kindle 3

(view high res image)

As you can see, the Kindle 3 has a grey, matte finish, two sets of "page turn" buttons (so you can hold the device in either hand, and operate it using only the one hand. It's fairly comfy as it only weighs about 200 grams)

The keyboard is used for taking notes, searching, and for the built-in browser (which does work, but is kind of slow ... it will do in a pinch I suppose).

Size reference

Obviously hand sizes vary, but it sits nicely in mine I think. Size-wise, it's similar to a slim, medium sized paperback. The page turn buttons on either side of the screen are comfortable to reach with your thumb whether you're holding it in your right or left hand.

Close-up of screen

(view high res image)

Obviously you're not looking at a printed page, but while the "DPI" *is* lower than 300, I don't think it's really noticeably lower. You have to look closely to see the 'antialiasing' on the letters (visible in the high-res image). Text is very crisp, and images come across rather nicely. See below for a few photos of the Kindle displaying images.

features and "features"

• weight ~ 200 gram
• 12,5 * 19 cm, about. 8 mm thick
• Kindle only reads a few formats, MOBI being the native e-book format
• However: Calibre can be used to convert and sync to the Kindle. So far it has worked with everything I've tried (this being .txt, epub, pdf, and rtf) - the implication being that you can buy stuff from any e-book vendor and still be assured that the file will work!
• You can get Danish books from e.g. Saxo<
• There's an mp3 player function on the Kindle - I haven't tried it, I reckon it'll be rubbish :)
• There's also a browser. It's slow, but it works - it doesn't support Flash, but renders javascript just fine. The pages I visited looked like they would on a regular browser.
• There's also a speech synth thing ... it's decent, but I'm still glad I'm not blind!
• More about Kindle 3 at Wikipedia

Images on this thing

Page turn speed

Turning a page is fairly quick - definitely faster than turning a physical page in a book. The black flickering is a little annoying at first, but it passes quickly .. I don't notice it anymore.