INITIAL IMPRESSIONS- Light weight and beautiful display. Easy to hold, easy to read. Thank you Vani !
WHY SHOULD ONE BUY KINDLE?
I was using Kindle app on smartphone and PC for quite few years, and was skeptical of investing 5859 on this mere kindle reader (books need to be purchased separately). However, this lockdown forced me to spend all my time on phone and PC, leaving strained eyes. Also, distractions(whatspp, youtube etc) is so high while reading on internet connected devices.
This reader solves the problem in one go. It is light to hold for hours, and distraction free to improve your productivity to 2x-3x. Best of all, no strains on eyes means, you can carry your work for more amount of time, effectively making you productive by 4x-5x.
I am a law student and all my books, articles and Court judgments are in PDF( Legal documents use large font size and equal spacing, and lots of margin consuming only 10-12 lines in a page). It is better to convert them in mobi format online, and then transfer to it. Few page documents can be read in it in Landscape mode. However, it is not advisable to buy it only for PDF reading, if texts are small.
In the box-
Kindle, data cable (1m length, 2A decent quality)
BUILD QUALITY – Plastic body with matte finish. Won’t fall from your hand. Display glass also seems good. Doesn’t bleed or squeak on applying thumb pressure. Also, no smudges are left either on screen.
You may use cover, but it will increase the weight. I have white colored device, and so far it isn’t getting dirty as feared.
DISPLAY- E-ink makes it like a paper book. There is no strain on eyes, unlike mobile or PC, and you can read on it continuously for hours. I have set the brightness level to 9(out of 20), which works for me in day as well as night.
TOUCH – Touch sensitivity is fine for page turning usage only.
ECOSYSTEM – I have been using Kindle on smartphone and PC for years. It is advisable to all to first try kindle app, then invest in it. It is fairly smooth, but initial set and learning may consume an hour. You get features like inbuilt dictionary, highlight, share, sync across your mobile, pc and kindle, multiple fonts, variable font sizes which suffices the need for all. Purchasing a kindle book can be done from kindle app or from your linked amazon account.
Additionally, you can send PDF using USB cable, or mail it to kindle mail id using your approved/registered email id, or using SEND TO KINDLE software from PC.
PDF READERS- Kindle books are a treat to read on this. You can convert your PDFs to mobi format but it isn’t that perfect. PDF need to be plain text for better conversion.
PDFs have to be read in Landscape orientation. It divides the page in half, making texts more visible than Portrait format.
Graphics and images are not meant for it. Bigger the text, better it gets. I can’t suggest this reader to UPSC, medical and engineering students, as PDF used by them wouldn’t turn as beautiful as per their expectation. In my case, it works as legal documents use large font size and equal spacing, and lots of margin consuming only 10-12 lines in a page.
The Kindle Personal Document Service can convert and deliver the following types of documents:
Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx)
Rich Text Format (.rtf)
HTML (.htm, .html)
Text (.txt) documents
Archived documents (zip , x-zip) and compressed archived documents
Mobi book
Images that are of type JPEGs (.jpg), GIFs (.gif), Bitmaps (.bmp), and PNG images (.png).
Adobe PDF (.pdf) documents are delivered without conversion to Kindle DX, Second Generation and Latest Generation Kindles.
Adobe PDF (.pdf) can be converted to Kindle format and delivered on an experimental basis.
If the document that failed belonged to one of the above document types, please ensure the document is not password protected or encrypted. Note that the Latest Generation Kindles support password protected PDFs.
Helpful tips for personal document attachments:
The file size of each attached personal document should be less than 50MB (before compression in a ZIP file)
The email submitted should not contain more than 25 attached personal documents
BATTERY – On Wifi, it consumes much battery. 1% in 3 minutes, while on aeroplane mode, with no lights, 1-2% in an hour, and with lights on medium settings, 3-4% in an hour.
Wifi has to be turned on only to download books and sync.
It takes approx. 2 hrs to charge, and can last for 20 hrs on flight mode.
It has a lot of preinstalled screen savers, and they don’t consume any battery.
STORAGE- Out of 8 GB, I got 6.23 GB for my usage.
KINDLE UNLIMITED – It has to be additionally purchased. It allows you to borrow at max 10 books from store for free at once. Once your subscription ends, books are gone. Availability of new titles in far less, and you will have to purchase them separately. However, there are thousands of them available for a reader to engage.
Check beforehand in Kindle app before paying. This device came with a bundled offer of 3 months access for a mere Rs. 2, but can only be availed by select bank holders like Kotak, ICICI and HDFC etc.
I would suggest to purchase your own books, unless you’re getting Unlimited subscription at quite less during sale period.
CONCLUSION – Before investing in this reader, first get experience of Kindle app on your mobile. This reader will only provide distraction free reading and zero strain on eyes. For serious readers, who spend more than half an hour per day on using Kindle app, they will find it really useful.
Books
10 Days Returnable
You can return if you receive a damaged, defective or incorrect product.
Used Books
10 Days, Refund
Returnable if you’ve received the product in a condition that is damaged, defective or different from its description on the product detail page on Amazon.in.
Refunds will be issued only if it is determined that the item was not damaged while in your possession, or is not different from what was shipped to you.
