I bought the Amazon Kindle from Tata Croma!!
This is my Amazon Kindle that I bought today morning from Tata Croma shop. I could have also bought it online from Amazon.in, but the shop was near my house anyway. And I am sorry for that shameless advertisement for my eBook inside the Kindle, just in case you didn’t notice 😛
I should admit that I had almost made my mind when I asked you all whether I should buy an Amazon Kindle or Tablet. Even though most of you had suggested that I go with a Tablet, I was glad to see that Kindle owners strongly recommended going with the Kindle. That’s exactly what I was hoping for!
As I said in that post, there was no way I was going to escape from one LCD monitor (my laptop) to another (tablet computer). The biggest attraction with Kindle (at least in my eyes, and for it) was the eInk display/screen. After having read from it for more than a couple of hours today morning, I should tell you that the eInk screen is SIMPLY AMAZING 🙂
I know that there are limitations to what I can do with the Kindle, but for my applications it seemed to be the best. I bought it because,
- I want to read eBooks purchased from Amazon, Google Play and other sites.
- I want to read documents (MS Word, PDF, etc).
- I want to read the RSS feed for blog posts in my niche (DON’T I MISS GOOGLE READER???)
I can do all the above with the Kindle! The best part is, I can lie down on my bed or sit on my sofa while reading!! Also, I can stay away from my computer monitor for longer periods every day (hopefully).
With a 6″ screen, the display is small but since we can adjust the font, typeface and spacing between the lines, we can customize the display as per our requirements. I feel that the reflective eInk screen feels just like paper, with the display getting dim as I move to dark areas.
The kindle is light-weight, so it’s easy to hold it with one hand or two hands, as we wish. There are dedicated buttons for next page and previous page (placed on both sides of the device), which helps us to flip pages easily, even when we are holding it with just one hand!
When I opened the packaging, there was a transparent cover over the screen which I promptly removed and even after that there seemed to be something covering the screen. I tried to remove it, but then I discovered that it was the screen itself!! I was perplexed as NO device on EARTH can be packed with the screen-saver ON, right?? But the Kindle WAS!! The manufacturer can do it because the screen doesn’t consume any power while it is displaying something, it only consumes power when it refreshes!!
OK, not everything is as exciting as this post sounds – I was able to read one PDF document (all text), but not another which was graphics intensive. I use Calibre freeware to convert PDF/ePub to kindle format, and tables/graphics do not seem to convert well.
I did connect the device to Wi-Fi for registration. In no time, all my Amazon eBooks that were stored on the Cloud got downloaded into my Kindle!! Now the problem is, I need to give priority to the physical books that I have already stacked in my shelf. And I will.
OK, I will write a detailed review after I use it for some days. But for now, even though I will be using it mostly for work, I AM EXCITED 🙂
Destination Infinity
Amazon, please make a LAPTOP with Color eInk display. PLEASEEEEEE!!!
Congratulations. I am sure you will put this to good use.
I just have a question. If you have already almost made your mind, then why ask advice from your readers. If you were undecided it is ok. I, personally, will not ask for advice if I have already decided what to do.
Just curious. What you would have done if none of your readers recommended Kindle? Still gone with Kindle or changed your mind?
Good question 🙂 If I had to answer it with percentage, I had 80% decided to buy the Kindle before that post. But, I was still open for suggestions or cancelling (20%). In fact, immediately after reading all those comments I started researching on tablets, and you may not believe even mobiles (with 5.3″ screen).
After a couple of days I was more settled down and decided on the Kindle – 100%. That’s mainly because existing Kindle users advocated it strongly, and I felt that only a Kindle user can know best about the device.
Had no one suggested Kindle, I would have not bought anything. Tablet was out of question for my particular application anyway. I would be tempted to look at tablet options, but eventually would have decided against it and Kindle.
Destination Infinity
Congratz boss. I hope you use it to keep on reading. My next tech device will surely be a tablet. I hope buy it soon with my own money. 🙂
Yes, tablets are available at great prices these days. Go for it!
Destination Infinity
Congrats DI! I have exactly the same model 🙂 How do we read blog feeds on Kindle? That is something that I have not tried.
There is an experimental browser in which we can load a blog reader, like google reader and use the text only mode to read through it. I haven’t tried it yet, but I hope it is possible (I read it’s possible, when I was researching to buy the device).
Destination Infinity
Great. We gave you advice of tablet. The mind said tablet. Democracy said tablet. Heart said kindle.
Your heart wins. Everyone else loose.
I don’t know why winning and losing is coming into the picture. I think the decision was made based on my particular application. It’s true that both Kindle and tablet could have been bought for this purpose, and the tablet can do much more. But I am not a fan of LCD monitor, and I find it difficult to read from it continuously. That’s perhaps the single best reason why I looked at Kindle, even though the functionality of the device is limited.
Destination Infinity
Aha! That looks cool. Congrats for the new gadget. Have a great time reading on it! 🙂
Reading and learning. I read books for improving my knowledge, mostly…
Destination Infinity
CONGRATS!!! Time for a treat!!! 🙂
Bhusha’s INDIA TRAVELOGUE
Yes, you can give me a treat 🙂
Destination Infinity
Looks very nice and elegant. However I’m comfortable reading books in the hard print that in the kindle version. Old habits die hard.
Books would have been ideal if the font-size of text, could be increased. The fonts in some books are so tiny… Consider the Kindle as a book with a facility to increase the font size. You won’t believe how close eInk readers are to real books, until you read from one of them.
Destination Infinity
The note on screen sounds interesting, Rajesh! Congrats and enjoy reading with the device 🙂
Ha ha, that bit was a shameless publicity stunt 😛
Destination Infinity
Many congratulations, DI. Wishing you endless, joyful reading! 🙂
Joyful reading and learning. Books can teach us a lot about the world, systems and people. I hope to increase my knowledge a little bit, via the Kindle 🙂
Destination Infinity
Congrats !!!
For what? Buying this device when no one else did? Actually, even the ppl in the shop were more knowledgeable about the Kindle fire than this basic eInk reader. I hope this device gets the exposure it deserves (in India).
Destination Infinity
Well, a good smartphone like the Galaxy Note II will give all the advantages of a book reader and also let you do so many other tasks. How will you answer if someone were to have asked you this question?
Arvind Passey
http://www.passey.info
Simple: My laptop, which I use for many hours every day, has an LCD monitor. Tablets and mobiles have the same LCD monitor.
LCD is based on back-lighting technology, which means the display is lit from inside/behind to display characters. If you keep looking at an LCD display for a long time (non-stop), your eyes will be strained. That’s why I am shifting a part of my work to eInk reader (Basic Kindle model). Kindle Fire, however, is another LCD tablet.
An eInk reader (Kindle eInk pearl, paperwhite) is based on reflective-screen technology. That means, it uses the same type of ink that is used in print books, but in a digital format. With every page turn, the screen is refreshed with new ink to get new characters.
Also, like physical books, you can see the characters in the screen because of the reflection of the external light that falls on the monitor. There is no backlight. This is the reason why it is easier to read for longer periods with Kindle, with minimum eye strain.
Destination Infinity
Woohoo DI ! I was waiting to know what you bought in the end! Awesome – you will be proud of your purchase 🙂
Enjoi! mine is paperwhite that we got from amazon.in itself. So happy to see yours! Welcome to the club! 🙂
Hi,
I am facing the same dilemma as you. Hopefully I’ll buy a Kindle reader from tata croma this weekend. Incidentally if you are thinking of selling your physical books to some kabari, just let me know for I am a fan of physical books too.
Happy reading.
congrats and waiting for a detailed review