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Amazon Disables 3G Web Browsing For New 3G Kindle Touch
destinyland writes "Amazon's going to disable 3G web browsing on their upcoming 'Kindle Touch 3G' — even though it was a prominent feature of the last generation of Kindles. Amazon will still allow web browsing on the Kindle Touch 3G using a local Wi-Fi connection, but it's one of many unsettling details emerging from Amazon's announcement last week. Apparently Amazon's cloud will now also include a list of personal documents that you're mailing to your Kindle. And the on-screen keyboard for Amazon's bargain $79 Kindles won't be a touchscreen keyboard, so users will have to nudge the controller repeatedly to gradually navigate from one key to the next."
I'm unsure how anyone could have imagined that the on-screen keyboard for the $79 model would be touch. Every bit of info. I've seen from Amazon comparing the models makes it incredibly clear that it doesn't have a touch screen. The models that do, surprisingly enough, have touch in the name (except for the fire but I don't think anyone is confused about what's going on there.)
The 3g limitations on the touch are a bit disappointing, but I can't imagine too many people will be impacted greatly. Using the browser on an e-ink kindle is not something anyone would really be looking to do if they had other options. The only time I'm really seeing 3g browsing as something desirable is when I'm traveling and data on my phone is prohibitively expensive. If I'm not data roaming, I can just use my phone as wi-fi hot spot for the kindle, but if I want to be on the web I'll be doing it on my phone. I doubt the majority of kindle users are also international travelers who use it as a way to get cheap data access for the web.
When I got my first Kindle I got on the web quickly, just to do it. I don't think I've done it again since. I do have a friend who was traveling in Austria and got into a bind. His wife was able to get on the web with her kindle, as they were driving, and find a place to stay in the next town ahead. I think they were data roaming so that's why they didn't just use a phone.
I like the idea that emailed docs will get stored by Amazon especially if they get stored as part of my archive and they are available to all my registered kindles. Right now my family reads a lot of stuff that on our kindles that I don't get from Amazon. So I have to email it to each one, and I have to have the machine available that has the original documents. If I could email the doc once, then have it available to all kindles any time I want - that would be sweet.
I'm getting a couple of the $79 Kindles as soon as I can. Probably next time I'm in the states. That's the cost of a tank of gas for my car for a great ebook reader.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
Kindle is being stratified, if you want functionality you have to pay more. If you want to pay less, then a certain amount of data mining will occur.
Its as simple as that.
Because the Amazon Book Store is still available over 3G.
http://xkcd.com/548/
(see mouse-over text)
1% APY, No fees, Online Bank https://captl1.co/2uIErYq Don't let your $$$ sit in a no-interest acct.
In the field of pixel-addressable e-ink screened devices, $80 is very aggressive pricing. It would appear that they have chosen to go with the "make it cheaper" option, (which advances in technology generally provide as an alternative to "make it better"), for this particular kindle.
Only the sales figures will say for sure whether it was a good idea; but encheapening the hell out of the lowest-end dedicated conduit to your gigantic electronic store doesn't seem like an obviously crazy strategy...
I've used touch-screen page turning and I also use the K3 bezel-button page turning systems, I know when it comes to reading a book the bezel mounted side buttons are a lot nicer than having to constantly move your finger and tap the screen just to turn the page.
Sure, when it comes to typing out stuff the non-touch is a bit of a PITA, but I spend more time reading books than trying to type out things.
The $79 kindle is a great development, strips away the bits that a lot of people use infrequently, drops the price, size and weight - all good.
Of course no telco is going to allow a world-wide one-time-payment 3G browser. On kindle it was a gimmick, so it didn't matter. "Blame" the telcos for not committing suicide, not Amazon.
You just saved me 50 bucks. Not sure if it compensates for thousands of hours wasted here, but thanks anyway!
The Kindle Touch still has touch. This article complains that the Kindle that does not include a touch screen, can not handle touch input.
mov ax, 4c00h
int 21h
The Kindle Touch 3G has both touch and 3G (you just can't use it for web surfing anymore; that's why the browser was always under "experimental"). The Kindle (no Touch, no 3G) doesn't. Wow, big surprise.
Having had a few ereaders I liked the Kindle best, but the keyboard has always been a massive waste of space and an annoyance when holding it. I can see how using a cursor based keyboard will be annoying on the rare occasions that I search for a book or enter a Wifi key, but half the time I have the same thing on the current kindle when entering symbols. Considering that the primary use to which I put the device is reading, I'm delighted. Smaller, lighter, cheaper and less buttons to inadvertently press when I'm nodding off to sleep and fumble my ereader across the bedroom. Perfect! I'd make the same argument against the touch screen. The vast majority of the time spent with this device is while reading, during which the touch screen is just an opportunity to put finger prints all over the screen.
Since Amazon have kept both 3G and touch versions available alongside this, what makes you think at all that this is for you or a fuck up? Its a cheaper version with less features - they are getting right down to just the "ereader" everyone has been demanding for years, with a reduction in price to match (yup, not there yet for a really decent ereader segment of the market, the "oh, I will buy that wiht my first ebook" segment, but they are getting there slowly).
Because the Kindle Fire exists, and they want to drive loyal customers to the higher margin product?
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
Its hard to imagine how anyone could be unsettled by a set of (completely obvious) changes to a consumer device.
Drama much?
- Obviously web browsing over 3G was going to be disabled. Amazon has *always* said it was experimental, and *obviously* they were going to remove it when they annouced free 3G access around the world.
- Obviously a device without a touch screen and nothing but arrow keys was going to be a pain in the ass to use. I can count on my hands the number of times in four years I've used the keyboard on my Kindle. The target audience for it will never miss it.
The submitter is a moron if those were so much as a surprise, much less "unsettling".
I don't understand. Why would you release an incomplete product?
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Ill second that. They keyboard is a waste of time. Its an e-reader not a tablet.
Say what? PBS has no commercials. Amazingly, despite being a subscription service, cable television channels do. You have it backwards.
It worked great for the iPhone.
I bought the Wifi only Kindle
I did not want 3G, I have better devices to browse on already
I did not want a colour screen, I wanted one that was easy to read
I did not want a touchscreen, it makes the device too expensive and attracts fingerprints that make it hard to read (see above)
I bought the Kindle e-book reader as an e-book reader, if I had wanted a laptop, Tablet, Mobile phone, portable gaming console, movie device etc .. that is not as good at reading books on .. there are plenty out there that are much much better ...
Amazon seem to have lost the point of an e-book reader, that it is easier to read books on it than a conventional screen and the battery life is measured in months, all the new devices seem to be multimedia, network connected tablets ....there are better ones out there already?
Puteulanus fenestra mortis
Amazon's margins don't come from the devices, they aren't Apple. They make their money from the stuff you buy from them, regardless of what device you use. If owning a Kindle or Kindle Fire helps you buy more stuff, they want you to have one. It's that simple.
Remember to maintain your supply of
Steve? How long have the hospital been allowing you to use the Internet?
I put my books on Amazon, Smashwords, Demonoid, ISOHunt and Pirate Bay. Search for 'Michael Cargill'
Tell apple this.
- http://www.milkme.co.uk
Pay no attention to the OP. Their lowest end version of the Kindle ($79) has no touch screen, nor does it have a physical keyboard. Every other version has either a touchscreen or a physical keyboard.
Remember to maintain your supply of
Its even more amusing than this.... if you buy the fire they are losing money.
I'd expect this is a break even product, done by the lack of touchscreen - but I thought the $99 one was touchscreen anyway.... This bit of the announcement makes no sense really..
- http://www.milkme.co.uk
...maybe they want their issue of lowrider or rebel ink, electronically.
The 3G model will still be able to download books for free, internationally. It just won't have free international web browsing any more. I thought the free web browsing was an insanely good deal for anyone who needed it (I don't need it since my phone's data bill is paid by work). I'm not surprised they're taking that feature away, it must cost them a whole lot of money if a lot of users are generating roaming charges.
Anyway, I've ordered my mum one of the new low-end Kindles. I'd be happy to give her my keyboard version if she wants the keyboard, since I didn't even want a keyboard on mine in the first place. There is no need for it. Whether I'm using my actual Kindle, or the Kindle app on my tablet or phone, I never need to type anything. Most people with a Kindle will already have a much better device for general browsing to hand, and simply selecting the links (or browsing to words to see the dictionary definition - my favourite feature of Kindle by far) with the directional controller will work fine anyway.
which is totally what she said
It's likely they shoved out a hobbled $80 model with the expectation that most people will buy the next one up but they can still claim the lower price point.
If you want a touchscreen keyboard, they'll sell you a model with one for not a lot of additional money. Amazon's made it perfectly clear that there is no keyboard with their dirt-cheap $79 device. The device holds enough reading to last for years, so what do you need the keyboard for? This model is designed so you buy your books with a computer and then retrieve them on the device the next time you have a wi-fi connection. (Or, if you are the bestseller-reading type, you don't need a keyboard to buy books, the four-way controller will be just fine for scrolling down the list and hitting "buy".) If you don't like that, there are plenty of Kindle models to buy that will take care of you.
Yes, the $99 version has a touchscreen, the $79 version does not. The touchless one is there mostly for people that do NOT want a touchscreen on their e-reader. And, yes, those people exist in quantity.
Remember to maintain your supply of
This is the first step towards working out a way for content providers (and ultimately users) to pay for bandwidth on a stream or d/l basis. All the major ISPs know, as streaming video and digital d/ls become more popular, demand for bandwidth will go up. They don't want to merely become a commodity provider of bandwidth, especially since as demand goes up they will need to spend on infrastructure to keep up with demand. As a result, they are looking for ways to get a cut of the dollars flowing one their bandwidth in the form of content.
Amazon, with it's own device and content, is a logical place to start with the "pay to deliver" model. Amazon knows what content is accessed, and can pay a cut to their service provider. If they let people browse the web and access other services, they have no way to know what was sent, or charge, for the bandwidth used. By cutting it off they avoid that issue. Their move to cloud-based browser enhance meant forwards that model as well - it lets them see what is accessed and charge the provider for the bandwidth. If the provider doesn't agree, then the service will not be available.
This has implications beyond Amazon - as Apple moves more and more to online delivery of everything, ISPs will want a cut. That's why you see bandwidth caps starting to creep in - it's a way to put the structure in place to force the content providers hand.
If they can't get money from the content providers, look for them to get it from users via tiered pricing or overage charges.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
As others have said, that the non-touch Kindle doesn't have a touch-based keyboard is a tad on the obvious side.
As for the 3G browser, this discussion is the first time I've heard it was available at all. When I got my Kindle, Amazon made it very clear and obvious that the browser was only supported over WiFi. It made sense to me that the free 3G connection was contingent upon the fact that very little bandwidth is used downloading books and checking the Kindle bookstore periodically. It just doesn't make sense that the 3G providers would allow a very low one-time fee for effectively unlimited data usage. If Amazon did open up 3G browsing, then I suspect they only did it because no one uses it. That might be different with the Kindle Touch, I suppose.
Yeah because poor people are well known for a) their disposable income to spend on electronics other than cell phones and b) their desire to read books often enough to have a dedicated device for it. I mean, when you hear that ghetto street slang you think "wow, he must be a well-read sort of fellow".
I'm so poor that I have to read Slashdot you insensitive clod.
I think a lot of people *expected* this to be a cheap tablet, hence all the whining here.
I agree, it's an e-reader, not a tablet, but that won't stop a few geeks from trying to get root access and all that crap. I just wish I had that kind of free time on my hands... :P
In the field of pixel-addressable e-ink screened devices, $80 is very aggressive pricing. It would appear that they have chosen to go with the "make it cheaper" option, (which advances in technology generally provide as an alternative to "make it better"), for this particular kindle.
It's a Amazon ebook reader to purchase and read Amazon ebooks and little else. Honestly I was surprised they allowed people to surf the web at all on them, but I suppose Amazon realized few people would spend $399 on only an ebook reader so they packed it full of features to make it worth $399.
Now they have the bargain basement $79 Kindle and like a cheap car or cheap laptop, it can't do everything it's more expensive sibling can do. No surprise there, I don't think Amazon wants people to "upgrade" from a $399 Kindle to a $79 Kindle, the cheap Kindle is for people who really wanted a Kindle but didn't want to spend $399
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
Yeah because poor people are well known for a) their disposable income to spend on electronics other than cell phones and b) their desire to read books often enough to have a dedicated device for it. I mean, when you hear that ghetto street slang you think "wow, he must be a well-read sort of fellow".
Do only poor people clip coupons? Do only poor people visit sites like FatWallet to save $$$? Do only poor people wait in line overnight for Black Friday sales?
No, we're not talking about "poor" people, these people have the money to spend they're just looking for a bargain and they didn't see spending $200-$400 to read an ebook when they already have a smartphone with Kindle ebooks. But now that they can buy a Kindle for $79 Amazon is hoping that's the magic price-point to encourage them to finally buy a Kindle and hopefully spend more $$$ on books.
Smart move by Amazon.
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
Yeah because poor people are well known for a) their disposable income to spend on electronics other than cell phones and b) their desire to read books often enough to have a dedicated device for it. I mean, when you hear that ghetto street slang you think "wow, he must be a well-read sort of fellow".
I'm not in the lowest tax bracket and can attest to the fact that it's more than simply the price-point that is a consideration when it comes to purchasing an ebook reader. I've just ordered my first ebook reader from Amazon and selected the basic model (without adverts). What I considered to be their high prices had put me off looking at them in the past. Plus there was (and still is) the issue that if I buy treeware, I'd expect to receive a digital copy too, so that my original copy does not get ruined and I find I am unable to purchase another copy since the publisher has stopped printing it. Kind of like being able to make MP3s from my own CD collection.
There is something satisfying about selecting a book and settling down to read it, when it comes in a paper version. That being said, the convenience and space factors when travelling make the ebook reader a certain winner. The reduction in price of the Kindle is what tipped the scales for me. There may still be the relatively high prices to pay on new books (compared to the associated costs involved with virtual media), but when one considers the wealth of knowledge available that is not constrained by copyright, the low priced Kindles make for a good purchase.
My table doesn't work very well in full sunlight while the Kindle does.
It's likely they shoved out a hobbled $80 model with the expectation that most people will buy the next one up but they can still claim the lower price point.
No.
$199 Kindle Fire = Upgrade to $399 Kindle
$79 Kindle = for people who never owned a Kindle before or used the free Kindle smartphone app.
$79 is also a great price point for Christmas gifts. The average US adult spends $658 on gifts and $79 allows them to buy one for everyone on their list rather than only a few $199 Kindle Fires.
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
The $79 version is considerably lighter (2/3rds the weight) and thinner than either of the other two models. It's really quite nice
"Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
I ordered one of the $79 Kindles the day it came out, knowing that it didn't have a touchscreen (why anyone would even think that is beyond me) and it's a great value. After all, it's an e-reader, not an e-typer.
People pay a premium for the screen (and to a slightly lesser extent for the battery life).
the e-paper screen is fantastic for reading books. And you can take the thing away with you on its own without worrying about how and where to recharge it. Great for travel!
If I had a tablet, I'd only use it as an ereader. Paying more for an inferior screen and battery life doesn't seem sensible to me.
One of my kids has the older Kindle, and I'm going to get the other one the new $79 model. The only thing I have found that you need the keyboard for is making folder names for grouping books; not a big deal. The lighter weight makes up for it, in my opinion. I have a Nook touch myself; the page turn buttons on the Kindle are better, and that makes a surprising difference when you're reading. Touching the screen to turn the page is more distracting, & the buttons on the Nook are just a little too firm to be totally natural. I think this new Kindle may be the best option out there for a pure book reader.
Amazon seem to have lost the point of an e-book reader,
They just launched three new models of e-ink reader and are continuing to sell the old ones. I think they've got a pretty good grasp on what was working with the original Kindle, they've just decided to try some other things. That they're making a product you don't like, doesn't mean they're directly harming the product you do like.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
It's cheap, and it's really good at what it does? Pretty much the same reason I bought my rice maker?
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
In fairness, though, the Kindle really falls short when it comes time to seat 8 people for dinner.
You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
I have done that also but it really is so much easier to use a computer. Hey if you want a kindle and want to do that just get the touch. If you don't want to use that feature get the cheap one.
Man Slashdot what the heck? Time and time again I see summaries that would make Fox News and or Randolph Hearst blush in shame.
Really?
You finding it unsettling that only the kindle with the touch screen has a touch keyboard?
If you email a document to Amazon they will keep a copy in your cloud library? Really?
These two have got to be about the biggest duhs I have heard in a long time.
Shocking I tell you shocking.
And now that they have dropped the price and the ISPs are getting really greedy Amazon is dropping the free 3g web browsing which was never really advertised and was listed as experimental?
End result of this story is that Amazon will sell a ton of these and nerds everywhere will just keep wondering what happened to news for nerds?
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
They offer exactly what you want: no 3G, e-Ink non-touch screen, battery life measured in months. So they've "lost the point" because they also offer other options for people who have slightly different requirements?
And you classify a wifi-only, e-Ink, non-touch screen device as a "multimedia network connected tablet"? Wow just what are the new Kindles in the parallel universe you must live in?
You can transfer between the nook and Sony readers since they use epub and adobe digital editions so transferring the licenses between them easy. Obviously Amazon uses its own format but that's what you get when you buy something that uses only a single vendor's format.
It's rather sad that a device that loses $10 a sale is considered a "higher-margin device".
While Apple makes their margins both from the device and content hence why they make far more profit than their competitors.
All true but written in a confusing way. The $79 kindle does not have a touch screen, so how could it have a touch screen keyboard..
This is Slashdot, where something's deceptive unless it is described in eighteen-point flashing red text, at which point it is considered to be insulting instead.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
I'm not worried -- they will make that up in volume.
(Sorry, old joke.)
As I understand it, they don't make money with iTunes.
Remember to maintain your supply of
the cheap Kindle is for people who really wanted a Kindle but didn't want to spend $399
Good point - that's on the order of what, a dozen novels to break even over paper?
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
I expect you'll be regretting that decision when you've hit the dpad for the umpteenth time to navigate your way through the menus as it sluggishly attempts to refresh each time. Touch really makes a huge difference.
Yeah, only rich people read, and we should keep it that way!
Actually, I already have it and no, I don't regret it in the slightest. E-ink's come a long way- the updates are not sluggish, and I spend about 1% of the time with the device actually using a menu. If I want a touch device I have an iPad. I don't want another iPad- I want something to read books, and the lighter weight of the $79 model is worth the tradeoff.
"Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
Why anyone would buy these useless, locked, and one purpose devices is beyond me.
Because the Kindle is cheap, it's light, the battery lasts a month and you can read the screen outdoors. All kind of useful for a device you plan to use for reading ebooks.
I bought a 3G Kindle, just for the purpose of allowing me to download books via Whispernet when I'm not near a Wi-Fi connection. Other than that, you nailed the salient points -- I'm looking to read a book, so having something easy on the eyes is my first consideration. A touchscreen gets smudged too easily.
At least Amazon has kept their Kindle Keyboard 3G and other models. Had they decided to just toss them all and go with touch screens, or even worse, tried to become low end tablet, they would have lost what made them great.
If I want a tablet with apps, that is what an iPad is for. An e-reader may have a similar form, but it should made to do one task extremely well, and that is to show text and the occasional diagram on the screen.
Actually, the refresh on Kindle isn't a problem at all for navigating menus. Maybe you've used an older model, or another ereader, but on the third generation Kindles the refresh allows for fast menu navigation and these newer models can only have improved on that.
Plus, with Kindle Touch you've got to touch the screen to change pages. I'd much rather have the physical buttons for that.
The cheap Kindle is for people who didn't want to spend $114. Did you just crawl out from under your rock for the first time since 1997?
The removal of 3G web browsing is likely the result of their contract with whatever wireless carrier they're working with now. Still AT&T?
I have both a Kindle and an iPad.
The iPad is great for general content consumption. I can watch a movie, do some basic E-mail checking, etc. It also is decent for reading books. Both Kindle's app and the iBook app are good for this.
However, the Kindle is much better for reading for hours on end. When I went on a camping trip [1], I took the Kindle with me for reading books in daylight that would wash out an iPad's screen. This is where the Kindle excels. Then there is the battery life. Turn off 3G, and the Kindle's battery can last weeks without a recharge.
[1]: Not really camping per se... Renting an RV for a weekend is not really roughing it, but it is a way to get away from things.
From what I know, removing DRM from Amazon's books is simple, and I personally would have no qualms about doing that.
Obviously, you still have the moral high ground of refusing to add fuel to their fire by supporting their DRM store, but I don't know if enough people care to make a real change. Maybe as readers get adopted more broadly, there will one day be a mass movement. But until then, just strip the DRM.
I don't see how the wireless carrier would care, as long as Amazon paid them their fees per contract. The cheapest Kindle is so cheap, I'm sure already a big loss leader, that Amazon either a) doesn't want to lose more money on it or b) take sales away from the more expensive models. The removal of the on-screen keyboard makes me believe that they want to avoid butchering sales of the more expensive model.
I guess already having a reader, I don't care to know too much about Amazon's lineup.
The $79 model has no touch screen, so no touch keyboard, so my last sentence is plain wrong.
They run a *slight* profit on the content (as reported in their quarterly financial statements), but it might as well be break even. They make the vast, vast majority of their profit on hardware.
The keyboard does come in handy when playing word games (crossword puzzles, ThreadWords, etc). Also, entering notes is much easier with a keyboard.
Where do you get eBooks?
If the price differential made it worthwhile, I'd have had an eReader ages ago.
So, let's have a case study ; perusing the Amazon.co.uk listings for Peter F Hamilton, one of my favoured authors (with enough titles to make it a reasonable sample size).
The price of the Kindle edition of a book appears to be slightly less than the hardback on initial release... then drops beneath the price of the paperback, after the paperback is released.
So ; firstly, the argument about the hardback costing more because it's a more durable product and more expensive to produce is revealed to be crap. The Kindle price is about £1 lower than the hardback price, for a book still only in hardback. The Kindle price when the book is in paperback edition is about £0.20 lower. The hardback edition is mostly about price differentiation (which we all knew anyway). A vanity publisher charges about £5 more per copy for hardbacks, so you figure the cost difference can't actually be more than £2
On the flipside ; a vanity publisher charges about £2.20 per copy for a 320 page paperback in bulk (2000 copies) (which is much smaller than most of Mr Hamilton's work - being a writer of chunky sci-fi epics). So we'll assume they are making a vast markup there and guess that it costs £1 to print and ship a paperback book of the appropriate size. So why does it cost only £0.20 less on Kindle? The advantages are all with Amazon - it's a less durable product, which can't be lent or re-sold, costs virtually nothing to ship, produce or store, never suffers from overstocking issues, etc.
The Kindle edition does lend itself to long-tail pricing schemes - the price should slowly drop until it's a few pennies, but this is never going to happen until paper books are dead and gone, because of that paperback price point anchoring it.
So ; at the moment, you'd have to buy about 4,500 novels in paperback print to make up for the £89 cost of the new Kindle in the UK, or about £20,000 worth of books. I dare say that the hardware isn't going to last that long - so it's never going to break even on cost unless the pricing model changes radically.
The only thing left to compete on is utility. Given the device tries it's best to mimic the paper experience on the screen, the only factors it competes on are immediacy and storage space. Whether these are worth trading for your first-sale rights and privacy are up to you... (I admit, I'm close - I don't resell or lend books, and if scrutinising my reading choices means more of what I like is available... so what?)
Kindle Touch 3G Hacked, Runs Android With Full Web Access
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
If you don't like it, then just don't buy it. You don't have to gripe about it to everybody else.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Ditto. The WhisperNet 3G option was always about buying books or accessing your library anywhere. That's it.
If you downloaded two dozen books a month you probably still wouldn't hit a meg of data. A web browser, however, is another beast entirely.
Amazon can't afford to give users 3G web browsing for eternity -- and especially at the price points they're aiming at. It's just not possible.
Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
"I bought the Kindle e-book reader as an e-book reader, if I had wanted a laptop, Tablet, Mobile phone, portable gaming console, movie device etc..."
Then the lack of a 3G-based web browser should not be a problem.
"Amazon seem to have lost the point of an e-book reader, that it is easier to read books on it than a conventional screen..."
Well, personally I hate e-ink with a passion, and have read hundreds of books on iPaqs, iPhones, and iPads, and that's the point. Some people -- like myself -- love a device that can be read in a dark or dimly lit room without having to strap a light onto the silly thing. Some people -- like myself -- don't sit outside in direct sunlight in order to read a book.
And some people -- like myself -- like having other options like email and internet access and even movies and games available. Especially if we're going to carry another device anyway.
And Amazon knows this! With the iPhone and iPad and Android Kindle apps, they know down to the last decimal point just how many people use smartphones and tablets to read books.
They haven't "lost the point". They're just giving people what they've already demonstrated they want.
And they've added two new e-ink versions for the die hards and stick-in-the-muds. Why begrudge someone else their choice in the matter?
Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
I won't move to an ereader until the players figure out how to let you move your "license" between competing devices.
Here's a suggestion: if you want to be able to read your ebooks anywhere, don't buy ebooks with DRM.
There are plenty of DRM-free ebooks on Amazon and plenty of Kindle-compatible DRM-free ebooks on other sites.
Kindle doesn't do a full screen refresh when navigating menus, it only redraws the part that changed (eInk lets you do that). It's plenty fast fot menu navigation.
Why don't you buy an EDGE cell phone that can be used as a modem (pretty much any dumbphone), and, you know, pay for a data plan? Why should Amazon be footing your bill?
t I'm one of those consumers, aren't I?
If you're actively using Kindle browser on 3G, then you've likely cost them more money than they've ever earned from your purchase (unless you also regularly buy books from their store).
Well if you don't like the giving up of privacy there is always paying slightly more for either the nook e-ink or the sony e-ink. You also can use the competing devices to get e-books from the library and epub books that are online for free. You can do the epub for kindle, though it just requires more in-between work on the user. With that in mind you can quite easily get enough free e-books to make up for the price. The other thing to consider is that along with being able to carry around dozens of books with you, it also makes physical storage space in ones living space much easier. So it can be quite nice for someone living in a small apartment that likes to read.
or are we losing general 3G as well?
Hail Eris, full of mischief...
E pluribus sanguinem
It's not like Amazon develops the eInk screen. They just haven't made the color eInk production ready yet, although they have working prototypes.
I like how people demand stuff. It takes time and money to develop it for the market, and even the black and white eInk is still finding its market. And eInk isn't fast enough for tablet-like functionality, and is mostly used for reading novels, etc, and color adds very little to that.
Uhuh, the Fire is a brand new product. WHAT old one? WTF are you talking about.
They could have allowed power-users to legitimately browse using roaming 3G with a bandwidth limit and nominal monthly cost (say $5/mo for 10MB). Props if they could do this on a PAYGO basis (similar to how iPad 3G works).
Then they could have gained a bit of extra cash from those who really never/rarely use those features, but wanted security for emergency roaming data... the could even build in a version of their Silk to reduce impacts further.
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The description of the cheap kindle reminds me of this:
http://www.theonion.com/video/apple-introduces-revolutionary-new-laptop-with-no,14299/
enter a Wifi key
Crap, I forgot about that. Its going to make hooking my next Kindle (if keyboard less) to my wifi very painful :(
I just wish they would use a different name for the e-ink devices and the non-e-ink devices ... they have very little in common
The e-ink devices are a book reader - and nothing else, the non-e-ink devices can be used as a book reader (as can a PC, Phone etc with the Kindle reader software) but are actually a general purpose device
It's a bit like selling a bicycle, then launching a Car a motorbike, and a bicycle with an assist motor and calling them all the same name ...
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Wow, that is funny.
I have to say, knowing a few poorer people (not homeless, but not middle class) they do have a tenancy to buy things that they don't need, then not have enough money for what they do need. Many have nice flat screen TVs, Playstations (or Xbox, depending on preference) but no food in the pantry.
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
If you want to move from Kindle to Nook, you buy Nook color, put Cyanagen mod on it, and load the Kindle app from the app store :)
Or break the DRM (illegal in the US)
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
The main thing I have a problem with, is that generally, the price of an ebook is the same as mass market paperback, but yet it costs near nothing to produce the ebook...
I am working on replacing books that are falling apart, and I think it is absurd I have to rebuy the book on my e-reader. I agree with you, I should be able to scan something on the book and somehow get the book on my reader, but I can see that being abused too. So how about if Amazon and Barnes and Noble look into my purchase history, and just give me all the ebooks for the treebooks I bought?
That would be one hell of a good will geasture from the e-book retailers, but they won't do it. Artists must get paid after all...
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
Touchscreen on a device you read from seems...odd. It being e-ink also means that there is no backlight to allow the screen to shine through smudges (like my Nook color) so I imagine the smudges would get rather obnoxious.
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
I never had a complaint about the firmness of the buttons on the Nook e-ink, but the touch page turns on the Nook Color is very irritating, I miss the buttons. However, having Cyanagen mod on the NC vastly makes up for its deficiencies.
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
In my experience, the Kindle e-ink screen does not smudge easily but does clean easily.
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amazon never had product designers.
the 1st kindle was pure luck.
if they had ONE product designer they would have noticed that 90% of the time you type something is the page you want to go to... how do you type numbers on the original kindle? you hunt them down with the arrows! just like typing will be on this new cheap model. there are no numbers on the keyboard. not even with a modifier key.
also, have you ever tried to zoom in and read a PDF? it took 2 sec to scroll... ok... eink saves battery... but the dumb software only moved from showing the left margin to showing the right margin! you would have half the text in one screen, half on another screenfull... with no fricking way to center the zoom in the text, which would have fit perfectly... but no, you have to see 1/2 of the text width with white space
I believe. In China . Just buy the Cracked versions .
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You already have the $79 version? Or do you mean you already have a kindle?
The $79 version has no keyboard, unlike the older kindles. So you have to use an onscreen keybard and navigate it with the d-pad. So browsing for things be a lot harder.
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What part of "the price has dropped from $400 to ~$120" did you miss?
It's absurd to criticize them for limiting the one feature that implies an ongoing, open-ended cost on Amazon's part, the free 3G.
You might have a point if the price had stayed high, rather than plummeting.
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