[Closed] Kindle question

I see many people using them on the tube every day - never seen a 3g one though

I have a 3g one & use the 3g a lot but then I am funny about wifi etc and leave wireless devices off as much as possible.

See a book I like or something I want to look up, turn 3G on, buy & then turn it off again.

Very useful device, also with 3G you can use it was back up internet if you wish, its slow but free - once you have bought it.

Have the WiFi only version, and never felt the need for the 3G. Never felt the need to buy a book that urgently, and have phone if need web access.

Had the same dilemma, bought the wifi one in the end - I'm usually near a wifi connection, the only place I might not have one is on holiday abroad (though even there you can usually find a Starbucks or similar), and with a little forethought you can fill the thing up with more than enough content to keep you going until you get back home.

One possible reason for getting the 3G model is that you can access gmail or STW from the (extremely slow) browser - but I'm not that much of an addict that I really needed it.

As with lot of things - all depends how you want to use it! If you'll only occasionally be downloading a book, and you're regularly around wifi hotspots (home, office, library, coffee shop...) then no need for 3G phone coverage. However, if you'll be out of wifi coverage a lot, and like to surf the web on your kindle (can be done - just don't expect it to be like an iPad) then you'll probably want 3G as well. I bought the one with both just to give me maximum chance of being connected, wherever I was...

See a book I like or something I want to look up, turn 3G on, buy & then turn it off again.

This is a very good reason not to get the 3G model 🙂

Bought MrStirlingCrispin the Wifi-only Kindle.

Wifey has never felt the need to use the 3G and she can always wifi-hotspot from her phone if she feels the need to download on the move.

i got the 3g and wifi one. the cost wasnt very different tbh. Why the fuss anyway? get it and if you use it good, if not oh well?

Mogrim, you are not wrong - but I am hoping to know lots of stuff when I die, now when is the next James Patterson out? 🙂

As others have said.

OH has the non-3G version. At home it's irrelevant as it's on WiFi, out and about you'd only need 3G if you [i]absolutely had to have a book right now [/i]or if you wanted to use it as a (monochrome) web browser.

Bear in mind, it'll hold more than one book. My OH typically has more technology about her person than your average Dixon's and there's enough books on her Kindle to give her reading material until the heat death of the universe, so the chances of her desperately needing an Internet connection on an eBook device in the middle of a field are fairly slim.

Got the wifi one. As most people said you don't desperately need to buy a book that often, I have about 30 on there currently waiting to be read.

If I was desperate I could make my phone a wifi point and use that.

thanks for the replies its helped me make up my mind and get the WIFI version and if I need internet access urgently then I do have the iphone to hand

Have Wifi only normally I want the latest and best and am disappointed if I dont have it.

But the kindle is a book reading device its not a web browser or anything else. Its for reading books. Therefore you dont need the 3g.

The only time I'd think you'd need it is on holiday but just make sure you buy plenty of book before hand.

never seen a 3g one though

3G one looks exactly the same!

I'd say it's worth having if any of the following are true:

- you'll use it a lot while out and about and would want to grab new books, or subscribe to content (newspapers/blogs/etc)
- you'll use it abroad - free global 3G is a pretty good offer
- you'll use the whispersync feature to keep page place between devices. With a 3G one, the chances of your place being up to date are much better - so when you're stuck waiting for 10 mins without your kindle you can read another chapter on your phone.

What I do not know is if you can "book share" with a kindle, is my version of the book purely for use on a kindle attached to my account & if I do not connect to the internet will it know and let me read somebody elses book.

Anybody tried it?

THere is a resonable price difference about £40! I don't think it's worth paying the much for 3G. I have wifi one and download a load of books before I go on hols I have loads waiting to be read. Plus nowadays there are so many places which have free wi-fi and using it as internet browser is rubbish! Use phone instead.

I got the 3g one for my wife, she reads a lot of Mills and Boon type romances, which tend to be free or a few pennies on Amazon. We travel to Spain quite frequently and I have to say it's fantastic. Download a book in seconds whilst sitting by the pool/ beach/ bar.

Saves no end of space in the suitcase not having to take 'real books'.

You can book share as long as both kindles are registered to the same amazon account. I think they let you download a book to 5 or 6 different devices on the same account.

In the US they do have a proper loaning system where you can send a book to another account for 14 days.

if you do go for 3g its available 20 quid off from tesco

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/cheap-ebook-readers-kindles#kindle

which is half the price difference sorted.

Can they be used to read PDFs? Is this any good? How are they loaded on? Do PDFs take up loads of space?

I went for 3G on the basis that global access could be massively useful and I'd soon forget about the extra £40 when I'm enjoying the access later.

I often look stuff up on wikipedia (which formats rather well) both when reading books and when just thinking about things in general. Very useful for travelling. Mrs Grips used hers just the other day. She was out at the park with Lil Grips reading, finished her book, and snapped up another straight away.

Not a life or death situation, but nice nonetheless.

They can read PDFs yes. Never read one though. You can load them up by emailing your kindle address afaik which bills you for 70p or something.

Munqe-chick - Member
THere is a resonable price difference about £40! I don't think it's worth paying the much for 3G.

really? ok, each to their own. I took it as 3G worldwide for the life of the kindle...pretty darn good..

worth it for me who travels alot and doesnt, as it seems all of the uk has, often come across these free wifi spots..

I think it's not guaranteed scotia. So they could revoke it if it starts to get too expensive for them.

I like the 3G - but I travel alot. They are really great devices unless some oaf 😳 stands on it and breaks the screen. As happened yesterday. Ok - it was me and I did some olympic quality swearing. Another 3G kindle is on order.

So, who bought the official case then? And who bought the one with the light in it?

I got neither my obsession with Timbuk2 products continued so I bought one of those!!!

If you email files, PDF's etc to yourname@free.kindle.com you don't get charged.

Tonyg2003 - email kindle support. Mrs petrieboy broke the screen on hers and no questions asked they sent a FOC replacent which arrived the next day. Didn't expect that, was at most hoping for a reduced price replacement. Screens are a weak point and break very easily.

- It's free to email stuff to the yourname@etc email address, as long as you have a wi-fi connection - if you receive it over 3G you pay, but you can set a limit to how much you're prepared to pay, or disable the 3G PDF thing altogether (which is what I have done)

- If you travel at all, and there's any chance you'll read books on your phone/ipad/computer, the whispersync thing is great to make sure you're always at the current reading point - you'll need 3G for that

- you may not be able to anticipate when you'll want to download a new book - I got hold of the book I'm now reading while sitting in the back of the campervan in a field in mid-Wales a week or so ago. I wouldn't have imagined I'd use that facility, but when it's there it's pretty useful

- I have the case with a light in. It's a bit bulky but is absolutely excellent for reading in bed without disturbing the missus

I travel a lot for work, and the Kindle has hugely improved the experience for me. I now read much more than I used to, and prefer the Kindle to paper books for fiction. I've tried reading a couple of work-related technical book son it and they don't work nearly so wel - it's a pain to move around a book, and to wade through pages of footnotes etc, and diagrams are a bit duff. But for straightforward linear narrative in a novel it's ace.

I got the standard case without light, even though it was £30 which I thought was a lot. Lovely thing, makes it look like a posh notebook or something important. Mrs Grips had a cheap £10 one which to be fair was kind of rubbish because it didn't attach using the clips ont he side but you had to slide it in, so it covered it up with cutouts for buttons.. ugly.

Anyway I ended up really wanting the light since I ended up wanting to read in bed a lot without disturbing her.. so she bought me one on Father's Day 🙂 Every so slightly less nice than the non-lit one but the light is fab.

Only other thing I might've gone for would be a zip up neoprene style thing so you could take it completely out to read.

3G here and love it - never use the wifi capability as no need...

This is the one I have
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Timbuk2-Plush-Sleeve-Kindle-Black/dp/B003U4VIWW/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1308861420&sr=8-4

love it perfect, don't need a light as MR MC happy for me to read with bedside light on. Doing shift work you get used to sleeping at random times with lights on.

i bought my gf the 3g version purely to have internet when on hols its clunky but usable ive now bought a 3g tablet put the kindle app on and i use that they do say the brower on the kindle is experimental so could withdraw it

A point about reading PDF files. Yes, you can read them but it is a bit of a faff. In a PDF, the page size is pre-defined, so to make that fit on the kindle you either end up with text that is almost impossible to read, or you end up having to scroll around to see the whole page. "Proper" kindle content behaves much more nicely and "flows" regardless of the size of the text for example. And of course, it is not colour.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not dismissing the Kindle - I've got the WiFi only one and the amount I've read since getting it has increased massively. I love it for novels, but wouldn't recommend it if your main reason is as a PDF reader.

+1 Reading PDFs on a Kindle is a PITA. If you want decent web browsing and PDFs on the move, get an iPad. The Kindle is really good for books, but it's not an all round mobile device.

Isn't there a way of converting PDFs to other eBook formats? I seem to remember seeing something.

Reading PDFs on anything is a PITA

The work of the devil they are 😀

Anyway, to the OP
I have a wifi only one, not only have I never felt the need for 3G, I don't believe I've ever used the wifi either
I loaded it up with a 100 or so novels direct from my PC

Should keep me busy for a couple of years or so

I don't understand the objections to PDFs on the Kindle - if you email them to the device, with 'convert' in the subject line, the text gets stripped out and they effectively become ebooks with minimal formatting and changeable text size that does just flow. I use it all the time for long academic papers I need to read - saves printing them out.

If I need to see charts and formatting in a paper the iPad is much better, but for plain text, especially in bright sunlight, the Kindle prevails.

I have both an iPad and a Kindle. I got the iPad first, and it is in many ways a hugely superior device. But for just reading stuff nothing beats the kindle - I like the fact that it has no email, no colour, nothing fancy - it's just about the text in front of me.

So, who bought the official case then? And who bought the one with the light in it?

I've got one, it looks smart, seems well made, and the light is excellent. Full marks to whoever worked out how to power it from the main battery, too - charge the kindle and your light will work.

If reading PDFs is important get the bigger Kindle, the normal one is crap for it. A guy at work has one for studying and it's excellent, I've tried using my (normal) one and it's awful, you have to rotate the screen to get it to fit in, the text it too small, etc. OK for an emergency, but that's it.

Isn't there a way of converting PDFs to other eBook formats? I seem to remember seeing something.

On the Mac I use software called calibre to convert. Works great.

There is only one size of Kindle available in the UK, the Kindle DX which is much bigger has to be shipped from Amazon in the States i think.

PDF's can be read on a Kindle but you can easily convert them to a more suitable format (.PRC which gives adjustable text size etc) by using Amber Lit Converter (which is free).

Thanks for clarification about PDFs. I have a lot of technical manuals in PDF, with many colour large format diagrams.

I could live without the colour, but if conversion strips out the diagrams then it's not suitable.

If zooming/panning i the native PDF viewer is also a bit duff then maybe that's not suitable either. The DX model sounds better

I may get a tablet then [£££ and worse battery life]. Is PDF viewing in tablets substantially better?

On the Mac I use software called calibre to convert. Works great.

's the same software on Windows too.

Has anyone tried downloading the contents of a website and converting to some Kindle format?

I just read this, which might save the day:

I processed using the PDF2LRF -> PNG2PDF -> Mobi Creator is the best in that it replicates the look of the original PDF (image based) and more importantly, it bypasses having to attach/ email to Amazon, wait 1 hour, transfer back, which is bad for large files > 20 megs. With PDF2LRF, everything including text/borders etc... is optimized to be more readable on ebook readers then default because the program increases the contrast for text.

mol - see www.instapaper.com

still need a connection though, so it may not be what you're after

sorry, I was probably misleading you - the conversion doesn't strip out the images, what I meant was that it identifies the text and pulls it out of the fixed PDF format. The images are still there.

If you really need technical diagrams I'd go for GoodReader on an iPad - that kind of thing is not the Kindle's strong suit, but the iPad is great for it.

I tried instapaper - only does one page, it seems. I'd like something that would navigate all the links and download that too.

If you really need technical diagrams I'd go for GoodReader on an iPad - that kind of thing is not the Kindle's strong suit, but the iPad is great for it.

I'd say it's great on the Kindle DX, as an ex-pat I'm forced to use the Amazon.com store, I didn't realise it isn't on Amazon.co.uk.

at the risk of adding my worthless tuppence, i too have one and it is wifi only. i have transferred more onto it by usb cable than by wifi, even still.