Kindle coming to the UK in October? Amazon might just tell us next week
By Vlad Savov 
posted October 1st 2009 8:15AM
posted October 1st 2009 8:15AM
[Via Pocket lint]
posted October 1st 2009 8:15AM
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First!
More like first post to be voted down.
(that was my first post ever on Engadget)
It would be great if Amazon could sign an agreement with a partner such as Vodafone, thus launching the device across dozens of countries at the same time, not just most of Europe but Australia and New Zealand as well. I can dream, can't I?
Or I suppose I could just wait for the Apple tablet, which will completely own the Kindle in every imaginable way except battery life and New York Times subscriptions, thanks to the e-ink display and the deal Amazon inked with the New York Times.
Kindle will also beat any Apple tablet on readability. Considering Apples love for glossy screens, you can assume the tablet will have one too meaning it will be very difficult to read in direct sunlight or any other high glare situation. Plus the lack of a back light on e-ink screens reduces eye strain.
No matter how you try and spin it, e-ink devices will be better than TFT ones for reading, and thats exactly what the kindle is meant for
Sure, waiting for vapourware whilst there's a solution that meets your needs already available is a sensible strategy.
No, really.
OK Kindle owners, keeping in mind that their appears to be a likely explosion of e readers prior to Christmas, should I rush out and buy one or wait and see?
@adf: Frankly. It just depends on what you want to do with the device. If you just want to read books, go for the Kindle2. If you want to read PDFs and take notes. Just don't buy either or (Kindle2 and DX). The reviews from college students and faculty from Princeton was very harsh on the inability or awkwardness to take notes and bookmark parts of PDF and books on these devices. I wanted one very bad, but after reading the Princeton review, I decided not to.
@ Phil Perman: I agree with you. eInk is the way to go to read on a digital device. However, I do not think that the kindle is a professional device, nor it is meant for scholars or students. I wonder why AMAZON is trying to get into college with this thing when it's so complicated and awkward to take notes and bookmark. Isn't that the purpose of reading when you are a professional student? I don't get it.
There was a deal yesterday for refurbed. I opted for the first generation Kindle for $150 shipped to wet my feet. And it has SD storage, which the Kindle 2 does not. (And 2 GB of storage isn't "expansive", Amazon.) If you have any interest, search slickdeals.net for kindle. That's how I found it.
Wait and see. There is some interesting stuff in the offing right now. And plenty of interesting readers. Don't just go for the Kindle because you see a lot of articles on it.
Sony have a more flexible option, as they are using ePub instead of a hacked about and unique mobi file format, so you will not be limited to Amazon for everything. And if you go with anything that uses Adobe's ePub DRM, providing you are ok with DRMed books, then at least you can choose what reader you use. next time. Go Kindle, and you can't go for any other without dumping all your books.
In my experience, that depends on what you are trying to read. If you're trying to read a glossy magazine or website, e-ink isn't (yet) the way to go. It's still early days for e-ink, so that may change in the future.
It would be pretty nice to have the Kindle in the UK at last, but if you think it's expensive in the USA, it's probably going to be way more expensive in the UK.
I am a Kindle user and was a Best Buy yesterday and played with the new Sony readers - I am sorry but they are crap compared to the Kindle. The button placement is all wrong on them and I cannot even think about have to slide my figure to turn a page.
Well, I am a Sony Reader PRS-300 user (bought it at Best Buy some days ago), and I can tell you the button placement is just fine. I have nothing against the Kindle, and decided to get the Sony Reader because 1. It was cheaper and 2. More format support.
Plus I was able to get all of my ebooks through Callibre onto it, one way or another. As in, some didn't like converting into .epub (.html for example in one case, though another .html converted just fine), but was able to turn those into .rtf and get them on there.
The only important difference besides the 1 inch screen size (not really missing the other inch btw), is the 3g connection Kindles have. That simply wasn't important to me, since I'm the type to just pack the ebooks onto my device and go.
I am curious. Do you use your Kindle to read books only, or take notes on them and work with them?
I know my question might be a little annoying, but I really want an eInk device for school! I teach and am a scholar, and it is imperative that I am able to take notes and put bookmarks... It seems like a big pain to be able to do so on the Kindle2 and DX. Could I get your opinion, please?
@ Person with oriental characters in his name
DON'T.
Walk away now. Avoid Kindle, Irex, Sony Bookeen.. Anything with an e-ink display!!!
You will be disappointed. Current generation e-book readers are not a good tool for text books. Try a netbook or something if you want portability.
PDF support is so-so at best, awful at worst.
Pages are slow to update.
Searching is slow and awkward.
Those with keyboards are slow to enter text.
They are not good for school work. End of story. You will be impossibly impractically slowed down using an e-book over a paper text book. Assuming the right books are even available. Why pay to be less efficient.
E-book readers are fantastic for reading fiction. And within the confines of what they are designed to do, they do their job very well. I have had one for almost a year now, and I am still a very happy customer. But please. Do yourself a huge favour.
Avoid e-book readers for non recreational reading.
"PDF support is so-so at best, awful at worst."
PDF support is just fine on my Reader.
"Pages are slow to update."
Turning a hard copy by hand is usually slower than my reader.
I agree with everything else you said though. Just get a netbook for school.
@alandashby:
I purchased a Kindle 2 right after they dropped the price to $299, and I ultimately returned it during Amazon's free trial period (note that for all the crap they get about closed formats and book deletions, Amazon's customer service was exemplary). Ultimately, the screen contrast wasn't sufficient for my needs. I think Nicholson Baker nailed it in the New Yorker when he compared it to reading a wet newspaper. I may have gotten a bad screen - I've seen reports elsewhere of users who went through multiple units to find one they liked. I'm still really interested in an ereader, so I stopped in the local Sony Style store the other day. I thought the screens on the PRS-300 and even PRS-600 were better than my Kindle's had ever been. I think this might be a personal preference thing.
@Cdice
So you can load up a big thick manual in PDF, formated for A4, flip pages as fast as a paper book, zoom, cut and paste? and it has a table of contents that you can use to skip to specific chapters or headings?
Don't get me wrong. My criticisms were strictly aimed at using the reader for school work. Not at e-book readers in general. I have a Cybook myself, but read up on most of the readers out there.
For fiction, great. I love my Cybook. And I firmly belive it is superior to paper books when it comes to reading for pleasure. I have not regretted buying it for a second.
For reading reference material, you gain so little at the loss of so much. It just isn't worth it yet, and I hate to see a good gadget get such bad reviews because people are using it for the wrong thing.
I have gigs of PDF files. Everything from printed out web pages, to recipes, to manuals downloaded from the net. All incredibly useful, but only on a device capable of doing them justice.
So far i'm liking the irex 800, hopefully it will come out this month as expected (here in the US) and i'll get to try it out.
It appears to be superior to the kindle in every way.
Bout time!
When this drops in the UK I am definitely going to buy one!
kindle iphone app here, thankyouplease
Allo, British person here. I was briefly concerned about the PRS-600 that I bought in the US last week to upgrade from my PRS-505, until I remembered all the reasons that pushed me to the sony reader in the first place (when I got my 505).
The page swipe thing - not a problem. The buttons on the Sony Readers - not a problem (on the 505 they were perfect). Glossy screen - would prefer it more matt, but it's not a deal-breaker. Most importantly: open-format books, which HAVE to win this, and Calibre-delivered Economist and Guardian on demand. And have you ever picked up a Sony Reader? The build quality is better than any gadget I have come across in the last 8 years. It's such a beautifully designed and built device, you just WANT to use it. I haven't once found myself wishing that it had wireless- though I will be in the market for a Plastic Logic reader when they come out, for a4-size PDF reading.
Anyone who says 'the iphone is better' hasn't used one of these. I've read a couple of books on my iphone, and yes, convergence is great, but there seriously is no comparison. One is for reading a lot in one sitting, the other is not.
Tell them they can keep it.
There is a competition on http://www.americanlisted.com/competition/ where you could win this Kindle.
Free stuff...I like