Kindle Touch

[mooncliff]

I have used a Kindle Touch for two months, and I will say that for reading books, it is terrific. I have been reading all those books I never got around to reading like The Time Machine, War of the Worlds, A Christmas Carol, Moby Dick for FREE... Never need to buy a paperback classic again. Good, sturdy, portable, battery lasts weeks, holds THOUSANDS of books, has speech to text, a good dictionary, holds audiobooks.

But that said, that is all that it does. For $140, sold at a loss by Amazon, and about 1/4 the price of an iPad, the functionality is maybe 1/100th of an iPad. It can't really do email, show a webpage, apps, or anything else.

I keep it handy as if I had a paperback stuffed in my bag, and for that it is perfect.

[Steve]

Re: Kindle Touch

How does it compare with the Kindle Fire?
Did you compare?

[LazyBoy]

Re: Kindle Touch

I suggest the mobileread.com forums for picking an e-reader.

An e-ink e-reader is superior for reading straight text, like novels. If you read a lot of this, you'll find it easier on the eyes than an LCD tablet. Tablets, like the Fire, iPad, etc. do much more: surfing, apps, color, PDFs (size is important), text with images (some magazines), video, etc. Only you can decide if you need a dedicated reader and/or a tablet.

Also, you'll want to consider eco-systems. The Fire is designed to consume Amazon content; the iPad, Apple content; etc. You can read Amazon books on an iPad, but I'm not sure about the other way around. Video content may have less cross-availability.

I'm a kindle e-ink guy. I bought a Kindle Keyboard after the Touch was out, due to some UI preferences.

[mooncliff]

Re: Kindle Touch

I do not have a Kindle Fire, so I don't know. I only say things about what I have actually used extensively.

[Gnosis]

Re: Kindle Touch

Ditto on the Touch. Love mine and have been plowing through many books with it. Very readable and very handy. Glad I bought one.

[davidstvz]

Re: Kindle Touch

I tried the super basic kindle 3 first, then upgraded to a touch. Definitely much better. These are my first e-readers and I'm enjoying them very much. I was most interested in saving space, but saving money and having books instantly available after I purchase them is a very nice bonus too! I have a tendency to hoard books and this has neatly put that to rest and has made it easy for me to trim my collection of paper. I'll still be picking up paper copies of truly excellent books... I could see maybe 2 or 3 a year.

[Southernguy]

Re: Kindle Touch

I am now in the business, importing mobile phones and tablet pc. from China. There is a whole world there.
We do not work with the "brands", that is Motorola, samsung, etc. We do work with "no name" stuff, which has problems but is getting better.
All come with android OS.
Now they are in the number 4 version, which is very good and completely open to play everythibng, and with a wide android market to download stuff at very low prices. Apps cost about 1-5 dollars most of them.
There are models which have 3g and GSM functionality, with GPS (AGPS or autonomous GPS).
Their cost in China (the most complete 10 inches models) is not much over 200 dollars.
The ones we import, with capacitive screen and advanced (2.3 and 4) android versions, fast processors (though not double core) and without phone capabilities cost about 150 dollars.
I have not tried the E readers. LCD screen are not good to read a lot.
I think android is going to get most of the mobile market in two or three years. Is very good and improving OS.

[Thailandnotes]

Re: Kindle Touch

I'm assuming 150 dollars is the wholesale price and that is marked up 100 percent by the time it reaches the consumer in the states.

Most people I know who have taken the plunge have bought a Kindle and they use it only for reading books, but they are all wishing for a slightly bigger screen, a device that can easily hook to and surf the net, and for some way to write paragraphs that doesn't feel like close to texting.

I'm not sure why, but a lot of friends I was sure would buy an ipad have not.

[Polish_Silver]

Re: Kindle Touch vs fire

Fire can do more things: play videos, android apps (bit of a nuisance, though)

However, screen is not as good for reading text.

Also, kindle fire cannot do text to speech. That was a killer for me.

Kindle touch can do text to speech.


I also like kindle touch for playing mP3 files--headphones help a lot. I have noticed in some cases the kindle touch has more noise than the same mp3 file played from the PC.

[Polish_Silver]

Re: Kindle Touch vs fire

Fire can play videos and do android apps (bit of a nuisance though).

It cannot do text to speech.

Touch is better for reading. I find the touch screen not very sensitive or precise.

It is also good for playing mp3 files. I find that some of them have more noise on the K touch than
on the pc. Headphonse help a lot--the volume is very low without them.

[doom&gloom]

Re: Kindle Touch

I am now in the business, importing mobile phones and tablet pc. from China. There is a whole world there.
We do not work with the "brands", that is Motorola, samsung, etc. We do work with "no name" stuff, which has problems but is getting better.
All come with android OS.
Now they are in the number 4 version, which is very good and completely open to play everythibng, and with a wide android market to download stuff at very low prices. Apps cost about 1-5 dollars most of them.
There are models which have 3g and GSM functionality, with GPS (AGPS or autonomous GPS).
Their cost in China (the most complete 10 inches models) is not much over 200 dollars.
The ones we import, with capacitive screen and advanced (2.3 and 4) android versions, fast processors (though not double core) and without phone capabilities cost about 150 dollars.
I have not tried the E readers. LCD screen are not good to read a lot.
I think android is going to get most of the mobile market in two or three years. Is very good and improving OS.

With the high import duties, what is your end user cost down there?

[jk]

Re: Kindle Touch

huge difference in battery time on touch vs fire. the latter is for games, movies, etc. the former is for reading text.

[c1ue]

Re: Kindle Touch

It seems silly to compare an iPad vs. a Kindle Touch, or even Kindle Fire.

iPad breakdown costs are in the $330 range - probably lower due to Apple's economies of scale.

Kindle Touch breakdown cost is in the $85 range, with Kindle Fire being in the $205 range.

Apple gets its profits up front, with some extra due to app sales, while the Kindles primarily are an enabler for ebooks.

I've looked at the Kindle Fire - it has some utility for games, but is largely not usable for many tablet PC functions due to its not having mobile data. No mobile data = no email on the fly, no browsing outside of wireless range, no GPS.

There's also no camera, the Fire has a 7" screen vs. a 9.7" iPad 2 screen, and has far less memory (8 Gb vs. 16 to 64 Gb for iPad 2). On top of all this, the Fire is much lighter in no small part due to having a much smaller battery but with a similar battery duration.

The Fire is an incremental step towards a tablet - but one which Amazon can test the market with even as it considers whether to take on the much greater capital risk of a full on tablet.