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Kindle WiFi Review
The latest version of the Amazon Kindle is available as Kindle WiFi and the Kindle 3G. It is a eBook reader that exploded on the market several years ago, and is rapidly growing in popularity. Let us take a brief look at the Kindle WiFi and see what all the fuss is about.
What You Get In The Box
- Kindle WiFi
- A/C Adaptor (for scharging at the wall)
- USB Cable (For charging at your laptop or desktop, and for transferring files from your computer to your device)
- Manual
Internet Connectivity
The Kindle WiFi is able to connect to the internet using – you guessed it – WiFi hotspots. This feature is great if you have regular access to a wireless connection at home or at work, not so great if you don’t.
Using the WiFi connection, you are able to browse to a few websites such as Amazon’s kindle site, other eBook sites, Wikipedia, and a few social networking and email sites.
Screen Quality
The Kindle WiFi reading screen is designed to look as much like a book page as possible. A new technology developed by Amazon called E Ink is used instead of back lighting. This E Ink technology makes it possible for you to use your Kindle reader anywhere and to see the page clearly without straining your eyes, even if you are in direct sunlight.
The downside to this is that without the any form of built in light, it is not possible to read using your kindle in the dark unless you purchase a clip on light, or a special case with a light attached.
This E Ink screen does not work as quickly as a LCD screen does, but it does transfer the pages at a decent speed that it doesn’t impair the reading process, and also has no glare, again reducing any strain on the eyes.
Images shown on the Kindle WiFi are sharp and clear, even though the Kindle does not support colour, so everything is in black and white.
Navigation And Keyboard
Navigating around your Kindle WiFi is pretty easy and simple to understand. Books can be stored in folders to make it simple and easy to find them, and accessing different folders, the kindle store and settings options is possible at the push of a button.
The Kindle WiFi has a full QWERTY keyboard, making searching websites and the device really easy to do.
Getting Books
The Kindle store on amazon.com is enormous. It contains thousands of books in many different genres, as well as college textbooks, manga and other comics. It is even possible to buy small games such as pacman, solitaire and chess.
There are other websites that you can use to purchase books for your Kindle, but it is important to note that Kindles do not support the common ePub file. This can be got around by purchasing ePub files on your computer and using Calibre – a few eBook converter – to convert your files to the kindle format. Kindles support amazon books, unprotected .MOBI files, .TXT files and PDF files.
Battery Life
The Kindle battery lasts for quite a while without needing to be charged. Of course, the more you use the device, the faster the battery will die, but with moderate usage, you will probably find that your Kindle only needs to be charged once or twice every couple of weeks. The fact that there is no backlight is very beneficial here as use of the backlight is generally a huge power drain, resulting in the need for more frequent charging.