The All New Kindle 3G Wireless Reading Device

With Kindle by Amazon, the reader can take with him his digital library via a mobile high-speed connection.

Click Here for the All New Kindle 3G Wireless Reading Device

In electronic books and in view of the obvious commercial failures counted these last years, we thought we have forgotten the question. It was apparently without counting on Amazon. After a long round of observation, the on-line bookseller revealed, the new Kindle. And, it is necessary to recognize that the object is surprising. Not only by its design but also by its capacities.

Let us quickly go through the basic technical characteristics of the device: a 6 inches black and white monitor, 600 x 800 pixels, integrating the E-Ink display technology already present at its competitor Sony. The novelty of Kindle is really somewhere else. Because where there its predecessors needed a wired connections to be fed, Kindle is free as the air.

Concretely, the device is permanently connected to the broadband mobile network of the American operator Sprint. For the user, it is a little bit like he left his state-of-the-art mobile phone connected permanently to Internet. Except that, for Kindle, the customer has no subscription to sign up with a IAP, outside the cost of the device fixed at 399 dollars.

For this price, the reader can access from anywhere (or almost) the Kindle Store and make his shopping (by using the integrated keyboard) among a catalog already rich of 88,000 references (where 110 out of the 112 books present in the classification of the best-sellers of the New York Times). Recommended average price: 9,99 dollars. Before buying, the reader can download the first chapters of a book.

Other novelty: the possibility of reading the daily press (New York Times, Newspaper Wall Street, Washington Comment), magazine (Time, Atlantic Monthly, Forbes) or international (Le Monde) for the Francophiles) in real time. In practice, Kindle reloads alone as soon as it identifies the publication of a new edition.

The download of a book from Kindle Store does not take more than one minute, according to Amazon. A backup copy is automatically put at the disposal on the Amazon.com account of the user. Furthermore, it is possible to transfer by e-mail, for a reduced cost, Word documents, or photos of the JPG, GIF, BMP or PNG formats. The data being then translated to be available for consultation directly on Kindle, which also has a USB port for a connection to a computer.

Limited internet access

On the other hand, it’s out of the question to surf wherever on the Internet. Kindle proposes only the instant access of about 250 blogs (among which BoingBoing, The Onion or the much appreciated TechCrunch). The storage capacity of the device, except the optional SD memory card, is of 200 titles, and integrates also a dictionary as well as an access to Wikipedia.

LAST MINUTE NEWS

If you plan to go for last minute shopping, be aware that Amazon Kindle Wi-Fi is at present out of stock. The new orders will be delivered only after Christmas, and Amazon suggests that the interested persons buy Kindle 3G instead, particularly if they want to be delivered in time for Christmas. It is not surprising that Kindle Wi-Fi is out of stock, because its price of $139, while Kindle 3G costs $189. The Amazon’s announcement declares:

" Because of a massive demand, Kindle ( Wi-Fi) is temporarily out of stock. The orders made today will arrive after December 24th. Order now to reserve your spot in the line. Our Kindle 3G at $189 is always available and will arrive on time for Christmas. "