I have been using the [amazon_link id=”B002Y27P3M” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Kindle[/amazon_link] for a few months now, here is brief review.

  • Its very easy to use thanks to the e-ink technology which doesn’t emit light and feels just like paper.
  • Very good if you like to read a lot.
  • With 3GB of space, you can carry 1000’s books in a light form factor. Very good if you travel a lot or are moving residence, you can carry all your book collection with you when you move.
  • Can play music. It plays MP3, but you can’t select or browser. You can only hit the play button and it plays in a sequence.
  • Has Wi-Fi support and 3G as an option.
  • The 3G version allows you to use unlimited browsing anywhere in the world without any subscription or data plan. However you can’t use it for anything else such as email.
  • Works with Ubuntu, shows up as a drive and you can drag and drop files.
  • Uses standard Micro-USB chargers used by many phones today.
  • Its environment friendly as it replaces paper.
  • You can purchase any book, newspaper in a few seconds and they automatically get delivered to your kindle.
  • You can increase font size so it makes it easy to read.
  • You can add bookmarks and notes to your books.
  • The 6 inch size is quite handy, light weight and easy to manage.
  • Battery life in days (claimed 1 month) and not hours.
  • Lots of free e-books can be read easily.
[amazon_link id=”B002FQJT3Q” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Kindle 3G, Free 3G + Wi-Fi, 3G Works Globally, Graphite, 6" Display with New E Ink Pearl Technology[/amazon_link]
What I don’t like.
  • For many books E-books are not necessarily cheaper than their print edition of the same book, althought the publisher is saving on printing cost. For some books the Indian edition/paper backs are cheaper in print.
  • The interface is not very intuitive, it could be better. Difficult to find books if you have too many of them.
  • No expandable memory, so you cant add more space if you need.
  • The e-ink technology renders quite slow so not very good for browsing only good for reading.
  • No color display.
  • Its not a replacement for a tablet.
  • While the Kindle shows PDFs, its not easy to zoom in. The text size is small on a 6 inch Kindle and if you zoom it, it then you need to pan left-right to read. Not easy to read quickly.
  • I tried Calibre on Ubuntu which converts PDF books to  MOBI format. While it was able to show the text correctly it missed out all the pictures in the PDF. This could be a limitations of MOBI format. Kindle has their own tool KindleGen which converts to their proprietary format. It can’t covert from PDFs. So I had to convert PDFs to Epub on Calibre but then KindlgeGen failed to convert to Kindle format.
  • Choice of colours is only Graphite (black) or white.
Note to Ubuntu Users: I was able to download KindleGen for Linux (32-Bit version) and use on my 64-Bit Ubuntu 11.04.