It's not easy to accurately capture E-Ink displays on-camera, and it's even harder to create a web-friendly image that doesn't take a year to load. Next we'll compare the Nook to the Kindle 3. The Nook has higher apparent contrast than the Kobo Reader, and when using the Amasis font, a heavier typeface than the Kobo, so we didn't include the Kobo here.
The Nook on the left has less contrast and less apparent sharpness than the Kindle 3 thanks to the Kindle's Pearl E-Ink display. Amazon has become the one to beat in terms of hardware, book selection, customer service and price. Our only complaint is longstanding: there's no ePUB support and thus you can't shop at other ebookstores and you can't use library books. But if you're content to stay in Amazon's cozy ecosystem and have no interest or access to library books, it's hard to beat the Kindle 3 for now.
Sony has said they'll come out with a refreshed line of touch screen E-Ink readers that don't suffer contrast and clarity reduction as did previous models, so things could get interesting. Pro: Great price on both readers, lovely hardware, improved keyboard, lighter, smaller and better looking. Access to Amazon's huge selection of ebooks and a good selection of periodicals.
Very easy to use and easy to get books on the Kindle. Pearl E-Ink display is by far the best among E-Ink displays and first gen Kindle owners will particularly notice the improvement. New Webkit browser is much more capable, though it still won't replace a smartphone, iPad or notebook. Con: No ePUB support means no shopping around for your ebooks and no library books.
Web Site: www. Display: 6" Pearl E-Ink display, x resolution, ppi. Supports screen rotation in all 4 directions. Size: 7. There is no charge for using 3G. Storage: 4 gigs with approximately 3. Battery: Sealed in unit. Claimed 1 month battery life with wireless off. With wireless on, WiFi model claims 3 week and 3G model 10 days. Supports USB charging and comes with compact world charger. Other formats are supported via Amazon's conversion service they charge a small fee for the service.
Deals and Shopping. The Nook and Kindle 3. Video Review Here's our 12 minute video review of the Amazon Kindle 3. Other Kindle 3 PDF features include being able to look up words in the dictionary, activating hyperlinks, adding notes, highlights, and bookmarks, running searches, jumping to pages, and panning and zooming. The Kindle 3 does not have a built-in accelerometer so you have to manually switch from portrait to landscape view.
Text-to-speech doesn't work with PDF files. I've found that regular text-based PDFs turn out fairly decent having Amazon convert them. Below is an example of a typical single column PDF.
In portrait mode, the original formatting of a PDF is preserved and sized to fit the screen. It depends on the type of PDF and your eyesight, but this particular one is quite readable in person thanks to the Kindle's contrast darken setting.
This picture shows the contrast on the darkest setting; the default text for this PDF is fuzzy gray without it check two pictures down for an example of the gray text. Note: Make sure to click the images below for close-ups. Another way to view PDF files is to change the screen to landscape orientation. This fits the PDF to the width of the screen. In this mode the font size is larger than in portrait mode, but requires a lot more page turning because it breaks the page down into multiple sections—typically 2 or 3.
Here's a look at a typical two-column PDF document without using the text darken feature of the Kindle 3 check two pictures down to see the higher contrast setting for this particular PDF.
The text is too small to read in this layout. The third page is a review of the Kindle's PDF capabilities ; there's a video and several more pictures on that page as well. First off, trying to decide which new Kindle 3 to buy is not easy.
I opted for the WiFi only model because I couldn't foresee needing to use the 3G all that often—but now I'm regretting that choice because the new WebKit browser actually works better than I'd expected, at least with WiFi. It's not blazing fast and is somewhat limited but is useful for checking email, getting news updates, downloading free ebooks from Feedbooks, Project Gutenberg, Baen, etc.
As expected, the Kindle 3's most striking quality is the new higher contrast Pearl display. The text is exceptionally dark and defined. Check out the close-ups below the video. The second most notable quality of the Kindle WiFi is how light it is.
It weighs 8. Ergonomically, it has a good balance and feel, and is designed for holding with either hand with page-turn buttons on both the left and right edge. The buttons are quite and well-positioned, but are almost a little too small. The keyboard and navigation buttons have a new layout. I like the new nav buttons better than the nav wheel that's on the Kindle DX and Kindle 2; it's easier to use and better placed, although it does take some getting used to at first.
While the keyboard is a space-hog that isn't needed all that often, it is much more functional and easier to use than the Kindle DX's keyboard, which is very awkward because of the size and balance of the device.
The number keys have been removed and are now apart of the symbols menu. Overall, Amazon has definitely done a good job with the updates, but there isn't anything super spectacular about the new Kindle 3. It is designed to read ebooks and to be easy to use—even for those without computers—and at that it does its job well.
Just don't expect the Kindle 3 to be anything like the Apple iPad ; it's not a multimedia device, it's an ebook reader. It does have a couple of games, it plays MP3's and audiobooks, and has web access, but it's mostly made for reading.
The fonts are darker and more defined, and reading in lower light is easier a reading light is still needed at night, though, because there is no internal light source. Click images for full size.
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