What Is A Kindle?

By: Shawn Donovan

What is a Kindle? Kindle is a product put out by Amazon (the online book retailer, not the jungle), which electronically stores books and other print for the user to read. Think of it as the iPod for bookworms.

Kindle At A Glance
Kindle is shaped much like a book, rectangular and relatively small, about the size of a run-of-the-mill paperback. But, instead of having pages, Kindle has a screen that displays text, much like a computer screen. However, Kindle is designed to display the text in a font that resembles the text you would find in a regular book, making it a lot easier on the eyes than staring at a monitor.

Inside Kindle
So how does it work? Kindle utilizes the Sprint network to access the Internet. Like a cell phone, access to the Internet isn't restricted to finding a wireless network, as long as you have a reliable cellular reception. However, unlike a cell phone, a user doesn't have to pay a monthly fee for usage. Once connected, a keypad below the screen can be used for navigation.

Purchasing A Book
You can browse Amazon's digital store and purchase books to read or simply browse the Web, although those services can be slow. Subscriptions to some newspapers are also available for sale. Once purchased, the print is downloaded to Kindle's hard drive. Kindle can hold literally hundreds of books, as well as other forms of data, such as Word documents. If that's not enough memory for you, the first-generation Kindle also comes equipped with an SD slot so you can save to an SD card if the hard drive is filled to the brim. Buttons on the side of Kindle allow you to navigate the text, turning the pages back and forth. A scrolling wheel also allows you to select text and look up words. Let's see your paperback do that.

The Future Of Kindle
Three versions of Kindle are available. However, the original version is being phased out by Kindle 2, which has upgraded features, although no SD card port, and Kindle DX which features upgrades and a larger screen for better newspaper and textbook reading.

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