Kindle: Amazon's Wireless Reading Device | 
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| Brand: Amazon.com
Category: Amazon Devices
Buy New: $359.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  5553 reviews
Sales Rank: 1
Color: Bisque
Media: Electronics
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.7
Model: D00111
UPC: 892685001003
EAN: 0892685001003
ASIN: B000FI73MA
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 3 to 4 weeks
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| Features:
| • | Revolutionary electronic-paper display provides a sharp, high-resolution screen that looks and reads like real paper. | | • | Simple to use: no computer, no cables, no syncing. | | • | Wireless connectivity enables you to find, buy, and read instantly—whether you’re in the back of a taxi, at the airport, or in bed. | | • | Shop the Kindle Store directly from your Kindle. | | • | Buy a book and it is auto-delivered wirelessly in less than one minute. |
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4990 more reviews...
Kindle November 22, 2008
I have the Kindle for 1 month. The first one didn't work, and Amazon sent me a replacement within 2 days. This is an excellent product, but a back light to read at night would make it 5 stars.
 It is as good as it seems to be... even better... November 22, 2008
I am a voracious reader who loves gadgets, but never thought I would give up the feel of a book in my hands. After using the Kindle for just about two weeks now, I can assure you that I won't want to surrender the feel of a Kindle in my hands anytime soon.
Major pluses:
This device is incredibly easy to use. I'm already thinking of purchasing Kindles for family members who aren't as much of geeks as my husband and I are... because right out of the box, you're easily up and reading - following the easy-to-read instructions that are on a lightly-affixed sticker on the front of the Kindle.
When they say ergonomic, they mean it. Others have criticized how wide the page turn buttons are, which can lead you to inadvertently turn a page when you didn't intend to... However, you get used to this rather quickly and I prefer having the buttons so large so I can sit in various positions (as pointed out by Amazon's marketing verbiage) and easily read in bed, which I do each and every night. The Kindle also has a unique texture on the back of the device, making it easy to hold on to and leaves you feeling that it is highly unlikely that it will fall out of your hands.
Write notes, highlight, and dog-ear pages virtually - and copy it all over to your computer where you can store the information however you would like. I just finished reading The Shack, one of the books on the NY Times best seller list recently, and I have all the great quotes and pieces of the book that I would like to review at a future date. It was so easy to do and much more efficient than highlighting in a real book would be, in terms of properly storing the information for future reference. I'm currently working on my dissertation and wish that all the books and reference materials I'm using for that project were available for the Kindle, because it would be a world of difference in terms of efficiency.
Connected and current - you can view your Google calendar, send gmail, get updates on your favorite websites via RSS feeds, and subscribe to newspapers that come before you even wake up in the morning... Your information is current - and you're connected to the internet to view more text-oriented sites (or ones that are optimized for mobile devices). WARNING: Amazon doesn't guarantee that the web browsing will be available for free long-term, but I hope passionate Kindle users can convince them that it gives the device a competitive edge worth investing in... and that they don't have to worry about making money - since we'll keep buying books via the built-in store more than enough to make it a good business model for them.
Search and research - search within every book, blog, newspaper, or document you've emailed to your kindle with ease... Also search Wikipedia and the built-in dictionary.
For your consideration:
If you're a student and are considering adding the Kindle to your life as a college-level learner, be aware that rumors abound that a student-centric device is on its way in 2009. You also should check to see how many of your textbooks would be available via the Kindle, to make it worth your investment. I'm a professor and look forward to when all our textbooks are available via the Kindle, because the searching, highlighting, and note-taking is far superior to an actual book - and we kill fewer trees this way.
There are also rumors all over the net about when Kindle 2.0 will be available. Amazon says not until 2009 at the earliest. I, for one, am glad I made the investment now... and also am glad that Amazon keeps a backup of all the book purchases I make, just in case I get tempted to buy a newer version once it is available. Based on how easy the Kindle is to use, I suspect that an upgrade would be made as simple as could be...
In my experience, the Kindle is an incredible leap forward in technology - and made for geeks and non-geeks alike.
I Love It!!! November 22, 2008
I have been looking at the Kindle for a year now. When I didn't receive it for my birthday I ordered one. I was wary at first. I read all the time and I was concerned that it wouldn't be the same as holding a good book.
Boy was I wrong. I receive newspapers and magazines and am able to get the newest book whenever I want it. I can hear about a book and immediately have it in my hands. It interacts with my computer and is very easy to use.
I can read outside because it isn't backlit and I read in bed every night and it is so easy to hold even lying down.
I can't recommend it more highly even to the most book oriented among us.
Addictive November 22, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Last month, I knew absolutely nothing about the Kindle. I thought it appeared and disappeared like so many new technologies, and perhaps there were a few die hards still advocating its adoption. Well, then someone gave me one as a gift. And since then it hasn't left my side.
I use it to read the New York Times (mobile edition) in the morning in bed. I use to check my mail because I don't have a smartphone. It fits into my purse so when I'm waiting to meet someone, I can take it out and read. I can read during all my downtime now. And I can read the silly books I'd never admit to reading, and no one else can tell because only my Kindle knows the truth.
The e-ink technology, I'll probably never get used to it. The buttons are not in the proper position, it's too easy to flip a bunch of pages at once. And the formatting of some of the newspapers/magazines seems awkward...but you can always cancel during the trial period.
It's changing how I read - mostly for the better November 22, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Last month, as a gift I received Amazon's Kindle Amazon's Kindle.I wasn't ready to get one just yet. I read about a book a week and love having them around, as the scores of books at my office and bountiful floor-to-ceiling bookshelves at home can attest.
My first Kindle experience was with my uncle's. I tried it for a bit and was impressed with the clarity and usability; it's a very short learning curve to get up to speed. But that was a number of months ago, and I've preferred the old-fashioned version.
Books are for me what widgets are for MySpace users. In many ways, they're a form of self-expression:
* There's the physical manifestations on my shelves, so a small number of people encounter them that way.
* Then there's the self-expression by reading books in public; I'm almost always reading on the subway and often when I'm walking I keep a book in my hand. Usually someone will look over to see what I'm reading. I've had some interesting discussions that way, such as when I spoke with a Starbucks barista about Tim Sanders' book Love is the Killer App, or the two people who commented on David Vinjamuri's Accidental Branding - one of whom knew the author.
* Lastly, there's the virtual manifestations - and no, I don't mean the Virtual Bookshelf Facebook apps and the like. I mean how books come up in conversation, and when I ask someone what they're reading and they ask as much as me, it says something about me.
It's this more meta role - the concept of the book rather than its physical entity - that can still be served by the Kindle, and it's why it can augment rather than detract from my bibliophilia.
So, about the Kindle...
It's light, lighter than most books I read (not that the books I read are too dense). It feels twice as heavy in the cover that's included, which does a good job of protecting it (though if you're in a wet, sandy, or dirty area, you'll want to still keep it in a bag; it's not meant to totally shield it.
Downloading books takes less time than expected. It works on Sprint's wireless EVDO network, which Amazon calls the Whispernet. Full books take seconds to download.
Reading is really easy. You can set the text size to what works for you. The screen clarity's perfect. The buttons for flipping forward and back are easily accessible so you can read the book one-handed.
The weight and usability make it especially easy to read in the subway, even on the cramped Lexington line at rush hour where overcrowding is rampant. There's no need to fumble along to try to turn a page single-handedly or annoy others with newspapers getting in their faces.
Battery life is great - most of the time. If you keep the wireless access off, it can go for several days without a charge while using it frequently. An Amazon support representative told me that instead of turning it on and off, you can leave it on, where a static screensaver appears, and that takes even less energy. Apparently once the screensaver kicks in, it takes no additional power to keep displaying it.
I like taking notes in the back of books, and it's easy to write notes and create bookmarks on the Kindle. Also, there's easy access to a dictionary when you want to look something up.
There are a few negatives:
* You can't search the books or even get to the index.
* You can tell roughly how far you're into the book, but I miss page numbers, and you can't see how far you are into a chapter. I'll often read a couple more pages in a sitting if it means finishing a chapter, so that doesn't work here.
* It's hard to flip around. In the book I'm reading now offline, William Dalrymple's The Last Mughal, it's sometimes helpful to flip back to the glossary, or flip to the front where the character descriptions are listed. You can set bookmarks in the Kindle, but's not as easy as keeping your thumb in a certain place.
* The battery life caused me my greatest frustration. When I went to Boston for a one-night trip, I didn't bother bringing my Kindle charger as it looked like the the battery was mostly full. Yet it died on me soon after I got to Boston. I may have had the wireless access on too much, but there was still no indication that the juice was about to run out.
* While the Kindle is connected to my Amazon account, it's not connected to my Amazon shopping cart. I'd love to easily check to see which Amazon print books I've saved in my cart are available on the Kindle.
* The Kindle's a bit hard to hold without hitting buttons because the buttons take up so much space.
* You'll have to shut off the Kindle when a plane's taking off and landing. Those are my favorite times to read as a distraction. I guess there's always the seat pocket magazine.
* You can't get Kindle books autographed. I LOVE autographed books. Dang.
* Sharing books doesn't quite work either.
I read two books on the Kindle before writing this - Philip Roth's Indignation and Greg Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea (both great reads and memorable stories. I'm not totally abandoning physical books thanks to the Kindle. I've got a few others, including Mughal, that I have around here and plan to read. I am really excited to have the Kindle with me when I travel (as long as I remember the charger); I'll be away at least 19 days between now and early January, and while I may take a physical book like Mughal that I'm in the middle of, I won't take any others; it's much easier to travel light now.
At some point, I'll have to make more conscious decisions about what I read in which format. Do I want something for the bookshelves? Will I need to flip around a lot? Or do I want the convenience of reading it, and the benefit of saving physical shelf space?
I'd imagine for some great books I'll buy them in both formats. I might download a Kindle version first and then wind up at a book signing where I'll buy a copy there, or I'll love it so much that I want to have the more permanent version.
While I'm a bit torn over some aspects of it, I will keep reading on the Kindle, and it is already changing how I read.
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