What's a Kindle? The Kindle is a 3G wireless reading device sold exclusively through Amazon.com
So what's a Kindle do? Basically, Kindle lets you download stuff like full-length novels (in less than 60 seconds), magazines and newspaper articles or check articles at wikipedia.com, download and play mp3 music or podcasts, or browse text-centric web sites "any time, anywhere with no monthly fees, service plans or hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots." [You can check Kindle's coverage area here.]
According to Amazon, Kindle 2 lets you read for up to 4 days without recharging the battery ... and you don't even need to connect Kindle to a computer to do it.
Kindle 2's new text-to-speech feature can actually read over 240,000 books, articles, blogs and texts to you. Aloud. Amazon prices most New York Times best-sellers for downloading at $9.99 each ... and the Kindle 2 is capable of holding more than 1500 books.
Do it make ya wanna run out n' buy one?
Priced at $359 US, Kindle seems kinda pricey ... especially when compared to other gadgets, like Apple's iPhone 3G ($199-$299), RIM's Blackberry ($149-$589) and Apple's iPod ($53-$224.95)
For a boat live-aboard like me, Kindle's biggest attraction is space (and weight) savings: I usually read 4-6 books per month, and a year's worth of reading consumes about as much space as a small bathtub ... and probably weighs about the same.
Oh, and lately I've been finding about half my reading material at the marina's laundry room book shelf, where other live-aboards thoughtfully drop off their most recent best-sellers (they're also thinking space and weight) so I'm not accustomed to paying for throwaway reading.
My decision? I'll wait for Kindle 3 to see what new features are included ... and whether it's accompanied by a significant reduction in price as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment