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Rustic

Know what you are buying!!!!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 7, 2014

Offer Type: With Special OffersVerified Purchase

I've had this Kindle for a while now. Many of the reviews say it all so I don't think I could add much. But I feel like I need to speak on behalf of this Kindle to shield it from reviewers and owners who seem to have no idea what they bought. If this could help clear up any confusion for a first time buyer then writing this is worth it. So I have to begin by asking reviewers that confuse us all?

Do you have any clue what you bought? Let's all say it out loud: THIS KINDLE DOES NOT HAVE A LIGHT!!!!!! It is an entry level model with no light. Amazon has always sold non lighted Kindles, and I still have many of them. They are a cheap way to get into the e-reader scene. Can you read a real book in the dark? Of course not. So these non lighted Kindles are not epic failures for not having a light just as the last novel you bought was not an epic failure for not having a built in light. It is ridiculous to buy this Kindle then give it a 1 star review because it doesn't have a light. Read the product descriptions. This Kindle has no light, the Paperwhite and Voyage do.

Scream all to the heavens: THIS KINDLE DOES NOT HAVE PAGE TURNING BUTTONS!!!! To buy this Kindle then give it a 1 star review because your old Kindle had page turning buttons and this one does not is insane. Could you not see when you clicked on "BUY" that this Kindle had no page turning buttons. Sometimes I think there are two kinds of Kindle owners: those who want page turning buttons and those who don't mind moving their thumb a nano meter to turn a page. If you can tell by my sarcasm, I belong to the latter bunch.

Then of course there are the technically deficient that have no clue what wifi is, are unable to sign on, and blame it on the Kindle. BAM! another 1 star review. Well I feel for you on this one, If you are new to the scene all Kindles come wifi ready, ready to sign on to your wifi set up at home. When this is done you can buy book from your Kindle or computer. All of your purchases are held in that magical storage space called "the cloud" and you can access those from any Kindle registered under your name.

Now for my two cents. This is a great Kindle. The software is the latest, similar to the Paperwhite. It's quick, has any feature you could ask for from an entry level Kindle. I don't understand the hate for touch screen. You should embrace it. See that word on the page you don't know? Touch it with your finger and a dictionary pops up giving you the definition. How many clicks on the Kindle Keyboard would this same function take (still have my Keyboard and love it, but probably like one loves an antique typewriter). As far as page turns go, see my nano meter thumb comment above. Once you get used to it it's a piece of cake. Hey, the first time I picked up an iPhone to type a text message "how are you?" it came out "lskdlj eiieoi c;?" You need to acclimate yourself to a touch screen. Once you do those page turning buttons will start to feel like cheap little bits of plastic that will eventually stop working.

Under a lamp or in natural daylight the text is bold and easy to see. Some fonts are bolder than others. This is also a very light Kindle. I've found kind of a sweet spot for holding Kindles. Pinching the bezel to hold it is awkward. I place the bottom left corner in the middle of my palm, rest the back of it on my four fingers, and tilt it slightly to the left so it doesn't fall in my lap. My thumb is perfectly free to move that nano meter to turn a page.

So let's sum up:
*This Kindle does not have a light.
*This Kindle does not have page turning buttons.
*This Kindle (like all Kindles) has wifi capability. When you are home on your wifi you can buy and download books from the Kindle store. If you go to the beach, you cannot. If you want this then get 3G. This is like a cell phone. Personally I've never needed to buy a book outside of my home so never felt the need for 3G.

If this helps one person it was worth typing.

16,869 people found this helpful

Helpful

Good Value at $79 with a Few Nits

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 3, 2014

Offer Type: With Special OffersVerified Purchase

I am writing this from the perspective of being a long-time experienced Kindle user vs. someone brand new. From an overall perspective, considering the pricing of the Kindle with Special Offers at $79 vs. higher amounts for the different flavors of Kindle available today, this one is a bargain. If you have wanted to get your kids a Kindle to encourage reading as well as sharing of books but hesitated because $119 to $400+ is a lot of money to risk with a child, maybe at $79 this is your price point.

From a size standpoint, the reading screen is the exact same size as the other e-Ink Kindles. It is slightly thicker - but slightly lighter - than the Kindle Paperwhite, but to me it's not really a noticeable difference when you're holding it in a protective cover.

Opening up the box, included with the Kindle is a micro-USB cord but no power adapter. That's really annoying. Interestingly, and it seems rather chicken of Amazon, a power adaptor has to be purchased separately for $15 if you purchase it at the same time as you purchase the Kindle (or $20 if you purchase it later), so if you already have a micro-USB charger handy I wouldn't order one of the chargers.

There are no page buttons - no buttons at all except for the power button - and turning the page is as easy as tapping the side of the screen with your thumb while you're reading, or swiping the screen with your finger.

Reading is easy on this one: in comparison to my Kindle Keyboard, the previous version of Kindle, and a Kindle DX the letters on the screen are much, much darker and easier to read: the display is crisp and dark. Looking at the display side-by-side in the same location of an eBook against the versions of Kindle mentioned above, the text on this Kindle is much darker and reads a lot better. Compared to a Paperwhite it is not as dark but those results are to be expected since the Paperwhite has 25%+ more pixels per inch, but at this price point that's not too big of a concern for me as each new version of the Kindle gets better and better with the fonts and screen display and this one is pretty darn good - you want to be able to read what you're supposed to, right?

If you like the text-to-speech feature of previous Kindle models or listened to music with your previous Kindle, please be aware there are no speakers nor is there a plug for headphones.

Web surfing speed with the wireless is about the same as with other versions of the e-Ink Kindles: slow as Christmas! My usual test of the connectivity on a Kindle was hitting the main pages of the mobile websites of Fox News, CNN, and Google. I pushed "go" or "enter" buttons / icons at the same time on each and did not see a visible difference in the load speeds start to finish: I was about 50 yards away from my wireless router at home with a couple of walls in the way for the wireless test, with similar results at my office after the Kindle arrived. I did try to check one of my Google email accounts but it crashed. I learned a couple of years ago to not try and surf the Internet with an e-Ink Kindle because it's so darn slow; besides, I use the Kindle to read a book and I can surf the Internet or check my email on my other devices

In comparison the previous version of Kindle this one is replacing, other than the crisper text / fonts from the improved screen display, as far as I can tell this new version of Kindle has the same technical specifications of the previous Kindle: about the same size, same internal memory. If you had a precious version of the Kindle this version is replacing, that means you can use the same cover as the previous version.

Battery life is supposed to last "...weeks on a single charge" but I doubt it: I charged it up 100% late yesterday afternoon and, 24 hours later, the battery meter is indicating about 50% left. This was with the Wi-Fi left on but the Kindle not being used overnight as I left it in the office in sleep mode. Time will tell if this is going to be a problem or not.

It did take a few minutes to get this model up and running as, in addition to the normal making sure it is registered and going through a mandatory tutorial on which areas of the screen to tap to perform various functions, there is a lot of Amazon marketing you have to weed through: do you want to sign up for Goodreads (an Amazon affiliate), would you like to sign up for Kindle Unlimited (for a monthly recurring revenue stream to Amazon), would you like to link your Facebook and Twitter accounts so your're friends / family / perfect strangers can be voyeuristic on what you are reading (absolutely not for me).

You can also sign up for parental controls with this version which I think is a great idea - sometimes you don't want your children to read what you are reading.

One annoying thing (to me, at least) is the automatic import of the various categories / collections you have linked to your Amazon account onto this version and links to the books in the Cloud that you can immediately download in the same category on the new Kindle. If you're replacing an older Kindle with this one that could be handy, but if you have other people on your account / family in households with more than one Kindle, that can be a pain in the neck because, for example, my wife and I generally have different tastes in books - I don't want her books cluttering up my Kindle's screen and she feels the same way about mine. IT's not a deal killer, but it does make you wade through a lot of stuff.

Despite some of my nits above, as a parent whose children can be hard on electronics I likethis version, and think with this $79 price point it will help to continue to explode the eBook revolution even faster as they get in more people's hands. If you have not purchased a Kindle before due to price, need a cheaper replacement than the other versions, or maybe a relative or a friend has hesitated to get one this one is in your price zone, I would recommend this one!

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Kindle E-reader, 6" Glare-Free Touchscreen Display, Wi-Fi - Includes Special Offers (Previous Generation – 7th)

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Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers You'll receive special offers and sponsored screensavers directly on your Kindle. Examples of special offers include: Kindle Daily Deals for upcoming titles Deals on digital content, for example: $5 to spend in the Amazon MP3 Store Deals on clothing and other items, such as Amazon Denim Shop discounts This content displays on your Kindle's screensaver and on the bottom of the home screen—it doesn't interrupt reading.
Kindle with Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers is only available in the U.S.