Are there still a lot people like Kindle Keyboard?

[susan_cassidy]

I still love my Kindle Keyboard. I like the page turn buttons and the keyboard, for looking for books in the Kindle Store, mostly, but occasionally for looking something up in Wikipedia, or in the dictionary, when it is not a word I am currently reading.

I have no desire for a touchscreen reader (I have an iPad, but don't use it for reading), and the only time I need a book light is on the fourth of July, when we go to see the fireworks. It gets dark before the fireworks start, so I take a book light with me. No hassle.

[SteveEisenberg]

With the 3G feature, I have access to text based internet news and weather sites anywhere in the world I am ever likely to be. This is such a magical feature for me that I wouldn't consider anything other than a used Kindle Keyboard 3G, if this one broke. Yes, I know that 99 percent of web sites do not work well with it, but those are pretty much the 99 percent I would not be interested in.

My wife Barbara, like most of you, only uses hers to read books, and so would be satisfied with something else. She's used the Basic model as well. But she says she's not interested in a brighter screen.

Maybe I shouldn't let any corporate Amazon lurkers here read this, but there are two things that could get me to switch in the event of an unrepairable fault. One is the closure of http://www.readingthenet.com/, the web site needed to automatically make web font sizes big and comfortable. The other is an end to free international 3G internet. Something that good can't last forever.

This thread for the Kindle 3 browser:

http://www.readingthenet.com/mob?wsc...&whp=30&ct=pg1

or

http://tinyurl.com/l78wl8h

[Jessica Lares]

I loved my K3, but my Paperwhite is so nice to use, especially to type on it. I couldn't go back to the tactile keyboard for that reason.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by crossi

I haven't considered giving up my K3 for a K4 mainly because of the huge decrease in available memory and lack of page turn buttons.

Isn't the "K4" the Kindle Basic? If so, it does have page turn buttons and it doesn't have a touch screen. (The Kindle "Basic" needs more of a name than "Kindle." It's confusing.)

[Smartie]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Isn't the "K4" the Kindle Basic? If so, it does have page turn buttons and it doesn't have a touch screen. (The Kindle "Basic" needs more of a name than "Kindle." It's confusing.)

Yes,it's confusing. A lot people call kindle touch as k4 and no touch as k5

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Smartie

Yes,it's confusing. A lot people call kindle touch as k4 and no touch as k5

Never seen that myself. It's K4 for the basic (non-touch) and K5 for the touch or at least it always used to be. This based on the fact that the basic uses version 4 firmware while the touch uses version 5. It gets more confusing with the Paperwhites using version 5 (but different) firmware as well.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

It gets more confusing with the Paperwhites using version 5 (but different) firmware as well.

Yeah, but at least they have names. I have no idea how you would differentiate the original Kindle Basic (non-touch) from the newer model -- except by referring to its color.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Yeah, but at least they have names. I have no idea how you would differentiate the original Kindle Basic (non-touch) from the newer model -- except by referring to its color.

The only other way would be referring to the serial number. The silvers start with B00E and the blacks B023 & 9023

[soulfuldog]

Originally Posted by Jessica Lares

I loved my K3, but my Paperwhite is so nice to use, especially to type on it. I couldn't go back to the tactile keyboard for that reason.

I'm the same. Didn't want to give up my page turn buttons, but after moving to the PW2, I don't miss them at all. The PW is just so much nicer to use.

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Never seen that myself. It's K4 for the basic (non-touch) and K5 for the touch or at least it always used to be. This based on the fact that the basic uses version 4 firmware while the touch uses version 5. It gets more confusing with the Paperwhites using version 5 (but different) firmware as well.

Spot on. I think because there were two versions of the basic non-touch Kindle, that caused a little confusion, but it's always been the K4, and the Kindle Touch the K5. The new version of the basic Kindle might have been released after the Kindle Touch, but it is just the same model as the original with slight improvements and change of colour to the casing (black instead of silver), so it's still the K4. As you rightly point out, Amazon just knackered the firmware/model number method with the PW though!

Originally Posted by rcentros

Yeah, but at least they have names. I have no idea how you would differentiate the original Kindle Basic (non-touch) from the newer model -- except by referring to its color.

The screen on the newer version is definitely better, so if you compare an older silver K4, to the newer black model, the screen on the former will look a little greyer. Whereas the black one has a very nice, whiter looking screen.

The Kindle 3 (Keyboard) remains my choice of best all around Kindle ever. It was well built and had a lot of bells and whistles. The Kindles that came later on all have major compromises of some sort. Amazon decided to cut the internal memory, get rid of audio ability, et cetera. The newer Kindles might have better tech features and software, but I still think the K3 was the pinnacle of achievement in Amazon branded e-Ink readers. After the K3 Amazon started building their readers cheaper and cheaper, and it shows. The touchscreen models have never reached the screen quality they should have, and the K4s are scaled way back from the K3 feature set. The K4 probably has the best screen of all the Kindles, but the K3 is still the best overall achievement among Kindles, IMO.

[crossi]

Originally Posted by Smartie

True.but do we really need keep thousand books on ereader?we can just keen them on cloud and only download when we ready to read,I usually remove books after I finished

My archive is unmanageable. I only have ~1000 ebooks but that is 100 pages of archive to page through to find the one book I want to read. I often can't remember the title or author just genre and basic plot. On the other hand I have my books organized into just 10 pages of collections which is much more manageable. Until I can have collections in my archive the archive is useless to me. I haven't turned on whispernet in years and see no reason to do so. I buy all my books from the computer and load them via Calibre by the USB. If my library outgrows my reader I might just get a second reader and split my books between them but what I really want is more memory or SD cards and much better library management software. If cheap mp3 players can manage libraries of thousands of songs sorted by many criteria certainly it isn't beyond programing ability to have similar book management. Hell just a few changes to mp3 player software would work just fine for organizing your books.

[Casey57]

I still use my K3 and prefer it to the other Kindles my family owns. The extra storage is terrific. It is slowing down a bit -page turns not as crisp - but I can live with that. It was my first Kindle purchase and I guess I just feel the most comfortable with it.

[BearMountainBooks]

I still have mine. It has a keyboard, experimental web access (so in a pinch I can send an email, check a map or whatever). Granted, the web access and keyboard are not the easiest on the planet to use, but they have come in handy on more than one occasion. I don't have an internet phone of any kind, nor one that texts.

The device has everything I need. I don't notice slow page turns or refresh slowness either, but I've never had any other e-reader. If I did get another e-reader it would probably be a Kobo something, but I have no intention of getting rid of my 3g. It works. The 3g costs me nothing and where I go, it often gets turned on because there is no wifi.

[montalex]

I have 5 Kindle Keyboards and a Kindle 4. I just gave one Kindle Keyboard away. Friends and students have given me their broken Kindles, and I have replaced batteries, screens, motherboards, keyboards and face plates, so I have a little collection. I take the Kindle 4 with me around town, or if I'm on a beach or someplace it could get damaged or stolen. Otherwise, I prefer my Kindle Keyboard. I was just in France, and had my NYTimes delivered daily via 3G. I even used the Kindle on the way to CDG airport to find out what terminal my flight was departing from.
I especially like how quickly I can type or highlight a name or term to search the book for the last appearance of said name or term. I like the physical buttons, because I can hold the Kindle with one hand while standing on a bus or metro and turn pages with the thumb of that hand. A page turn with a touch screen is a two-hand affair.

I wouldn't mind the Paperwhite's lit screen, though.... but I think I'll keep reading on a Kindle Keyboard for a few more years -- as long as I can get the batteries.

[Smartie]

Originally Posted by montalex

I have 5 Kindle Keyboards and a Kindle 4. I just gave one Kindle Keyboard away. Friends and students have given me their broken Kindles, and I have replaced batteries, screens, motherboards, keyboards and face plates, so I have a little collection. I take the Kindle 4 with me around town, or if I'm on a beach or someplace it could get damaged or stolen. Otherwise, I prefer my Kindle Keyboard. I was just in France, and had my NYTimes delivered daily via 3G. I even used the Kindle on the way to CDG airport to find out what terminal my flight was departing from.
I especially like how quickly I can type or highlight a name or term to search the book for the last appearance of said name or term. I like the physical buttons, because I can hold the Kindle with one hand while standing on a bus or metro and turn pages with the thumb of that hand. A page turn with a touch screen is a two-hand affair.

I wouldn't mind the Paperwhite's lit screen, though.... but I think I'll keep reading on a Kindle Keyboard for a few more years -- as long as I can get the batteries.

Hi

I was told kk always try to connect to wifi before 3G,is this true. I mean say if I am in Starbucks and they have wifi, if I turn on wireless,can I use 3G instead do wifi?

Thanks