Amazon Kindle now available in Ireland (1 Viewer)

[7 - No tomorrow]

I think the problem is is that people are comparing it to the iPad when its not at all what it is.

Every single review/preview I've looked at compare the thing to an iPad which is the equivalent of comparing a combo dvd player portable telly job for your bedroom & a 40" plasma 3D telly

Yeah, he makes that exact point a few times. And I bookended that quote with it for that reason.




I just don't know which of the e-ink Kindles to buy. There's four of them.

 

[Goodbye]

But even mentioning it in the first place is superfluas. Be nice to see a review where the iPad isn't referenced in any way.
I've never seen an Android tablet PC compared to an iPad in a review (for very good reason)

Only 2 available in Ireland, so it should make your decision easier - The basic one or the 3G Keyboard one

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

But even mentioning it in the first place is superfluas. Be nice to see a review where the iPad isn't referenced in any way.
I've never seen an Android tablet PC compared to an iPad in a review (for very good reason)

Only 2 available in Ireland, so it should make your decision easier - The basic one or the 3G Keyboard one

I think he has to mention it, because that's what people are expecting - a $200 iPad - and it's not what it is.
Not that it matters at all.
I only posted it because he mentioned the kids books and you said it was an important feature for you.

I'm in the US.

 

[Goodbye]

Fuck it, I'm getting an iPad

 

[Anthony]

Wait til march though, upgrade rumoured for around then.

 

[Squiggle]

Advantages of the Kindle (particularly the e-ink versions) over an iPad
Cheaper
3G version has no extra connectivity costs for downloads
Can bring it on a two week holiday without needing to pack a charger etc
Battery won't die on you half way through a long train journey

The iPad is, to all intents and purposes, an oversized iPod touch.

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

The iPad is, to all intents and purposes, an oversized iPod touch.

Yup

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

My Kindle apps won't sync

The one on my Samsung phone and the one on my iPad

It is annoying.

 

[тхеодоре кацзынски]

Its undoubtedly apples fault.

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

I suppose my question was, are they two distinct apps? And that's why they won't sync.

Surely they're linked back to my Amazon account.

For some reason they have two different kindle email addresses.

 

[rettucs]

I'm going to America next month first the first time since the Fire came out. I think I'm going to get myself one cos they look like they're kinda cool.

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

I'm going to America next month

The states is brilliant

 

[rettucs]

fuckin yea they are.

I haven't been in over 2 years. They better still be deadly. Even if that Romney fella wins the election by then

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

You going to NY?

 

[rettucs]

You going to NY?

sorry dude, I missed that post back at the time. Yea, New York. Was there last week.

anyway, I got a Kindle Fire over there. Got the 16GB storage one for $200 though the $8GB one would have been fine for $50 quid less.

Using it over there I thought it was great. You get your free month's subscription to Amazon Prime (their version of Netflix, only better in some ways, worse in others). Streaming the video from their site was great. The quality of the HD screen and the sound were both great.

So, I was pretty happy with my purchase.

Then I got back to Ireland and find the thing is practically unusable for anything other than Skype, e-mail and web browsing. I could have gotten some shitty 50 euro taiwanese tablet to do those things. You can't access Amazon Prime unless you're in the US. Also, you can't access the Amazon app store unless you're in the US (which beggars belief really). If you try and install an app from play.google.com you're redirected to the Amazon app store, which you can't use because you're not in American (unless of course you are, in which case you still can't use it unless you have a credit card with a US billing address)

Anyhow I rooted it last night. From checking nerd sites it seems you can get non amazon stuff on there by rooting, so I rooted it. It worked grand and I got the google play app on there. But theres a problem with the Google framework (a common problem, the nerd sites tell me) which I haven't yet sorted. I'll spend a bit more time on it and I'm sure it'll be grand when I do, but jaysus the hassle of it all.

So this will be a deadly gadget if amazon ever get their shit together. But I'm not holding my breath seeing as they always forced Irish people to buy e-books from the US amazon site rather than the UK one. If they do the same with other content, then I can't imagine its ever going to work properly here.

I think the Kindle Fire is probably best avoided for now unless you want to go through lots of pain, sadly.

 

[Theseus Mock]

I'd imagine Amazon will launch their appstore (and Kindle HD in toe) here pretty soon. I won't bet anytime before Christmas but sometime in the new year. They launched in other European countries (UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, France) at the end of August so I'd imagine Ireland is next on their list. Why things take so long to make it to Ireland (Spotify/Netflix) is beyond me, you'd think for such a small market they could do the negotations in no time, or else they just leave it until last because we are such a small market.

 

[washingcattle]

So does anyone use their kindle to read anymore ?

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

Would I be better off not getting one of the basic cheapo b&w kindles and saving up for (and probably never actually getting) a tablet or are the tablets too hard on the eyes for a good read? I find the phone hard to read on because its small and bright but maybe its too small

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

So does anyone use their kindle to read anymore ?

I love my Kindle app

 

[washingcattle]

Would I be better off not getting one of the basic cheapo b&w kindles and saving up for (and probably never actually getting) a tablet or are the tablets too hard on the eyes for a good read? I find the phone hard to read on because its small and bright but maybe its too small

Cheap Kindle all the way. The screen is perfect it feels more like a newspaper or magazine than a screen. It does take a bit of getting used to but it's totally worth it. I have more books on it than I'll probably ever read. The battery is great. they're small enough to fit in your jacket pocket the best thing is that I'm a bit dyslexic so it's great to be able to double line space everything.

Lastly the most important thing is that the cheaper ones are still a fairly single purpose device. So if you only take it out to read you can focus on reading. I don't think you'd get as much reading done on it if you could get distracted by the ability to check your email or watch a tv show.