[Josieb1]

Having a Kindle is completely different to a Sony and I think you'd be hard pressed to get anyone to answer your questions.

There is a caibre plug in for Kindle Collections but I don't know it it would work for the new 2014 Kindle so you'd have to ask in the developer forum. It may not have been tested yet. It's an old plug in that only currently works on older Kindles up to the Touch (and I'm not sure it even worked for the Touch. If it doesn't work you'd have to set up the collections manually on the device.

I don't know what you mean by 'standby screen' but it you mean the screen saver then no I don't think you can add your own, that's never been an option with a kindle.

As for fomat you would need to convert to either mobi or AZW3, then either sideload (I.e via Calibre) or email each book to Amazon's cloud using the email address assigned to the kindle and then they will download via the cloud.

Unless your dad specifically wants to buy books from Amazon (and wants a kindle) have you considered a Kobo Touch or even a Kobo Glow? The Touch is £59.99 and the glo is £79.99 (has a built in light) from WHSmith or Argos. The Kobo's take epub and there are very good plugins that can create collections directly on the device when you upload his books via Calibre.

Of course this assumes you will be using Calibre go upload your fathers ebooks to what ever device you buy him

I've no idea about the charger, sorry, but I don't see why it wouldn't work. You'd get a USB lead with whatever device you buy anyway, so any USB plug should be fine.