downloaded, you're automatically entitled to get the updated version. My favourite feature of the Kindle is the dictionary. I find I use it quite a bit, where as before I wouldn't bother to look up the definition of words.

I haven't tried the pdf conversion utility. Someone I know has and the results have been mixed. For the most part many of the books I already had on pdf format are acceptable on the kindle. Text is small and some of the formatting is weird, but it's readable. Actually now that I think about it one or two of the books bought from Amazon have had some poor formatting.

Anyhow, overall I am a huge fan. As I said earlier, I'd highly recommend it.

meoklmrk91

Thanks a lot for all the info, it sounds great for me all I really want it for is reading so the minimal browser doesn't really bother me, I have an Iphone for that, and I think I would just end up getting distracted if I could go if and browse with ease. I think I will get one and see how it goes, and if I don't like it then atleast amazon have a great returns policy.

Oh and by the way I have heard of a few people who bought it at the old price recently who contacted Amazon after the price drop and Amazon agreed to refund them the difference. Not sure if it would work for you but sure no harm in trying. Thanks again for all the great info.

Bruscar

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

Oh and by the way I have heard of a few people who bought it at the old price recently who contacted Amazon after the price drop and Amazon agreed to refund them the difference. Not sure if it would work for you but sure no harm in trying.

It never occurred to me to contact them. Contacted them last night and a couple of hours later they'd refunded the difference in price! Amazing!!

Thanks very much for suggesting it!

meoklmrk91

No problem, the money is better off in your pocket than theirs, and now you can buy some more books . Amazons customer service is brilliant, the reason that they are by far my favorite retailer full stop, they are always fair and helpful.

Laphroaig52

Does the display still flicker black on a page turn on the latest Kindles?

I know it's probably the most stupid reason ever not to buy an ebook but for me it's a real turn off.

Bruscar

Flyer28 wrote: »

Does the display still flicker black on a page turn on the latest Kindles?

I know it's probably the most stupid reason ever not to buy an ebook but for me it's a real turn off.

Yup it flickers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDlal5yOg0Q

Comparison with Sony eReader PRS-300 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1KFR0AYb10

When I first got mine I thought it would drive me nuts, but I honestly dont notice it now.

floggg

So is there a difference in the books available in the US and in Ireland?

I tried banging a few book titles into the amazon.com kindle store to see what range they had. Is there a chance that those that showed up in the results might not be available here in Ireland?

Also, from flicking around on another forum, it seems the whispernet thing isn't actually free outside the US? Is that true?

Or is there a price difference between books here and in the us?

notspav

Thinking about buying one too. Sorry to hijack the thread, didn't want to start a new one. Just a few questions;

- Does it ship with a basic case or pouch, or do you basically have to buy one?
- If I bought one from the UK store and had it shipped to relatives in England, would it still work over here?
- Is there any alternative to buying from the US store? Delivery + taxes + EU adapater comes to $110 :eek:

notspav

bedlam wrote: »

Yes, some books ... looks to work out at ~€177 for the 3g compared to about €200 if bought from the US.

Thanks for all that, I'll investigate further.

The Black Oil

Readers certainly seem cheaper than they were a few years back. It's tempting, I can't really see why I'd need 3G. I need to figure out the PDF thing, if it can read PDFs you already have or if you've to convert it into another form of PDF it prefers. I threw some PDFs onto my sister's Sony 505, not bad, but it didn't seem to pick up all the charts/tables in some of them.

Cases/covers seem a bit pricey, well, the ones amazon suggests.

Caoimhin.

The Kindle can read PDF's but with reduced functionality over the Kindle .AZW format (can't change font size, no TOC etc.). You can however send them off to Amazon for conversion to the AZW format for a fee (€0.15 per MB I believe)

I picked up a nice leather case from mobilefun, very happy with price and quality

floggg

The Black Oil wrote: »

Readers certainly seem cheaper than they were a few years back. It's tempting, I can't really see why I'd need 3G. I need to figure out the PDF thing, if it can read PDFs you already have or if you've to convert it into another form of PDF it prefers. I threw some PDFs onto my sister's Sony 505, not bad, but it didn't seem to pick up all the charts/tables in some of them.

Cases/covers seem a bit pricey, well, the ones amazon suggests.

I think I'd splash for the 3g if I was getting it. For the sake of 40quid I'd rather have it, plus I like the idea of it syncing with the android kindle app on my phone wherever it goes.

bp1989

Actually, about the charges, on Amazon.com when you try to order it for Ireland it clearly states that there are NO additional charges for using 3G to download books away from your computer in Ireland. So evidently that old charge on each purchase has been scrapped.

IrishPhoenix

bp1989 wrote: »

Actually, about the charges, on Amazon.com when you try to order it for Ireland it clearly states that there are NO additional charges for using 3G to download books away from your computer in Ireland. So evidently that old charge on each purchase has been scrapped.

They charge higher prices for ebooks for international customers so the whispernet fee is just included in the price. It's been that way for a good while now.

watty

So.. if you buy the cheaper WiFi version you still pay extra for the books?

TBH the eBooks are too expensive. I'll wait till the books are cheaper.

The Black Oil

What are the advantages of 3G on a device like this? Is there much 3G infrastructure out there or am I looking at this the wrong way?

Packet

The Black Oil wrote: »

What are the advantages of 3G on a device like this? Is there much 3G infrastructure out there or am I looking at this the wrong way?

It contains a HSDPA (3G) modem that falls back to EDGE or GPRS so the coverage is the same as for mobile broadband. AFAIK there's a fair bit of HSDPA in urban areas.

http://www.vodafone.ie/coverage/

http://www.meteor.ie/plans/coverage/

O2 and 3 too.

I don't know which of the providers here Amazon partner with to provide coverage.

Swampy

just ordered 2 of the new kindle. Cant wait to get them. I don't intend to pay the huge expense for books. I'll convert whatever books i have to the .mobi format with calibre and adobe acrobat pro and send them to the device.

look at mobileread forum for some conversion tips.

mobius42

Packet wrote: »

I don't know which of the providers here Amazon partner with to provide coverage.

I just checked the 611 page on my Kindle and it uses O2 for the data connection.

selekta

Could someone confirm that Kindle 3G comes with free worldwide internet you can use for browsing?

I.e. can I go to Thailand or Slovakia and check my email and google maps with no extra charge?