Kindle, Wi-Fi, 6" E Ink Display - includes Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers on sale

M. Erb Say: Kindle - Wi-Fi - 6" E Ink Display - includes Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers
The most compact Kindle yet. Extremely legible display, snappy performance, 2011-09-29
This review is for: Kindle - Wi-Fi - 6" E Ink Display - includes Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers
Length:: 9:38 MinsI was thrilled to receive my new Kindle. I ordered it Sep 28, chose overnight shipping and it arrived (Sep 29) just a few minutes ago. Usually I use a device for a while before reviewing it. In this case, I felt it was important to do a quick review right away because if it can help you in your purchasing decision, so much the better.If you are a little perplexed with all the various Kindle models and are wondering if this Is the Kindle for you, here are a few questions for you to consider...1. Do you need text to speech capability or have the desire to listen to mp3's on your Kindle? If you can live without that, then proceed. This Kindle does not have a speaker thus is not capable of text to speech or playing sounds of any kind including mp3's.2. Is color important to you? This is not a color Kindle, it is gray-scale. If you are mostly wanting to read books then this will work for you exceedingly well. The e-ink screen is gorgeous, sharp and provides the ability to change font size, font face and line spacing. It even displays photos quite nicely, but in gray-scale. And you can even zoom in on images.3. Is a physical keyboard a necessity for you? If you like to make notes and annotations while reading, you may want to look at another model Kindle that has a physical keyboard. Although this Kindle has a screen-based keyboard, it is tedious to type more than a few words or URL's. It works very well for minimal typing but it's not for you if you need more than that.4. Is compact size important for you? Then this is the one to get. It's thin, light and diminutive in size. Slips easily into a purse, pocket or inside pocket. It is so light which makes holding and reading with one hand for longer periods of time very easy.5. Do you want to be able to occasionally use a web browser to access a web site? Well surprise surprise, you can do that on this Kindle. It's an "experimental" feature but it works quite well. It's been experimental for years, so I'm not quite sure why it's still labeled experimental. But in any case you can visit websites, save bookmarks and it works.I also own the original Kindle with the SD card slot. Compared to the original Kindle, this new one is svelte. Thinner, lighter and notably, the e-ink on this new Kindle is vastly improved. In low interior lighting with gray overcast lighting outside, I'm able to easily read the Kindle. It is amazing how the screen almost glows, as if it were backlit. Of course it is not backlit and in fact will not work in the dark. But if you have a small reading light, that solves that problem. Otherwise in most other situations you will pleased with the excellent sharpness and clarity of the Kindle text.Page "turning" was very snappy to me especially when compared to my old Kindle. The black page flash that occurs on every page turn on the old Kindle does not occur nearly as frequently with the new Kindle. It now occurs after every 5 page turns.The fact that there is no physical keyboard means that this Kindle is absolutely the easiest to carry Kindle ever. Fits nicely in the hand and the slightly grippy surface makes you feel secure in holding it... it will not easily slip out of your hand.Setup was a breeze. The Kindle immediately identified my Wi-Fi network and as soon as I entered my password using the onscreen keyboard, I was good to go. Signal strength indicated very high on the Kindle and I did not notice any degradation in signal no matter how I handled it.As concerns the onscreen keyboard, it was easy and intuitive to use. I don't expect to have to use it very often and for me I'd rather have no physical keyboard because that makes the Kindle smaller and easier to pack and go.You still get the typical Kindle tools, such as Highlighting, Notes, Annotations, Public Notes and a few others. You can upload PDF and TXT files and view them. You can easily transfer prior Kindle purchases to your new Kindle. You have the ability to create "collections" Once you've created a collection, you add items to it and this is a great way to organize many books.I have not had this model long enough to comment on battery life, but I'm sure that based on my previous Kindle and the specifications that it will excel. I believe that reading 1/2 hour a day will let you go a month before needing a charge if Wi-Fi is off. That's pretty awesome. It is charged via the included USB cable and that can be from your computer or via an AC to USB power adapter, or in-car power port USB adapter.And don't worry that the memory has decreased in this Kindle. There is still more than enough memory to hold well over 1000 books. And you archive books too which means they are just a click and a few seconds away from being downloaded back to your Kindle from the Amazon Cloud.Regarding the ads... they are not objectionable. In fact (don't tell this to the advertisers) I didn't even notice that there was an advertisement on the home screen until I deliberately looked for it. It takes up just a small portion of the bottom of the screen and is no taller than an inch in height. I don't know for sure whether all ads are the same size but the one I'm looking at is very unobtrusive. The screensaver ads are full page and don't bother me at all. And of course, you may just end up getting a good deal on something. I LIKE the ads. Just today I got a couple from an ad that saves me $5 on a $10 Amazon purchase in addition to my choice of a selected list of Mystery/Thriller books for only $1. Love the deals!I think Amazon has another winner on its hands with this ad-supported Kindle. You just can't beat it for reading and I'm so glad I got it.If you have any questions please leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer them.UPDATE: 10/16/2011 - I had the opportunity to compare the display of my new Kindle with that of a friends who had a Kindle with keyboard. I'm not sure how old his is, but his display actually had a somewhat lighter colored background which made the legibility slightly better in my opinion. I was quite happy with the clarity, sharpness and contrast of my new Kindle until I compared with him. Now I'm a little conflicted. It's still great, don't get me wrong, But it's not an improvement necessarily over the previous generation as far as I can tell. It's also possible that there are variations in the e-ink display depending on the luck of the draw. I may question Amazon about this and will report back here if I do. I'd still get this in a heartbeat, but just wanted to let you know about the contrast issue.UPDATE: 10/17/2011 - There is a new firmware update for the Kindle that addresses the page refresh issue. The new version is 4.0.1 If installed, you will see an additional option in the Settings panel on page 3 called "Page Refresh." This allows you to have the Kindle refresh the page at each page turn (the screen flashes black briefly.) Otherwise the Kindle will not refresh the page until after each 5 page turns.UPDATE: 10/19/2011 - I called Amazon Kindle Support to discuss the screen darkness issue I mentioned above. They said they'd send a replacement which I've just received. I'm happy to say that the screen background is in fact -slightly- lighter in color on the new Kindle I just received. I'm happy and probably would have still been happy had I not replaced it. But at least I am psychologically satisfied now. The difference in background color was extremely subtle so I wouldn't worry at all about it if you are happy with your newly purchased $79 Kindle. However there do seem to be some circulating that are more obviously darker and if yours is one of those, then contact Amazon.UPDATE: 12/6/2011 - Wow, the way these specials offers are going, this Kindle is going to end up being free. I just got another $10 Amazon gift card for $5 the other day. Plus a free Audible Audiobook and 50% off a Kindle cover. Loving the special offers.

Joe Say: Kindle - Wi-Fi - 6" E Ink Display - includes Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers
Better than the K3 (kindle keyboard). Here's why., 2011-10-12
This review is for: Kindle - Wi-Fi - 6" E Ink Display - includes Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers
As a rabid kindle person, this new model is BETTER than the K3 (now "kindle keyboard") with 3G/no ads that I've had for a year. Keep in mind I use my eReader with one purpose: reading - not audio or anything else. I won't touch upon everything, but here's a general list of why it's better:1. YOU DON'T NEED 3G. I barely used the 3G on my K3 and I'm convinced it's not needed. Just plan ahead load up before your trip! Besides, even if you forget to load your kindle, most places have wifi now anyway. I wasted $50 on my K3 getting 3G. Clearly, many other reviewers agree.2. SIZE, WEIGHT , COMFORT. I don't care what anyone says, the K3 became uncomfortable to hold pretty quickly, leading to constant hand switching and adjusting. This model is much lighter, smaller, and comfortable - the lightest available.3. MEMORY NOT AN ISSUE. Do you really need more than 1400 books on your device at one time?? I never understood that. After I finish a novel, why am I going to need it on the device? If I need a book from the past, I can download it again from "manage my kindle" on the Amazon site. I read about 50 books/year so it would take 28 years for me to fill it up!4. PRICE/VALUE. At $79 plus tax, this is a tremendous value and Amazon has very agressively priced it presumably to compete with the Nook equivalent from B & N. How can anyone NOT try it for that price? There are CASES AND COVERS that are only $20 cheaper!5. SPECIAL OFFERS. At first this seemed prohibitive to me, but they do NOT display during reading. They're only shown on the homepage (who cares?) and on the screensaver (Again, who cares - it's in the case at that point). If they appeared on the bottom during reading (like a free iPhone app) that would be a different story.6. ABOUT THE KINDLE TOUCH. As I write this it hasn't been released yet, but I don't like the idea of a touch screen for an eReader, which is why I am not waiting for it. We're not talking about an iPhone or iPad. I want a nice, clean screen for my dedicated reader. With a touch screen, I now have to worry about, dirt, smudges, fingerprints, and the like. Upon scouring these reviews, I see others agree with me.I hope this helps with your decision. As opposed to many of the book reviews, most of the reviews for this product are very good, thorough and well thought out. I encourage you to read them. They helped shape my decision and I hope I have done the same for you.

M. Campbell Say: Kindle - Wi-Fi - 6" E Ink Display - includes Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers
Kindle vs. Kindle Keyboard. operation, 2011-10-02
This review is for: Kindle - Wi-Fi - 6" E Ink Display - includes Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers
Length:: 0:52 MinsA brief video showing the Kindle and Kindle Keyboard operating side by side. This Keyboard was ordered on Sept. 9, 2011, so it is a recent model. In this video you can see the page turns and the difference in the screen refresh (Keyboard redraws every time, new Kindle only 5-6 pages). I'll be returning the Keyboard, so far I'm happy with the new Kindle and won't miss the lack of keyboard or audio port since I didn't use them. I took off one star since unprotected .mobi files aren't working out of the box right now like they did on the Keyboard (file transfers but does not show up). [Update: See comments, this was a minor issue with the Kindle not putting the files in the right folder, easily corrected manually but this should get corrected.]