is Amazon kindle worth buying?

[Steve2016]

Hey everyone, i just wanted to ask those of you who have kindle if it's worth paying over $100 for. As everyone else here, I spend a lot of time reading on my laptop and it's really hurting my eyes. I always set my screen to negative so it's a little better but still it's not very good. On the other hand, I mostly download my books cos I can't pay for them. So Kindle users, please tell me if it's better for eyes and if it is, is it really much better compared to a good quality laptop screen (HD, IPS, etc.)? 

[avflinsch]

It depends on which Kindle you get

I currently have 2 Kindles, the old e-ink version with a keyboard, and a new Fire HD. The old keyboard version is excellent for reading text (no screen glare), and has a good battery life (about 3-4 weeks between recharges), but it absolutely sucks if there are graphics in the document. The screen is not backlit, so reading in the dark is impossible. Currently it is mainly being used for b&w pdfs of equipment manuals.

The Fire is much better at graphics, and is reasonable for reading text, but the battery life is not so great (about 2-3 days depending on usage). The Fire is also able to blue-shade the screen for ease of nighttime reading. It is also a fairly decent generic android tablet. I find it more convenient for reading than my laptop, mainly because it is easier to hold and sort of feels like a book.

My daughter has one of the Paperwhite versions, these are sort of a cross between the Fire and old e-ink versions. Decent battery life (about 3 weeks +/- depending on use), no screen glare. It is backlit for nighttime reading, but does not do graphical displays as well as the Fire, but it is much better than the old keyboard version.

If you are just using it for reading, then I would suggest the Paperwhite, but if you want something that can be used as a tablet then go for the Fire HD.

 

As far as reading downloaded books, all of them support the major e-book formats and pdfs

 

 

Edited November 9, 2016 by avflinsch

[Steve2016]

13 hours ago, avflinsch said:

It depends on which Kindle you get

I currently have 2 Kindles, the old e-ink version with a keyboard, and a new Fire HD. The old keyboard version is excellent for reading text (no screen glare), and has a good battery life (about 3-4 weeks between recharges), but it absolutely sucks if there are graphics in the document. The screen is not backlit, so reading in the dark is impossible. Currently it is mainly being used for b&w pdfs of equipment manuals.

The Fire is much better at graphics, and is reasonable for reading text, but the battery life is not so great (about 2-3 days depending on usage). The Fire is also able to blue-shade the screen for ease of nighttime reading. It is also a fairly decent generic android tablet. I find it more convenient for reading than my laptop, mainly because it is easier to hold and sort of feels like a book.

My daughter has one of the Paperwhite versions, these are sort of a cross between the Fire and old e-ink versions. Decent battery life (about 3 weeks +/- depending on use), no screen glare. It is backlit for nighttime reading, but does not do graphical displays as well as the Fire, but it is much better than the old keyboard version.

If you are just using it for reading, then I would suggest the Paperwhite, but if you want something that can be used as a tablet then go for the Fire HD.

 

As far as reading downloaded books, all of them support the major e-book formats and pdfs

 

 

Thanks a lot for the advice!  

[AP]

Oh yeah. Totally worth it.

I like the paper books, but when you have a light device like kindle to read on buses, planes, waiting areas, etc. is incredible how much reading you get done. Buy it.

[TakeruK]

I have a Paperwhite and I agree that it's the best for reading non-graphical things. For example, I do most of my fun reading (novels etc.) on my Paperwhite. It's small, lightweight, and I can easily hold it in one hand and tap the corner to advance the page. I love the e-ink with backlit lighting (it's basically just a lightbulb that illuminates the device. Great on eyes.

I also have a Fire HD10 that I use more as a tablet than just an e-reader. It's easier to use for typing etc. than my phone. I read some books with figures or graphics with it. I purposely keep email and facebook off it because I want to use it more as a personal entertainment device. However, I do have Twitter connected because at academic conferences, this tablet is what I use to tweet the conference and communicate with my colleagues. I don't use Twitter very much outside of these conferences, so there are barely any notifications (I think I will turn off notifications when I am not at a conference if they get in my way in the future).

[Steve2016]

Thanks AP and TakeruK for responses!