Amazon's new Kindle review

Today I would like to tell you about Amazon's new Kindle e-book. It will be about the youngest model in the line - the Amazon Kindle. Why is she and not her older brothers Kindle Touch or Kindle Touch 3G? Firstly, I do not consider touch-screen a mandatory attribute of an electronic reader. Perhaps even overkill. Secondly, the touch version does not have side buttons for paging, which I like so much in the third-generation Kindle. Thirdly, with almost equal other characteristics, the “regular” Kindle is smaller in size than its touch-brothers. Well, the last argument - at the time of writing these lines, my Kindle lies on my desk, and the Kindle Touch is available only for pre-order.

In the course of the review, I will make small comparisons of the device with the Kindle version of the previous generation, as I have some experience with its use. By the way, now it is called the Kindle Keyboard.

Order and delivery

On October 3rd, I placed an order to purchase a new reader, and the original cover with a flashlight. The fact that the cover is available only for pre-order, I, to my disappointment, noticed only at the final stages of checkout. Amazon said that the book could be brought by October 20, and the cover only by November 17.

Traditionally, I have been offered two ways of delivery. First, “as soon as possible”, send the book, then the cover, paying for both deliveries. Second, the “minimum number of parcels”, wait until all the order items are in stock. I did not want to pay twice for delivery, but I also did not have to wait for a book for the cover for a month and a half. However, I was lucky. Amazon sends its books and covers from different warehouses, so it is impossible to send them with one package. And these are the problems of Amazon. So the order is sent in two packages, but the fee is charged as one.

In general, I confirmed the order and waited. After a few days, my package was still in the “Not yet sent” state. I have already started to wonder - how many times a day I need to update the page with the status of the order so that Amazon employees notice that I really look forward to my Kindle and send it to me as soon as possible. And finally, on the 10th of the evening my reader was handed over to DHL, and on the 13th of the morning the courier brought it to my office.

Open, pick up

The shape of the box is slightly different from the packaging of the previous version. The material of the box is the same severe brown packing cardboard. The box opens as cool as before - tearing off the perforated strip.



Inside the box is the device itself, a USB cable and symbolic instructions in several languages ​​in the same “harsh” brown cover.



So, the device is in my hands. The first thing you feel when you take the device in your hands is that it is really small, thin, light. For the first few minutes, I was afraid that I would crush him with my rake or drop it. But this sensation quickly passed. I hope that when the cover arrives, and in it the reader gets a little thicker, it will become even easier. The reader is made of a nice matte plastic, which is difficult to stick and easy to wipe. The case is solid, with pressure, twisting and other loads, there are no creaks, all the gaps between the parts are minimal.

In the Kindle Keyboard, the full qwerty-keyboard looked very impressive and was pleasant to the touch, but most of the people I know used it only to enter the password for wi-fi. The new Kindle lost its keyboard, and became even more compact, while the diagonal of the screen remained the same.



On the front of the Kindle is a joystick and four buttons. “Back” to return to the previous state / menu, “Keyboard” to display / hide the on-screen keyboard (you must somehow enter the password for wi-fi), “Menu” to display the menu, and “Home” to return to the list of downloaded books .

On the sides of the reader are buttons for turning pages, like on a Kindle Keyboard. They became a little more neat, and at first looked it seems that they can be pressed from the side, but this is not so. There are many photos on the Amazon website that show the book in its original cover. Looking at them, a suspicion creeps in that, perhaps, in this form, using the paging buttons will become less convenient. Let's see when the cover arrives.

At the bottom of the new Kindle is a micro-USB connector and a power button. Yes, yes, now it’s a button, not a slider, like Keyboard. So far I have not decided whether it is good or bad, but certainly not so original.



More on the body of the device there are no controls. Only on the back side from the bottom flush with the body are there two square-shaped contacts. I could not find the exact information about them. But, since the same things are visible in Kindle Touch photos, I’m pretty sure that they are designed to power the flashlight in the cover.

The most attentive, probably, noticed that this version of the device has no speakers, and a rocker-volume control. Now you don’t listen to music. The corresponding item is removed from the menu.

Turn on

A cold start lasts about 1-2 minutes. The first thing I was asked to confirm the link to the Amazon account. Immediately after sending it from the USA, the purchased Kindle already appeared in the list of my devices, and Amazon offered to buy books from his store in it. I politely declined, and received a Kindle user guide in several languages, and several Oxford English dictionaries as a present.

As before, there are two ways to download books to your device. The first is via a USB cable, like a regular USB flash drive. Second via email. After linking the device to the Amazon account, you are given the opportunity to choose your mailbox name in the kindle.com domain. By sending letters with attached books to this address, you can receive these books on your Kindle using a wi-fi connection.



Compared to the Kindle Keyboard, the firmware has not changed much. From the main menu, everyone also offers to synchronize the device, turn on / off wi-fi and, of course, buy in the Kindle Store. As mentioned above, removed the ability to listen to mp3. The browser stayed. There are no portraits of writers on lock screens now. Now there are stylish photos on the theme of typewriters and pencils.

After surfing the menu, and downloading books, you can start using the reader for its intended purpose, actually reading. The device got the screen from the Kindle Keyboard, 6 "E Ink Pearl. However, it immediately catches the eye that the pages began to turn much faster than before! If the image was first inverted, and only then a new page appeared, now only the necessary pixels change color. Sometimes there is a side effect typical of e-ink - against the background you can make out very pale remnants of the text of the previous page, but when immersed in a fascinating book this does not interfere.



While reading, using the joystick, you can select the text and create a note to it, or simply mark this fragment for the future. If dictionaries are written in the reader, then when you set the cursor on any word, you can see its translation or definition.

General impression of the device

I like it! For me, this is one of those devices that I want to pick up again and again, to touch. I want to read from it, taking pleasure in the speed of its work with each page. The new Kindle is beautiful, thoughtful, neat and high quality. I am completely satisfied with my choice. It will, of course, be interesting to twist the touch version in my hands, however, I doubt that even then my opinion about the device will change greatly. A good choice for a low price.

By the way, about the price. Amazon offers the new Kindle for $ 79 “With special offers” and $ 109 “Without special offers.” In the first case, in some operating modes, at the bottom of the screen a banner with advertising of Amazon products and shares will be displayed. DHL shipping to Kiev costs about $ 20 and took 3.5 days.

Lastly, I’ll give you a Kindle technical specifications table from Amazon.com.

Screen	6 "800x600, 16 shades of gray
Dimensions	166mm x 114mm x 8.7mm
Weight	170g
Built-in memory	2GB
Battery	1 month without Wi-fi, 3 weeks with Wi-Fi
Charging time	3 hours using the included USB 2.0 cable
Wifi	802.11b / g / n
USB port	USB 2.0 (micro-B connector)
Supported Formats	Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC; HTML, DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion
Warranty	1 year
Contents of delivery	Kindle USB 2.0 Cord Quick Start Guide