Equipment: Kindle Wi-fi

Equipment: Kindle Wi-fi

The Oaken Bookcase > Blog > Reviews > Equipment: Kindle Wi-fi

I love real books – real paper, the smell of a new book and admiring the collection on my shelves. I’m one of those people who like books to be kept looking as new as possible and cringe when I find a crease down the spine.

When I first met an e-reader, it was while we were travelling. At the time I remember thinking it a weird idea to have a device entirely devoted to books, but I could see the attraction for travel purposes so that you didn’t have to carry a bookshelf around with you.

Fast-forward two years and I asked for a Kindle for Christmas to help me on my commute to and from work. Don’t get me wrong, I still love a real book and always will, but the Kindle will take some beating for transport convenience. Plus, e-books are so much easier to come by and generally cheaper!

Has having an e-reader changed the way you read? Or if you don’t have one, why not? Curious minds want to know!

 

Kindle

Mine is a Kindle Wi-fi. I didn’t think it was worth getting the 3G version since I was unlikely to suddenly need a book while away from home. The lack of keyboard can be a little fiddly while trying to type out the name of a book in the kindle store search, but I don’t do that very often. The screen looks almost like a printed page – there’s no backlighting like on a phone or iPad which reduces eye strain, but does mean you need light to read by.

 

Skin

I got my Kindle a vinyl skin to protect it a little bit. The skin peels onto the outside of the Kindle like a screen protector and comes off again without leaving residue. There are a huge range of these skins available on Amazon, not just for this Kindle but for Kindle Fire and Keyboard.

I originally had the front panel on as well, but I found it distracted me while I was reading so I removed it.

 

Case

My Kindle sleeps in a BUILT neoprene case with a soft furry lining, so that its protected in my handbag or laptop bag. I’m very happy with the slim design and it looks great, too!

6 thoughts on “Equipment: Kindle Wi-fi

  1. I can see the value and usefullness of e-readers but have not yet given in to the temtation, although I have used the kindle app on an ipad. I think I will always love the tactile reward of a the hard copy, although I think I will eventually give in to the convienience of an e-reader. I used to hate reading on screen because of the back lighting issue but I did discover with the ipad that the back lighting if anything enhanced the experience of reading a graphic novel which kind of surprised me.

    • Angelya says:

      Oh right! I guess I can kind of understand that with graphic novels since they are colourful. I guess that’s the downside with the kindle wi-fi – no colour!

  2. shelleyrae @ Book'd Out says:

    What a pretty skin!! I read ebooks on my ipod though I do want a Kindle, I have been saving for one

    Shelleyrae @ Book’d Out

  3. Hannah says:

    I love your skin too! I really want to get a skin and case for mine. We did order a nice little case from Etsy but it never turned up and the seller disappeared. 🙁 Shall look into it when I’m employed and earning!

    As for replacing books: no, not a chance. I adore my books and you can often find me SNIFFING my Kindle before I remember that actually, just because I’m reading, doesn’t mean it’s a book. My brain still doesn’t get that part 😉
    Still. I love my Kindle. It’s fantastic for Amazon sales, review copies, indie books, freebies.. Love it! But I’ll always prefer books. I’ll take both rather than one or the other.

  4. Jen says:

    I got my first reader (http://www.ebookwise.com/) ages ago… it was old, backlit, it had a touchscreen and I loved it. The only problems it had were:
    – battery lasted ~13 hours tops
    – American, so I needed to lug around a big and heavy transformer.

    Fast forward a few years, I got myself a Kindle 2. I miss some things about my old reader (unlike most people, I loved the back light), but the Kindle is smaller and, best of all, the battery last aaaages. Very, very convenient for long trips. I’m never again carrying a backpack full of books with me!

    I don’t plan on giving up dead tree books, but I have definitely bought less of them since I have the Kindle. Next step: finding a good reason to ditch it and get the shiny new Kindle Touch! The regular Kindle navigation is shit, honestly; my eBookwise did it 10 times better, 10 years ago. I hope a touchscreen might solve that.

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