Author Topic: Amazon Kindle (Read 72135 times)

.adam · « **Reply #80 on:** January 16, 2011, 09:06:58 pm »

Quote from: Hank Scorpio on January 16, 2011, 12:08:57 pm

Just a couple of questions about this device.

How do the PDF's or Word docs come out on it? Are they clear?

Not bad but not optimal. A PDF is basically displayed on full screen. There is no way of increasing the text size other than zooming in on a section of the document. Best thing to do it download Calibre and convert said DOC of PDF to a MOBI file.

Quote from: Hank Scorpio on January 16, 2011, 12:08:57 pm

On my iPhone I like reading some of the linked articles on Twitter but of course it's a strain. Is accessing Twitter easy on the Kindle?

The advice I have given my mates is not to rely on the Kindle to access the web. There is an experimental web browser but it's relatively slow to load pages and because of the screen technology (refresh the screen for each page load) it's not ideal. I would reply on it as a backup web surfing device, personally.

Quote from: Hank Scorpio on January 16, 2011, 12:08:57 pm

3G or Wi-fi? Does it make any difference with the 'sync' i.e. when you're on the move?

I went for the Wifi version for two reasons.

1. I can tether my Kindle to my Android phone for free.
2. I'm not that bothered about buying books on the go, I load it up in advance using my Mac.

Depends on what you'll use it for I guess. The syncing is no different though, it will sync when you have access to the Net, whether this be via Wifi or 3G.

tomred · « **Reply #81 on:** January 17, 2011, 07:10:04 am »

Do you have to pay for the usage of a 3G network for the Kindle in the UK? Where I am it's free and the cost of using the network is incorporated in the pricing of the books, so it feels like it's free.

PaulV · « **Reply #82 on:** January 17, 2011, 01:13:05 pm »

Quote from: tomred on January 17, 2011, 07:10:04 am

Do you have to pay for the usage of a 3G network for the Kindle in the UK? Where I am it's free and the cost of using the network is incorporated in the pricing of the books, so it feels like it's free.

I believe the 3G usage is free. Personally, I went for the WiFi as I did not think it was worth £40 extra just for 3G. Put enough books on it before you go anywhere and you won't even need the WiFi (you can always find a WiFi hotspot if you need another book).

For those of you who have downloaded a book from torrent/rapidshare/newsgroups and the formatting comes out weird (or there are loads of errors), use Calibre to convert to rtf, edit it in Word to your satisfaction, then reconvert back to mobi (or convert to txt and edit, if you do not have anything that can edit rtf files).

BIGdavalad · « **Reply #83 on:** January 19, 2011, 12:01:14 pm »

How are these for books with pictures? I'm into my history and obviously a lot of the books come with maps and pictures and so forth. Does the kindle format copy the paper format exactly?

jason42 · « **Reply #84 on:** January 19, 2011, 12:05:02 pm »

Quote from: BIGdavalad on January 19, 2011, 12:01:14 pm

How are these for books with pictures? I'm into my history and obviously a lot of the books come with maps and pictures and so forth. Does the kindle format copy the paper format exactly?

By history you mean porn...

Hank Scorpio · « **Reply #85 on:** January 19, 2011, 12:07:01 pm »

Quote from: BIGdavalad on January 19, 2011, 12:01:14 pm

How are these for books with pictures? I'm into my history and obviously a lot of the books come with maps and pictures and so forth. Does the kindle format copy the paper format exactly?

Good point, does this have a colour screen?

Vercatron · « **Reply #86 on:** January 19, 2011, 12:08:04 pm »

Got the Kindle app downloaded on my HTC. Reading 'Treasure Island' at the moment! Love it!

PaulV · « **Reply #87 on:** January 19, 2011, 08:46:52 pm »

Quote from: Hank Scorpio on January 19, 2011, 12:07:01 pm

Good point, does this have a colour screen?

No. Black and white only.

Quote from: BIGdavalad on January 19, 2011, 12:01:14 pm

How are these for books with pictures? I'm into my history and obviously a lot of the books come with maps and pictures and so forth. Does the kindle format copy the paper format exactly?

Depends how big the pictures are. Zooming and scrolling images is crap, as are any books with complicated formatting (e.g. multiple columns with extra text boxes). If all the text can be condensed into one column and there is no sidebar text, then it could work well.

DK · « **Reply #88 on:** January 19, 2011, 09:17:08 pm »

Wouldn't risk it if pictures are important Dava.

I subscribe to the Times using the Kindle and it is mostly great but every now and then an article will include the a photo reproduced from the paper. If this is possible, why don't they do it all the time?

PaulV · « **Reply #89 on:** January 19, 2011, 11:53:32 pm »

Quote from: BIGdavalad on January 19, 2011, 12:01:14 pm

How are these for books with pictures? I'm into my history and obviously a lot of the books come with maps and pictures and so forth. Does the kindle format copy the paper format exactly?

If you already have a book which has a kindle version and the book has images/maps in the first few pages, download the kindle for pc application from amazon, and then download the free sample of the book. This should give you a reasonable idea of how the book will look on a kindle.

I downloaded one sample, "Somme Mud", and the text on the maps at the end of the sample are too small for me to read comfortably, even when zoomed.

BIGdavalad · « **Reply #90 on:** January 21, 2011, 10:10:25 am »

Cheers for the suggestion Paul, I'll give that a go.

To be honest I'll probably pick one up anyway, even if I can't completely replace all my paper books I'll be able to get rid of enough to keep the long haired General happy.

PaulV · « **Reply #91 on:** January 21, 2011, 11:17:18 am »

Quote from: BIGdavalad on January 21, 2011, 10:10:25 am

To be honest I'll probably pick one up anyway, even if I can't completely replace all my paper books I'll be able to get rid of enough to keep the long haired General happy.

Main reason for me getting one is that I have completely run out of shelf space. Since getting it at the start of December, I have not read a paper book. So many out of print books are available online in the usual places, that I can now read a lot of the pulp fiction (sci fi, adventure, westerns) that I wanted to read when I was younger, but could not afford to, or that I want to reread but cannot find on paper.

For fiction and narrative non fiction it is great.

filopastry · « **Reply #92 on:** January 21, 2011, 02:19:20 pm »

Got one just before Christmas, its been great so far, went for the 3G version in the end which was useful while in the US as I wanted to pick up a few books for the flight back while at the airport.

tomred · « **Reply #93 on:** January 21, 2011, 02:27:14 pm »

I have the latest iphone, the ipad and the Kindle. I reckon there is some overlap with these devices--the iphone is your phone, the ipad is great for mags and newspapers, and the Kindle is the one you want for books--but if I had to ditch two and keep one the one I'd keep would be the Kindle.

DK · « **Reply #94 on:** January 21, 2011, 10:04:42 pm »

Anyone having this issue where it won't start sometimes? My missus's one just won't turn on no matter what she does at the moment. Recently it has been playing up and needing to reboot a lot but now it is just stuck at the screen saver page. Seems to be a fair bit of it once you research on the net - anyone else had this? There doesn't seem to be a fix for it yet.

Trabolgan · « **Reply #95 on:** January 21, 2011, 10:15:50 pm »

try sliding and holding the slider in the on position for about 10 secs. it might help

DK · « **Reply #96 on:** January 21, 2011, 10:26:59 pm »

Thanks mate, the problem is that this happens 3 or 4 times a week. The old reboot option works but it's not right for a Kindle that is barely 6 months old. Apparently, when it freezes on the screen saver page it is actually still on so the battery just wipes itself - but you never know this of course as you think it is off. So, when you try to turn it on again it just won't show any life at all because the battery is spent.

Amazon customer services seem pretty good though and lots of people are getting refunds on the covers - there appears to be a bad batch which is shorting the power for some reason.

Trabolgan · « **Reply #97 on:** January 21, 2011, 10:32:01 pm »

i had this happen once and did the reboot and since then its been fine.

.adam · « **Reply #98 on:** January 22, 2011, 04:55:35 pm »

Quote from: DK on January 21, 2011, 10:26:59 pm

Amazon customer services seem pretty good though and lots of people are getting refunds on the covers - there appears to be a bad batch which is shorting the power for some reason.

I dropped mine a week after having it causing the power switch to stick in position rather than snap back in to place. I called Amazon and explained the problem (obviously leaving out the whole dropping it part) and they sent me a brand new one through the post on the same day.

Give 'em a call and they'll replace it - easy.

mickdelick · « **Reply #99 on:** January 23, 2011, 10:18:52 pm »

Does anyone know if u can download ur newspaper suscription when you are abroad with a kindle???

DK · « **Reply #100 on:** January 23, 2011, 11:30:45 pm »

Surely you can as normal if you have wi fi or 3G?

peelyon · « **Reply #101 on:** February 15, 2011, 04:35:28 pm »

Apologies for being slightly slow on the uptake. Iv downloaded Kindle app for my HTC Desire and was wondering how I can perhaps use thinks such as that Calibre website / e-book torrents to put them onto my phone. Although I wont mind paying for new books in the future, I dont really want to rebuy electronic versions of books I currently own at home.

EDIT - Managed to work it all out. Got some books that Iv wanted on my phone for ages. Cheers for all the above in guys, really helped!

CheshireDave · « **Reply #102 on:** February 23, 2011, 01:06:02 pm »

Just brought one of the 3G ones from eBay for £117.50. Pretty happy with the price. Can't wait to get downloading loads of books from torrent sites.

Beef · « **Reply #103 on:** February 26, 2011, 05:51:41 pm »

With all the talk of illegal downloading in this thread, can Amazon not tell if a book on the Kindle is illegal and delete/report it/you when you connect the Kindle to the internet? There's websites with 4000+ recent books on so is it really that easy to put them on the Kindle if they are in .mobi format?

JoeH · « **Reply #104 on:** March 16, 2011, 11:24:34 am »

Beef, No they cant. Whats on your Kindle is private.

For the Techies out there I stumbled upon this great website:
http://freecomputerbooks.com/

drpepe · « **Reply #105 on:** March 25, 2011, 09:54:31 am »

got my 3G Kindle this morning.

more than impressed with the size, weight and controls. The screen is much much easier than an LCD (last thing i want is to read from an LCD at home after staring at one in wiork all day). Very decent reproduction of .pdf text including diagrams etc which i have to deal with a lot in my line of work.

Had a very quick look at Amazon book download store (got a couple of 'classics' freebies in seconds from the store), and the "experimental" mp3 player and browser are v impressive - no problem viewing the bbc website TMS cricket, football updates etc.

will take a longer look this evening , but impressed so far.

The Fletcher Memorial · « **Reply #106 on:** March 25, 2011, 11:09:34 am »

There may be a very obvious answer to this, but I'm pondering on getting one of these but why is it monochrome? Yes I know the majority of books are just black n white, but a lot aren’t and why limit itself? Sounds daft to say but it looks old fashioned?

Price? Ok it would cost more but it doesn’t have to compete with the ipad, just be what it is but be colour? I bet you anything I’ll get one and six months later the nobs will bring out a colour version.

SP · « **Reply #107 on:** March 25, 2011, 11:12:58 am »

Quote from: The Fletcher Memorial on March 25, 2011, 11:09:34 am

There may be a very obvious answer to this, but I'm pondering on getting one of these but why is it monochrome? Yes I know the majority of books are just black n white, but a lot aren’t and why limit itself? Sounds daft to say but it looks old fashioned?

Price? Ok it would cost more but it doesn’t have to compete with the ipad, just be what it is but be colour? I bet you anything I’ll get one and six months later the nobs will bring out a colour version.

The display is not your usual display. It only draws power when the screen changes - thus the battery life is extended enormously. A normal display requires power to show a static image. I would suspect designing and manufacturing a similar device to display colour, may be prohibitively expensive.

The Fletcher Memorial · « **Reply #108 on:** March 25, 2011, 11:15:03 am »

aha, good man, thanks I didnt know that. You're probably right there.

drpepe · « **Reply #109 on:** March 25, 2011, 11:52:29 am »

Quote from: The Fletcher Memorial on March 25, 2011, 11:15:03 am

aha, good man, thanks I didnt know that. You're probably right there.

yes the colour thing is a big disadvantage, but it is the state of the current (well, a few years ago) technology.

Personally an electronic ink screen, be it monochrome or colour, is miles 'better' (more suitable) than a beautiful backlit colour LCD laptop/ipad screen would be simply because it doesn't give me eyestrain when reading (and also can be read easily in strong sunlight).

drpepe · « **Reply #110 on:** May 12, 2011, 04:17:53 pm »

am enjoying my 3g kindle - fantastic little device

anyone know if i'll be able to browse the internet via 3g when on holiday in portugal ? ( i know i will have access to the store through 3g)

has anyone done so succesfully abroad?

TheKid. · « **Reply #111 on:** May 12, 2011, 05:27:43 pm »

Just bought my Missus a Kindle for her birthday, maybe I'll get my iPad back now as all she uses it for is reading books

UntouchableLuis · « **Reply #112 on:** May 20, 2011, 10:48:15 pm »

Are prices on the Kindle roughly similar to buying a novel from Amazon? I'm unsure whether to get one of these or not. I like to read and this summer I plan on getting a lot of reading done but not sure how it all works. on Amazon I've noticed when searching for some of the old classics the collected works of that author on Kindle is something ridiculous like a quid yet if you were to buy all of them seperately as books it would cost a fortune!

SP · « **Reply #113 on:** May 20, 2011, 11:13:55 pm »

Quote from: UntouchableLuis on May 20, 2011, 10:48:15 pm

Are prices on the Kindle roughly similar to buying a novel from Amazon? I'm unsure whether to get one of these or not. I like to read and this summer I plan on getting a lot of reading done but not sure how it all works. on Amazon I've noticed when searching for some of the old classics the collected works of that author on Kindle is something ridiculous like a quid yet if you were to buy all of them seperately as books it would cost a fortune!

You can put all of Project Gutenberg (and lots of other free sites) on it (or any other e-Reader) for free. I have a Kindle with a couple of thousand books on it. My total spend on e-books has been £3.

BCCC · « **Reply #114 on:** May 21, 2011, 12:03:36 pm »

I can't see myself buying the device as I'm more than happy with using kindle on my Desire.

drpepe · « **Reply #115 on:** May 23, 2011, 11:28:06 am »

Quote from: BCCC on May 21, 2011, 12:03:36 pm

I can't see myself buying the device as I'm more than happy with using kindle on my Desire.

i have a htc desire and for several reasons i got a kindle too:

inkscreen technology (much) easier to view outdoors than LCD - in the bright sun of a summer holiday
less eyeache as not backlit (i struggle to concentrate reading off a pc/phone)
batterylife
screen size
'free' 3g internet - actually extremely useful and meant i didn't use any roaming data charges at all. facebook, twitter, messageboards, ebay/amazon/play.com etc all accessible from kindle.

TheKid. · « **Reply #116 on:** May 31, 2011, 09:57:48 am »

Well just gave the missus her Kindle from her birthday and she's made up with it. Quickly downloaded some girly books from Bolt.cd (which were in ePub but a quick go on caliber and they were put into mobi files) and easily loaded them on. Looks very nice, great in the sun too which will be good for our summer holiday as the iPad suffers in that way. Put one of her albums on it too and the sound quality is surprisingly good too

Philys · « **Reply #117 on:** June 2, 2011, 10:36:52 pm »

right i am 95% going to buy one of these. can someone twist my arm that extra 5% and ill get it tomorrow.

can you get some cracked footy/boxing autobiographies for nish?

Ta

SP · « **Reply #118 on:** June 3, 2011, 09:07:51 am »

Quote from: Philys on June 2, 2011, 10:36:52 pm

right i am 95% going to buy one of these. can someone twist my arm that extra 5% and ill get it tomorrow.

can you get some cracked footy/boxing autobiographies for nish?

Ta

Usenet. Have a look at:

http://nzbmatrix.com/nzb.php?cat=36

Not that I in any way condone copyright violations.

UntouchableLuis · « **Reply #119 on:** June 19, 2011, 04:22:42 pm »

Finally got one of these yesterday after being tempted for quite a while.

Very impressed so far; it's very light, easy to download books and allows you to get complete works for a ridiculous price like 70 p.

The only negative is that it's hard to find a particular page that equates to an actual book. Before I purchased it I had bought Crime and Punishment, the book version and read 200 pages out of 400. It took me about 10 minutes to find the page on the kindle that I was up to in the book because you enter locations rather than page numbers which is confusing. This will be a problem at Uni because obviously you'll need to find the relevant pages quickly, there and then which is a bit annoying but for reading at home it's perfect.