The New Entry Level Kindle

Strictly speaking, this is officially just called “the Kindle”, but most people are referring to it as the Kindle 4.

Don’t be fooled by the low price. $ 79 gets you a full spec ebook reader that is more than capable of satisfying all of your reading requirements.

Light and portable – less than 6 ounces in weight.
Size – 6.5 X 4.5 X .34 inches.
Advanced e-ink technology display. It’s like reading text on paper.
Download books in 60 seconds using the built in Wi-Fi.
Choose from Amazon’s massive selection of books – over 800,000 at less than $ 9.99.
1.8 million out-of-copyright books are available free.
Borrow Kindle books from your public lending library.

Kindle 4 With Special Offers $ 79

Kindle 4 Without Special Offers $ 109

Is The Kindle 4 The Right Choice For You?

Kindle 4 Controls

If you’re looking for a device which will be mainly used to read books, then the Kindle 4 could be the ideal choice for you. The controls are well laid out and the page turn buttons, positioned at the side of the device, are ideally located to allow you to operate your reader with one hand.

About the only time you might miss a keyboard, or a touch screen, will be when you are on Amazon looking for a new book. However, that will only be a very small percentage of the usage time and it might not bother you too much.

When you need to type, a virtual keyboard is called up by pressing one of the 5 buttons located near the bottom of the reader. You can then use the central 5-way controller to enter data.

It may take a little longer than using a keyboard – but it does work, and you may not need to do it very often anyway. Obviously, it does away with the need for a physical keyboard and allows the device to be made smaller, lighter and less costly.

Kindle 4 Memory

The Kindle 4 has 2GB of internal memory, of which about 1.25GB is available for user storage. That is a little less than the 4GB of the Kindle Touch or the Kindle Keyboard – but it’s still sufficient to allow you to store approximately 1,400 Kindle books. That should be more than enough to keep you in reading material.

If things do get a bit tight for space, don’t forget that you will have unlimited free cloud storage on Amazon for all your Amazon purchases.

Kindle With Or Without Special Offers?

Obviously, one of the ways that Amazon is able to keep the price so low is the use of “Special Offers” on the screensaver pages and also at the very bottom of the home page menu screen – see the image on the right.

The ads do not appear anywhere within the actual books that you will be reading – so they won’t make the slightest difference to your reading pleasure. However, since they are also on the screensaver, the first thing that you see whenever you pick up your Kindle will be an ad.

Some people don’t like this. Others absolutely love it. More than one Kindle owner has claimed to have made their Kindle pay for itself simply by taking advantage of the special offers.

Here’s an example of some of the special offers which have been displayed on the Kindle in the past:

• $30 for one month of unlimited yoga classes in your city ($119 value)
• Save up to $500 on select HDTVs
• $1 for a Kindle book, choose from thousands
• $15 for $30 worth of groceries at your local store

So, those really are “special offers” in the true sense of the word. You never know, you might actually save yourself a few dollars.

At the end of the day, you don’t need to make up your mind immediately. If you buy your Kindle With Special Offers, and subsequently find that you really don’t like the adverts, you can simply log into your “Manage My Kindle” page on the Amazon website, pay the $ 30 difference, and the ads will be turned off.

Other Cost Saving Measures

Unlike the other Kindles from Amazon, the Kindle 4 does not have any audio facility. So you won’t be able to use the “read-to-me” feature or play mp3 files.

It’s also worth pointing out that the entry level Kindle ships with a USB power cord so that you can charge it by plugging it into your notebook or desktop computer. If you want to be able to lug it into a wall socket, you will need to order up a special adapter (you can usually find these for less than $ 10 on Amazon).

Kindle 4 Overall Verdict

Amazon has clearly built the new entry level Kindle 4 to a price – and has made an excellent job of it.

If you want a dedicated ebook reader that is small, light, portable and inexpensive, then this might be the sensible choice for you. You can get full access to Amazon’s massive collection of Kindle books, including all the free ones, at a bargain price.

All things considered, the Kindle 4 represents great value for bibliophiles everywhere.

Check out the Kindle 4 on Amazon.