Which Kindle?

[HarryMonkey]

My other half wants a Kindle. (I must admit, I wouldn't mind one myself).

 

What I'd like like some help with is which one should we get? She wants a touchscreen so that knocks the cheaper £69 one on the head, so we favour the paperwhite. However, is it worth paying the extra £20 to get the Kindle Fire?

 

She likes to read and finds it a pain when attending the hospital to have to cram a book into her bag. She has an iPhone 4 for FB and music etc so wouldn't necessarily benefit from the apps on the Fire. She doesn't want to watch movies so there's no point in going for the HD Fire. She prmarily wants it just as a book reader, to read on teh train, at the hospital and probably at home in bed without having the light on to keep me awake, as well as in teh garden in the summer (if we get one).

 

As a book reader, what is the Fire like? Is it as good, better, worse than the paperwhite? What I don't want to do is buy one and then regret not buying the other one.

 

All contributions gratefully accepted.

[laserblazer]

I just saw this Kindle Paperwhite - Touch Screen Ereader with Built-In Light I've not looked at it yet.

[clareq]

I looked at both the Fire and the paperwhite before Christmas, and found that, if it's only for reading the paperwhite wins hands down - the Fire doesn't seem to benefit from the matt screen that the dedicated e-readers have.

[twin--turbo]

I bought the wife a £69 one for christmas as she reads alot. She did not want to use it "I Just like real books"

 

last week she took it to work during a night shift and read 5 chapters on one book, whe is now on her third kindle book.

 

My m8 has hundreds of books in his garage. H never touches them, he Bought a £69 one as reading on his Galaxy phone was getting tedious.

 

He was the one that convincved me that buying one for the wife would eventualy work even though she resisted on principle!

 

So.

 

My recomendation would be to start with one £69 , and if it looks like it's going to get use then consider upgrading.

 

 

I don't read many books so can't realy comment but I nearly got hooked reading the first page of a book when I set up teh wifes!

 

Rob

[Soulfish]

If you want a device for just reading get a Kindle (touch, paperwhite, keyboard). If you want to be able to watch movies/browse the web and read books look at the Kindle Fire .

 

To give you an idea myself, my parents and my GF all bought Kindles when the Kindle 3 was released 2.5 years ago. We all use them extensively and GF upgraded this Christmas from the Kindle Keyboard w/3G to the Kindle Paperwhite w/3G. We also all have iPads, but prefer using the Kindle to read on.

 

Having a Kindle has helped me read a greater variety of books, in a greater variety of places. I always have my Kindle in my bag

[MYK-IT]

Try the Kobo Glo, expandable memory too! and cheaper than the Kindle PaperWhite.

Kobo Glo

 

ereaders and Kindle Fire (Android Tablet) are totally different products.

[RichCowell]

I got a Kindle Touch in August, and loved it, so upgraded to a Kindle Paperwhite just before Christmas, and love that even more...

 

I didn't really consider the Kindle Fire, as I don't want a tablet, it's too big, too heavy, and there are too many other distractions with it (Email / Facebook etc.) and the battery is nowhere near as good as a normal Kindle... It states an 8 week battery life, based on 30 minutes per day... I usually read for several hours a day, and I only have to charge it every 2 weeks ish...

 

I've not looked at other manufacturers, but if it's the Kindle range you're looking at, I'd definitely recommend the Kindle Paperwhite... It's the same as previous versions, but the screen's lit, and it tells you how long it'll take you to finish the chapter/book... which is nice!

[matt40k]

Wildfire is basically a cheap iPad, the reason the Kindle is good is that e-ink screen - it basically means you won't get a headache a few hours in. Touch just seems, well pointless, whats wrong with a button? Whitepaper seems to have better battery life but not played with one yet.

[penfold_99]

We bought the mother-in-law a kindle fire hd for xmas and she absolutely loves it.

Its tied to amazon but with a simple option you can hook it into google play. I have been able to sync photos from her samsung mobile to her kindle via the amazon cloud.

 

The screen is excellent for reading and big enough to watch iplayer. tvcatchup works but you cant currently get 4od or 5 on demand as adobe have dropped android flash support and they require a newer version.

[sted]

i bought a kindle 3 wifi when they came out over here and ive never regretted it it is by far the best gadget ive ever bought. The fire is a backlit lcd screen so its basically a cheap tablet and as such the screen is better for films but e ink is so much easier on the eyes for reading. Ive heard issues with the paperwhites light but cant confirm and it also seems to have 1/2 the storage of a kindle 3. Touch to me seems pointless just means you get fingerprints everywhere and spend as long cleaning it as reading.

[sted]

We bought the mother-in-law a kindle fire hd for xmas and she absolutely loves it.

Its tied to amazon but with a simple option you can hook it into google play. I have been able to sync photos from her samsung mobile to her kindle via the amazon cloud.

 

The screen is excellent for reading and big enough to watch iplayer. tvcatchup works but you cant currently get 4od or 5 on demand as adobe have dropped android flash support and they require a newer version.

 

you can download the apk file still from adobe if you can install non marketplace apps