Kindle lovin'

I had only one (material) wish for Christmas and it was the Amazon Kindle e-reader. 

Amazing husband made my wishes come true and when I opened my package there it was; Kindle Paperwhite 3 G!

So excited to open this!

Here's the catalog photo courtesy of Amazon.com:

I've never had a Kindle before, but I assume they're all pretty much the same size. It's pretty lightweight and really flat. I checked the measurements from Amazon and it's 6.7" x 4.6" x 0.36" (16.9cm x 11.7 cm x 9.1 cm) and it weighs 7.8 oz (222g). It holds about 1100 books, which is plenty. The battery lasts for about 28 hours of reading (with the light and the wireless on). I read a lot, so I've had to charge it like every 5 days.

I also purchased a case for it, so I can easily take it with me to the university and not worry about scratching it. This case is from Amazon.co.uk and it's a purple ForeFront case. I actually just bought the cheapest one (with good reviews) I could find, since I figured I'd get bored with the color at some point anyways. So far it's been a pleasant surprise.

The Kindle is pretty handy sized even with the case, here's a scale comparison to my Blackberry phone.

Kindle in sleep mode. When I'm not using it, it shows some advertisements for books and tv shows. You can get rid of the advertisements, if you pay more, but I figured the ads wouldn't bother me that much, and they haven't. It's got a touch screen, which is really handy as well. Just tap it and it'll switch pages. If you tap on the left side, it'll go back a page and if you tap on the top of the page, you get the menu. It comes with an experimental browser, so you can check your emails, Facebook/Twitter, news etc. whatever you want with it as well. You can also easily go to Kindle store on Amazon.com and purchase a  new book. Paperwhite 3G has free global 3G so it should work wherever there's a 3G connection available. You can also download some games to it,  but I haven't yet felt the need for them.

Here's Kindle Paperwhite with full lights on. I told husband I didn't need the Paperwhite version, since I didn't think I'd need the background light and I was worried I'd get a migraine from any sorts of light. I'm happy to say I was wrong, the light is extremely handy, since I read mostly in bed. Now I don't need a reading light and the build-in light does not bother me at all. No migraines or even the feeling of getting one :)

Here's how I usually read, with minimal light. 

I have about 300 books downloaded it already, so I have plenty of reading to be done :) Besides the books available for purchase, Amazon.com Kindle store has a ton of free books available and I've also downloaded free books from the Project Gutenberg site, which has a ton more.

In a nutshell, I really really love my new Kindle :) If you read a lot and want to downsize your library, I would recommend Kindle Paperwhite wholeheartedly. I'll still probably purchase some of the books, the ones I know I'll read and read again, as paper-versions, but the books that I probably won't read more than one (as in a bunch of fiction) I'll only get as e-books.

Hope everyone's been having a wonderful weekend!

p.s Stay tuned for next week, since I'm having the first ever The Sugar Antelope Giveaway! 

I absolutely love giveaways and raffles and I'm so excited to have one in this blog too!