There are eversomany ebook readers available in the market,from reputed vendors like Sony, Amazon, etc and in India, it has yet to catch up, may be because of the cost involved .Reading the announcement on the yahoo, recently about the launch of Amazon Kindle 2 ebook reader in India, I jumped to the amazon site to find out the details of the gadget.It was a bit pricey at 259 USD, and if you woul like to have a carry case then another 30 USD .
However, I wanted to take the plunge and purchased the reader instantly online, and paid approximately Rs 21000/-including customs duty, freight and packing charges.Within 4 days I received the shipment intact through bluedart couriers(who demanded customs duty once again, but promptly refunded the same day when I complained to the vendor!!) .I found the instrument very handy and the screen with its matt finish was simply amazing to look at, 100 % glare free, just more than a plain piece of paper, highly readable.It has a storage of about 2 GB, and they say it can hold about 1500 books.
It has certain experimental features like web browsing, and music and also read aloud functions.However, you cant browse in India as because of local restrictions, otherwise it is life time free along with the reader.It can read maps, and also do the usual surfing with its inbuilt wireless.The battery once recharged can last upto a week, and if you switch on the radio, may be two to three days.The main feature I liked about it is the Read aloud function with both male and female voices, and flipping pages with next and previous buttons, and conveniently placed Home and Menu buttons.
It has full key board, and to use certain features like playing a music file or read aloud function, you have to use certain key combinations.The books available in kindle format are ranging from 2 usd onwards, and you can directly download to your instrument, once registered with amazon. You get a lot of free books too, which you could download to your PC/laptop and then feed into the gadget using friendly USB cord provided.The charger is also compatible with indian standards, though you may require an adapter freely available in India.
Overall, I would rate this product very good, as I could not compare sony device so far, or any other product of its class .I shall write more after using this device for a while.
