Amazon's Kindle, Books You could read and War Blogs
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Prefer us on GoogleLast Updated: Nov 09, 2009, 08:20 IST1 min
Consumables
The IncumbentAmazon has launched its Kindle electronic book reader in India. The device can only be purchased from amazon.com and costs US$ 259 plus shipping and local duties. Its most unique feature is a 6-inch E-Ink display which, while monochrome, is almost as sharp and easy to read as regular paper and causes none of the eye strain associated with LCD screens. It uses a wireless Internet connection to download books from Amazon’s online store (users pay nothing for the service). The store currently offers around 280,000 books, magazines and newspapers for Indian users, with plans to add Indian periodicals already afoot. None are free, but users can load external content in PDF, DOC or TXT format.
Kindle weighs only 289 grams, so is light enough to hold while reading. Battery life is rated at four days with the Internet connection and 14 days without it.
Ambidextrous controls let you flip pages easily, and a full keyboard can be used to search through books and make annotations. In use, the screen is crisp and clear with even illustrations looking great, but there is a noticeable lag when flipping pages.
by Jamshed Avari,courtesy Chip magazineThe ContendersAmazon should look to its laurels, though. Sony’s Reader had recent editions designed to read newspapers (Daily Edition) and for easy portability (Pocket Edition) and they promise a wireless model soon. Barnes and Noble’s nook is expected to hit the market in early 2010, and the company will also sell Plastic Logic’s Que proReader, both of which will let you browse book for free while in B&N stores (not to speak of actually being able to try them out at the shop before you buy.) And devices like the Taiwanese company Netronix’s CoolER, Dutch IREX’s DR800, Borders Elonex, Fujitsu’s Flepia (the world’s first colour e-ink screen, available only in Japan), Hanwang’s 618 Reader (tied to the China market) are earning fans already.
Even Apple is in the fray: the iPhone has free e-reader software available, and if Apple’s tablet and similar devices do indeed appear , it should get really interesting.
First Published: Nov 09, 2009, 08:20
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