I got my new Kindle 10 days ago. It's awesome. I originally decided to plunk down the $259 (it just had a price reduction and is now $189) because I was tired of having trouble finding a decent book to read. I figured that problem would be solved by the ability to download a book just about anywhere in the world. What I didn't realize was...

that reading would be so much more enjoyable.

 

The adjustable font size makes for easy reading and I really like the built in dictionary. To find out what a word means, you just move the cursor to the word and a brief definition pops up on the bottom of the screen. I go out to restaurants fairly often and I like to relax and read while I'm eating. The kindle lies flat so no more messing around with a paperback closing and losing my place.  (An update to this review): Last week, foolishly I dropped my Kindle. The result was a blank area on the screen across the top of the page. I was bummed. Well, as a compulsively honest person I reported it to the support person on the phone. I was prepared to purchase another one if my original wasn't able to be fixed. What I was told by the very pleasant fellow I got on the phone was that a drop from 3 feet shouldn't have hurt it so it was still under warranty. To top it off Amazon is shipping at their expense to my home in the Philippines and will refund my shipping expense to return my old one. My online account even has a record of my purchases so I will be able to download my whole library. What seemed like a minor disaster turned out to be no big deal. This is an example of why I am an Amazon Affiliate.

 

Amazon has contracted with cell carriers all over the world, if you can get a cell signal you can download a book or periodical. Whether you are at home or downtown or pretty much anywhere in between you can get the book you're interested in or have the newspaper subscription you ordered delivered. They call it Whispernet and it doesn't rely on WiFi Hotspots. The connection speed will vary with the type of signal you can get. The coverage areas with 3G cell service is the fastest. You need a credit card on file at Amazon to make a purchase but the connection and download is free.

 

Other features include being able to read Pdf files but unfortunately the text size for this file type is not adjustable and tends to be pretty small. Adjusting from portrait to landscape viewing helps make the text more readable. There are also a bunch of online blogs you can subscribe to. I looked through part of the blog list (there's a bunch) and they all seem to cost about a buck a month (usd). Download a sample of any book you're considering buying for free so you can check it out thoroughly.

 

Speaking of free, besides the list of 500,000 books (and growing) available, there are a ton of free (out of copyright) books available. I downloaded the Three Musketeers, The Man in the Iron Mask, Siddhartha and a couple other titles that sounded interesting... all for free.

 

The screen is not back-lit (or in color) so if it's dark it requires an outside light source just like a paper book. Not really a problem for me as I knew I wasn't getting a computer. If you want to read in the dark you can jump up to an iPad but the battery life is only about 10 hours. The promotional stuff I read on the Kindle claimed 5 to 7 days of battery life. Surprisingly, I started with a full charge and haven't had to charge it. Like I said, I've been using it for 10 days without a charge and the battery icon is showing that the battery has only drained a little more than half.

 

Bottom line: Amazon has come up with a product that is easy and fun to use as well as very handy. It will solve my lack of reading material which has always seemed to me to be one of the trade-offs of living overseas. Shows what I know!