GBM Shortcut: Amazon Kindle, Up Close and Personal – Part 3

In part 3 of our Amazon Kindle series, we get up close and personal with some book reading and web browsing. In addition, to doing some requisite book reading and notetaking, I show everyone what kind of web browsing will work, and what won’t work. Hint: Javascript isn’t supported, so there won’t be any Google Reader browsing going on. Still, being able to browse the web for free over the included Whispernet / Sprint EVDO service is a great bonus.  As I point out in the video, I’m not sure how long we’ll be able to do it for free, but I’m going to enjoy it while I can. In addition, I show two documents that got automatically imported by sending them to my @kindle.com email address

Be sure to watch Part 1 and Part 2 if you have not seen those videos yet. All three videos give a more complete overview.

So the question to be answered after all three videos: would I buy one again? Yes. Having instant access to over 90,000 books is the kicker for me. Version 1 of the Kindle can definitely be improved, but free web-browsing over EVDO ( for now ) and instant access to all of those books wins me over. The Kindle is a great experience that could be improved upon with handwriting annotation. I would definitely take this places I wouldn’t bring a Tablet PC or UMPC due to its non-intrusive nature. My wife wouldn’t buy one because she is more of a purist. My kids, though, would eat it up, especially if they could get their text books on it. Amazon needs to lower the price to at least half to make it attractive to the non-geek market. I have a nagging feeling that more $200 of the price is going to Sprint to cover the EVDO access. So, I’ll be keeping the Kindle and enjoying until version 2 comes out. Join me in welcoming me to the eBook world.