Amazon Kindle 3 review
It’s cheap, the hardware is fantastic and the range of books is brilliant. This is enough to overlook the annoyance of no ePub support.
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Follow this link if you’re looking for the new keyboard-less Amazon Kindle 4 (2011).
After its dalliance with providing the Kindle from an International store, Amazon has decided that for its latest model it will ship a UK-specific model. While that’s of interest in itself, it’s perhaps the price that’s the most astonishing thing: the 3G model (WiFi is also included) here is just £149, but those on a tighter budget can buy the WiFi-only model for just £109.
If you think that corners have been cut to get the price down, you’d be wrong. While the third generation Kindle is made from plastic, it feels incredibly well-built. At 247g, it’s both light enough to carry everywhere, but heavy enough to feel tough.
Even so, we recommend buying a carry case to protect the screen. There are two official versions available: the standard leather ones cost £30, while the case with the built-in light that’s powered by the Kindle costs £50.
The 6in screen is fantastic. It has a resolution of 600×800 pixels, making text look sharp. It’s the new E Ink Pearl screen, with 16-levels of greyscale an better contrast, so reading in any condition is simple. While Sony has decided to fit its latest Readers, such as the PRS-650, with touchscreen displays, Amazon has stuck with a standard screen and regular control buttons.
In practice this makes very little difference to use. Page-turn buttons are located on both sides of the screen for left- and right-handed people. They’re perfectly positioned, and turning pages is quick thanks to the responsive screen.
Underneath there’s a standard keyboard, which you can use to enter notes on books, search for text and, most importantly search the Kindle store. This is the real beauty of the Kindle: the integrated store. Directly from the device you can download new books and pay for them through the associated Amazon account.
Details | |
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Price | £149 |
Details | www.amazon.co.uk |
Rating | ***** |
Hardware | |
Viewable size | 6.0in |
Native resolution | 600×800 |
Touchscreen y/n | no |
Capacity | 4,096MB |
Memory card support | none |
Size | 123x9x190mm |
Weight | 247g |
Battery and charge options | Li-ion, USB |
eReader Battery life | N/A |
Wireless networking support | 802.11g |
3G? | yes |
Ports | USB, 3.5mm headphone |
Format Support | |
eReader TXT support | yes |
eReader HTML support | yes |
eReader RTF support | no |
eReader PDF support | yes |
eReader ePub support | no |
eReader MOBI support | yes |
eReader Amazon AZW support | yes |
eReader Microsoft Word support | yes |
Audio MP3 playback | Yes |
Audio WMA playback | No |
Audio WMA-DRM playback | No |
Audio AAC playback | No |
Audio Protected AAC playback | No |
Audio OGG playback | No |
Audio WAV playback | No |
Audio Audible playback | Yes |
Image BMP support | Yes |
Image JPEG support | Yes |
Image TIFF support | No |
Buying Information | |
Price | £149 |
Warranty | one year RTB |
Supplier | http://www.amazon.co.uk |
Details | www.amazon.co.uk |