WiFi/3G question

[Philagoofy]

I'm looking at Kindle's and have a question about WiFi & 3G. One type uses both and the other two only use one. Is it important, do you need to know what type of wireless technology you have in the areas you want to use your Kindle? (I know nothing about WiFI, 3G etc.)

Has anyone used the Kindle DX with the larger screen? Is it worth the extra $200+ ?

 

[bas71873]

I asked my husband this when I was looking at the Nook. The wifi (only) means you either have to have wifi in your house or be at a wifi hotspot....Starbucks, B&N, etc.

With the wifi +3G, it's like the blackberry, it will find the internet.

At least that's how my mind understood it when DH explained it to me. If I'm wrong, I'm sure someone will correct me and/or explain it better

I decided I want the Nook Wifi +3G. The 3G is worth the extra $50 to me and you DO NOT have to have any sort of data contract for it to work.

 

[3boymthr]

I asked my husband this when I was looking at the Nook. The wifi (only) means you either have to have wifi in your house or be at a wifi hotspot....Starbucks, B&N, etc.

With the wifi +3G, it's like the blackberry, it will find the internet.

At least that's how my mind understood it when DH explained it to me. If I'm wrong, I'm sure someone will correct me and/or explain it better

I decided I want the Nook Wifi +3G. The 3G is worth the extra $50 to me and you DO NOT have to have any sort of data contract for it to work.

This ^^^ is correct. Basically the 3G is cell phone service provided, I believe, thru AT&T. There is no extra contract or fees for the 3G once purchased and it will work pretty much anywhere you want to use it for going online and purchasing books. I've used my 3G Nook on the highway, in the woods, at the beach, and more. If you don't have cell phone service where you live it won't work in your house. The Nook shows bars at the top just like you see on a cell phone telling you the availability of service.

You must have wifi enabled internet service for the wifi to work. You can disable the wi-fi on the devices with 3G if you find it is faster to use the 3G or if you find the device is hogging so much of your internet connection that other devices run slowly (I had to do this).

But if you don't have either service available where you live you can still buy and use a Nook. They have an option called sideloading where you buy the books on using a PC, download the books to the PC then copy the files to the e-reader via a USB cable connection. You'd have to double check if this is also true for the Kindle but I believe the Kindle has this option also.

 

[RitaE]

Yes - every digital reader that I'm aware of offers a side loading option.

The DX is a fairly specialized product. It works well for those who read books that have lots of tables and graphs and other specialized formatting requirements - more screen real estate give you more space to work those issues out. For the average book reader the 5" and 6" screens work fine and they are much more portable.

I get many people (Senior Citizens) with sight issues who prefer the DX because they can bump the font all the way up and still get a decent number of lines of text on the screen. It is a bit heavier than the regular Kindle - to me it feels like reading from a clipboard.

Kindle WiFis (the $139 model) are a bit hard to find right now. Amazon is on back order until post Christmas and Targets/Best Buys seem to sell out within hours of getting a shipment. The $189 versions are still in stock.