Quote:
Originally Posted by Atilla
I ordered the wi-fi only version. With the 3G model I will be tempted to use it to go online for other stuff.
I want to concentrate on book reading.
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This is a good point in my case as well. Since I was given a BlackBerry by my employer, I find myself, at least some days, obsessively checking mobile.nytimes.com, and have been finishing fewer books. But even if it cuts down on the number of nineteenth century English novels I read, being somewhat better able to browse the internet while riding the Philadelphia subways to work (AT&T being the only cell phone provider in their tubes) is a significant eReader plus for me.
If you compare the total cost of ownership, over two or three years, of a Kindle 3 with AT&T 3G internet, with an iPad and AT&T 3G, you are talking about a ten to one price advantage for the Kindle. Yes, I know that the Kindle 3 screen is smaller, and has a fraction of the memory, and no color, and can't play videos or animations, and has, at the moment, no library of downloadable applications. But bottom line -- the iPad is a luxury I can't afford. A somewhat better-than-BlackBerry browser in a far better eReader is a luxury I can and will afford.
I'm not really sure if I will buy much Kindle content from Amazon or not. I do realize, however, that if I, and lot of others, only use the Kindle 3 to browse free web sites and read public domain books, something will have to give. The fine print says that Amazon can withdraw the free AT&T web browsing at any time, so I'm spending an extra $50 for what may be either a frustrating short-lived internet fling or the bargain of the century.
I wonder what will happen next year (or the year after) when they switch to Mirasol or similar displays that support color and video. I don't see how Amazon can keep on giving no-monthly-fee cell phone network internet then, unless I am missing something. (Probably I am, and I post to learn what it is.)