Amazon reveals $79 Kindle

[bradleyland]

You know, this is probably a really ridiculous gripe, but that silvery plastic look makes the new Kindles look cheap. It reminds me of the cheap silver plastic they use for "As seen on TV" products. I much preferred the slate gray and white colors of the Kindle Keyboard.

[kylec]

It looks cheap because it is cheap. It's a $79 Kindle, what do you expect?

[raju]

Does anyone use the Kindle for technical books? If so, how does it fare? For the $79/$99 it's not a big price to pay, but I have 10s, if not 100s of PDFs that I would like to keep and read (reading on the iPad isn't working out for me).

Any thoughts?

Update: Just saw fribblerz's comment about the DX. But I am still curious about the other Kindles.

[sliverstorm]

You basically need a DX for PDF's. The smaller screen requires more zooming and navigating, which is a pain due to the performance lag.

Of course, this can be avoided if they are not PDF out of neccesity. If the book is all text, not heavily formatted, and you just have it in PDF for convienience, look into getting an eBook copy.

Note: I use a 2nd gen Kindle. The newer models might be a little snappier.

[bretthoerner]

I love my Kindle, but I think it's awful for anything with graphics, tables, code, etc. Basically: if it's not free-flowing text you're not going to enjoy it on an e-ink Kindle, imo.

[tom_b]

I actually read PDFs pretty frequently on my Kindle. I usually set it to landscape mode.

I used briss to convert some big pdf books (On Lisp and I think a free version of SICP) so they would be a little more readable. briss does some clipping of the margins.

I love tech books in print form, but I prefer a tech book I can drop on the kindle now. The raw convenience of the kindle wins out for me.

If the DX gets cheap, I may be forced to grab one. I won't be upgrading to the new color device.

[jamesbkel]

I have a Kindle 3. It's fantastic for fiction/nonfiction/Instapaper. Technical papers are my one major gripe. It's essentially hit or miss, but mostly miss.

I've found that most technical PDF papers are non-trivial to convert to Kindle. It would be one thing if they were scaled down to a format that only required vertical scrolling, but as it stands unless the author/publisher makes an effort, most technical PDFs require horizontal and vertical scrolling. Certainly possible, but hardly convenient.

[gte910h]

I use kindle technical books, but read them on the iPad and Mac.

The small kindles aren't really appropriately sized for them, and the Kindle DX isn't cheap enough to me not just buy another iPad.

[chollida1]

I do but I use the DX.

I had posted a similar comment earlier today about this.

I love the keyboard for note taking when reading technical books on the kindle. That way I can come back months or years later and just read my notes to refresh my memory.

The hi-lighting option is also great for this. It's like instant cliff's notes.

if you don't want to read the book then you can just search amazon for the hi-lights that people have made public for the book and you've got your cliff's notes without having to read the text yourself:)

[yatsyk]

Kindle uses 600x800 screen. eInk HD which is used on new Sony and iRiver readers would be better for pdf reading.

[raju]

Sounds like a Kindle is then a no-no for tech books :(. Thanks for the words of wisdom, HN.

[fribblerz]

I'm really looking forward to something like a cheaper variant of DX to come along. Technical books don't render well on 6 inch screen and I can't get myself to shell out a notebook's price for current DX.

[runningdogx]

Still no native epub support. What is Amazon waiting for?

[saturdaysaint]

As someone that's been on the Kindle since the 1st gen, I love the march to something cheap and light/small enough to be held in one hand.

It's just a shame that there's no text-to-speech, which would be really killer on this, the lightest model in the lineup. I find TTS really useful, especially for non-fiction, essays and news (conveying the nuances of fiction, particularly dialogue, can be awkward with TTS). I think the feature's been buried by way of being awkwardly placed in the text-size menu of previous Kindles. I'd say %90 of Kindle owners I talk to have never used it or don't know the functionality is even there.

At the very least, I hope Amazon puts it in their iOS/Android apps.

[stumm]

Many publishers don't allow their books to use the TTS feature. Possibly because they fear that it would could into their audio-book market. Amazon may have decided that it's a feature that's too infrequently used to justify the cost.

[ctdonath]

Same price as a Prime membership. How long 'til they say "aw shucks, we'll just give every Prime member one"? Maybe fulfilling the theorized "free Kindle by November '11" prediction? (Price drops vs. dates graph is near straight-line to there.)

[zeratul]

Actually, the announcement is now at the Amazon's home page.

Next step: make e-books cheaper!

http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-version-expensive-paperback-ver...

[AzAngel]

They used to, but then the publishers forced them to accept the agency model of e-book pricing.

[rbanffy]

> Next step: make e-books cheaper!

Don't sell your freedoms that easily. I'd rather have Amazon sell the DRM-free.

[gerlv]

Price of this Kindle in the UK: £89 = $139. (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kindle-Wi-Fi-6-Ink-Display/dp/B0051Q...)

[pdw]

Europe gets the ad-free version, which costs $109 in the US. Add 20% UK VAT and that becomes $131 or £84. Amazon's price is pretty reasonable.

[handelaar]

Still another £20 less than it was at retail last week.

Though my other half (who I bought a K3 for then) thinks losing the keyboard basically breaks its search function and is happy she got the one she has.

[codecaine]

Price of this Kindle in DE : 99 EUR (134 USD)

[jamesRaybould]

Yet again proving we live in 'rip off Britain'

[tybris]

I now own over a dozen books that are more expensive than a Kindle.

[vaksel]

personally I don't like it...the current kindle feels too small and a bit uncomfortable to read because of that, I'd imagine with the new one flipping pages is going to be even more anoying