The keyboard is very easy to use and includes buttons for Home, Menu, Back and a directional control as well.
There are next and previous page buttons on both the left and right sides of the Kindle, making it very easy to use for both left and right handed readers – good idea Amazon!
The bottom of the Kindle has a USB connector, volume control, headphone socket, and on/off switch.
Using the Kindle
Switching the Kindle on for the first time brought up a Thank You letter from Amazon. The Kindle is also pre-configured for the user who purchased the Kindle, so in my case it was me, even though the Kindle is a gift. Don’t worry though Amazon emailed me when I ordered it telling me just how easy it was to change it for someone else, and believe me it was just a click!
The next thing to do was to connect the Kindle to my wireless network, otherwise you really can’t do anything much.
Connecting it was very easy (just remember to use the keyboard as the screen isn’t touch enabled).
With that done, it was time to start looking at what was there – including the nice welcome letter again.
Hi Andrew,
Great review of the Kindle. I bought one for my Mom for xmas last year (’bout 3 months ago). She loves it.
I had to get the 3G version for her. She’s in a nursing facility and while they have wifi in certain areas, it’s not available in her room. So 3G it is! It works great for her. She loves to read and instead of stacks and stacks of books, she has just the tiny Kindle. She buys stuff all the time. And she finds the e-ink display very easy to read.
And about that recent update: it does not get pushed to the Kindle via 3G – only wifi. So, I prepared my laptop with the update and when I last visited, applied it thru the USB connection. Went without a hitch. Amazon did a great job with the self-applied instructions.
All in all, I agree (or at least my Mom does) with you, it’s a great e-reader.
thanks, thats useful to know about the update.
My Dad has already been buying books for it and the Kindle is still here with me until next week!
Glad your Mum likes it as well.
I’ve just got a Kindle Wifi for about two weeks. I’ve loaded it up with a number of free books for now.
It is very easy to read and light. Navigation is pretty intuitive.
The only two things I’m dubious about is the lack of color – some of my favorite books have either detailed drawings or photos, and very odd formatting on some Kindle edition books.
I love the fact that most of the Kindle editions are significantly cheaper than physical copies (as they should be).
If I get something with color later (such as the Barnes and Noble Nook Color) I will give this to my mom (as my dad already uses one).
thanks Gordon, I was surprised just how many really good free books there were! It should keep my Dad happy for months 🙂