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General discussion (archive)Kindle Pros & Cons(25 posts)solved(25 posts)solved
(25 posts)solved
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This is my favourite topic
Posted March 12, 2012
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Fifeldor: Why don't you get a standard tablet (like Archos for example) rather than a Kindle?
Don't most tablets still use LCD or similar type screens as opposed to e-ink? Reading on e-ink is totally different to reading from most typical tablets or handheld devices like mob-phones or games consoles.
Posted March 12, 2012
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overread: Don't most tablets still use LCD or similar type screens as opposed to e-ink? Reading on e-ink is totally different to reading from most typical tablets or handheld devices like mob-phones or games consoles.
I don't really know, I was just suggesting a cheaper option - to tell the truth, I bought a "all year's present, don't ask for anything more" iPad 2 for my girlfriend a couple of months ago because she is a PhD student and she wanted an easy method to read books and papers, and it's quite enjoyable for reading. Amazon Kindle is only compatible with the Amazon Marketplace and you have to do all kinds of hocus pocus to make a regular pdf work on it, while with a standard tablet you can have pdfs and docs and web browsing and all kinds of other apps.
Posted March 12, 2012
Well, I have the second gen "international" version. There's kind of a crappy browser in that, but I don't use it for that ever. I just read books on it and I love it. For a reader who travels quite a bit (and I'll be heading to Korea soon), i think it's essential. Be careful with the pricing on some of those books, though. Some are terrible rip-offs.
Posted March 12, 2012
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Fifeldor: I don't really know, I was just suggesting a cheaper option - to tell the truth, I bought a "all year's present, don't ask for anything more" iPad 2 for my girlfriend a couple of months ago because she is a PhD student and she wanted an easy method to read books and papers, and it's quite enjoyable for reading. Amazon Kindle is only compatible with the Amazon Marketplace and you have to do all kinds of hocus pocus to make a regular pdf work on it, while with a standard tablet you can have pdfs and docs and web browsing and all kinds of other apps.
Hmm if you just want to view a PDF you just connect the kindle to the computer - copy it over and then read it. Or you can even email PDFs to the kindle (you have an amazon email account linked to it so your just email it there and it appears).
If you want to covert to mobi you just have to use calibre (linked above in my post) and it takes a few moments.
Heck I spent 5 mins downloading legal free text files from one site - putting them into mobi (honestly they can stay as text files but I wanted them in mobi instead) and then copying them to the kindle. The long part was putting it all into categories in the unit itself :P
Posted March 12, 2012
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Fifeldor: I don't really know, I was just suggesting a cheaper option - to tell the truth, I bought a "all year's present, don't ask for anything more" iPad 2 for my girlfriend a couple of months ago because she is a PhD student and she wanted an easy method to read books and papers, and it's quite enjoyable for reading. Amazon Kindle is only compatible with the Amazon Marketplace and you have to do all kinds of hocus pocus to make a regular pdf work on it, while with a standard tablet you can have pdfs and docs and web browsing and all kinds of other apps.
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overread: Hmm if you just want to view a PDF you just connect the kindle to the computer - copy it over and then read it. Or you can even email PDFs to the kindle (you have an amazon email account linked to it so your just email it there and it appears).
If you want to covert to mobi you just have to use calibre (linked above in my post) and it takes a few moments.
Heck I spent 5 mins downloading legal free text files from one site - putting them into mobi (honestly they can stay as text files but I wanted them in mobi instead) and then copying them to the kindle. The long part was putting it all into categories in the unit itself :P
I didn't know that it's so easy. I may grab a Kindle in the future then. Back when I was searching for a pdf reader, I was told that you have to crop the margins of pdfs to read them because the letter font appears very small if you import them in the Kindle, so it was basically the reason that put me off.
Posted March 12, 2012
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Fifeldor: I didn't know that it's so easy. I may grab a Kindle in the future then. Back when I was searching for a pdf reader, I was told that you have to crop the margins of pdfs to read them because the letter font appears very small if you import them in the Kindle, so it was basically the reason that put me off.
Like I said above in the big post the regular kindle (in the UK and europe) is a bit too small to read PDFs easily and you will end up scrolling side to side (which is annoying) so I tend to covert them to plain text documents and then just import that into the kindle. For PDFs that are text only it works fine - for those with images it will only have rough problems around the images (mostly just a case that you'll find them harder to read on the kindle due to the scales).
For pure PDF reading I think a small laptop (or one of those pads or whatever those intermediate mini laptops are called) would be superior for ease of reading graphs and charts. USA has a larger kindle that will do PDFs pretty well - for me it would be an option for PDF work but sadly its one of those USA only things as far as Amazon goes (though you could probably import one off ebay legally without much fuss). For mainly books and light PDF work the kindle regular is a great option.

Only be careful with one click buy that is uses - because its --- really really easy to use!
Also Amazon are now doing a one day daily deal on the kindle books
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_157681107_2?ie=UTF8&docId=1000577623&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=left-2&pf_rd_r=15HRQKZ2ZXFYHZ3ZTXQ2&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=282285187&pf_rd_i=341689031
picked up Hitchhikers a trilogy in 5 parts yesterday for around £2 so its something to keep an eye on for some neat deals on some options (going to wait and see if lord of the rings appears there!)
Posted March 12, 2012
I used a 3g kindle keyboard for portable internet up until recently. Although the connection speed isn't the greatest it worked well for basic web browsing and communications like you mentioned. I also had no problems discerning images on e-ink (i.e. reddit imgur links, etc.). The e-ink display works well in the sunlight and is actually easier on the eyes compared to traditional LCD if you have a lot reading to do online. I haven't tried a kindle touch but from what I've heard elsewhere you would be best served with the physical keyboard model. At first the web browsing will feel clunky but once you learn the hotkeys and interface it's definitely workable.
Posted March 15, 2012
I just did a count and I now have more ebooks than paper books. It is clearly time to get an e-reader though I was initially holding out for the colour (Triton, I think) e-ink.

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overread: *snip*
Awesome post, overread! Probably the only thing I would add to your list of downsides is the lack of epub support. I mean, it's not hard to convert epub to mobi with calibre, but it seems a petty inconvenience to the end user.

Also, thank you for the links.

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HampsterStyle: I used a 3g kindle keyboard for portable internet up until recently. Although the connection speed isn't the greatest it worked well for basic web browsing and communications like you mentioned. I also had no problems discerning images on e-ink (i.e. reddit imgur links, etc.). The e-ink display works well in the sunlight and is actually easier on the eyes compared to traditional LCD if you have a lot reading to do online. I haven't tried a kindle touch but from what I've heard elsewhere you would be best served with the physical keyboard model. At first the web browsing will feel clunky but once you learn the hotkeys and interface it's definitely workable.
Just what I needed to hear. There were a lot of helpful posts in this thread but yours most directly answers my original questions so you get the star. Yay!
Posted March 16, 2012
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Darling_Jimmy: I just did a count and I now have more ebooks than paper books. It is clearly time to get an e-reader though I was initially holding out for the colour (Triton, I think) e-ink.
Grayscale eInk is so cheap now you won't be throwing a lot of money away if you upgrade later and you can always pass it along to a grateful friend or relative. You'll get way more than the 100 bucks or so you spent out of it.
Posted March 16, 2012
Just open the pdf file on your desktop computer or notebook, and set it to full-screen mode, sit back and use the down key to flip pages.
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General discussion (archive)Kindle Pros & Cons(25 posts)solved(25 posts)solved
(25 posts)solved