If the world seems cold to you, KINDLE fires to warm it

Lucy Larcom was too busy penning her poems in the late nineteenth century America and was around a century away from what Amazon christened a Kindle! However, the modern day Kindle also kindles a fire and serves the warmth of books in a very affordable sort of way. It did so even in its earlier avatar that wasn’t so evolved nor so economical. This year has been particularly kind to Kindle research and launches.

The twitter world went into a literal tizzy the moment the Amazon Kindle Team tweeted: “Jeff just announced Kindle Touch 3G. Easy to use touchscreen & free 3G — no annual contracts, no monthly payments. Only $149.” Since that moment, the global super highway has trended the kindle-way. And what were they all talking about?

Kindle - new models of 2011

@Orangwutang Henry Webb: “Me Likey: I want this new Kindle Touch so bad.  Only $99!”

@Macworld: “Kindle Fire confirmed for $199. That’s alongside the $99 Kindle Touch, $149 Kindle Touch 3G, and $79 Kindle. Lots of options.”

@cnntech: “New Kindle prices: $79 for ad-supported device without keyboard; $99 for KIndle Touch e-reader with Wi-Fi, $149 for Touch with 3G.”

@engadget: “Amazon launches Kindle Touch and Touch 3G: starts at $99, ships November 11th.”

@consumerreports: “Amazon introduces $99 Kindle Touch, its first touchscreen e-book reader.”

@TechCrunch: “Amazon Unveils New $99 E-Ink Kindle Touch.” 

The same bit of information bombarding you from every direction on the internet… there were emails going back and forth, status updates recommending articles published by online magazines, papers, and bloggers, tweets, comments, opinions… not a moment of hush anywhere.

Do I really need a Kindle, though?

Surprisingly not many were asking this question. So what if the cost has fallen to a level where an object becomes affordable and buyable? Does a lower price mean we go ahead and dump our lives with yet another gadget that some shrewd management somewhere has decided to thrust upon us?

Well, Christina Warren writes in an online article, ‘Amazon Kindle Touch: First Impressions’: “Personally, I don’t have an actual need for a Kindle — I have an iPad 2 and an iPhone 4. At $99, however, I can see myself picking one up for subway and beach reading. I love EasyReach. I think it perfectly captures how consumers use an e-reader.” And I would tend to agree with her. More importantly, Kindle has suddenly become not just a viable purchase but also an alternative that gives you a chance to read all those PDFs and ebooks that you always found difficult to read on a typical desktop.

In the middle-class environment of India where a household has one AC which is installed in the bedroom, the Kindle does mean not having to sit in a high Celsius zone just to read your Yann Martel ebook! If you’re unaware, there are millions of free, out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books available to read on Kindle devices. Moreover, the Kindle public library is also open to Kindle subscribers. As one article on the net thoughtfully informed: ‘Kindle books are “Buy Once, Read Everywhere” – on Kindle, Kindle Touch, Kindle Touch 3G, Kindle Fire, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, PCs, Mac, Android phones and tablets, BlackBerry, Windows phones, and web browsers with Kindle Cloud Reader.’

Is this Kindle different?

Small, light, and fast

Todd Haselton writes: ‘The latest generation Kindle features a new design that is 30 percent lighter at just 5.98 ounces, 18 percent smaller, and turns pages 10 percent faster.’ So obviously, it has all the desired modern day features; namely, it is light-weight, small in size and is fast! The Kindle might as well walk the ramp at this rate and, you never know, end up winning the best model award in Paris! However, most of the euphoria with some of the models launched (Kindle Touch and Kindle Tab) is as yet restricted to the American shores.

X-Ray

This feature doesn’t exist in the base model. A few hours back, Christina Warren writes in ‘Amazon Kindle Touch: First Impressions’ that the most endearing feature is the enigmatic ‘x-ray’ which “lets users dive into the meta-data of a book to quickly get access to information about the locations, characters and situations in a book.”

If you’re really interested in having a dekko at the “bones of the book” you can do just that with a single tap. Yes, a single tap can connect the connectable within the book and you can see all the passages across a book that mention ideas, fictional characters, historical figures, places or topics that interest you. And a blogger aptly expresses: ‘Amazon built X-Ray using its expertise in language processing and machine learning, access to significant storage and computing resources with Amazon S3 and EC2, and a deep library of book and character information. The vision is to have every important phrase in every book.’

Price and the cost of connectivity

“We’ve now reached the magical two-digit price point for Kindle – twice: the new Kindle and Kindle Touch are only $79 and $99. Kindle Touch 3G is the new top of the line e-reader with free 3G – no monthly fees or annual contracts – and is only $149,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO. He adds: “We’re offering premium products, and we’re doing it at non-premium prices.”

The unlimited, contract-free, international 3G that the Kindle Touch has is a rather fascinating feature and most of us in this part of the world are soon going to get fully aware of the vastly different ways in which marketing treats India. The kind of offers that flood the Western markets are nowhere to be seen in India… look at the way the ISPs combine a latest free mobile handset with a period-based and usage-defined contract there or, as in the case of Kindle and the 3G bundle… we in India too need to get up and initiate a serious debate about the insignificant benefits that are doled out to the consumers here.

Is advertising a reasonable catch?

The premium a consumer must pay to avoid advertising is $30 for the base Kindle and $40 for the Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G. Amazon euphemistically calls the lower priced variant as the one “with special offers” and the higher priced one as the one “without special offers”. According to Amazon, “special offers and sponsored screensavers display on Kindle when you’re not reading” and this justifies the $30 and the $40 higher tags. Thus you have the new Kindle ($79 with special offers, $109 without special offer)… got the point?

A slog with the five-way cursor for the base model

The comparative table given below is enough to tell us about all pertinent differences… the basic Kindle is actually the smallest and lightest of the three, and it lacks a touch screen, so page turns are accomplished via buttons mounted on either side. Even the base model does include a dictionary and Wikipedia, but manual text entry requires slogging with the cursor around an on-screen keyboard with the five-way cursor.

Soundless existence for the base model

No, I don’t think this is as big a disadvantage as it may seem to be. Though fans of audio books, background music or text-to-speech may miss a lack of audio support as the new base Kindle is totally silent. This feature does get added on if you go for the Kindle Touch.

What else?

Kindle Touch ($99 with special offers, $139 without special offers) gets you all the goodies which include a touch screen, audio support and a few other extras like the new X-ray feature. A small price for the added value and excellence that you’ll get. Though understandably, the Kindle Touch and Kindle 3G are a bit bigger and heavier than the non-Touch version, but their batteries last twice as long.

The Kindle models with 3G come with that wonder that amazon calls the ‘whispernet’ which allows downloading and other Internet access in areas where you can’t get a Wi-Fi signal, and unlike 3G for smartphones, for example, there’s no monthly fee. Therefore, it comes free!

Conclusion

Kindle, I am sure, is going to help us all get closer to books and reading. Hope these reasonably priced models are available in India soon enough!

kindle-touch

The table accessible on the CNET website gives a bird’s eye comparative view of the features of the new launches from Amazon:

Arvind Passey
29 September 2011

Picture credits: Mashable