kindle international in the UK

[mike_bike_kite]

I'm in an endless loop comparing all the ereaders and just had some questions about the Kindle International. I'll quickly say I'm unlikely to buy books via amazon and just want to read the ebooks on my PC (mostly txt, pdf and a few epubs files) and any other free books over net. Few questions:

• Can I side load my ebooks onto the kindle? (if I can then I presume I'm not locked into amazon or am I missing something).
• Does the 3G work for UK users?
• Can I access any web page or is it just amazon? (I'd read that some users can access anywhere while other sites say not - confused).
• Can I post to forums or send web email?
• Is there a charge for 3G access?
• Is the TTS acceptable?
• I assume the international is bought through amazon.com but does it come with an English (or European) power plug?
• How much does it cost to bring over to the UK?
• Can I download books directly onto the kindle from the various free sites including here?
• Is the new Kindle (3?) going to be cheaper and offer more?

It's a bit confusing with different versions of the Kindle, different versions of the firmware and different capabilities in different countries. Just to repeat that I'm in the UK so telling me it works find in NY won't help much

Cheers

Mike

[Twonk]

Originally Posted by mike_bike_kite

• Can I side load my ebooks onto the kindle? (if I can then I presume I'm not locked into amazon or am I missing something).
• Does the 3G work for UK users?
• Can I access any web page or is it just amazon? (I'd read that some users can access anywhere while other sites say not - confused).
• Can I post to forums or send web email?
• Is there a charge for 3G access?
• Is the TTS acceptable?
• I assume the international is bought through amazon.com but does it come with an English (or European) power plug?
• How much does it cost to bring over to the UK?
• Can I download books directly onto the kindle from the various free sites including here?
• Is the new Kindle (3?) going to be cheaper and offer more?

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Officially - just wikipedia. (also the kindle store, but thats not a webpage) SOME people also have full access.
4. Perhaps - if you have full access then you can, but it's slow and frustrating.
5. No
6. Yes
7. Micro-usb cable is uncluded to charge from a PC. The power adaptor is US style but not needed.
8. Add it to your basket in Amazon and the total price is shown, there's no hidden charge. (£234.08)
9. only if you have full internet access, but see the answer above about slow and frustrating.
10. There's nothing official about Kindle 3, so your guess is as good as mine

The kindle is great, but if internet access is one of the main considerations for buying it, you may be looking at the wrong device.

Andy

[mike_bike_kite]

Cheers that was enlightening.

Is it a firmware modification that gives some users full access or is it something mysterious in the hardware? I should also of asked whether RSS feeds can be read by the kindle.

[Twonk]

Doesn't appear to be the firmware update. I'm still on 2.3.3 I did de-registered and then re-registered my kindle and directly after the re-register I had full internet access (this doesn't appear to work for everyone though). I'd be surprised if it lasts - I expect it's an oversight by Amazon and once they realize that the job which updates their proxy server has stopped running the blocks will be back in place.

As for RSS feeds - I've tried google reader, and that is slow, it doesn't appear to finish loading the page and stops with a warning message about the loading time. There's a sticky thread above about RSS.

For what it's worth, I went through the same questions before I bought a reader, and decided on the kindle. I use the Calibre software to convert / load non-amazon books on to the device. That works very well. Wikipedia works very well. Most of all though, it's a pleasure to read on, and anything else is a bonus. I wouldn't swap it.