Talk to me about amazon kindle

[sgw]

I considered androids when looking for my mothers reader. The price and features make it appear a clear favourite at first glance. However I don't think it makes a practical choice as a serious reader.

They are cheap, low quality ipad clones. As such they have a conventional display with all the drawbacks as a book reader that entails. Neither is it an appropriate choice for a child or an adult who can't or doesn't want to tackle technological complexity to simply read a book.

There are many different clones and some have serious questions about the longevity and even safety of certain components.

A lot of features for the money and ok for reading comics perhaps. Fine if you want them to stick with comics and retain the intellectual capacity of a junior schoolchild but not imo a good choice to encourage an appreciation of literature.

I admit to not having actually used one and that this is the result of questioning people who have. I have though tried other pocket pc's etc and have found nothing to match the Kindle's simplicity and it's E-Ink, no glare screen.

 

[gibbleking]

my 4 year old seems to like it.

 

[sgw]

my 4 year old seems to like it.

Sorry I didn't mean to sound like I was slagging them off. I was just trying to give my best answer to the OP's question. I wouldn't recomend one for serious and comfortable reading.

I like tinkering to get obscure bits of kit to work with software that isn't designed to run on that particular HWare or OS in the first place. Some of the ones I have used required that you could recognise Chinese characters before you could even flash the BIOS to accept an English OS!

Once set up though they can provide a surprisingly handy and portable wireless internet connection for basic browsing and email. The more you stretch their capabilities though, the flakier they get.

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