Showing posts with label Kindle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kindle. Show all posts

Monday, January 25, 2010

ACCESSORIES FOR YOUR eREADER - OCCASIONAL SERIES - COVERS AND CASES

There is a bewildering range of accessories that you can buy for your eReader online, so I thought I should have a snuffle around and collect as wide a range of them and their suppliers for you as I could and post them in an occasional series of reviews and links.

I shall concentrate on companies who make their own accessories as the ones supplied by the makers of eReaders are obviously sold by the same sites and shops who will sell you the eReader, and thus easy to find.

This is a post which will grow over time as I add covers and bags that I come across in my wanderings through the net.

COVERS AND CASES:
Even if you have a cover for your eReader, it can still get very dirty and scuffed if it lives for a lot of its life (as mine does) at the bottom of a rucksack or similar, so some sort of custom made closed case is perhaps not too much of a luxury to protect your expensive eReader.  Of course you could simply wrap it in a small plastic bag, but the things I shall now be looking at are rather more fun.

To get to the companies below, simply click  on the company name, they are links to them.

These people make a range of bags in bright and cheerful colours for Amazon, Barnes and Noble and  Sony eReaders.  They are made from tough materials and there are basically two types, the first being simply a made to measure bag for your eReader, the second having a transparent front, so you can use your eReader while it is in its bag - probably useful if you want to read in the rain.
price: about 30 US Dollars




Playcom have a wide range of eReader accessories on offer, including several cases with transparent fronts, so once again you can use your eReader in its case. They seem to only have cases and other accessories for Sony products, but they sell a good wide range of these things.

price: about 26 British Pounds





This is a truly extraordinary case for the smaller Kindles from Amazon, it is completely water-proof (to 1 meter) and is so constructed that you can happily read your Kindle while swimming.  Apparently you can even read it in the water "hands free" as it floats upright.  It is a rather beautiful object in itself and comes in a cheerful range of colours.
It is also unsinkable (more so than the Titanic I hope!) as it has three built in buoyancy chambers.
Fun thing for he who has everything.

price: not yet known as it will become available this coming Spring.

  
 
They also make a range of very solid covers for the 6" Kindle eReaders, these are more like wallets as they have a closing flap.  I can do no better than to quote from their website here.
  • Precision construction and craftsmanship make the genuine patent leather Icon jacket a must have for on-the-go Kindle readers who don't want to sacrifice style for functionality.
  • The jacket's interior is made of lush grey microsuede and includes a side pocket for storage of papers as well as a smaller business card pocket and pen loop. A detachable wristlet strap allows for easy and stylish on-the-go carrying.
  • Kindle is held in place via a sturdy four-point mounting system made of the exterior patent leather. The front flap closes securely as well as folds back for easy reading via a hidden magnetic closure.
  • Compatible with M-Edge's e-Luminator2 booklight (sold separately)
         price around 35 US Dollars
    Source M-EDGE:



     Proporta produce among other eReader accessories, a range of cover/bags which will fit most eReaders which are quite impressive.   As with the M-EDGE products, I shall quote from their website, as they give a good and concise description of their products there.

    Their description of this product:
    Handcrafted from the finest quality faux leather, the beautiful Leather Style Universal Reader Case is designed to work with a range of eReaders measuring up to 134mm x 190mm x 18mm. The luxury lining will keep your device cocooned away from all the nasty little surprises that life has in store, and the button fastener prevents accidental opening. Finished with a striking green lining and a diagonal stripe with contrast overstitching, this case is as stylish as it is robust, and even has a special pocket for holding spare memory cards.
    price: about 15 British Pounds.
     
    Source: Proporta




    These people make a range of covers and bags that will fit a variety of eReaders and they come in a cheerful range of colours too, which I like.

    Basically they have bags to keep your eReader clean and unscratched while it is knocking around in the bottom of your bag or under the sofa in you house.  These are simply cloth bags, which you zip open and shut.  They also have a zipped pocket on the outside to keep papers and possibly a slim pen or two, handy I feel.

    Their eReader covers are impressive looking bits of kit, which seem to be adjustable to fit a wide range of eReaders, and have a pocket on the inside in which one can store papers... money for the bus and so on.

    Another rather pleasing range they have are slip on covers for eReaders.   These are simply fabric or neoprene bags with draw string closing, into which you stuff your eReader.  These come in an amazing range of technicolor tints and patterns, quite overwhelmingly colourful.... but fun!

    AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!
     

    They have gone yet another step, which I will report upon, even though it doesn't come under the heading of this post...... They offer brightly patterned decals (transfers for the English) to stick onto your eReader, simply to cheer it up....  Nice idea.
    prices vary from about 10 US Dollars too 40 US Dollars, and they can all be bought at Amazon.

    Well, this is a start, I shall be coming back to this post regularly and updating it as I come across other covers for our eReaders, so return and keep an eye on this post, it will grow!!!!!!! 

    SHARE WITH US:
    If you have come across a company who produce and sell  any accessories for eReaders, please do contact me so we can let the rest of the world know about your discovery.

    Tuesday, January 12, 2010

    KINDLE DX WIRELESS READER. NEW WONDER FROM AMAZON!



    KINDLE DX WIRELESS READER


    Amazon have just announced the latest incarnation of their KINDLE range of eReaders, which will be available within a matter of weeks from now (January 2010).

    WORLD WIDE 3G DOWNLOAD SUPPORT

    This new Kindle has a host of functions, one of the most interesting is the almost universal support for downloading books from Amazon via 3G networks (free for the greater part too!).  Effectively if you are in any part of the world that supports 3G mobile phones, you will be able to search for and buy books from Amazon.  Up to now this possibility was only available for people using their Kindles in the US, now they have opened it up for the rest of us. So no more fiddling around with downloading books onto our computers and then transferring them to our eReaders.  In fact, if we only used our computers to download books, we can now throw the thing away.

    WORLD-WIDE AVAILABILITY:

    This Kindle can be purchased and delivered to almost any country in the world, which will be a relief for those of us who have had to go through all manner of contortions in order to buy any of Sony's eReaders if we happen to live in countries where those eReaders are not for sale - which at this moment, seems to be pretty well the entire world!

    On this topic, I have contacted Sony to see if they can explain their sales policy in regard to eReaders, and when (and if) they reply I shall post their thoughts on this one for you all to read, which I hope will clarify this rather mysterious policy.

    SUPPORTED eBOOK FORMATS:

    Like all the other members of the Kindle range, this one only works with Amazon's own eBook format, which seems a great pity to me as it automatically closes off the rest of the world's eBook sellers as a source of reading material, some of whom offer very good bargains regularly.  I understand that Amazon wants us to buy books from them, and sees no point in producing an eReader that can give other companies a profit, but it remains a strong minus point in my mind.
    Having said that, I have to recognise that Amazon have an impressively large number of books, periodicals and other reading material on offer, and their prices are not unreasonable by and large.


    Obviously resources such as the Gutenberg Project and other similar websites who offer free out of copyright books are available to Kindle owners too, so it isn't all gloom and doom.


    TEXT TO SPEECH:

    Now this is a good function that they have put into this newest toy.   Simply put, almost 60 000 of the available books can be purchased with the very pleasing additional property of being able to be audio books as well as simple text.  Apparently there are some geographical limitations on this, a matter of publishers copyright restrictions.

    So one simply has to switch from text to speech, put on earphones or speakers, and Voila... listen to a soothing male or female voice - your choice - reading the book to you, and to make it even better, the eReader turns the pages as the voice reads them, so all you have to do when you wish to get back to reading is to switch off the voice, and just carry on reading from that point.... no hassles in finding the last read page....

    This is something that would go a long way in persuading me to buy a Kindle for my next eReader!  As they say on their website, over breakfast one enjoys reading one's latest book, and then out to the car to get off to work, and simply continue listening through speakers as one drives along.... sounds good to me.

    DICTIONARY:

    Another useful addition to this eReader is that it has a very comprehensive dictionary built into it (New Oxford American Dictionary) which you can access at any time without leaving the book you are reading at the time, so it is simple to check on the meaning of any word you happen to read that you don't understand.   Something that happens to me regularly, and in my case this means hunting around for a paper dictionary, since my own eReader isn't fitted out with a dictionary (note to self....get online and buy a dictionary!).

    WIKKIPEDIA:

    Using the 3G system, it is also possible to access Wikkipedia, which is something I would really love to be able to do on my eReader as I am always looking up things  there while working on my computer, and am a devoted fan of Wikkipedia.  Good move, Amazon!!!

    ADOBE PDF FILES:

    They have also fitted this new reader out with a PDF reader, but as all eBooks, to a greater or lesser extent support PDF files and given that this PDF reader can't change the way  the text flows with PDF files, I am not convinced that this is any real improvement on other eReaders in this respectIn fairness I have to report that it is possible to convert PDF files to the Kindle's own format, which would obviously make them much easier to read.
    Rotating the screen from Portrait to landscape (which Kindle does very well) will help when reading PDF files.

    SIZE:

    This Kindle is rather larger than previous models, which in my view is an improvement.  Unlike mobile phones, in which smaller and smaller appears to be the aim, reading a book is a much more pleasant experience when the page is at least the size of a typical paperback.   In this respect Amazon have made a good decision here in making it a bit larger than their previous models

    TEXT SIZE:

    There are a total of 6 font sizes available on this eReader, which is something that appeals to me a lot.  As I said in my review of the Sony PRS-505, I find that I use this function a lot and to have the choice of 6 sizes would be a real advantage to me, and I am sure to a lot of you out there too..

    TEXT INPUT:

    As with the earlier Kindles, this one has a keyboard which can be used to annotate books one is reading, or when working with Wikkipedia or ordering books from Amazon.

    PRICE:

    489 US Dollars.

    So, there is a look at the main functions in this newest contestant in the fierce battle for eReader supremacy.   It has many other functions obviously, which you can contemplate at your leisure on their website (see side-bar for the link).

    CONCLUSIONS:

    The various comments I have read about it on the web (amazing how fast such comments appear, isn't it?) are generally favourable, there are several recurring complaints though, for example the fact that all the controls are now only on the right hand side of the eReader, making it tricky for left-handed people to work it, others have complained about the bad balance of its weight or the fact that the keyboard only has 4 rows of keys, so you have to use an Alt-key combination to enter numbers and not least, its price, which quite a few commentators found to be waaayyyyy too high.  And as ever, the reoccurring comments about only supporting Amazon's own eBook format.

    In spite of these various negative comments, this eReader seems to me to be an ideal machine for most readers who are looking for an eReader with a basically good collection of functions, well made and well supported by its manufacturer, and the almost world wide 3G support is a very powerful reason to buy this eReader.

    Here I should admit to having a fondness for Amazon in general, having bought books and other things from them since they started up, and have always been vastly impressed by the safe arrival of those well known cardboard boxes in the most unlikely parts of the world - I have traveled and worked in a few rather far flung places - but they always got the things to me.


    POINT TO NOTE:



    6" WIRELESS KINDLE

    The smaller sister of the Kindle DX Wireless, the 6 " Kindle Wireless has world wide 3G support,  as well ,and is much cheaper at 259 US Dollars.

    I shall be reviewing this little baby very shortly... so come back soon and read all about it!

    Images source:  Amazon.