Kindle UK

UK Kindle Touch

admin — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:16:07 +0000

The Kindle Touch is now available in the UK…

As you can see from the original article below – we just knew it was coming, and now Brits can buy the Kindle Touch in the UK. Available as both a wi-fi only model (my preferred option) and with both 3G and wi-fi for those that need to get their ebook purchasing done on the go!

You can order both at amazon today – click for pricing.

Please note the article below was written before the UK Kindle Touch release on 28th March 2012…

Early in February the touch-screen Kindle started shipping internationally (yes about time I know!). BUT currently the gadget is not shipping to Spain, Italy, Germany or the United Kingdom. Why? Well, it seems pretty obvious that this is great news as it means British buyers should be able to order from their own local amazon store imminently. After all, why ship to France, but not to the UK, unless the Kindle touch will be selling in Blighty in the next few weeks!

The touch-screen Kindle’s UK release date comes several months after its foray into the US market. But it seems that now stocks are stable after the holiday buying frenzy British buyers will be able to order their own for next day delivery in February 2011.

One of the biggest concerns is likely to be over price. Well with the US version selling for $139 (for wi-fi and $189 for 3G + wi-fi British customers can expect to be paying around £159 for the 3G version and perhaps only £119 for the wi-fi only model. I know there will be same old hubub about pricing, since in truth US customers can actually pay less than those prices BUT that is only if they order models that feature adverts and special discount promotions and sadly for some those subsidised versions are still not on offer in the UK most probably because advertisers are not willing to pay enough to bring the price down significantly whilst the market is so much smaller than in the States.

Whatever the price of the Kindle Touch it seems likely we shall be seeing at least the wi-fi Touch-screen Kindle reader sold in the UK within weeks if not days! And, after comparing the latest models with the clunky old keyboard version I for one think its about time!

Kindle Spain

admin — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 12:34:09 +0000

If you’re living in Spain and would like to buy the Kindle reader you have come to the right place! We have been asked countless times whether it is possible for Spanish residents to order the Kindle online.

The official line is that to order an ebook reader delivered to your Spanish address you will need to order from Amazon.com. That’s fine in theory since their delivery is pretty swift and the charges are very good. However, having experienced the delays possible in the Spanish postal system, and the horrendous duty that can be charged by the Spanish authorities this is a route most would-be Kindle owners are unlikely to follow.

The current unofficial (and far easier) way to get your hands on the reader is to order from Amazon.co.uk and select a UK delivery address. You’ll then of course need a trustworthy friend or family member to forward the shiny new gadget to you Spanish address. This isn’t really what Amazon want you to do, but it works!

Buy a Kindle in Spain

Thankfully this pretty daft situation is about to be changed. A new Spanish bases site “amazon.es” has opened its virtual doors. This is great news for ex-pats since it stocks a useful range of English language books. More importantly for us though, it has been widely reported in the Spanish press that the store will also stock the Kindle reader later in the year. This means you will be allowed to buy a Kindle in Spain easily for the first time.

About time too! Of course it isn’t all the store’s faults. Every country has different publishing rules, and book pricing to contend with. But knowing that we will soon be able to order a Kindle for delivery to Spain easily is great news.

New Ebook Reader From Waterstones

admin — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 14:26:59 +0000

As more “bricks and mortar” book-stores struggle to survive Waterstones appears to be using electronic books as a way to stay ahead as technology steals sales from real paper books. The store has been selling ebook readers for the last few years, and ebooks too. Now though, it seems that a new Waterstones Ebook Reader is in the makings.

Thought to be released in spring of 2012 the Waterstones Reader might just do for the store, what the Nook reader has done for Barnes & Noble; ie allow it to compete with the might of Amazon and its Kindle. As much as we are fans of Amazon’s ebook reader, the thought of more competition in the growing UK eReader market has to be a good thing. If nothing else it is sure to keep prices down, and innovation high. Whilst the store will need to improve its ebook range, plus allow wireless instant downloads of new titles to really compete, a new way to keep as many real book shops open can’t be a bad thing.

So, as much as we doubt we’ll be leaving the Kindle behind just yet, a new Waterstones ebook reader should be welcomed. It will be interesting to see just how they differentiate their eReader though. The store will need to offer something unique to get buyers interested, so perhaps a low priced touch-screen reader and mini tablet would be a good range to start with. After all its working for Barnes & Noble, so why not the UK’s favourite book shop?

There is no official line from the store yet, but James Daunt, the company’s MD talked to Radio 4 (reported by the BBC) suggesting that the future involved the store selling an ebook reader better than Amazon’s current readers. Perhaps they will follow their American counterparts by allowing users to read in store for free. Tying the electronic device with real stores has been a unique selling point for the Nook, and is said to be inspiring Mr Daunt.

Colour Kindle Tablet Release Date

admin — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 11:03:39 +0000

Update: Well the Amazon Kindle Fire Tablet has been released. But so far it is only available for US purchases – boo! We have had no news from Amazon when or indeed if the tablet will arrive in the UK, but rumours so far are suggesting UK buyers will need to wait until 2012 if they want a true colour Kindle.

It seems that the gadgets use of cloud computing to do much of the processing of the web browser will mean a US company has some of your web history stored on its own servers. Whilst that might not be considered any kind of issue for most of us, it does go against some technical rules allowed by the EU concerning internet privacy. It will be interesting to see how Amazon get around this.

Back to our original article:

Sept 25th Newflash! Amazon are holding a press conference in New York on Wednesday 28th. This is something of a rarity and we expect the reason is that it has at last become time to unve

As can be seen in the comments on our Kindle 4 and Colour Kindle posts, colour is something that many Kindle owners would like. It is a very divisive issue though. Those that use their ebook readers simply as a great tool to read for pleasure often don’t see any need for a colour display at all. Others though, do see the benefits of being able to view reference material, magazines and like in full colour.

One thing a lot of people love about the current reader is its ability to make reading pleasurable, and completely unlike using a computer. So what would those same folks think of Amazon creating colour based on LCD? Well, we won’t have long to wait since it looks like the Colour Kindle release will be in October or November this year.

The possible snag is that this colour reader will in all likelihood actually be a Kindle tablet!

It looks like we’ll have to wait another year or so before e-ink in colour is good enough to be included in your favourite ebook reader (unless this new rumour is true of course!). My gut feeling is that people just won’t be impressed quite enough by subdued colours in e-ink to pay the extra. However, a future LCD/e-ink hybrid display certainly would grab people’s attention. We believe Amazon are working on it, but don’t count on anything quite that exciting arriving till 2012 or 2013.

For now, colour will come in the form of an Android based tablet – yeah I know, that means much shorter battery life and eye-strain. But this won’t be a device just for reading like the current generation (which if the rumours are true will hang around for a good while yet). Instead Amazon are banking on grabbing a whole new audience; those that want multi-functionality but aren’t willing to pay Apple’s huge prices for it. The tablet is likely to be branded as simply the Colour Amazon Kindle, and it will be priced accordingly, at around $250 (so about 155 quid which is a bit different to Apple’s prices!).

It may or may not be the Kindle in colour you hoped for, but it is coming soon!

Kindle For Movies – Amazon Tablet With Video Streaming

admin — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 09:24:34 +0000

Well it is looking ever more likely that Amazon will release two tablet devices this year. The first is likely to be simple 7″ tablet device that will become the slightly more advanced colour Kindle, competing with the color Nook ebook reader in the US, and simple tablets such as the new range of budget tablet computers running Google’s Android operating system.

What is more exciting for many though is the possibility of a Kindle for Movies. Admittedly it won’t really be a Kindle ebook reader since it will do a whole lot more than just allow you to view books. The big thing that is expected is that the larger Amazon tablet will be designed with video streaming in mind.

It makes sense. After all in the States Amazon does have its own branded video download and video streaming service. And here, you may or may not realise that LoveFilm is actually an Amazon owned company, and it is in the business of selling live video streaming too.

With 2011 looking set to be the year that everyone wants a tablet computer for Christmas, it makes sense for the Amazon tablet release date to be around September time. That way we can enjoy our Christmas films on our new tablets!

With a quad core processor and being based on NVIDIA T30 Kal-El, the Hollywood looks set to be a real contender against Apple’s iPad. With 500% better performance than the smaller Coyote, this will be a tablet for those that actually understand, and care about technical specs and real performance, rather than simple look and feel of tablet PCs.

The rumour mill is pretty convinced that (in the States at least), the Hollywood tablet will come with free video streaming, at least for a limited time. Since American Prime customers already get free video streaming this seems like a sensible offer. Whether UK customers will get such a good deal remains to be seen. After all, as of yet we don’t get free LoveFilm streaming when we sign up for Amazon Prime. But from time to time, you can get Amazon vouchers if you sign up to LoveFilm, so only time will tell what kind of incentive British buyers are offered.

Two Tablets From Amazon For 2011

admin — Thu, 26 May 2011 13:58:59 +0000

The will they/won’t they rumours regarding a possible Amazon Tablet are showing no sign of abating. In fact, now it seems that speculation has arisen that we won’t just see one tablet from Amazon, but will instead get two. Whether they will be under the Kindle tablet brand remains to be seen. What started as rumours on tech web-sites has quickly filtered into mainstream media; its even affecting Forbes’ valuation of the online retailer. Insiders say the planned slates are currently code-named the Coyote and the Hollywood.

Amazon Coyote Tablet

The names give us a possible insight into just what we will be offered as an alternative to the Apple iPad. The Amazon Coyote tablet is expected to be an entry level device running on Nividia Tegra 2 or 3. It is something to lure unsure consumers into the tablet market we imagine, and likely with some degree of ebook focus so it doesn’t feel too new to us. PC Magazine suggest that this could retail at around $349 making it affordable. But if the recent move by Amazon to offer price discounts to customer that don’t mind seeing the odd advert (as in the Kindle with special offers) are anything to go by, you might see even cheaper tablets offered.

Hollywood Amazon Tablet – Kindle For Movies?

The more exciting prospect is the Amazon Hollywood tablet. Expected to run on the vastly more powerful Nividia Tegra 3 this could be a much larger device; perhaps even a 10″ tablet suitable for HD films. And, with a code-name like “Hollywood” it wouldn’t be that much of a surprise if this particular slate became the new Kindle for Movies that could make sense of Amazon’s cloud drive, cloud player and video streaming services. Priced at an estimated $449 this would be a low price for such a powerful product.

Ideally it is thought that Amazon wanted to use displays that could switch between back-lit colour and monochrome e-ink. However the technology isn’t quite there yet, so we’re unlikely to see these until 2012 or even 2013.

And The Release Date?

Well of course nothing is certain, but since the Tegra 3 chip-set won’t be ready till autumn, a tablet release date for Amazon in time for Christmas 2011 looks like a pretty good guess! In fact even Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO has loosened up a little on the subject. Until recently the official line regarding new products has always been primarily denial, but when asked recently about a potential move into the tablet market the response was “watch this space”, so even if we don’t see a release date for a few months yet, we’re likely to get some official news a lot sooner.

Cheap UK Kindle – With Special Offers and Ads Coming Soon?

admin — Thu, 26 May 2011 13:20:21 +0000

Update – the latest cheap Kindle UK is the Kindle 4. Saving space by removing the keyboard, and removing the 3G option, text to speech function and headphone jack has resulted in the first sub £100 Kindle for British buyers.

You can read more about the cheapest Kindle 4 here, or by watching the video below. For customer reviews check out the link at the right.

There is still no news on whether UK buyers will see an ad enabled even lower priced version of Amazon’s ebook reader though – sorry!

Back to our original article:

UK customers are lucky enough to have their own Kindle store, but when will cheaper Kindles arrive? At the beginning of May 2011 US customers were introduced to the Kindle with Special Offers. For a $25 price reduction customers could bag a bargain wi-fi version of the Kindle 3.

In all respects the device was identical to the more expensive original, except one. Rather than having screen-savers that depict famous authors, the discounted ebook reader shows special offers and sponsored advertisements when it is “sleeping”. The home page or main menu also shows such ads at the bottom. Nothing really interferes with using the device as all the ads are unobtrusive and display when you aren’t actually reading. Nevertheless the original announcement of an ad sponsored personal reader was greeted with some sceptisism. Analysts suggested that the price reduction wasn’t quite big enough to make people happy to have ads on a personal gadget. They were very wrong, as within a month the US Amazon site has sold so many cheaper Kindles, that the special offers version is now their best selling product.

UK Kindle With Special Offers Release Date

So when will UK customers get a similarly discounted ebook reader to choose? Well hopefully soon. At the end of May US customers were offered the 3G model also with $25 off if they didn’t mind seeing some adverts. If sales of both devices continue to illustrate that consumers don’t mind ads if it means they get a cheaper Kindle, we are likely to see a move in the UK too. Fingers crossed though, because as ever Amazon themselves are saying nothing about such a cheaper Kindle in the UK! It could mean the £99 Kindle is on its way.

2011 Amazon Tablet Release?

admin — Thu, 05 May 2011 14:38:08 +0000

Update: Well the US may have their new Amazon Tablet in the form of the Kindle Fire, but still no news on a UK release date for the tablet Kindle. It looks like the company may be a little short on supplies. But more importantly the new Silk browser goes against some of EU internet privacy regulations, so it might not be until well into 2012 that the Fire comes to the UK.

Back to our original article:

I know we keep speculating about whether Amazon will enter the tablet PC market. But the thing is, all the indications are already there if you want to know why Amazon might want to do just that (check out our Kindle Tablet from Amazon article for more information).

If you would like to be notified as soon as we have a confirmed tablet release date, sign up at the right.

Now there is even more reason to speculate. As the Telegraph reports, Taiwanese parts manufacturers have already leaked information about a new order for up to 800,000 tablet computers. Those further down in the supply chain say Quanta Computer have been given the go ahead to produce an Amazon branded new tablet, possibly designed with the help of Samsung.

Details are extremely vague, but it seems E-ink (who currently produce the Kindle reader display, are involved with creating the touch screen panel. Due to Amazon already having an Android Apps store and a great newly improved Kindle App for Android devices speculators are assuming that any new tablet from them will be based on the latest Android Honeycomb technology.

Seeing Amazon move into LCD displays will be pretty novel, seeing as how company boss Jeff Bezos has always said he wants the Kindle to be a reader above all else. Perhaps then this won’t even get the Kindle branding at all. Or, of course the rumour mill could be completely wrong, and we find that this is just another upgrade to the dedicated Kindle reader that has been ordered. Since E-ink announced no new screens will be released this year, we doubt that though as we would expect the Kindle 4 reader to feature an even better display than that currently being used.

We’ll have to wait and see if this latest piece of Amazon tablet news proves accurate though. The release isn’t thought to be till later in the summer of 2011.

NB Update Sept 2011 – A fully fledged 7″ Kindle tablet has been seen by TechCrunch and it looks like the release date is later in the autumn. The 7″ tablet will in effect become the Colour Kindle but with a touch-screen and full tablet PC functionality.

Cheaper Kindle With Special Offers and Ads

admin — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 14:17:41 +0000

Update: There is still no news yet about an ad sponsored cheaper Kindle being made available to British buyers. But you might not mind so much when you see the latest Kindle 4, priced at only £89! You can read all about the latest model here, or click the link at the right to read customer reviews regarding the smallest, lightest and most affordable Kindle reader to date.

Amazon.com in the US have just announced a new cheaper way to buy the Kindle ebook reader. A special version of the wi-fi Kindle 3 is being made available at $25 less than the standard pricing. The pay-off is that Amazon will send both special offer promotions and advertisements to the device.

This makes the cheapest Kindle available (to US customers at least) only $114 which is just under seventy quid in our money. Amazon as usual are refusing to speculate on any future products and so have yet to announce whether the Kindle UK store is likely to benefit from a similar deal.

It is an interesting development though, proving that Amazon have yet to run out of ways to subsidise hardware sales at a potential loss, for the long-term gain of selling us content.

The special offers and ads will only display at the bottom of the Kindle’s home screen and as screen-savers when the device is idle. This means they shouldn’t get in the way of using the device and so might prove a very popular way to get your hands on a cheaper ebook reader.

The idea of a personal device displaying adverts is certainly a little off at first glance. But if it means more of us can buy a gadget we desire; and those ads are not obtrusive, the pay-off might be well worth it for some.

If the UK Kindle store did something similar we could be seeing an ebook reader we actually want priced at under one hundred pounds which is certainly something interesting.

True to the nature of modern technology being ever more “interactive” and “social”, Amazon are also planning to introduce a new served; Admash. What for you may wonder. Well its to allow users to vote for their favorite screen savers (that would be advertisements to you and I). Though I have to say it baffles me why someone would choose to do anything other than ignore an advert, if it pays for more of us to have cheaper Kindles I shan’t complain!

Of course, we will bring you news as it happens if and when the UK Kindle is made available in an ad subsidised format too.

Update – Things must be going well with the ad supported ebook reader – the wi-fi version has made it to the top of Amazon’s best selling products list and they have just released a 3G Kindle with special offers too.

Kindlefish – Turn Your Kindle Into a Translator World Wide

admin — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 12:48:14 +0000

One of the great advantages of a Kindle ebook reader is that it offers you internet access across the globe. Of course, with its more basic display certain web-sites will not work correctly. Until now, to use Google’s free translation tool on your Kindle, you had to access their mobile site. This was fine, so long as you had particularly great eyesight since the resulting translations tend to be tiny and difficult to read.

Not to worry though, since a helpful soul has produced Kindlefish. This is a site that you access from your Kindle wi-fi connection. Type in the words you wish to translate and select the correct language and wait for Kindlefish to pull the relevant translation from Google Translate for you.

The resulting text is written really large which makes it great when travelling since you can show it to others to get yourself understood. Of course the Google Translate program that the site works on is not 100% accurate. But for general translations, rather than trying to translate your A-level French exam papers, it will usually suffice.

At the moment Kindlefish is pretty new, and has been created using a free web hosting provider. The creator says that if the demand warrants it, more reliable, faster web hosting would be instigated.

You can access the Kindle friendly version of Google Translate by entering kindlefish.com from your ebook reader.