ereaders? smart phone? tablet PC?

[altogetherisi]

 Does anyone know anything about Kindles/generic ereaders?

My dad wants one for Christmas, and I have a couple of questions I am looking into before buying, so if anyone has any answers or opinions to contribute I would be very happy to hear them. I am wondering

1. Are Kindles the best? Is there a different brand that is better, or just as good but cheaper?

2. Can Kindles only do ebooks from Amazon? Can ebooks from Amazon only be read on a Kindle?

3. Would a Kindle brought to the UK from America work here? And if so, would it be ok reading ebooks brought from Amazon.co.uk or would it always need them to come from amazon.com?

I'm also feeling a bit confused about how giving someone an ereader effects my intention to also give them physical books.  Hmmm.

In other news, I'm still vaguely unsure about whether to ask for a smart phone or maybe a tablet PC for myself, given that it might be neat to have one but I don't actually really want one, and only want money, but I'm unlikely to get money tbh, so I might as well ask for something shiny.

I'd rather avoid Apple, so Android it is, and I want something properly small, because this actual computer is a 10" eee as is so I want something about half the size of the screen I suppose, that I could actually put in a handbag. So I've been looking at 7" tablets but I don't really know what I'm looking for and it's all a bit meh tbh. 

Any thoughts?

Comments

[dawn-e-h.livejournal.com]

I've had a kindle for a while now and loves it :) Kindle only reads books in "mobi" format but you can download free softwear called Calibre that converts any format to any other. I'm guessing books bought from amazon can only be read on something with the kindle softwear but I dont know for sure :)

[altogetherisi.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :)

[pigrescuer.livejournal.com]

My Kindle arrived last night! :D

E-ink just freaks me out.

I can tell you that the US free 3G is fine in the UK, and you can register it on amazon.co.uk. I did a lot of research and emailed them too to check.

I would guess only Amazon e-books can be read on Kindles, just to keep their business, although I got an e-book out from my local library today, and also I've put a couple of PDFs (Complete Works of Maya and The Shoebox Project) onto it as well.

I don't know what the shipping costs would be, but if you ordered it within the next couple of days you could send it to me and I could bring it home for you, to save you money? It's so much cheaper to buy it off Amazon.com!

[altogetherisi.livejournal.com]

Ooh could I? Saving the international shipping would be ace! It really is so much cheaper in America, it's kinda outrageous. You're coming back on the 17th, so if I order, what, before the 9th, it should get to you in time, yes?

I think it'll probably just be the standard Kindle, because I'm broke and also I think regular WiFi would be enough - mistake? And you charge them through USBs right, so I don't have to worry about chargers with the wrong plugs or anything? The e-ink I think is a great selling point, because my dad want to be able to use it in Greece and like, the garden. So being able to still read in the sun would be a definite plus.

As far as I can tell, Amazon e-books can be read on anything that can run their Kindle software thing, so laptops and iPads and stuff as well as actual Kindles. Boo says they can definitely run Project Gutenberg and other free classics, so that's good, though some things you might need to convert the format somehow.

[starlessxlove.livejournal.com]

the amazon kindle store has the most ebooks.

I have an iPad and I particularly love that I can read off of iBooks, Kindle, and Nook all on one screen but you said you want to avoid apple.

I don't know about other tablets but I know quite a few people that have and love their kindle.

[altogetherisi.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :)

[sarkysnarky.livejournal.com]

I only have a UK kindle bought January this year: they support most ebook formats (definitely azw and mobi, not sure what else) and pdf, and you don't need to buy them from the Amazon store (for example, they support Open Library and Project Gutenberg, and advertise them here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/b?ie=UTF8&node=434020031 ) When balancing out price, easy-to-useness and usefulness I found it to be the best value for money at the time (I mainly use it for lecture note pdfs, textbook pdfs, classics and fanfic).

[altogetherisi.livejournal.com]

Thanks boo! Yeah, I particularly wanted to know whether they could support Project Gutenberg stuff :)