I really want a Kindle...

Yeah, I really want to get a Kindle...  "But Ian you hardly ever read, why would you want one?", well, here's my answer to that. For ages I haven't read any form of written literature for a long time, I read when I was in Primary School, but that was for Homework, I read lots of Shakespeare Scripts in Secondary School, and that was for studies. And in College and University I read a lot of IT Text Books, because as you can guess, they were for studies... Since then, I haven't read a lot of anything since school, people like to blame it on other media like the internet, music, TV, Videogames, etc, etc... Though I figured out that it's sorta correct...  Not because people prefer those over books, but because in this day and age there are so many different ways to get entertainment through many types of media, it's easy to forget that books exists, unless you're REALLY INTO BOOKS, like my Mother...

The Amazon Kindle eBook

Still, I think the Kindle is a great excuse for me to get into reading! I mean come on, it's a gadget right? Gadgets and excuses aside, it's proven that the Kindle in the Market is as big to books as the iPod was to music; after all, the Kindle can hold many, many books on it, the same way that an iPod can hold your entire music collection on! One slight problem though...  The price...

In the UK, the Kindle 4, the latest model, shown above, cost £89, which turns out to be about $140 US. There's another model, the Kindle Keyboard with 3G, which is £149, which turns out about $235 US! Comparing the prices on Amazon's US site, the prices are MUCH lower than Amazon UK's prices. First off there's more models, not only is there the Kindle 4 and the Kindle Keyboard, but there's a Kindle 4 with a touch screen, and these models come with a choice of having commercials and adverts for books as a screen saver, which reduces the price if you pick the model with adverts.

This is the selection that Amazon UK has...

And here's the selection made available on Amazon US, and I put the UK price next to them

It's crazy, if I was in the States, I can get a Kindle touch cheaper than a regular Kindle 4 in the UK. Now, I understand that US prices have always been cheaper than it is back home, but really though!? When I can get a model up cheaper than the model I want, something is a little wrong there! What's funny is that Amazon UK this week is doing Black Friday deals, this is a part of a commercial event the US does to sell cheap good before Thanks Giving and the Christmas Holiday. Thing is, the UK doesn't do this, since we don't celebrate Thanks Giving, after all Thanks Giving is about Pilgrims coming to the US, desperate for food, and the Native Americans help them by giving them food and water to survive. This is an American thing that I'm talking about there, lol. However it turns out that Amazon UK did this last year, which I wasn't aware of, and turned out to be a success, so they're doing it this year, which is great! But the Kindle 4 is still at £89...  :/

Amazon! Make my  Kindle cheaper damn you!!! D:<

For the time being though, I'm using the Kindle App on my HTC Android Phone... But it's not quite the same as using a real Kindle. Not is it the size of my phone, but it's that it has a lit screen, meaning that it glares into your eyes after a while reading what book you're reading, making the actuall Kindle with eInk work better, since it's not a lit screen.

Now there's actually a good mode on the Kindle for Android app, it's "White-on-Black" mode. Shown in the image above, with my HTC Desire, since the majority of the screen is black, and only the text is white, it makes it easier on the eyes as not as much light is going on the eye from the screen, which makes reading a little better, but I'd still want to read with a real kindle though, as it relies on light being reflected from the Kindle screen, which is matte like paper, onto the eye, making long term reading easier on the eyes.

Now...  again...  If only Amazon reduced that damn price! LOL!