Travel gear review: Kindle 3G
Despite being a geek in my spare time I’m often kinda late to the party with tech innovations. I didn’t have a laptop until three years ago, or a smartphone until a couple of years back. I didn’t need them, and the cost vs benefits just didn’t stack up until then.
Until a few weeks ago I felt the same about e-readers. Real books aren’t all that heavy. They are not so hard to find on the road. Plus it is kind of nice to be able to give them away to someone else when I’m done with them, and a dirty old second-hand paperback on a hostel bookshelf has a sense of history all its own. Oh, and my beaten up old Lonely Planet doesn’t run out of battery just when I need it most either.
Eventually though, I caved. I had dozens of pdfs that I just wasn’t getting around to reading on my computer. Carrying around a guidebook and a novel or two was becoming kind of annoying. The thought of being able to grab a new book from anywhere with mobile phone coverage was rather appealing. And hey, a new Kindle was under $200 – and would probably only lose a few bucks if I didn’t like it and got rid of it on eBay. What the hell, I thought – I’ll give it a go.
I am now a total convert, for all of the reasons listed above – and a whole lot of other ones that I hadn’t even thought about before clicking the purchase button. Put simply, I am convinced that the Kindle 3G is the best e-reader for travellers by far. It’s not perfect, but for the money it’s just about impossible to go past it.
The good
- The Kindle’s size and weight were a total surprise when I took it out of the packaging. This thing is incredibly light – under 250g/nine ounces – and smaller than an A5 sheet of paper. Even with a protective case it still looks and feels like a small notepad or diary. For a traveller these small dimensions are a godsend – I can throw the device into my daypack and not even know it’s there.
- We all know that trying to read normal laptop or phone screens in direct sunlight is almost impossible due to the glare. Not so with the Kindle – in fact, the surprisingly paper-like screen is at its best in bright light. Yes, that does include at the beach…
- The biggest issue I had with any device that would replace guidebooks for me was battery life – one of many reasons why iPads and other tablets were out of the question. Where their battery life is measured in hours, the Kindle’s is measured in weeks or months - a vital factor when trying to find my hostel after reading for hours on a long plane or bus ride.
- To help you download new books, Amazon provides free cellular data access in over 100 countries. Now that’s cool – but what is much cooler is that the Kindle 3G also includes a basic web browser. Combine the two and what do you get? Free internet all around the world. I was reading my email and updating my Facebook status via my Kindle in the middle of nowhere on Vancouver Island a couple of weeks ago – for free. Sure it was slow, sure it was clunky … but the price and convenience couldn’t be beaten!
- I downloaded Send to Kindle – a free web browser extension – and use it more than I thought possible. With one click it takes any web page and emails it to a free address provided by Amazon, where the page is reformatted and sent to my device. Combine it with sites like longreads.com and I now have an endless supply of reading material without an internet connection. Incredible.
- If my phone is flat, I can listen to mp3s and audio books on my Kindle instead. Not a game changer, but nice to have.
- As I mentioned above, when it’s in a protective cover the Kindle 3G looks just like a pocket diary. Combined with the fact it’s only worth a couple of hundred bucks and I’m more than happy to pull it out to check directions on the street or read on a park bench for a while – something I’d never consider doing with an Ipad, for instance. You’re just much less of a target when using a Kindle – and that matters to me a lot on the road.
The bad
- The greyscale screen is perfect for text, but not so great for pictures. It’s certainly nowhere near as immersive an experience as viewing images on a tablet or laptop, meaning that magazines like National Geographic don’t translate to Kindle well.
- Copy protection on books bought from Amazon means that they can’t be read on other devices easily. It doesn’t both me so much but still, it would have been nice if they’d used one of the open standards.
- One disappointing aspect is trying to use maps on the Kindle – while they are usually clear enough, having to scroll around and zoom in and out is a pain in the butt. In the future I’ll be sticking with paper maps – even the free ones from the hostel or tourist information desk – where I can.
- While documents formatted specifically for Kindle look great, pdf files can be hit and miss. Many are perfectly fine, some require the use of landscape mode, and others require far more scrolling than I can personally be bothered with.
- Just like a standard book, there’s no backlighting on the Kindle. This means that if you want to read in the darkness of your dorm room or overnight bus you’ll need your own light source. I just use a tiny clip-on reading light, but there are a few covers that have them integrated if you’d rather.
- It seems churlish to complain about free internet access from anywhere, but I’m still going to – using the web browser is slow and the processing power of the Kindle seems to struggle to keep up. Letters get missed while typing, button clicks don’t always register, etc. Not the end of the world, but annoying enough to to mention.
The ugly
- The only thing I really don’t like about the Kindle 3G is the interface. While the back and forward buttons on either side work well, the tiny keyboard and super-clunky four way controller feel like a throwback to last century. Even if touch screens weren’t the norm these days the interface wouldn’t be great, but in 2011 it is just an unpleasant experience. This is the one thing that I’d really like to see improved dramatically in the next version.
All in all though, despite the minor niggles I have to say that I have gone from sceptic to convert with the Kindle 3G in only a matter of weeks. The convenience of having thousands of books available – plus all of the free resources as well – in such a small package is extremely high. Throw in the free mobile internet, long battery life and lack of attention it draws, and you have the perfect traveller’s device
I love it.
Note that there are some affiliate links in this article, which means that I’ll receive a few bucks if you buy a linked item. It costs you no more and helps me keep travelling, so thanks in advance if you do!
[New York Times image via Amazon, outdoors image via owenfinn16, map via dullhunk]
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Hey Dave – this is perfect timing for me to read this! I have just ordered one and will be picking it up on a family visit to the US in a few weeks. I can’t wait. The reason for me buying it? To take to Asia later this year.
I debated with myself over the 3G version – but decided in the end that the ability to get online while in the remoter areas of Laos was a major selling point. Three weeks and counting until the kindle and it’s pretty red jacket are in my hands!
Woohoo! You’ll love it!!
I bought one after seeing yours (and hearing your recommendation) in Portland. I love it!! Thanks for pointing me to it!! Cheers!
You’re more than welcome – glad I converted another person over to the Kindle cause!
We love our Kindle too for all the reasons you give. It’s perfect for travellers – we were frustrated by the lack of affordable books in South America and now we have so much choice, plus have saved tons of weight and space in our backpacks.
I was talking to someone else a couple of days ago and she was also telling me how hard it was to come by English language books in South America … the Kindle makes even more sense there hey?
Dave,
A Tech post?! You know I had to comment, right?
Great review, very thorough, and on the money. Got a wifi only kindle with offers, their cheapest, and love it. Going to check out ‘send to kindle,’ so thanks for the tip! I also enjoy the ability to download audiobooks to it as well. The kindle offers were quite useful, too. Got 6 months of audible.com membership for $6, with 1 free credit per month. Got 2 great audiobooks for cheap so far!
By the way, Amazon will make the Kindle open to public library e-books, supposedly later this year, something the Nook could do, but Kindle could not. Nice for those with access to their local library’s offerings.
Cheers, and hope to run into you again soon!
I would have been shocked and amazed if you hadn’t, Bubba!
That’s a pretty sweet deal on the audible membership offer … sadly you can’t buy the ‘with offers’ version without a US shipping address, otherwise I would have!
It’s good news about the library option too, although again I’m not sure if that’s going to be available outside the US. Somehow I suspect not…
Hope to see you back where we first started later this year mate!
I was just given one for my birthday. Well, the promise of one. I’m waiting on it to arrive in the country!
Keep checking that mailbox mate – mine arrived surprisingly quickly. Like, well inside a week…
Nice review. I have the WiFi version and love it too. I’ve also got stripping DRM down to a fine art if you need any help. Lauren and I both have kindles and like to share books, hence needing to be DRM free. I suspect the next version will make good on all of your complaints since the new B&N is basically a Kindle copy without the crappy keyboard.
[...] Travel gear review: Kindle 3G [...]
Not so sure the *Browser* will work in all countries that have 3g access even if you can connect and buy books.
Taken from this Amazon page http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200504420#browsingcountries
Here is a list of countries that the browser will work in
International Web Browsing
The experimental web browser is free to use over Kindle Keyboard’s 3G or Wi-Fi connections. If you are travelling outside the United Kingdom, you can access Wikipedia in over 100 countries anywhere you have a 3G connection (check the wireless coverage map here). You can browse other websites globally via a Wi-Fi connection. Access to other websites while travelling abroad is available via a 3G connection in the 61 countries listed below.
Albania Argentina Aruba Australia
Bahamas Barbados Bermuda Bolivia
Brazil Bulgaria Canada Cayman Islands
Chile Colombia Croatia Czech Republic
Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Grenada
Guam Guatemala Guyana Haiti
Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland
India Ireland Jamaica Japan
Kenya Liechtenstein Macedonia Mexico
Montserrat Nicaragua Norway Panama
Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland
Puerto Rico Romania Russia Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines South Africa Slovakia
Slovenia Switzerland Taiwan Thailand
Ukraine United States of America Uruguay US Virgin Islands
Venezuela UK
Access to the web browser within these countries may vary and is subject to change
Yeah, it’s an interesting one that. I thought the same, but then I’ve had a friend who used her Kindle for 3G browsing in pretty much every country from the UK to Mongolia inclusive while doing the Mongol Rally earlier this year. Many of the countries that it worked in aren’t on that list, so I’m not really sure what the story is…
I got the international 3G version a few months ago now (as posted above). I ordered it from NZ using my NZ credit card and had it delivered to family in the US. While travelling in the US, I could use 3G for all websites (including Gmail, news, etc).
When I returned to NZ, I no longer had full 3G access anymore (only Wiki and Amazon) – which frustrated the hell out of me. The reason for me buying the 3G version over WiFi was to give me access to email when travelling.
I played around with the country settings (selecting both NZ and US) without success. I scouted around and asked questions on the Amazon forum but no joy.
Just last week I cracked it…. I needed to change the BILLING address on my Amazon account to a US address. Bingo – it works now! I got a friend to try the same thing with hers – and it’s now working for her as well.
I changed the country on my NZ credit card to my grandfather’s address in the US. I assumed I would need to change it back when I wanted to buy something, but that wasn’t the case.
Just thought I’d share…
I love the breakdown on the kindle. I am going to retweet this to all my friends. My parents just bought there first Kindle last week.
With the keyboard or without… that is where I am stuck!?
Well if it helps, I’ve written quite a bit more about Kindle options for travellers over on my new travel tech site – maybe check out http://toomanyadapters.com/category/gear/e-reader/ for more detail. In summary though, the Keyboard is the *only* one that you can browse the web from over 3G without restrictions – for the reason, it’s my pick.
Thanks! Ordered it today… through your link!
Thanks a bunch – every little helps!