Opinions on kindle?

J

jiminator

[H]F Junkie
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Feb 2, 2007
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anyone use one and can comment on how easy they are to use with different formats, say PDFs with lots of graphics?
Do they zoom in/out, or are they mostly for text?
Screen seems a little small, is there clipping/scrolling?
I'd be looking at the $130 model, DX is a little pricy, wife will probably get an Ipad2 which we will share.
A little overkill for what I want, just something to browse pdfs and other stuff I upload
I know amazon has a free convert service, how well does that work?

anyway thanks for any answers
 
I have the $130 dollar model and it's an incredible device for reading books. In terms of PDF's, it's decent, but I wouldn't shell out that much money for something only to read PDF's. The screen is pretty high res and there isn't much scrolling involved. I found that graphics are hit or miss, sometimes the kindle renders everything really nicely and other times it kinda has things out of place. The convert service works as advertised, very simple to use.

For text heavy stuff, it's fantastic.
 
khanis nailed it. For reading static pages there really is nothing better. I love reading books on the Kindle, it is actually my favorite handheld tech gadget. If you want scrolling, moving content, then you'll want something with an LCD. E-paper feels like actual printed pages but the refresh rate is much slower than the 60hz you are used to with an LCD, making moving and scrolling not so smooth or fast.

I own both a Kindle and an iPad. The Kindle is for reading books, and the iPad is for everything else including looking at PDFs (especially with images). They both have limitations and those limitations are based almost entirely around the displays that they use. E-paper and LCD aren't the best solutions for everything, so get whatever makes the most sense for you.

Are you planning on reading books, or is your primary focus for zooming and scrolling around PDFs?
 
I agree...for text, kindle. For everything else, some sort of tablet. I had a Nook Color for a while, but my old Kindle was great for reading books. The Nook Color was kind of a hybrid in my mind, so I tried that out for a while. Battery is much better on a Kindle also.
 
kirbyrj said:
I agree...for text, kindle. For everything else, some sort of tablet. I had a Nook Color for a while, but my old Kindle was great for reading books. The Nook Color was kind of a hybrid in my mind, so I tried that out for a while. Battery is much better on a Kindle also.
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Yea for standard text the kindle is great. I've been using mine as of late for older manga scans I have. Pretty much ran a program called mangle to setup the images and I copied them into the kindles picture folder. I've had some issues with pages refreshes but overall it seems to be working fine. I have a kindle 2 international. Thing comes with me pretty much everywhere when I work. Read it whenever I have some downtime.
 
yeah, thanks all. So I think i'll get a kindle for myself and an ipad for my wife. ( :D )
so should have coverage.
 
fiance loves hers, she was one of the ones who said she has to hold a book to enjoy it, then she used her kindle i got her and said that was BS!
 
jiminator said:
yeah, thanks all. So I think i'll get a kindle for myself and an ipad for my wife. ( :D )
so should have coverage.
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Cool beans.

I've owned every generation of Kindle, and I really feel like the Kindle 3 nailed every single aspect in terms of display quality, page refresh speed, size, and ergonomics. Amazon's Whispernet service with bookmark/note/highlight backup and syncing tops it off. Everything you do with the Kindle hardware or Kindle app for PC/Mac/iOS/Android are all kept in sync. I love being able to leave off one place on my Kindle, and then being able to pick up where I left off on my iPhone, iPad, or desktop. Very slick.

The Kindle is so frigging excellent, hands down the best reader on the market.
 
he already got the proper advice about the Kindle, but it somehow doesn't stop me from saying:

HELLZ YEA KINDLE IS AWESOME!!

I took way too long to get one, and since I finally got one a month ago, I'm convinced that paper books are on the way out. They simply don't make sense anymore, for the vast majority of reading that people do.
 
Serpico said:
Cool beans.

I've owned every generation of Kindle, and I really feel like the Kindle 3 nailed every single aspect in terms of display quality, page refresh speed, size, and ergonomics. Amazon's Whispernet service with bookmark/note/highlight backup and syncing tops it off. Everything you do with the Kindle hardware or Kindle app for PC/Mac/iOS/Android are all kept in sync. I love being able to leave off one place on my Kindle, and then being able to pick up where I left off on my iPhone, iPad, or desktop. Very slick.

The Kindle is so frigging excellent, hands down the best reader on the market.
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I prefer the button placement on the kindle 2 over the 3 but when you start playing with a modern kindle you really start to notice all of the little things that were really well thought out. The whispernet service is just killer as well.
 
Serpico said:
I own both a Kindle and an iPad. The Kindle is for reading books, and the iPad is for everything else including looking at PDFs (especially with images).
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+1, except my Kindle is a Nook. I about shat bricks when I found old lego instructions, put them in my dropbox, opened it on my iPad, and the GF and I played legos all day. :D
 
I'd just get an iPad to be honest. You'll be happier with it when you can do more. The only unfortunate thing is you can't go shopping for books wherever you go unless you want to pay for the 3G. For PDFs I feel you're going to get more of what you want with the iPad as well.
 
The kindle is incredible if you plan on using it JUST as a reader. Its the best format with the e-ink that copies real books. But don't expect it to be tablet PC with games, apps and internet.
 
Epona said:
I'd just get an iPad to be honest. You'll be happier with it when you can do more. The only unfortunate thing is you can't go shopping for books wherever you go unless you want to pay for the 3G. For PDFs I feel you're going to get more of what you want with the iPad as well.
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your serious? your comparing a $120 ebooks reader to an Ipad...... :rolleyes:, you cant even compare reading on an ipad to a knidle, i cant stand reading on computer screen, i just dont like it, kindle, no problems.

not many people need an ipad, for what it can do, or cant, or what ever or just know your paying too much for something.
 
eh, I got myself a kindle. very happy with it. getting my wife an ipad 2, should arrive tuesday. I suspect she will be very happy with it. really though, they are great devices. You can tell because competitive devices have started coming out, and they can barely undercut apple on the price.
 
Congrats on your purchase. Take that Kindle outside on a sunny day and you'll be blown away by the e-ink screen. The battery life is great too. I haven't charged mine in over a month but I haven't been using it every day.
 
wags - Yeah, I love seeing the look on peoples' faces when I stick the Kindle out in broad sunlight. Then they get what the big deal with e-paper is about. :)
 
Ya, the charge life is awsome, sure an Ipad can be useful, but for me a my asus 1215n would do nice with a kindle.
 
I have been using a Kindle for one year, and honestly it's one of the most satisfying electronics purchases I've made in probably the last decade. One of my favorite things about the Kindle is the way you can read your books on just about any device.
 
JohnRocks said:
I have been using a Kindle for one year, and honestly it's one of the most satisfying electronics purchases I've made in probably the last decade. One of my favorite things about the Kindle is the way you can read your books on just about any device.
Click to expand...

It is my favorite tech gadget, hands down.
 
just brough one and i can give you some opinions.
for read book , kindle is an excellent one. for mobi and the format which official suooprt
but fot PDF there are some issues, usually the fonts are too small to read, especially you have lots of graphics on your PDF. think aboout the picture would be divided by two pages and drive people crazy. ususally i will transfer txt to 6" PDF which enlarge the fonts and make it better for read. bt only for letters not for graphics
 
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