My $79 wi-fi Kindle

[orrinonken]

I bought the new wi-fi $79 Kindle. Prior to that I was still using my first edition Kindle. The new one is tiny, tiny, tiny. It has the same size screen as my old one, but it weighs less than six ounces and slides into the breast pocket of a man's shirt. The text is clear as a bell and the pages change fast.

This Kindle lacks all the features that I never used on my old one. It doesn't read aloud to me or play music. It doesn't have a keyboard. I can't download books if I don't have wifi. The battery life is only a month and it only holds 1,400 books.

The thing is, I never listened to my Kindle. I am a reader of novels. I never typed on my Kindle. I have wifi in my house and don't often carry my Kindle when I am out and about (I have an android phone). I don't go places where I am without electricity for more than a month. And I don't need to keep more than 1,400 books with me at any one time.

My new one hooked up effortlessly to my wifi, both at home and at work. It let me look at my archived items and take down the ones I wanted. It greeted me as a registered user the moment I opened it. The navigation is easier than my old one, and the page turning, although the buttons took a little to get used to, can be done without thinking.

It does have advertisements on the screen saver and on a banner at the bottom of my book selection page.

The new Kindle Fire is coming out. It does all sorts of things and I will probably buy one. This new little Kindle without the keyboard, however, does one thing very well. It lets me read books. When it comes to pure reading, I doubt that the upcoming Kindle Fire will replace it.

[SamIam]

Very nice review, thanks!

[CNDudley]

Ended up getting two for the kids (I have 3 kids, so they each get 2/3 of a Kindle for Xmas) because i was sick of them borrowing mine. I'm setting them up right now, and I've got to say, I LOVE these little devices. Tiny, light, nimble. And the lack of keyboard is less of a problem than I thought it would be. I imagine it'll be no problem at all for them, since they're used to clicking and scrolling around on the Wii.

Highly recommend for every family member who makes the $80 gift range.

[Tempo]

Thanks for the review. I'm getting one.

[Tabatha]

Since reviews were in short supply for the $79 Kindle, I went searching thru the Lets Talk Kindle thread to find out what others thought as I was interested in maybe getting one. This thread tells it all:

http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php/topic,86189.0.html

Hopefully it will help others on the fence.

[Ann in Arlington]

I've had mine for a couple of weeks now and I really like it.  Still looking for the perfect cover, but the device itself is great.  For me, it's a great step forward from the K3.  Mind you, I really liked the K3 -- it was a great step forward from my K1. 

I don't miss the physical keyboard at all. . . .I never did do much with taking notes and such.  The on screen pop up keyboard works well enough for what I need it for which is only occasional searching.

My K3 had 3G. . .this has only WiFi but I've not felt like I was missing anything so far.  I have been in the habit of downloading the newspaper in the morning anyway so that happened via WiFi regardless.  It turns out I'm rarely out and about somewhere that there is no WiFi and I just HAVE to download a book or something.  I do still have the K3 so, if in doubt, I can be sure that one is with me.

The K4 is much smaller and lighter. . .the inexpensive case I got actually ads a lot of bulk so I am definitely looking at something even lighter/smaller. . .

I have changed a bit the way I use it. . .I had been in the habit of having EVERYTHING on the Kindle until I'd read it at which time I'd delete it.  That was getting a bit unwieldy with the K3, and the large number of books (over 1000) coupled with collections had caused the K3 to slow down quite a bit.  With the K4, I've decided to limit what I load.  part of the reason I'd done it the other way was to keep track of what I'd read, but now that I can rate the books from the Kindle (also possible on the K3) I can easily check in my collection at Amazon to work out if I've read a book or not.  I'm also going through and deleting books that I know I'll never read -- mostly free titles I purchased in the early throws of one click delirium.

Many of the 'active' content does not work. . .anything that's keyboard focused is not compatible.  But, though I picked up a number of the free games, I really only played with them when I first got them and then haven't since.  The only one I continued to use at all was the 'notepad' and I have other devices that will do what that did. 

I am contemplating switching my K3 to SO's and buying out of SO's on the K4. . . .the new stock screensavers are pretty neat and, while I never had the aversion many did to the classic authors, I am getting a bit tired of them.  That will cost me $30 to do, so I must think on it.

Anyway, overall, I'm really happy with it. . .it will likely be come my 'carry around' kindle, though the K3 I'll keep as a back up/loaner.

[Seleya]

Thank you so much for the reviews, I've just ordered mine and I can't wait to receive it, it will be my 'on the move' reader.

Ann, when you find your perfect cover, plaese, let me know. I read with the K in a cover and would love one that's both light and protective for travelling with the Baby K.

[RobertKindle]

I just purchased a Kindle for myself, the one reviewed here, it is very nice.  It took me a decent amount of online comparison before I decided on this one.  So far I really like it.

This is my first post. 

[Anniehow]

How does the "word look-up" feature on this device? That's one feature I can't do without?

[Ann in Arlington]

How does the "word look-up" feature on this device? That's one feature I can't do without?

Same as with previous Kindle versions. . . .navigate the cursor to the beginning of the word and a brief definition pops up. . . .and you can select to get more if you wish.

[pitbullandfire]

I just got my new Baby Kindle. I love her. I hate to say my Fire is falling down the Kindle Klan ranking. My K3 is hard to beat but for size and portability the Baby Kindle is PERFECT. Now I'm just waiting for my Oberon and my skin to arrive.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[fionashin]

I thought I hated the Kindle. I have a Kobo and while it was kind of nifty, I hated the lag in between turning pages. Should've read the reviews before spending a bunch of money on it.

Then I actually got one. The $79 Kindle.

I think I heard angels sing as soon as I opened up the package and played around with it.

Great review. This machine does one thing and does that d*mn well.

[dthmtlgod]

Angels singing. That is priceless.

[Alan Petersen]

Nice review.

I just got my basic Kindle 2 days ago. I paid the extra $30 to not have ads displayed so it cost $109.

I'm loving it so far. I've been reading Kindle eBooks on my Mac, iPad, and even on my HTC phone but never got around to buying a Kindle. But the new low prices got me to go for it. I love the basic because it's just that, a basic e-reader. I already have an iPad so all I wanted was a small e-reader to just read books and this new Kindle is perfect. It's tiny so I can take anywhere I go and it's easy to take out and throw back into my bag when I'm on the subways without having to worry about the iPad.

[maggy77]

I have had mine for a couple of weeks now - prior to that I used Kindle for PC (which I love); but now I can put my books on my little kindle and take them with me to appointments.  I found a nice leather case on eBay for 98 cents and $9.95 shipping... it takes about two weeks to get it and it is a very nice case - just as good as the $40 ones on Amazon. 

I wish it had a backlight for reading at night, but not really an important feature; since I can read on my PC when I am at home in the evening.  I bought the $109 Kindle touch for my daughter-in-law (with the same case as I have).  She loves it; and for her, the touch works better. 

[Riverrun]

I've had mine only a few weeks, but I love it. I got the one without advertising, so paid a little more. I only wanted something to act as a reader - nothing more - and as small and light as possible. This is absolutely perfect!!!

[Sarah Ettritch]

I've had mine for almost two weeks now, and I'm loving that I can read books anywhere (rather than stuck in front of my computer using Kindle for PC). Yes, it's basic, but since all I want to do is read, I don't need any of the bells and whistles. I'm happy with it so far, and I don't even have wi-fi! I transfer books using USB.

My one pet peeve: the 5-way button. Even though I have small hands, when I'm trying to navigate using the four outer buttons, I always end up hitting the middle button at some point. Wider buttons would definitely help.

[KarlaGomez]

Hey!
Thanks for your review, seems so honest.

That's all I needed to hear. I'm sold!