This is the Amazon Kindle, which is now available for purchase and delivery in the UK. However, it’s not that simple, and we feel people should be buying this aware of the full situation behind the service offering.
You’ll need a UK Amazon account, and you then need to go to the US Amazon site where you will be able to purchase the device for US$279. First little point to note; this includes a “Customs Deposit”, which, as Amazon will ship from the US, may incur additional costs when the device comes into the UK, however, this won’t be confirmed until later this month, when the first units ship.
As it will come with an AT&T 3G SIM in the unit, the Kindle will roam onto a 3G / EDGE network where AT&T already have a roaming agreement, which should mean, ironically, that most of the country is covered, and the device will have better coverage than if it was supplied with a UK SIM. Unfortunately, Amazon get charged a premium by AT&T for the roaming charges, and Amazon are passing these onto the UK customer, so if you elect to purchase an eBook, as well as the cost of the book (which we understand will be in US$), there will be $1.99 surcharge for this service (which is hidden in the cost of the book, even if you elect to download via your PC and install via USB).
This roaming issue is key to another limitation; in the US, the device has a web browser and the ability to access blogs, but due to the additional roaming charges, neither of these functions are available outside of the US, and hence these will not be available either.
Update: Also, when considering this particular device, please remember it will ship with a US power cord, and hence you will need a power adaptor to charge the device; it’s a multi-voltage power supply, but will simply have the wrong plug on the end.
Having said all that, as others have pointed out, at this price, the device still works out cheaper than a Sony eBook Reader, and hence even with these limitations (after all, the Sony device doesn’t have any form of direct download, nor a web browser) it’s a good buy.
If you don’t want the 3G data surcharge, you are able to download eBooks via your PC and transfer them to the device via USB. Also, if you think the cost of eBooks is a little expensive at Amazon, then there are other options too…
- First of all, there are other sources of Kindle eBooks, with manybooks and feedbooks being two such options, both of which seem to offer free books (basically any unencrypted MOBI eBook can be read on the Kindle).
- Secondly, if you have an eBook in another format, there are utilities to convert them for use on the Kindle. This particular tool will also take news web sites or RSS feeds, and create an eBook for you to later read, which may well handle those missing features on the device itself. This tool will take many formats, including PDF, HTML, EPUB, PDB, PRC, RTF and TXT and convert them for use.
- Apparently, if you don’t want to use that tool, you can send Amazon a PDF file, and it will send you back a Kindle-compatible file for free.
- Finally, there’s Project Gutenberg, where you can download many books for free, although again, some may require conversion before they can be read on the Kindle.
So, it’s cheaper than a Sony eBook reader even with the limitations, and if you use your PC, you won’t be charged a premium for the books, and there are plenty of options for free books, or tools to convert other eBooks and data into the Kindle format. Overall, we think this device is one to consider very carefully; pre-orders will ship in the order the order was placed, starting October 19th.
We believe that this may well be Amazon‘s first foray into the eBook reader marketplace outside of the US, and in a few months, they will release an updated unit with a UK network SIM (we have heard it’s likely Amazon will be making an International version of the Kindle DX available early next year, although this might still ship with a US SIM), allowing functions like the web browser to work, and the books to be downloadable without a surcharge, but that doesn’t mean you should discount this device if you are in the market for an eBook reader, and after all, Christmas will be with us soon…
Thanks to Ben Smith from The Really Mobile Project and Bone Killian at The Blasphemous Bicycler blog for additional content / hints.
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