Kindle 3 First Impressions: Thumbs Up! Lots of Kindle Game Apps Available Now Too

My Kindle 3 (official name = Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Wi-Fi, 6" Display, Graphite - Latest Generation) arrived last week Friday just in time for the 3-day Labor Day holiday weekend. Here's a couple of impressions after using it for a couple of days. - Wow! Text really does look good on the screen. And, it tends to look good under a number of lighting conditions including sunlight outdoor. I was perfectly happy reading ebooks on an iPhone (3G and 4) or an iPad since the Kindle app first appeared. But, I must admit that the combination of the crisp text and general lack of glare/reflections make Kindle ebook reading superior when light is available. - My iPhone/iPad training really shows. I touch the Kindle screen every now and then expecting something to happen. Finger retraining is going to take a bit of time. - The Kindle 3's relatively low weight (compared to the iPad) makes it a much more comfortable ebook reader in "lean back" reading positions (think recliner or beach chair). - WiFi-only is fine if you, like me, tend to be WiFi served areas most of the time. There's really no urgent need for connectivity when reading an ebook. Highlights and notes created during a reading session can be synced at some future time when in WiFi range. - WhisperSync between all my Kindle enabled devices and the Kindle 3 is great (as expected). It is great to be able to pick up on a book regardless of which device (iPhone, iPad, Android, Kindle) I'm carrying. - The one Kindle game app I've tried, Shuffled Row (free), is a lot more entertaining than I expected. The game presents up to 9 letter tiles at the top of screen. The goal is to type words based on the current letters displayed. 60 tiles are presented over time. A Scrabble(Ã¢â€žÂ¢)-like letter and letter combination point system is used. Amazon has what appears to be a couple of dozen Kindle games available on Amazon.com now. Kindle games (search results) Most games are priced at 99 cents following the iPhone app pricing scheme. Most of the games are, appropriately enough, word games. Sodoku, puzzles and solitaire (card game) seems to define Kindle apps at the moment. I suspect that games that keep the Kindle screen active are battery killers. The original Kindle priced at $399 was simply to expensive for casual readers like me to consider. The $139 price point for the WiFi-only Kindle 3 makes it affordable even for casual readers. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Kindle 3 price drop to just under $100 when the holiday buying season starts to rev up in late November.

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Kindle 3 First Impressions: Thumbs Up! Lots of Kindle Game Apps Available Now Too

Todd Ogasawara

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Todd Ogasawara