I Love My Kindle

I never thought I would be an e-reader kind of girl. I have always loved books, from the feel of the paper to the musty smell of old ones that have been sitting on the shelf for some time. I take public transport 5 days a week to work and almost aleays took a book - that is a spare 5 hours a week that I can be reading instead of staring into space!

Then George RR Martin happened. That humongous book weighs over ONE KG! It got to the point where I almost had to stop reading it because I didn't want to carry it around with me and I was having trouble reading it in bed before falling asleep.

I adore my Kindle. I got it for Christmas 2011 and since then it has gone with me everywhere.

What is great about it?

E-ink technology means I can read it anywhere I used to use a book. It is not back lit so it doesn't make your eyes tired like looking at a computer screen and it is non glare in the sun. In fact, you need a light source to see the screen so reading outside is still a great option. It looks almost the same as a page in a book.

No distractions - this thing is just for reading. I opted for the wi-fi only version so there is no internet, no social media... just the book I'm reading in convenient form.

Handy dictionary for quick word lookup. If you see a word you're unsure on you can use the direction pad to move down to the word and instantly see a short definition. I used to forget to look up new words, but now I can check them and barely break my reading pace.

Lightweight and small enought to read with one hand. This is great on the bus and means I can read even if I'm stuck standing, as well as being good on cold nights when I want as much of me as possible under the blankets (I love reading in bed). There are page turning buttons on both sides so it doesn't matter which hand you hold the Kindle with.

Carry more than one book. I try to have the book I'll read after the one I'm on queued up ready to go in my Kindle so I have no more moments of finishing a book on the way to work and spending the whole day carrying around a finished book with nothing to do on the way home. I can flip straight to the next book and keep going.

Which one did I get and why?

I have a Kindle Keyboard Wi-fi only device.

I had a look at lots of e-readers available to try in-store when researching my Kindle. I looked at both the standard Kindle and Kindle Keyboard, a Kobo E-reader, i-River and I think one other.

My tests were pretty simple and I recommend anyone going and having a look in store before ordering.

1. How quickly could I work out how to get into a book and when reading
2. When reading from one page to the next, could the reader turn the page easily and quickly enough that I didn't notice too much of a delay.

The Kindle keyboard had the fastest and smoothest page turn of all the readers and has an intuitive menu system. I preferred the keyboard version over the standard version because it assists in using the search functionality and the dictionary. The e-ink technology was also slightly better, refreshing every 10 or so page turns instead of every turn. When compared to the non-Amazon products the Kindle screen was much easier to read, had less glare, and the page turns again won hands down.

My experiences

The battery life on my Kindle seems to last about a month depending on use. This is usually enough for me to finish 1 or 2 long books and be at the point where I am plugging it into my computer to put add more books.

Initially the transition between reading down 2 pages before turning the page was a little strange, but now reading on a Kindle seems really natural.

I chose the cheaper wi-fi only version because I want it purely for reading and thus far have not found any reason I would personally need the 3G version when I am always near a computer for adding more books.

I love it so much we bought a second one for my husband.

My only gripe - you cannot change the "screensaver" pictures unless you jailbreak the system. It has no issue with you putting on ebooks from a source other than Amazon, but the fact that it won't let you change the unappealing images and customise it to your liking is a bit of an oversight in my opinion.