So, I checked out a first generation Kindle from the library because I am considering buying one of the newer models and over all it works great. However, their PDF conversion services kind of suck.

I read on Amazon's website that the new Kindle apparently has a built-in PDF reader so (hypothetically) the documents should appear on the Kindle exactly like they do on my PC.

Does anyone own a new model Kindle? If so, how is the PDF support?

7/12/2010 2:27:10 PM

yes, we have a new kindle, and it reads pdfs natively.

but, if it's a pdf that's graphics heavy, it looks like shit (i had some pdfs of magazines i tried tor read with the kindle)

if it's just text, then it's fine.

7/12/2010 3:21:42 PM

Awesome. One last question, do you know if it handles LaTex well? One thing I would like to use it for would be to read academic publications that will include mathematical notation.

Also, why do you say the graphics heavy documents look like shit? Does it rearrange the page formatting (on the Kindle 1 it does that on the graphics heavy pdfs I've converted)? Or do the graphics just look bad?

Thanks for the info!

[Edited on July 12, 2010 at 3:32 PM. Reason : ``]

7/12/2010 3:31:21 PM

not sure about latex.

the graphics just look bad in monochrome, specifically in articles that have a lot of text overlaying the graphics, it's just difficult to read.

7/12/2010 3:54:53 PM

+1 for PDF support working nicely. You'll need the latest firmware to make it all happy though - the latest adds zooming, which is $ when your client likes to send huge photos as PDF's

7/13/2010 12:56:58 AM

Just ordered the new Kindle coming out later this month. I'm excited. They finally made the 6" smaller and shrunk the keyboard slightly. $139 isn't bad for the wifi version.

8/9/2010 5:02:05 PM

I will exchange my Kindle2 with 3G for a Wifi Kindle 1:1 if anyone is interested. I've used it precisely twice, mainly to land a big contract.

8/9/2010 8:26:19 PM

so you can actually surf the webs with the new kindle?

by far, that's the only thing i'm missing on my sony PRS-600

8/10/2010 9:43:39 AM

^you can on the old one. It's just "experimental" and doesn't look all that great. I was able to navigate into my gmail on the old kindle though.

I don't know if the new one is any different. Maybe they've updated the webkit browser. That'd be awesome.

Actually it is supposed to be improved:

Quote :

"The Article Mode in Kindle 3's web browser enhance readability by showing the main text on any web page The web browser will support downloading Kindle format files (.azw, .azw1), unprotected Mobipocket files (.mobi, .prc), and text files directly onto the device The web browser supports JavaScript, SSL, and cookies but not Flash or Java Applets Experimental web browsing is free to use over Wi-Fi"

Quote :

"Never mind the books. Amazon’s new Kindle reader is offering as an “experimental feature” a web browser based on WebKit – the same engine as Apple Safari and Google Chrome – that is free to use over 3G networks:"

That's awesome.

[Edited on August 10, 2010 at 10:14 AM. Reason : s]

8/10/2010 10:07:37 AM

maybe it's just me, but i don't want or need to browse the web while using my ebook reader. it'll look like shit regardless b/c the screen isn't designed for that kind of stuff (image heavy pages)...so i'd rather use the laptop or my phone.

8/10/2010 1:30:02 PM

It's just that the option exists and it's free over 3g. We'll find out once it's released how practical it is.

8/10/2010 1:38:30 PM

^^ it's just you

seriously, though, if i'm going to spend money on an ereader, why not pick one that will let me check my email? you mention your phone...do you pay for 3g/4g service when you travel outside the country? you mention your laptop...do you carry it with you everywhere you go?

i carry my sony everywhere (just like i did with whatever book i was reading at the time) but i don't always have my laptop...i don't pay the ridiculous cost for a smartphone or smartphone service, but there is plenty of free wifi...when i'm in europe next month, i won't have a phone at all, and i likely won't take my netbook with me EVERYWHERE

so if it costs virtually nothing for the added ability (as long as it's passably decent, of course) to check email or do some basic browsing, i consider that a pretty heavy weight in its favor over the other options

and that's just the wifi...i actually don't see the point in the 3g version since i will rarely need something to read that isn't a book i will have already downloaded while at home or around free wifi, but the ability to do some basic browsing wherever you are is pretty attractive

*shrug*

8/10/2010 2:12:58 PM

http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/25/new-kindles-are-amazons-fastest-selling-yet-start-shipping-tod/

Yay! I didn't order mine until August 5th though. So according to amazon i won't get it until the 7th but maybe next week! Really looking forward to it.

I've been using epub on my sony reader. How easy is it to convert epub and other formats for the kindle? Or should i just convert to pdf? Any advantages/disadvantages of reading pdfs versus not converting?

8/25/2010 4:33:07 PM

^ I just found this http://calibre-ebook.com/

I'm contemplating buying a kindle and needed to know how hard converting would be, it's easy with this.

8/29/2010 4:05:27 AM

I love my Kindle 2. LOVE. In fact, I'm on my second Kindle 2 because my first one was unfortunately lost. I'm actually a little annoyed that I didn't wait for the latest gen Kindle, but whatever. If we come into some money or my birthday etc, I'll get the latest Kindle.

Total Kindle addict, but I like to read a lot. There's something wonderful about being able to carry around an entire library of books AND have the ability to purchase a new one seamlessly after I finish my other book.

I have no complaints at all. It has handled everything that I needed it to do. I've even posted on TWW from my Kindle. HOWEVER, it's not really a web browser. It has been useful in pinches where I needed to check my Email or look something up on Wiki, but it's like going back to a dial up in speed and awesomeness.

8/29/2010 11:21:34 AM

^^yeah i've used that before for my Sony pocket. Amazon still says my Kindle 3 hasn't shipped. Hope it comes this week.

8/29/2010 5:10:14 PM

Also this leather cover with integrated LED lights (draw power from the kindle so no battery required) is really nice, but at $60 it seems kind of pricey.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003DZ166G/ref=s9_simh_gw_p400_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0BGE60GWZBNB43JSZA10&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

I might end up getting it anyway, I don't know. I have a tendency to scratch up my consumer electronics really bad.

Cant decide between brown and black though.

8/31/2010 12:44:39 AM

Yeah I got the regular case. Now that I think about it I should have gotten the LED one.

-actually now after reading reviews the light is pretty uneven. I'll stick to a bed lamp or head lamp if i'm in transit. I can't stand uneven light like that.

[Edited on August 31, 2010 at 10:07 AM. Reason : s]

8/31/2010 10:05:09 AM

My kindle 3 came in!!! At the house though. Have to wait till 5:30 to play with it. I'll post from it later tonight.

9/3/2010 2:03:22 PM

I can't wait for your post!

9/3/2010 5:41:22 PM

Quote :

"I'll post from it later tonight."

Obviously the Kindle has a very slow internet browser

9/4/2010 2:29:43 AM

or he has to finish up his reading assignment before he can get online...

9/4/2010 3:04:14 PM

HEY. Haven't gotten on the computer since yesterday. It's really neat. Have the kindle 2 and 3 next to each other. Pretty noticeable difference in contrast and page turning. I just have to figure out how to put my epub/pdf books on there. I've used calibre before so I'll check that out.

9/4/2010 6:32:50 PM

So how do you feel about it?

I'd like to order one, but I'd like to wait until supplies are caught up. For some reason I'm much more annoyed at ordering something and having to wait than I am when I have to wait for something I want but haven't ordered it yet. (hopefully that made sense, I'm drunk)

You don't happen to use it to read manga do you? I don't ever read manga myself (I read lots of American comics though) but I'd like to get into some of them and I figure this would be a cool device to use to get into them, as long as the screen is big enough.

9/12/2010 1:35:16 AM

My wife got the little one in the mail yesterday and really likes it so far. She mainly got it because she would have spent nearly the $139 on printing all the shit she had to read for grad school this semester, and I think she's pretty happy with her decision so far.

9/12/2010 9:52:25 AM

yeah $139 is a pretty decent price point. I'm really enjoying the 3G version. Page turning is quite fast to the point where it's not really a bother and truthfully I couldn't physically turn the page of a book as fast as this thing turns pages so I don't know what people are complaining about.

My parents have the 2nd gen and this one is noticeably clearer and has a much better contrast. I picked up the regular case and it's great. I don't really have any complaints. I love being able to read on my iPhone and have it automatically sync to the Kindle and vice versa.

9/12/2010 1:23:55 PM

I ordered one, should be shipping out tomorrow.

9/20/2010 4:46:57 PM

Awesome. Let us know what you think of it. I took mine to the beach this past weekend and read with it in the sun for a good couple hours. I'm still amazed at the contrast and how easy it is to read. Never would have been able to use an LCD in the direct sun.

9/21/2010 11:39:03 AM

posting from kindle.

not easy but pretty neat.

9/23/2010 3:42:06 PM

Few more impressions, not posted from the kindle.

The web browser is cool, but it also totally sucks

This thing is freaking sweet. Totally worth the money (although I still don't think previous generations were worth it). I ordered it with no case, but it seems/looks pretty fragile, so I'm ordering the brown lighted leather case and I'll just be careful with it in the couple weeks it takes for free shipping.

In case anyone cares, manga works well with it using this program http://foosoft.net/mangle/ as long as the text is large. Sometimes in fan translations they use tiny fonts and I think it would probably make it hard to read on the small screen of a kindle.

And Calibre is incredible, I didn't have to do any setup or anything, it just detected the kindle and sent the books I wanted. The news delivery feature in calibre is awesome too, at least with the sites I've tried so far (Sports Illustrated, The Onion, and the News & Observer).

The collections feature is cool but I wish you could do it on your PC instead of just on the Kindle, it takes a while to put a bunch of books into a collection.

9/23/2010 4:02:09 PM

Calibre is awesome.

I agree the web browser is kind of slow and sluggish but it's much better than with the Kindle 2 and the new update seems to slightly speed it up. Although I'm not as happy as this guy about it:

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/09/how-to-do-almost-everything-with-a-kindle-3/

Quote :

"A. The new web browser — based on WebKit, the same rendering engine as Safari and mobile Safari — is so much better than previous instances that usually you can use this to read blogs without any special conversion. For some reason the web browser is still listed under the “Experimental” menu, but this thing is ready to go. Among friends, we suspect that Amazon doesn’t actually want to advertise how good the web experience is, because it’s on the hook for all the 3G data its users consume. Again, I prefer the mobile versions of most websites to the standard ones; you don’t have to pan/zoom, but it’s not hard to bookmark your favorites. (Liberal use of bookmarks also saves you from repeat typing, which is improved but still not fantastic.) Mobile versions of text-heavy websites (like mobile Twitter, Instapaper, Google Reader, etc.) look and function the very best. The other amazing improvement in the new Kindle browser is something called “Article Mode.” This is identical to the new “Reader” button in Safari, or the Readability bookmarklet. Basically, if you go to an ordinary web page, and it’s cluttered with images, ads, or laid out in a way that’s hard to read on your Kindle, click the “Menu” button and then “Article Mode.” Instantly the web page will be laid out in an easy-to-read text column, just like if you’d sent it to Instapaper."

I don't see any reason to ever use it if I have my phone. Maybe for a long blog post. I just read tons of fiction so I use it everyday. I love being able to sync it with my phone and read on either device. The only hassle is having to turn on/off the 3g on the Kindle so it'll sync the pages.

9/23/2010 4:22:37 PM

scrabble's out for the Kindle. I might check it out later.

9/27/2010 3:56:24 PM

The free game Shuffled Row is pretty fun, and much like scrabble. But based on the reviews I've seen it's about the only decent game.

I haven't seen scrabble though, I'll look it up.

9/27/2010 8:55:24 PM

looking at picking up the new kindle (wifi only version...not sure what i'd use $50 3g for)

what are the "bad" things about it?

10/1/2010 10:42:27 AM

I read too fast? I seriously destroy books on this thing. It's just so easy to get books and carry them with you. I have a few books I'm reading right now and there's no way I could carry them all around with me via hard copy.

Seriously though I haven't really run into any issues with it. I use it strictly as an e-book reader though. I could care less about it's browsing/gaming/social networking capabilities because I have a phone. Although it is pretty cool being able to highlight a quote and post it directly to your twitter or facebook account. If you read a lot I would definitely get one. $139 is almost nothing for the convenience of it. I went ahead and got the 3G because I didn't want to have to deal with finding WIFI to look up a word or purchase a book. It just depends on if you think the $50 is worth it.

I'm still amazed at how pleasurable it was reading in the bright sun at the beach the other weekend. In fact it was almost better than reading a book because it's screen is slighter grayer and easier on the eyes than white paper which reflects back in direct sun. Try reading an LCD screen in direct sunlight on the beach. You'd go ape shit crazy it's such a miserable experience.

10/1/2010 11:13:03 AM

yeah, i really like having an ereader, but the sony touch that i currently have doesn't have the best contrast...it's not difficult to read in sunlight once you change the angle (which has always been possible for me), but the touchscreen DOES make it more difficult since it's more reflective by nature

i'll probably sell it and then get the kindle, though i'll miss the external storage (i guess since the kindle has 3gb available it's less of an issue)

the wifi is actually a big selling point for me because my ereader goes with me EVERYWHERE (my laptop does not) and it would be nice to be able to nab some wireless to check email on the rare occasions when it would be helpful

i don't have a smartphone and i don't have GSM, so perhaps the 3G version wouldn't be a bad idea since you can use it in other countries for free (though now that i'm back from my honeymoon, i don't know that it's a valid point any time soon)

how bad does the browser suck? i truly only want it for email and perhaps quick googling purposes...i would consider the 3G if the browser isn't too bad (otherwise, i don't ever anticipate needing a book in a the middle of nowhere when there isn't wireless available)

[Edited on October 1, 2010 at 11:28 AM. Reason : .]

10/1/2010 11:20:48 AM

The browser isn't that horrible. It's improved over the 2nd Gen Kindle and it's actually pretty fast if you're loading mobile sites. Blogs and email are fine. It's when you start browsing full graphic heavy sites that the load times are slightly longer and it's more of a pain to navigate. I'd get a smart phone first though. You're the last person on earth not to have one.

10/1/2010 11:42:00 AM

haha, i know

honestly, though, getting a wifi/3g kindle would provide me with more of an excuse NOT to get one (plus i still have more than a year on my phone contract, so this would be a good intermediary)

how does it handle content loaded onto it that aren't copyrighted or from the amazon store? my sony supports (and seems to prefer) the free and open EPUB format...i have a fair number of books in this format already (it's beyond me why other ereaders don't support it) and i know i'll have to convert it...think it will handle that well?

10/1/2010 11:49:30 AM

I still have my Sony Pocket Edition so I was worried about converting my e-pub library too. Use calibre to convert e-pub to the various Kindle formats and it works flawlessly. It even transfers them to your Kindle for you.

The only issue I did run into was the Sony e-readers seem to natively convert PDF's better than the Kindle. Unless I'm doing something wrong. For example when you throw a PDF on a Sony reader it seems to recognize the text and automatically format for page turning. On the Kindle it just treats it like an image and you have to zoom in/out which makes it barely usable for reading PDFS. It's more of a moot point though because if you have any books in PDF you can easily convert them to Kindle's format using Calibre.

10/1/2010 12:02:55 PM

ah, i didn't know that calibre would do azw format

10/1/2010 12:05:06 PM

I don't think it does AZW but it supports a couple formats that Kindle treats just like AZW files. I forgot which specific file it converted my e-pubs to but it immediately recognized the Kindle and set all the options itself and the book looks great.

http://calibre-ebook.com/user_manual/faq.html#e-book-format-conversion

10/1/2010 12:09:17 PM

^ mobi?

10/1/2010 12:11:35 PM

Yeah that sounds right.

10/1/2010 12:17:30 PM

How much does it cost to download a book? Also, when you buy it, what does it come with out of the box (i.e. any titles already built-in, or some kind of credits that you can use to buy books, etc.)?


also, I was looking into the Sony e-reader and it looks like they are using their Overdrive system to enable you to check-out books from the library and put them onto the e-reader. Does anyone have any experience with that? Will Kindle offer this at any point, or is it a Sony exclusive thing? It sounds like that would completely revolutionize the e-reader as you could "check-out" a book for super cheap or free.

11/8/2010 10:20:34 AM

can someone explain free 3g with the new kindle?

11/8/2010 10:46:42 AM

I'm thinking about getting my mom the wifi version for Christmas. I'd also like to know the cost of ownership and if it would be worth it. She currently reads a new book every week, but mostly borrows them or has them gifted to her. Are the readers basically subsidized because they know the user will spend a shit ton of money on buying e-books? I don't want to give her a moneypit because while she absolutely loves reading, she spends next to no money on her books.

And is Kindle > Nook?

[Edited on November 8, 2010 at 10:55 AM. Reason : .]

11/8/2010 10:55:19 AM

Initially I bought a couple books for my kindle when they were all under $10, but now I only read the free books. I scan Amazon's free list every 2 weeks to download the newest popular free titles. I go through a book about once a week, and I rarely run out of free ones to read. The kindle really earned its keep when I travel though. It's always a pain to buy books in the airport because they are so expensive, but now I can browse the bookstore and then hop on my kindle to get the cheaper copy.

You mom can still read borrowed books (she's not limited to only reading on the kindle), but there are options to saving cash with the kindle too.

11/8/2010 11:16:40 AM

Quote :

"can someone explain free 3g with the new kindle?"

It's just that. Free 3g. The browser on the kindle 3 is an improvement over the older one but still not something you'd use unless you had to. It's mainly for browsing/purchasing books.

11/8/2010 9:44:40 PM

I'm thinking about buying one of these for my wife for Christmas because she always says she'd like to read more but it's just not convenient for her

so I'm glad to see this is a good product because I can't think of anything else to get her

what's the opinion on cover? that light one is pricey and I don't think she'd use it that much anyway, but I get the impression that you should definitely get something

11/8/2010 9:52:23 PM

I got a patagonia cover for my kindle and love it - http://tinyurl.com/29x7wx3

It's nice because it is easy to carry, protects the kindle, and i can read the kindle "naked" with zero hassle.

I got a standard book light I use for reading in the car, they are $3 at walmart and it works fine.

[Edited on November 9, 2010 at 12:51 PM. Reason : light]

11/9/2010 12:49:28 PM