Is kindle worth it?

[101 tips]

I'm just wondering if Kindles are still popular - given the various ways of getting ebooks nowadays.

A lot of smartphones will display pdfs and you can download a lot of ebooks in pdf format

What would you say the benefits of having a kindle are, over say, a smartphone.

Thank you for your views on this topic.

[Betsy the Quilter]

101,

seeing as how this is a Kindle forum, I think you'll largely find our members (who are in the middle of Kindle watches for the new Kindles they've ordered) will largely say, yes, Kindles are quite worth it.    That's my answer anyway, having two Kindles, and iPad and an iPod Touch.  The reading experience on the Kindle is vastly superior for me.

The benefits compared to a smartphone:  larger screen, no backlighting, which is easier on the eyes, longer battery life, no data plan required.

Betsy

[101 tips]

Thanks Betsy, why would you say they are superior?

I'm not trying to "poo poo" the kindle, just to get thoughts and opinions from people who know the best about the subject.

[Betsy the Quilter]

101,

I added that to my post--I realized I had hit "post" too soon.

We have had members post (rarely) that they prefer their smartphones, but those members are in the minority.  It just shows that not every device is right for everyone.  Thankfully, we have choices!

Betsy

[KimberlyinMN]

E-ink = less eye strain

I can't imagine reading a book on a backlight screen.  (Other than for work.)  

[101 tips]

Cheers how does it compare to other e-readers, like the kobo

[KimberlyinMN]

Cheers how does it compare to other e-readers, like the kobo

That I don't know.   I've only had Kindles (and now the Nook Color that I've modded as an Android tablet).  I do have to say that the Kindle Customer Service is stellar! (That's enough reason for me to stay with the Kindle for the e-ink ereader.)

[101 tips]

What do you tend to use the customer services for? 

[Shastastan]

What do you tend to use the customer services for? 

Not trying to be a wise a_s, but my advice is for you to go and read the Amazon Customer Reviews on Kindle.  You might also try a Search of this website for Amazon Customer Service.  I think you will get a better response here if your questions are more specific after the aforementioned searches. 

[101 tips]

Thanks for your advice Shastastan - I'm always wary of Shills on amazon reviews, but I suppose Shills could exist on here too

[lynninva]

I love my Kindle.  It is light & I am able to read one-handed.  I can read out in bright sunlight, so it is great on my deck and at beach.   I also  don't have to worry about the wind blowing the pages like with a regular book.

I have used Kindle Customer Service when I purchased a book that was not formatted well for reading on the Kindle & I wanted a refund, which I received promptly.  Others have used them to walk through the problems they have encountered with their devices, some of which came from accidental drops.

I don't have a smartphone. I do use the Kindle app on my iPad at times when indoors, but the iPad is too heavy for extended reading.  I love the fact that Kindle books sync across my devices:  I can pick up reading on the iPad or pc where I left off on the Kindle.

Amazon has a huge selection of books.  I don't believe I have seen anyone beat them on price.  There are a lot free books you can get directly from Amazon. And every book you buy from Amazon is kept on their servers so that you can re-download them at any time to the devices on your account (usually up to six, but sometimes limited to less by the publishers).

I believe all the new Kindles have wi-fi.  You can now borrow Kindle books from the library and have them delivered via wi-fi; that is signifcantly easier than the process my Dad has to use with his Nook Color.

[intinst]

Thanks for your advice Shastastan - I'm always wary of Shills on amazon reviews, but I suppose Shills could exist on here too

Yes, some of them try to sell books.

[Betsy the Quilter]

Thanks for your advice Shastastan - I'm always wary of Shills on amazon reviews, but I suppose Shills could exist on here too

101 tips--

Just to be clear, this is a Kindle Fan Forum.  The vast number of our members have joined because they have looked at their options and have decided that the Amazon Kindle is the best device for them.   As I mentioned when you started this thread, because our members are Kindle fans, most are going to prefer the Kindle. (And it should be noted that many have other ereaders, too--nooks, Sony and Kobo as well as iPads and smartphones.)

Your comment about shills is neither appropriate nor going to win you any friends here.  Just sayin'.

Betsy
KindleBoards moderator

[Cardinal]

I got the iPhone 4 on launch day over a year ago and was really excited about reading eBooks on it.  I have managed to read one and only chapter of a book on it.  During this same time period of I have easily read over fifty books on my Kindle.  I find the eInk more enjoyable to read.  I also like that I can return an eBook for seven days with Amazon which as far as I know no one else does that.

[KindleChickie]

I love reading on my Kindle vs other devices because I have a strong preference for eink.  It is easier to read, I can take marathon sessions, the battery life is rated in months not hours, and there is no other distracts like push messages or phone calls.  Also, i can read in a greater variety of conditions.  My iPad was useless at work in bright light and high temps.

[PhillyGuy]

What would you say the benefits of having a kindle are, over say, a smartphone.

I've never read a long text on a smart phone, but as someone who has read books on the Palm IIIxe and Palm Z22, I may have relevant experience.

The backlit Palm IIIxe was a smidgen better for reading in pitch dark. In every other situation, the Kindle is much better due to superior outdoor performance and larger screen.  

The most important part, for me, is not the screen, but what has been called the eReader ecosystem.

On the Palm, the most important ecosystem component, for me, was integration with the now-out-of-business AvantGo.com. Every morning I connected my Palm to my computer in order to get newspaper feeds into it from AvantGo. Other parts of my Palm ecosystem included www.gutenberg.org and freeware conversion tools such as at http://www.pierce.de/makedocw.html.

On the Kindle, my AvantGo replacement is the news feature from calibre-ebook.com. Other important parts of my personal Kindle ecosystem are www.klip.me, www.longform.org, www.readingthenet.com, www.gutenberg.org, www.freelibrary.org, and the New York Times Lastest News blog from www.amazon.com.
[self promotion removed.  --Betsy]

Can you get as good an ecosystem on the smartphone of your choice as I do on my Kindle 3G? Perhaps. But it would cost more money, and I'm guessing it would be a little worse.
 

[Betsy the Quilter]

I loved AvantGo.  It's defunct now?  Sad....  I started reading library books on my Palm T|X.

Betsy

[Jaberwocky]

I have never been one to jump onto or into the latest and greatest gadget or technology that's out there.  I had a flip phone until two months ago and am still figuring out how to use my non big brand name company smart phone through a non big name company.  I am not over 50 and not in my 30's...

I had heard about the Kindle and was curious.

Last summer when there was the Kindle 3 watch on Amazon, I found and read everything I could about these Kindles.  I found this forum and waited for them to be released.  The rave reviews totally won me over.  I saved my sheckles and picked up the Kindle 3, which I think now is being called Kindle Keyboard - someone correct me if I am wrong.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Kindle, Vinny.  I have had my nose in a book since I was a young girl.  If I can't find something to read, I'll read the cereal box or the toothpaste tube.  Simply stated, I love to read.  

I find that on the Kindle I can read faster and because I have poor eyesight, I don't get the eye strain I get when reading regular books.  I do still read regular books from time to time, but I prefer the Kindle.  I can't even begin to imagine reading on my smart phone though...too small...

Kindles are pretty cool, and I've even converted a few folks.

[jbcohen]

My employer expects me to carry a blackberry every day so that I am within easy reach of he office all of the time.  I made a decision to get everything out of that berry that I could and loaded several electronic book readers on it including readers from: Amazon, Barns and Nobles, Kobo, Mobipocket and Overdrive.  Let me tell you there is one big draw back to reading on a smart phone like a berry, its that really small screen.  Two problems with reading on a smart phone:

1)  I can still make the font size the same on the berry as I have it on the kindle but I am flipping the pages three hundred times as fast on the berry as I do on the kindle.  

2) Another problem with the smart phone readers is that I can't side load anything, that means that I can't go to baen books and download books fro them and upload it to the smart phone via a usb cable.

So coming from a kindle boards member that has both yeah, I think the kindle is worth it.  However there are times where  will choose to go with the berry kindle:

1) When space will be an issue;

2) Times when I will not have a PC on me and I might run out of reading materiel.

[NightGoat]

I have had the original Nook, a Sony... I currently have an Archos 70, a Nook Simple Touch, an Android phone... when it comes to reading I always choose my Kindle 3/Keyboard or DXG.

I couldn't even point to a feature, I just enjoy reading on my Kindle devices.

Disclaimer: I am not a shill for anyone, but if it pays anything I am up for grabs.

[ScaryMerry]

Cheers how does it compare to other e-readers, like the kobo

For me, I actually rarely buy books through Amazon's store and acquire my ebooks from other sources. While other ereaders do not support Amazon's ebook format and nor does the Kindle support epubs, the Kindle actually supports far more formats than any other ereader. For instance, most of my ebooks are in the .mobi format, which is unsupported on other ereaders. True, I could convert them via Calibre should I ever decide to switch devices, but for now, I'll stick with my Kindle.

Also, I have a 3G K3, and as I can't afford internet on my phone, it's nice to have my Kindle around as a form of back-up communication in case of an emergency. Not the fastest internet, but it gets the job done. I like having the free internet and page turn buttons on the side of the device, so it will probably be a while before I ever update my Kindle to a new e-ink device.

[CegAbq]

I had an original Kindle, now have a 3G Kindle Keyboard, have installed Kindle for PC on my netbook, have had an original Motorola Droid smartphone & now have an HTC Thunderbolt smarphone.
I like being able to just use my phone when I head off to work - just to carry only one device, but at home I enjoy reading on my Kindle. I have no problem reading on my phone & the backlighting doesn't really bother me. But the e-ink is very comfortable on the eyes.
I also have a Kobo (won it) & before Amazon reached an agreement with Overdrive & the public libraries, I used the Kobo to read library EPUB & PDF books. Don't have to do that now, as all of the books are available in Kindle format as well.
Others have mentioned the "eReader ecosystem" & "the fact that Kindle books sync across my devices" - Amazon's ecosystem & the multiple other places that I can find books from plus that whispersync capacity is absolutely wonderful.

Yep - I'm a diehard Kindle fan & proud of it 

[MichelleR]

What do you tend to use the customer services for?  

Over the years, I've replaced Kindles twice -- once for typing random letters,* once because it just went kaput. One of the replacements wasn't connecting to the internet. In all cases, the service was quick and there was no problem replacing or fixing. (The lack of connection involved an incorrect MAC address.)

The last time I called customer service was because I used a special offer to buy a bag of cat food, and the bag was undeliverable due to damage. I wanted my coupon back. They ended up doubling the coupon amount.

* one time it began to type zzzzzzz, which might just mean my Kindle was not a Christopher Moore fan.

[BTackitt]

My husband has an iPad, He doesn't use it for reading for long stretches... more like 20 minutes then he borrows one of the 3 Kindles in the house... I've just about convinced him the $79 Kindle could be his answer....

why is Kindle better than other e-readers?
1. Selection
2. Customer service, ever drop ANYTHING? We've had 2 Kindles replaced FREE the NEXT DAY because of droppings (Both covered under the normal 1 year warranty that you automatically get just for buying a Kindle, no need to get extra ins.
3. SELECTION! B&N touts 2mill+ books, but if you actually look, they are counting the public domain free books that Amazon has, but doesn't count.

I'm getting a Fire to go along with my Kindle, Not for reading, but so I can watch movies or something while at school. I tend to have 1-3 hours between classes sometimes, and I stay at school because it's a 30+minute drive each way.

[Shastastan]

I agree that there may be some "shills" in customer reviews--on any site.  However, when there are literally hundreds of reviews, I don't think they are all shills-especially the negative ones.  Overall, I have been served very well by those customer reviews and I always try to add some myself.

Now on to Amazon Customer Service. 

While my K2 was still under warranty, I dropped it on the tile floor in my doc's office.  This was totally my fault.  I contacted CS to ask what I needed to do to send it in for repairs.  I fully expected to have to pay for the repairs.  The guy at Amazon said no problem and that he would send out a replacement that day and I should have it the next.  Also included was a return shipment tag at no cost to me.  I was speechless!  When the replacement arrived, it was an upgrade to the international version with the newer Whispernet that works better where I live. 

A few months ago, I contacted CS because an item didn't arrive within the 2 day shipping period that I had selected.  They apologized and gave me a $10 credit.  Again, I never expected that.  Well, Amazon has customer loayalty from me for sure.

[ScaryMerry]

One other thing that I recently learned when I was considering getting a Nook Simple Touch:

As I mentioned, I get most of my books from sources where I can acquire them with no DRM, so I very rarely buy books from Amazon and sideload my content onto my Kindle. It turns out that Nooks can only hold up to 512mb of sideloaded content and will not save any notes and highlights you make in sideloaded content, all in an effort to boost purchase from the B&N store. They don't publicize this, which I think is dirty, and has effectively prevented me from ever being a Nook customer.

[KindleChickie]

Cheers how does it compare to other e-readers, like the kobo

I have owned Sony and Nook.  The biggest advantage of Kindle is the Kindle store.  Second is Amazon customer service.  And I guess third would be Kindles warranty is transferable, so if you sell or gift within the year the remaining warranty transfers to the new owner.

[KindleChickie]

One other thing that I recently learned when I was considering getting a Nook Simple Touch:

As I mentioned, I get most of my books from sources where I can acquire them with no DRM, so I very rarely buy books from Amazon and sideload my content onto my Kindle. It turns out that Nooks can only hold up to 512mb of sideloaded content and will not save any notes and highlights you make in sideloaded content, all in an effort to boost purchase from the B&N store. They don't publicize this, which I think is dirty, and has effectively prevented me from ever being a Nook customer.

 I have a Nook simple touch and I could have sworn I have more than that side loaded.  I will check when I get home but I know I put over 100 books on from Calibre.

[balaspa]

I agree that, since this is the Kindleboards forum, you are more likely to find people who agree.  I can say, without a doubt, that I prefer my Kindle over reading books on a PC, tablet or smartphone, and I have read entire or parts of books on all of those.  The e-ink is what does it for me.  Also, with the new Kindles, I think they are more relevant than ever.

[ScaryMerry]

I have a Nook simple touch and I could have sworn I have more than that side loaded.  I will check when I get home but I know I put over 100 books on from Calibre.

There's more about the memory partitioning here: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-135458.html (search for "sideload" to locate the discussion).

[KindleChickie]

Yeah sorry merry.  Looking at mine I realized mine are stored on the SD card.  But I did see my notes on my side loaded books.

[GerrieFerrisFinger]

Absolutely!