Very *mobile* reader source of reader and ebooks for traveller in Asia?

[Hermes_pan]

Trying to figure out the best value source for ebooks while I sojourn overseas. I am a Canadian but spend very little time in Canada. I spend most of my time in Asia in the countries listed below in order of priority...

* Another consideration is wifi vs. 3G - can I get enough signal at a Bangkok or Mumbai Starbucks? In my experience the wifi at the cheap guest houses I stay at is abysmally slow. How long does it take to download an ebook in the second and third world? Even in Singapore my experience with Starhub is it's the 'world wide wait'. In even good Bangkok hotels signal on my cellphone is unreliable. Can it be done at a public venue within 30 minutes? I rarely travel in high speed places like Seoul. Japan is a major pain in the neck as foreigners without residency cannot access the net

** Yet another consideration is that apparently there are two versionsof Kindles, US and international. Whether retailers in Vancouver area of Canada sell the int'l version is as yet unknown to me.

1. Southeast Asia (mostly)

- Malaysia (25%)
- Vietnam (25%)
- Thailand (20%)
- Cambodia (10%)
- Singapore (10%)
- Myanmar (5%)
- Indonesia (5%)

Plus ocassional trips to South Asia (India, Nepal, Sri Lanka) and East Asia (Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong)

I don't know if I should buy a Kindle in Canada using my Canadian bank card (or gift cards) or wait until I get to SEA and use my Cambodian or SIngaporean bank card. Naturally I want the best price/selection. I will call Kindle and ask them and post.

[Hermes_pan]

In Circuit City Eink Kindle is $84 + 14% HSR + electronic recycling fee no doubt (despite recyclers making a profit from that service - I will recycle when I have a financial incentive, such as in India where housewives *sell* their old carboard to collectors, who resell it to 'recyclers')

Anyway, back in topic...

Alternatively, Paperwhite Kindle is $150.

Not sure which is better deal. This 'Radio Shack' Salesman tells me where it works has nothing to do with where purchased but rather whete the account is. I have my doubts that he knows for certain. The eink model # is 53-000012.

I called Directory Assistance to call Amazon.ca to answer my questions but apparently they have no toll-free number. I find this extremely weird customer service.

[JSWolf]

My suggestion is to not get a Kindle and instead get a Kobo that has a card slot for a micro-SD card. That way, you can load the card up with books and have plenty to read without having to try to get a decent cell signal. Do you travel with a laptop? If you do, most laptops have a card reader built in and you could use WiFi to populate the memory card. Or just wait until you get home to get more eBooks. A 32GB memory card full of books would keep you going for a long time.

[Hermes_pan]

JS Wolf -- You make a very good point. Probably I will get both.

I just bought the cheapo Kindle (e-ink) to test the waters.

Now my concern is where to register an account for best value and selection. While I have no US bank card I do have billing addresses/credit and debit cards (VISA, MC, Union Pay) in Cambodia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Canada) so I can choose from the wallet. However in addition to which card will allow me to purchase from the US store there is the question of fees - all of my banks charge extra percentages to be used outside currency of account and in other jurisdictions.

Keeping my e-reading goals in context, I am not a wealthy jet-setter, my work and backpacking just keeps me on the road a lot. So, I have to think internationally.

[Yapyap]

A lot of people prefer to buy an electronic gift card on Amazon. Any Kindle purchases will automatically be deducted from the gift card balance. So if extra fees are an issue, gift cards may be a good way to go - I assume you should be able to buy them in your card's currency (and at least it's a single purchase, instead of many smaller ebook purchases).

(Gift cards are shop-specific, though - you can't apply a card bought on Amazon.co.uk on Amazon.com, etc. But for Kindle books, keeping everything on Amazon.com is probably the best way to go for now anyway in your case, regardless of which country address you choose.)

[danicca]

Kindle should work wherever it is the same, but where your account is based will determine ebook price and availability. I assume you're better off with amazon.ca, but I might be mistaken. If there is no local amazon site where you are, then it's amazon.com, but you might get stuck with 2$ surcharge and availability varies.
International/us kindle differed for 3g option, but it might be the same now.

[HarryT]

It really doesn't matter how slow your WiFi is. Ebooks are not large - a typical book is a few hundred kb and will download in a minute or so even over a connection that's running at dial-up speeds. At normal broadband speeds a book downloads in a fraction of a second.

[FrozenYogurt]

Yeap, ebooks are typically very small files and shouldn't take more than a few minutes to download, even on lousy internet connection. IMO its always not worth it to get the 3G version for this.

As for where to buy the kindle, I don't think any countries in SEA officially sells the kindle, unless you buy the kindle from local resellers, usually at a marked up price. Advise is to buy from Canada before you head over.

[HarryT]

Please take note of the warning that you're posting to an old thread - it's there for a good reason. Do you really think that the original poster is interested in your remarks over a year after asking the question?