I know I am writing about something that many of you will not have access to where you live. But since this is a global community, it may benefit some of you. I recently acquired a Kindle Paperwhite from Amazon. The Kindle Paperwhite is an electronic book (e-book) reader (an e-reader) that has its own built in lighting.
Some of its other features that I appreciate include: the ability to change the font size (but it doesn't work for pdf documents) with a quick touch;
the ability to store a large number of ebooks and sort them into folders
since I often will be reading several books in parallel switching from one to the other as the mood strikes me (I am currently reading Rebecca, When you Catch an Adjective, Kill it, and The Haunting of Hill House); it has built-in dictionaries that let you touch a word on the screen to call up it's definition which can be invaluable to those learning a language such as English; and it
also supports translation from one language to another. However for that feature to work, you need to have it connected to the internet by wifi or buy the 3G version. The Kindle uses internet translation sites such as Google Translate and as many of you already know, those sites have their own pit-falls depending upon which languages you are translating from and into when using them.
As you can see from the photographs the Kindle Paperwhite is about the same length and width as a normal paperback book but much thinner. Here it is compared to an oversized paperback (one that is about the same size as most hardback books) -
The only real negatives so far with this e-reader is it does not support many ebook formats including e-pub. However, you can use free software from calibre-ebook.com to convert almost any format including pdf into .mobi or .AZ3 to use on the Kindle. That is what I do. Then you can use non-DRM books you have from other sources such as www.gutenberg.org/ on it in addition to books downloaded from amazon. You can connect the Kindle to your computer using a USB port and move e-books back and forth directly from your computer to the documents folder on the Kindle. You can not nest folders within folders as I do on my computer, and Amazon advises you not to move folders onto the Kindle but just the e-book document itself.
So do any of you use a different e-reader? How does yours compare as to features?
Comments
HA I haven't tried the Send to Kindle email although I have the app. I just use Calibre and have the ebooks all organized on my MacBook Pro. Then even if I am not near the internet I can add the book to my queue.
Mickey You can get the free Kindle App for the iPad and use it for ebooks as Tara does. I may yet end up with an iPad also. I just didn't want to buy one just to read books when the Kindle Paperwhite was a batter bargain for that purpose. Another reason I first bought a Kindle was because in Hong Kong all the apartments (flats) are small so no room to store my books. I still buy real books also.
wywu The Calibre software I mentioned is free and both converts format and can be used as a reader for most formats.
Thanks for all the comments.
Great review! I use Kindle for iPad. (Or iBooks on my iPad.) For those who don't know, you can simply download the free Kindle app to buy Kindle books for the iPad or iPhone. I have the original iPad, so it crashes a lot. My son has filled it up with his apps and it has no memory left. I thought I was going to love eBooks, but I still prefer print books. I do enjoy the convenience of receiving a book instantly if there is a book I just have to read right away. But, I do not enjoy fighting with the rest of my family over who gets the iPad. :)
I still prefer the paperback books. Sis pls, same here! But I read e-books too when I am free.
I like collecting books I like and writing down my comments in them.
[Ipad? hahaha, I just use it to play games for now... giggling~ ;-)]
I need to check it up if I can buy a kindle here. It sounds very useful and convenient.
Thanks for your Information......
I dont think, we have it here in India...any way let me check it up.....
humy i love so much readying speacialy novel drama romontiq & policierand mystere :)
Nice review.
I gave my Mother a Kobo Glo e-reader for Mothers day, and the sleep cover to go with it for her birthday. She absolutely loves it, she also loves the price of e-books.
There are some fantastic reviews on you-tube comparing the two (Paperwhite & Glo) if you are interested.
What I love about e-readers is the battery life. Sure, you can read your e-books on your smart phone, tablet, or notebook... but be prepared to drain your battery, but that's not the case with a Kindle or Kobo device.
Thanks, I enjoyed this.
Hmm .. I don't like reading e-book. Will try to avoid it as much as possible. LOL. I still prefer the paperback books. I've had an iPad for the past two years, and never even try to download any e-book. Though, like you, I love reading a few books at a time. Normally about three books at a time. So all these books will be at my arms length. I just open one book to another when the mood suits me. So far, I'm happy with all my paper books and have no intention to switch to e-book except if I have to when there is certain book which may not be available over here.