I first tried an e-reader in 2010, when I got a Kindle Fire. I hated it, and gave it to my nephew
so he could use it to play games.
I had to get an e-book for my research, so decided to try the Kindle Paper White; a black and white, e-ink reader. I loved it. Easy to adjust the font, size and spacing. I could read more and faster then before. I liked it so much that I also got the new version, the Oasis. Here are a few thoughts:
- The Oasis is a little better to hold, and I like the “next page” buttons on the side.
- The Oasis is a little brighter, but the background colour on the Paperwhite is actually nicer.
- My Oasis came with advertisements, that annoyed me. However, a 5 minute chat with a service agent, and they removed them, putting back visually beautiful screen savers and giving me a full home screen.
My conclusion: Less money is not an issue, save a lot, and get the Paper White.
A few thoughts on how to get the most out of your Kindle:
- On your Amazon page: go to devices, and set up an e-mail address you can send documents to. This will allow you to send a host of different types of documents on your kindle. A trick: If you add “convert” in the subject, a PDF will be converted into the ebook reader format, and you have all the benefits that allows. (Like font size and highlighting)
- To read webpages, install a browser extension: send to kindle; and any website you are on, can then be converted to the format, and enjoyed. Very useful for longer articles.
- .. and also works beautifully when you get academic articles, behind paywalls, in html format!!!
- If you have a partner / friend you trust (enough to share your credit card buying power); link your accounts; and you have access to each others library. (You still buy on your own card, so no worries)
- I highlight, and take notes as I read.. however, I have yet to find an elegant way to export them all at once. So, when working on it later, I use the online reader at Amazon, to get it up on a screen. Not my choice for reading, but excellent when using it as input for writing. Here you can also search for words and terms (as you can on the Kindle :))
