Is it worth replacing your Kindle 3 for a 4?

[pidgeon92]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I don't have any local friends. My hubby and I keep to ourselves.

Cripes. You sound like me and my husband.

You start your Kindle museum down South, and I'll start one up here in the Midwest.

[carld]

That's me too ... Friends? What these friends you speak of?

We could call it 'Kindle Curmudgeons'.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by sachinwalia

After reading this review on tomshardware about K4 touch display quality I am going to stick to my K3.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ader,3040.html

That does sound bad.

I'm wondering if the different grade of eInk Pearl in the K4 might be, merely, different, rather than worse. Since the K4 reportedly has less glare, maybe there was a trade-off made between glare and contrast ratio. However, even it the K4 screen difference is a trade-off, rather than an inferiority, I would rather keep the higher K3 contrast and live with the slight K3 glare.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

Cripes. You sound like me and my husband.

You start your Kindle museum down South, and I'll start one up here in the Midwest.

Sounds like a plan!

Originally Posted by carld

That's me too ... Friends? What these friends you speak of?

We could call it 'Kindle Curmudgeons'.

Had to look that word up. I don't know... it doesn't apply to me. I am more of a Pollyanna type person, easy going and very friendly. and my hubby well he fits the description of Curmudgeons come to think of it.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

That does sound bad.

I'm wondering if the different grade of eInk Pearl in the K4 might be, merely, different, rather than worse. Since the K4 reportedly has less glare, maybe there was a trade-off made between glare and contrast ratio. However, even it the K4 screen difference is a trade-off, rather than an inferiority, I would rather keep the higher K3 contrast and live with the slight K3 glare.

Mine will be here on Wednesday. I will let everyone know what I think of it. I am very picky when it comes to Screens I migrated from Vizplex that looked like washed out newspaper to my K3 Pearl where the text is black and crisp, so if the K4 has any difference I will notice it right away. I don't have a glare problem with my K3.

[lukjad]

I am satisfied with the kindle 3G that I have now and am not seriously tempted by any of the other readers offered. I find the lack of keyboard...disturbing. I find the current keyboard limiting as it is, what with having to frequently access the Sym key.

I know many people think that the kindle does not need the keyboard except for browsing, but I disagree. It is useful for sorting documents and for searching those that are indexed. I also enjoy making notes in what am reading, this would be awkward with only the fiveway control.

Most of the improvements I have seen are slight, and not actually all that useful. if the processor is faster, but there is no keyboard allowing you to browse the web, what is the point? Indexing is usually done in the backgound anyway.

Some pros are simplicity. If it's just a reader, the needed skills for the use of the device drops in number. Also, I won't be tempted to check updates and the like in the middle of reading a book.

In the end, it all depends what you use it for. I would not exchange it for any of the readers, and the Kindle Fire is not available in Canada.

[tomsem]

The K4 and KT keyboards will be less limited than K3's in one respect: you'll finally be able to enter some diacritic characters (and spell résumé correctly) without resorting to hacks.

I will miss some keyboard shortcuts, however. Can you take a screenshot with K4? will there be a way to do it on KT?

[carrie810]

I just bought K3 before this new gen coming.
I have ipad2 so no interest for the touch screen one.

but if I knew the new K4 coming, maybe I will wait and buy that K4 budget one.
now ...
never thought about switching though

It is good to read on Kindle

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by stonetools

John Gruber observed that his young son thinks that there is something wrong with Gruber's K3 because the screen doesn't respond to touch .

I know that there is a huge button loving contingent here but the writing on on the wall as far as the next generation is concerned.We might as well talk about how the command line and MS-DOS was really more powerful than the GUI. Remember those debates, old timers?

I think you are right - pointing is a much more instinctual action than pressing a button, and touching is merely a culmination of pointing.

[beautifulsoup]

Originally Posted by carld

That's me too ... Friends? What these friends you speak of?

We could call it 'Kindle Curmudgeons'.

Spell it with a K! Kindle Kurmudgeons. More fun that way.

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Had to look that word up. I don't know... it doesn't apply to me. I am more of a Pollyanna type person, easy going and very friendly. and my hubby well he fits the description of Curmudgeons come to think of it.

Curmudgeoning is a man's job! It takes a man to curmudge. Check the definitions - a curmudgeon turns hurt into humor. What woman would do that?

When a woman tries to curmudge, she just grumps. No one can grump as effectively as a woman. When a man tries to grump, nothing much happens. He is ignored. He is an irrelevancy. But when a woman grumps, who can ignore her? An unhappy woman makes everyone unhappy. Nobody says "when papa ain't happy, ain't nobody happy." It's momma who matters.

No man can effectively curmudge a grumping woman. Try it - you will find out pretty quickly that curmudgeoning a grumping woman makes no impression at all on her. This is largely because women find no humor in hurt. For women, hurt is too close to home.

As for Pollyanna...well, nobody talks about Pollyandy.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Harmon

Curmudgeoning is a man's job! It takes a man to curmudge. Check the definitions - a curmudgeon turns hurt into humor. What woman would do that?

When a woman tries to curmudge, she just grumps. No one can grump as effectively as a woman. When a man tries to grump, nothing much happens. He is ignored. He is an irrelevancy. But when a woman grumps, who can ignore her? An unhappy woman makes everyone unhappy. Nobody says "when papa ain't happy, ain't nobody happy." It's momma who matters.

No man can effectively curmudge a grumping woman. Try it - you will find out pretty quickly that curmudgeoning a grumping woman makes no impression at all on her. This is largely because women find no humor in hurt. For women, hurt is too close to home.

As for Pollyanna...well, nobody talks about Pollyandy.

[Zeebra]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

That does sound bad.

I'm wondering if the different grade of eInk Pearl in the K4 might be, merely, different, rather than worse. Since the K4 reportedly has less glare, maybe there was a trade-off made between glare and contrast ratio. However, even it the K4 screen difference is a trade-off, rather than an inferiority, I would rather keep the higher K3 contrast and live with the slight K3 glare.

I really think Tom's Hardware is barking up the wrong tree here. They're making their assessment of "lower quality screen" on ONE unit they have. You've gotten myself and another on this forum saying the new Kindles screen are as good or better than our old Kindle Keyboard screens. Amazon's own site says that both use "6" E Ink Pearl" displays, so we know the displays are equal.

[max99]

Originally Posted by lukjad

I

Most of the improvements I have seen are slight, and not actually all that useful. if the processor is faster, but there is no keyboard allowing you to browse the web, what is the point? Indexing is usually done in the backgound anyway.

this is what i've been trying to point out to folks all along, the K4 non-touch isn't an upgrade in any sense whatsoever, it's a stripped down yellow label device for the mass market. you have to be crazy to swap your K3 for this device.

let's looks at the facts as they're emerging, the K4 non-touch has the following:

1. Half the SD storage space of K3
2. Half the RAM of K3 (only 128MB)
3. Half the battery life of K3 (!!! why?)
4. Cheaper grade pearl eink screen (reported by tom's hardware)
5. No keyboard!

the raison d'être of this device is to be the cheapest ereader possible with a sub $100 price point.

[HarryT]

Moderator Notice
Please don't call people "crazy" because their personal choice doesn't accord with yours; it's rude.