Reading
has been a source of great pleasure for me for my whole life. So, perhaps it
was inevitable when the ‘digital book’ was launched that I would be keen to
check it out. Being a frequent traveller they had huge appeal, but I also had
some reservations. I came to the conclusion that I love them though. Here is
why.
Size
The Kindle is smaller than the average paperback. It is a light, slimline and
barely noticeable addition to any travellers bag, but one that could make a
long airport delay more bearable. Combine this with the capacity to store
hundreds of books electronically and you have oodles of titles at your
fingertips, whenever, wherever.
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| Kindles can hold all these books and hundreds more |
Features
The
Kindle being an electronic item concerned me in terms of battery life, but I
needn’t have worried. The battery lasts so long I have not yet managed to run
it down and we have some pretty long roadtrips under our belt together. Reading
from a screen in bright sunlight can sometimes be near impossible but the
Kindle’s anti-glare screen lives up to its promise. It also features two
buttons on each side which act as page turners and are easily accessible with
your fingers, whichever hand you use to hold the Kindle.
Ease
of use
To
put reading material onto the Kindle you need to have an Amazon account and
then you can download straight onto your Kindle, from the Kindle. The Kindle
menu is simple to navigate so it is pretty straightforward.
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| Kindles are so easy to use |
Convenience
I
love that wherever I am when I finish reading my book I can have a new one at
my fingertips instantly. With just a few clicks I have access to an enormous
variety of literature. This is especially wonderful when you run out of reading
material in a country whose main language is not your own and books in your own
language are hard to come by.
Price
Tablets
and iPhones and all sorts of other things enable us to access reading materials
on the go, but few beat the Kindle on price. With the latest model costing only £90 - £160 ($120 - $180) they are fantastic value for money. The Kindle version of a book (the
download) is usually cheaper to purchase than the book version too.
Appearance
The
Kindle is a nifty little piece of kit but it is not flashy in the same way that
other products can be. For example Apple products are designed to be
eye-catching, but as a result, I just wouldn’t feel comfortable advertising to
people that I have such a high-value item on me. I appreciate the Kindle’s
subtlety.
The
concerns
I
was worried about the battery life (being stuck in an airport with a dead
battery would be no fun), protecting it (sand, suncream and being dropped in
the bath never did much for books but all of my books survived these challenges)
and the thought of losing it (gaah!)
Also,
as a friend of mine pointed out, it is hard to feel attached to a Kindle. You
are not going to write a heartfelt inscription inside the front cover for
generations to come to see and feel the history in the item. They are equally
tricky to ask authors to autograph. Don't get me wrong, I love the smell and feel of a book, but if it makes you travel with books you must have more space in your bag than me.
The Kindle
offers no backlighting, which means that you need a light source in order to be
able to see the screen. For this reason it is not great in low light conditions, such as overnight journeys.
It
is also not easy to type on, so I would not use it as a primary vehicle to
access the internet (the 3G version) but it is possible, albeit a slow process,
to type a few emergency sentences if you need to.
If
you can see past these concerns, and as long as you can keep it relatively
clean (and out of the bath!) I think the benefits far outweigh these concerns.
Have
you got a Kindle, or any other type of e-reader? What do you think?
If you haven't got a Kindle you can buy one here
or through the image link below. This is an affiliate link and if you follow it to buy a Kindle I will earn a little commission at no extra cost to you (and be extremely grateful!)
or through the image link below. This is an affiliate link and if you follow it to buy a Kindle I will earn a little commission at no extra cost to you (and be extremely grateful!)
