[It'sallgood]

HI there,
Needing some help that I know I won't get anywhere else

I want to buy my husband a Kindle e-reader thingee for Christmas. I went to look for them and didn't realise how many different sorts and how many different features they have!?!?

What's it all about and what are teh important features to have? And are Kindles the best? or other e-readers just as good?

How much storage to I look for? I reckon he would want to watch movies on one, he spends a lot of time away and alone at work, so it would be good if he had a portable device rather then his i-phone where teh screen is too small.

Or should I just bite the bullet and get him an i-pad or a pad of some sort? Although, we are pretty tight for money right now, so an e-reader / Kindle seems a less expensive option and he loves using his i-phone for everything, so I dont' think a pad is worth it right now.

How much should I pay? What's a good deal on these???

ANY advice, tips welcome.

Thanks in advance.
Tamm

[dadathome]

For me, a black and white e-ink e-reader is the best option for reading books. There are sevral flavours of kindle, touch screen or other, with or without a light, and the easiest way to buy books is direct via Amazon. Kobo has touch screen versions with or without lighting, and you can buy books from a range of stores. Sony do a good one too, although it is more expensive.

These are lightweight with great battery life. But you can't watch movies on them.

To do that, you need a tablet, and both Kindle and Kobo do them, and they are about the same size as an ipad mini. The ipad mini is at least $100 more expensive, but more versatile.

Then there are a range of Android and now Microsoft tablets as well. You really need to work out what it's to be used for most an then decide what type of unit to buy.

[Sofia*]

It depends what he wants to do - if he only wants to read books - get a plain e-reader.
But, if he wants to do anything else (movies, games, internet) then I think it would be better to bite the bullet and get and iPad (or some other tablet, though I know nothing about them!).

Otherwise, I suspect that in a year or so you will be wishing you hadn't spent a couple of hundred dollars on a Kindle when you could have a tablet with more features.

Personally, I'm in love with my brand new iPad mini - perfect size for reading but great for movies, internet and just about everything else But, they are more expensive, so you'd need to balance out your budget vs the functions you want.

Edited because I just noticed that he has an iPhone - in that case, I would either get a standard e-reader, just for books, or an iPad mini. I wouldn't get a tablet that uses a different operating system to the iPhone - there is no way I would want to use an Android tablet when I already have music, movies, apps etc setup for iPhone.
And, even though I have an iPhone, the iPad mini is just so much better for doing almost everything except phone calls (and when I get round to playing around with Skype, it might even do that!).

This post has been edited by Rubybelle: 03/12/2012, 12:26 PM

[Quack Quack]

I was just coming in to ask this same question!
I have a Kindle e-reader which I adore, take everywhere and use multiple times a day.
I have just noticed the kindle Fire, whats the difference? is the Fire more like an iPad... but smaller?

I see that you can Watch movies etc. on the fire, but is that the only difference?

[dadathome]

I have just noticed the kindle Fire, whats the difference? is the Fire more like an iPad... but smaller?

The Kindle fire has an LCD touch screen, so is really a tablet about the size of an ipad mini. It is cheaper, but I'd argue less versatile, than an ipad mini or a similar sized Google Nexus or Samsung.

I have phone, ipad and e-reader, and they all different things better than each other. The e-reader is brilliant for reading books.

[It'sallgood]

Thanks so much
I don't think I can afford an ipad right now, so I might just go with the e-reader option.

He has a Samsung Galaxy II as well as an iphone! He upgraded to the Galaxy cause he loved mine and then started a new job and they gave him the iphone4 Taht's our first real exposure to the Apple products and although he prefers the GAlaxy overall, he has to use the iphone for work so he's getting used to it and using it.

I'm going to take over his Galaxy II as soon as he gets around to wiping all the crap on it that he collected LOL

I WILL though go and look at the ipad mini before deciding between that and a Kindle. Just was speaking to a friend and she recommended Kindle as the best option for e-reader. The others i.e. Sony, more expensive but not as good she reckons too.

Tahnks again,
Tamm

[RealityBites]

I love my Sony ereader, best present I have ever received!

[Livsh]

I'm in love with my kindle, seriously in love with it!

I have the 3G version which is awesome, I downloaded books from a beach in vanuatu this year, you can't get better than that!

I wouldn't recommend the fire versions or touch screens mainly because I think the best feature of the kindle is it's battery life. It's seriously awe-inspiring! I only have to charge mine up once a month at the most!

Also, it seems to be virtually indestructable - I have dropped it on concrete, tiles, DS threw it across the room and DS and DD have smothered it in sudocreme and it STILL WORKS!

Amazon will also replace them, my friends one got run over (don't ask) and amazon replaced it for free!

[ednaboo]

Livsh: so can you buy Kindles from Amazon? I thought they wouldn't ship here?
ETA: just investigated this for myself - they are currently out of models that were available to ship to Aus. Bummer.

This post has been edited by ednaboo: 03/12/2012, 03:47 PM

[lsolaBella]

Sony e reader here and ipad mini