What’s it like for reading with?

There are many things we need to cover in this review to help you decide whether the Nook Color is the ereader for you, but I think the most important question we need to answer here is what is it like to read with? After all, while it might have tablet features this is an ereader and if you’re not interested in reading you’d be better off with an iPad!

First up, there’s no e-ink technology here as there is with the Kindle, because it has a color screen instead. This brings with it some pros and cons. On the upside, you can read on the Nook Color even in the dark thanks to the backlit screen. On the downside it doesn’t fare as well as e-ink in bright conditions, but if you’re currently trying to read books on a smart phone then this will definitely be an improvement for you.

Of course the other plus side of a color screen is that as well as plain old fiction you’ll be able to enjoy graphic novels and magazines in full glorious color.

If you currently subscribe to a magazine or newspaper in paper form you will be happy to read that you can now go digital with those subscriptions on the Nook Color, and the prices are competitive too (though personally I think a digital copy should cost a fraction of the paper version as there’s no printing or shipping involved!)

When turning pages on the device they simply filter in and out which is a pleasing experience. And of course one of the huge benefits of the ereader is the ability to change font size to suit your eyesight. The Nook Color doesn’t disappoint here with six different font sizes, six fonts, three paragraph formats, three page formats and six background colors to choose from!

If you want to use the Nook to read your own electronic documents then you have plenty of options as the Nook supports a variety of formats including those generated by Word, Excel and Powerpoint.

So all in all as an ereader goes, it’s a pretty decent device for reading your books on!

If your mind is made up then here is a link to Amazon.com so you can order your Nook Color. Surprised that I’m not pointing you to Barnes & Noble? Unsurprisingly Amazon is cheaper

Want to learn more before you order? Keep reading…

The Nook Color is more than just an ereader

These days it seems we want our gadgets to do more than one thing. It used to be a mobile phone was just for calls, not I can email, surf, listen to music, watch movies, take photos and a whole host of other exciting things all with one tiny device. We it looks like ereaders are heading the same way. Not so much just for reading, but a device to keep you entertained generally. The Nook Color is no exception.

The device runs on the Android operating system which opens the door for all kinds of applications to be installed.

Once you unlock the screen you’ll find yourself in your library on the home screen. There’s a bookshelf at the bottom and at the top is the Keep Reading section letting you pick up where you left off on your book, magazine or newspaper.

There’s also a notification bar where you can check your battery power and amend your wifi, sound, orientation and brightness settings.

Books that you buy from the Barnes & Noble store are stored on bookshelves in your library.

If you add music, videos or books from other sources then they won’t appear in your library but in a set of folders for easy access.

Built in music player

If you like to listen to music while you read then you will appreciate the built in musicplayer, just upload your MP3s and plug in a pair of headphones. The sound quality isn’t brilliant, but this is an ereader rather than an MP3 player.

If you have movies in MP4 format you can watch them on the Nook Color – which is great for long journeys when you might want to mix reading with video watching to pass the time.

There’s also a web browser so you can stay connected with the internet.

What’s the build quality like?

B&N encourage you to share your Nook Color with your kids to take advantage of the Nook Kids (TM) interactive books. The good news is that this device feels pretty durable so while you might not want to leave little ones unattended it feels rugged enough for kids to use.

The back of the device is rubberized for a non-slip finish and it’s also comfortable to hold.

There’s plenty of storage space with the built in 8GB storage, and you can use microSD cards to expand the memory up to 32GB – that’s a lot of books!

Nook Color – Key specifications

Pros of the Nook Color

7 Inch Color Touchscreen: The 7 inch screen on the Nook Color is larger than you’ll find on many other eBook readers. The bigger screen makes it easier to get lost in a book – which is exactly what you want from an eBook reading device.

Aside from the size, the touchscreen performs very well. It’s very responsive thanks to the technology employed (the same technology used by the Sony Reader and Kobo Touch Edition), and getting to where you want to go is fast and intuitive. A touchscreen is useful on an eBook reader – it makes it easy to highlight memorable passages, select a word to look up in the dictionary, or press menu items without having to slowly scroll through the page.

The fact that it’s an LCD backlit screen means you can read it in the dark, and view images in all their glory. Many users are much happier with the full color screen than they were with the split panel of the original Nook reader, though of course it doesn’t look great in the sunlight like e-Ink will.

Interface: Barnes & Noble have done well with the interface on all their Nook devices, and the Nook Color is no different. Although it doesn’t use physical buttons, it does have just one: a home button. This makes it easy to get to the home menu when you need to. Once you’re there, you’ll find it easy to use without the need for a big instruction manual.

Internet & Web Browser: The Nook Color comes with Wi-Fi as standard, meaning you can connect to the internet whenever you’re around a Wi-Fi hotspot. This is great for buying books from the Barnes & Noble Store right from the device, but it’s even more useful for those who want the ability to connect to the internet from a portable device. Because of the LCD screen, the web browser is better than what you’ll find on the e-Ink Kindle, but the Kindle Fire does offer an excellent browsing experience.

Android Tablet Features: Android is the operating system you’ll find on the Nook Color: a favorite in the tablet computer world. What this means is that you get access to a very wide range of functions, from the ability to browse the web, to playing your multimedia files, checking emails, streaming music and reading documents/ PDFs.

Although you cannot access the full Android Market app store, Barnes & Noble have included their own store with a range of apps available to download. Although you don’t get thousands of apps, there are still plenty of features here that make the Nook Color an excellent value tablet computer.

Memory: 8GB memory isn’t massive for a tablet computer, though it is bigger than what you’ll find on most rivals to this device. It means you can store a large number of books, though it’ll fill up a little more quickly if you use it for movies and lots of music files. The good news is that, unlike many of the top tablets such as the iPad 2, the Nook Color does feature a memory card slot, allowing you to expand the storage capacity if you need to in future.

Cons Of The Nook Color

Price: Because the Nook Color is a cross between a tablet and an eBook reader, it makes sense that it should cost more than the e-Ink Nook Touch and other eBook readers. Coming in at around $250, it’s certainly a bigger expense than the cheapest $79 Kindle, and also the $199 Kindle Fire. That said, it still offers far more functions than an e-Ink reader (mentioned in this review), and costs far less than a full-blown tablet computer.

Weight: The Nook Color weighs more than the Nook Touch and the Kindle, making it slightly less comfortable to hold. However, the size and weight will still suit most users, and it’s a lot lighter than tablets like the iPad 2.

Glare: The good news is that Barnes & Noble have added an extra layer to the screen on the Nook Color to help prevent the issue of glare in bright lights. The bad news is that no technology can ever completely get rid of glare on an LCD eBook reader. This means it’s not comfortable to read in sunlight, unlike the Nook Touch.

Battery: Another problem with the LCD screen on the Nook Color is the fact that the battery life is greatly reduced. Compared to the two months battery life of the Nook Touch and other readers, eight hours on the Nook Color really is nothing. You’ll have to be willing to charge your device often if you opt for a tablet-eReader. Eight hours is around average for any such device.

What do other readers think of the Nook Color?

There are more than 200 reviews on Amazon and more than half of them award the Nook Color 5 stars. One reader has used her Nook every day for a year:

Thanks for reading Will the Nook Color convince you to go digital?, a post published on Blue Archipelago Reviews. Why not visit us and leave a comment :)

Amazon Kindle Fire Key Specs

• Average Price: $199
• Release Year: 2011
• Battery Life: 8 hours reading
• Screen Size: 7 inch
• Screen Type: color touchscreen
• Weight: 14.6 oz
• Storage Size: 8GB (plus cloud storage)
• Internet: Wi-Fi
• Main eBook Format: AZW (Kindle)

The advantages of the Amazon Kindle Fire

The Kindle Fire – ereader meets tablet PC

Price: One of the main selling points of the Amazon Kindle Fire is that it’s a tablet computer at a fraction of the price. At only $199, it’s cheaper than just about any tablet you can buy, yet its functions don’t put it into the budget category. In other words, although you pay a rock bottom price, you get more than what you’d expect for that price.

Integrates With Amazon Services: Amazon has a number of online streaming services in the form of an Amazon Prime membership that costs just $79 per year. For that small fee, users will have access to thousands of movies and TV shows to stream directly to their device. An even bigger number (100,000) are available to buy or rent for an extra fee. And don’t forget access to digital music too.

Cloud Storage: You’d think that downloading all these movies, TV shows and MP3s would take a huge amount of storage space, but this isn’t an issue with the Amazon Kindle Fire. Amazon uses their cloud storage solution to host your digital media collection so that you simply don’t need a huge hard drive size on the device.

New Amazon Silk Browser: The new Amazon Silk Browser is not to be compared to anything you’ve seen before on the Kindle. After all, this is Amazon’s own tablet, and as such they’ve created a whole new browsing experience. This browser means you can surf the Internet over a Wi-Fi connection, and view Flash sites and videos (which is something that the iPad won’t let you do).

That’s not the main news about Amazon Silk, however. The best thing about the browser is the fact that it utilizes Amazon’s Cloud services to help pages load faster than they possibly could have otherwise. What this means is that certain elements are stored by Amazon to help send them to your device as quickly as possible – all you need to know is it means you can browse the Internet much more quickly.

Whispersync: All Amazon’s Kindles make use of a service called Whispersync. This keeps your library in sync between various devices, and makes sure you always start reading where you left off, even if you switch from your Kindle to your PC in the meantime. The best thing about Whispersync on the Amazon Kindle Fire is that it doesn’t just work with books – it now works with video streaming. You can start streaming a video on the Kindle Fire, and then pick up where you left off on your PC or TV!

Dual Core Processor: Like all the best tablet computers out there at the moment, the Amazon Kindle Fire uses a dual core processor. This means that it’s fast to move from program to program and applications run well on the device.

Design: Amazon has kept things simple with the Kindle Fire. The design means it’s smaller than many full-blown tablets, in the spirit of the original Kindle. It’s lightweight so it’s easy to hold while reading books, and its simplicity will appeal to many users. True, it isn’t as light as a standalone eBook reader, though you can’t really expect it to be, and it is light in the world of tablet computers.

Apps: The main thing that differentiates the Amazon Kindle Fire from other eReaders is the fact that it’s based on the Android operating system and has access to a number of different apps through the Amazon App Store. Like the Nook Color, however, the app store isn’t the official Android version and carries far fewer options, though still enough to keep people entertained given the price of the device.

Some downsides of the Amazon Kindle Fire

Only 8GB Memory: 8GB memory is not a lot for a tablet computer, though it does match up to the Barnes & Noble Nook Color. That said, the Amazon Kindle Fire isn’t an ordinary device: it’ll store your files ithe cloud to help prevent the need for further storage. This is important considering there’s no memory card expansion slot included.

Battery Life: Just like the Nook Color, the Amazon Kindle Fire only has 8 hours battery life. Although not much for an eReader, this is standard in the world of tablet computers.

Thanks for reading Can the Kindle Fire give the iPad a run for its money?, a post published on Blue Archipelago Reviews. Why not visit us and leave a comment :)

You can click on that link. It’s a free website. And it does have lots of free Kindle books, but not the bestsellers that you’d find on Amazon. It has hundreds of free Classics and some self-published books.

Realising that the Novel Network was just a scam I emailed them to ask for a refund and set out to find some legitimate places online where we can find free Kindle downloads, books and games.

You’d be surprised at the sheer number of free Kindle books there are available, from Classics to new releases. You just need to know where to look!

1. Free Kindle books at Amazon – for fans of the Classics

Just one of thousands of free Kindle books

The first place to go for free Kindle downloads is Amazon themselves! They actually have a whole page dedicated to Free Kindle Collections and on that page you can access thousands of free Classic books like Dracula, Little Women and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

If you are a fan of the Classics then you should definitely invest in a Kindle because so many of the books are free, especially if they were published pre-1923 as they are now out of copyright. While the paperback version of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities will set you back about $3.50 the Kindle version is completely free!

2. Limited time offers from Amazon – if you like your books a little more recent

The great news is that Amazon also has a large number of free Kindle books from more recent times. Here’s the link to the Limited Time Offers page. New free books are added to the store every week so it’s a good idea to bookmark the page so you can check in regularly to see what’s new.

3. Top free Kindle downloads from Amazon

The “bestsellers” list for free Kindle downloads is updated hourly and is another great place to find those free Kindle books. Click here to see the current Top Free Kindle Downloads.

4. Free self-published Kindle books

If you want to discover some new authors then step away from the mainstream and click here to download some great free Kindle books that have been self-published. You never know you might discover the next Stephenie Meyer!

5. through 14. Even more places to find free Kindle books and downloads

We haven’t even scratched the surface yet! Here are some more sites where you can download free Kindle books legitimately:

• ManyBooks
• Free Books from Project Gutenberg
• The Internet Archive – a HUGE library of internet sites
• Free eBooks from Fictionwise
• Free eBooks section of MobiPocket
• Free EBooks from Wowio
• Kindle Classics – Marilyn blogs about her favourite classics and links you up to the free Kindle versions (UK & US)
• ireader Review – the owner of this blog publishes links to free Kindle books as and when they find them
• Bookyards – apparently they have  a total of 17,090 books, 41,784 external web links, 4,198 news & blogs links, 384 videos, 32,963 Ebook links and access to hundreds of online libraries (800,000 Ebooks) for your online pleasure.
• Free Tech Books – want to know how to build an iPad app or just learn about software development? This is a great place to start.
• Google eBook store - Google has a whole stack of free ebooks for you to download and then transfer to your Kindle. The books are in PDF and ePUB format and the Kindle doesn’t support ePUB which means you’ll need to convert them. It’s not too tricky – and here are some instructions for you to follow.
• Pixel of Ink – brings you free and bargain priced Kindle books on a regular basis – subscribe to their feed so you don’t miss any. If you’re in the UK they have you covered too.
• ereader IQ – brings you the latest free Kindle books and you can access the site from within your Kindle too. This is one of very few sites that cater for readers outside of the US too, just select your region from the drop down and the content will update.
• Baen – if you are looking for free sci-fi and Fantasy books then there is a great collection at the Baen library.

15. Free Kindle comics and graphic novels

If you are looking for free Kindle comics and graphic novels then head over to Wowio. It’s free to join and you’ll get access to some great free Kindle downloads.

16. Free Kindle games

You can even play games on your Kindle

Did you know you can play games on your Kindle? Yep, if you’re a little tired of reading then you can play games like Shuffled Row and Every Word – check them out at Amazon.

17. and 18. Free Kindle audio books

If you’re not in the mood for reading books on your Kindle 3G then you can just plug in your headphones and listen to an audio book instead. You can even get this content for free online if you know where to look.

1. You can download free audio versions of Public Domain books which are read out by Volunteers over at LibriVox- They have over 1000 full length audio books to choose from and volunteers are producing 60-70 books a month. Why not try Jane Austen’s Emma or even Tolstoy’s War and Peace.
2. The other site you should visit for free Kindle audio downloads is called Wired for Books – they have a wide range of interviews other great audio content. They have interviews with Margaret Atwood and John Updike. You can even listen to Charles Dickens’ classic tale, A Christmas Carol in audio. A dramatic audio performance by the Wired for Books Players.

19. Free Kindle wallpapers

It is also possible to download free Kindle wallpapers if you’d like to add to those already displayed on your Kindle 3G. There are some great ones on this website, however be aware that apparently changing your wallpaper can void your Kindle warranty!

20. More free Kindle content and hacks

Megan Jones has pulled together a resource list of more than 100 ways to hack your Kindle in order to read better and learn faster. From how to use your Kindle to read Manga comics to keyboard shortcuts, calendars and even reading your gmails – there’s something in this list for everyone!

And there you have it. You don’t need to spend money on scam sites like the Novel Network to get free Kindle books or downloads, you just need to head to any of the sites on this page!

Thanks for reading 20 places you can find free Kindle books and other downloads – and they’re all legal!, a post published on Blue Archipelago Reviews. Why not visit us and leave a comment :)

Thanks for reading 5 best Kindle 3G cases and covers to keep your Kindle in tip top condition, a post published on Blue Archipelago Reviews. Why not visit us and leave a comment :)

The Kindle 3G versus the Sony Reader Touch

When I first decided that it was time to invest in an eReader I was torn between the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader Touch. In the end I plumped for the Sony because it was cheaper that the Kindle at the time and I didn’t have to ship it from the US.

It took a little while to get used to because it was obvious that I was reading books on a screen, if the light wan’t quite right then the glare could be quite distracting. I figured that’s what all ereaders were like though so I just tried to forget about it.

Everything was going well with my Sony Reader Touch until I discovered that one of my favourite authors had released a new paperback. I jumped online to download the ebook version and nearly fell off my chair. The ebook was 3 times more expensive than the paperback!

I was complaining about this to my brother who told me that Amazon were releasing a new Latest Generation Kindle 3G, that it was affordable, but better still Amazon had promised that their ebooks would always be cheaper than the paperback versions.

That day I put my Sony Reader Touch on eBay and ordered my Latest Generation Kindle 3!

The Kindle is a pleasure to read with

The very first thing that I want to say about the Latest Generation Kindle 3G is that the screen is AMAZING! It is just like looking at a piece of paper. When I first bought my iPod Nano I was amazed to be able to watch videos on this little tiny device, and the Kindle 3G is a similar experience. I just keep looking at it thinking it’s like having a piece of paper in the unit. It’s almost like someone has stuck a piece of paper on the front of a dummy model to demonstrate what the screen looks like.

Works in all lights too. No glare like that awful Sony Reader Touch. Sorry Sony, but now I’ve got my Kindle I can see how poor my experience was with the Touch!

So reading is now a pleasure thanks to my Kindle 3G. Oh and if your eyesight is failing then the Kindle is perfect for you too as you can change the size of the text at the touch of a button. No more scouring the internet for Large Print editions of your favourite books, just use your Kindle. And if your eyes get a little tired, you can just touch a button and the Kindle will read your book to you (ok so the voice is a little robotic but we can’t have everything!)

Of course if you do prefer to listen to books rather than read then you can also use the Kindle 3G to listen to audiobooks from Audible via Amazon.

Finally, unlike a laptop or even an iPhone the Kindle 3G never gets hot so you don’t need to worry about burning your fingers while enjoying your novels.

Books are a pleasure to buy

Reading on a Kindle is just like reading ink on paper – it's spooky!

No more rushing to the store to pick up the latest bestseller, or ordering it online and waiting by the postbox for it to be delivered. With the Amazon Kindle 3G you can download the latest hot read in just 60 seconds thanks to the Whispernet technology.

There’s no added costs or contracts for your 3G either as Amazon pays that for you. And with the new Kindle 3G Wi-fi is also included giving you even better coverage than before. Of course if you don’t want to use the 3G at all then you can save a bit of cash by ordering the Kindle WiFi instead. You can only use it to access the Amazon store to download books when there is a WiFi signal available, but these days that shouldn’t be an issue.

And then there’s the price remember. Amazon ebooks are the cheapest on the internet, but they only work with a Kindle!

No more newspaper boys required

No more waiting around for the paper boy to deliver your morning read, you can download your favourite newspapers and magazines directly to your Kindle 3G to enjoy whenever you want to. You can even catch up with your daily blog fix.

Share favourite quotes and notes from your Kindle 3G with your friends

It seems that almost all gadgets and devices allow you to interact with FaceBook and Twitter these days and the Kindle 3G is no different. If you come across a particular passage of a book that you’d like to share with your friends then you can do so with just a couple of button presses. I think this is a wonderful feature, and is perfect for readers who participate in book clubs.

The other cool feature is that as you annotate and highlight passages you can choose to pass that information back to Amazon, so that other people reading the same book can see the highlights and the notes!

The best bits and worst bits of the Kindle 3G

What’s in the box?

• Kindle 3G
• U.S. power adapter (supports 110V-240V)
• USB 2.0 cable
• Rechargeable battery
• Quick Start Guide (included in box) [PDF]
• Kindle User’s Guide (pre-installed on device) [PDF]

Watch the Kindle 3G in action

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIj5lpFQIK8

The Kindle 3G, Kindle Wi-Fi or Kindle DX: Which Kindle is right for you?

I think we’re both in agreement that no book lover should be without an Amazon Kindle. So the only question that remains is which Kindle is right for you?

There are currently three flavours of Kindle. The information below will help you choose which one is right for you.

1. If you have wifi at home and you are happy to just buy books from the comfort of your armchair then you can save some $$ and buy the Kindle Wi-Fi.

2. If you travel a lot and want access to newspapers and blogs, and to buy books on a whim then go for the Kindle 3G.

3. For the ultimate in Kindle luxury and a wonderful 9.7″ screen to read your favourite books on then you should go for the Kindle DX.

What do other people say about the Kindle 3G?

Still a little unsure? Think my enthusiasm for the Kindle 3G is a little too good to be true? Well the Kindle 3G Latest Generation is still relatively new and already there are almost 700 reviews posted to Amazon and nearly 400 of them award 5 stars. More than 100 award 4 stars. Here’s what other people had to say about the wonderful Latest Generation Kindle.

C. Vincent from Rochester New York already has an iPad and a Kindle DX but he loves the Kindle 3G too. You can read his review here to see why he thinks all three “gadgets” have a place in his life. Steven G from Boston rated his Kindle 3G 5 stars and has recorded a video review. You can click here to watch it.

The 1 star reviews on Amazon seem to relate to software glitches, now I have to say that you can get a software glitch with any device, and my experience of Amazon has always been that if a product is faulty they will exchange it for you.

Common questions asked about the Kindle 3G (and the answers you’ve been looking for!)

Q: What is the difference between the Kindle Wi-Fi and the Kindle 3G and Wi-Fi? And what would you suggest?

A: The Kindle 3G and Wi-Fi will let you access the Amazon Kindle Store and use the Twitter and FaceBook functions whether or not you are in range of a Wi-Fi signal. This is because a free 3G service is provided for you. My parents don’t have Wi-Fi at home so when I bought my Dad a Kindle for Christmas I bought the 3G version so that he could actually download books from the Kindle Store. This version of the Kindle is a little more expensive so you may wish to save money by just investing in the Kindle Wi-Fi (like I did).

The Kindle Wi-Fi will only connect to the Amazon store, FaceBook and Twitter if you are in range of a Wi-Fi signal.

Q: Can you read newspapers online and check your email with Kindle 3G

The Kindle is as thin as a pencil!

A: You can take out a newspaper subscription via the Kindle store and each morning your newspaper will be delivered to your Kindle. You can also get a great deal on your favourite magazine too.

It does have a built in web browser so you could check your email if you have a Yahoo or Gmail account, but it’s only in black and white so I wouldn’t recommend buying a Kindle for this purpose!

Q: Why does my Kindle keep resetting or rebooting?

A: It has been reported that some Kindle covers can affect the operation of your Kindle 3G and cause it to keep resetting or rebooting. If you are having this problem then remove the cover for a few days and see if the issue stops. If it does then check out my review of the best Kindle 3G covers, order yourself a new cover and send the faulty one back to Amazon for a refund!

Thanks for reading Kindle Review – The Amazon Kindle 3G is simply amazing!, a post published on Blue Archipelago Reviews. Why not visit us and leave a comment :)