Last week we learned that Woolworths, Dick Smith and Big W will soon start selling the 6-inch graphite Kindle 3. But now that Amazon has cut the price on returned/repackaged Kindle 3s to $US100 (Wi-Fi) and $US130 (3G), you have to wonder if those rumoured Android Kindles are just around the corner. Should you wait?
Purchased new (not refurbished) from Woolies, the Kindle 3 Wi-Fi will cost $159 (Wi-Fi) and $219 (3G). They’re also cheaper if you buy directly from Amazon. Technology is an evil mistress, though: there’s always something new just around the corner.
In this case, there are ongoing rumours of a new high-end 10-inch touchscreen Kindle powered by a Tegra 2 processor, in addition to a cheaper model, possibly with 7-inch display. Then there’s the army of Android tablets arriving soon to think about, see: What’s Next For Tablets: The Mega Rumour Roundup.
Though a tablet can serve as a reader, they’re also more expensive and not designed to maximise battery life or reduce eye strain. They’re two different beasts.
If you’re interested in the Kindle from Woolies, it will serve you well and you’ll be supported for some time. Amazon isn’t about to alienate such a large user base anytime soon. But if you’re looking to pick up a Christmas present early, it might be worth waiting just a month or so.
More on the new refurb pricing at: [Beyond Black Friday via SlashGear]
Dean
Monday, August 8, 2011 at 1:57 PM“Amazon isn’t about to alienate such a large user base anytime soon.”
Best not say that around any Kindle DX Graphite owners.
Aliasalpha
Monday, August 8, 2011 at 2:46 PMShame that eink is a different tech, it’d be nice to be able to switch between eink mode & standard tablet mode.
Maybe they could do something to give a similar function. Say when the kindle application is loaded, the system goes to a custom refresh rate (say once every 5-10 seconds or on button press) & switch off the backlight.
They’d probably need a matte screen to minimise relections, would that work with a tablet touchscreen?
Steve
Monday, August 8, 2011 at 4:26 PMThis is a pipe dream which I always wished someone would implement but is physically impossible unless there’s some sorta dual-screen overlay. The technologies are too different to integrate.
At this point, the best we can do is have an ereader for heavy reading, and a tablet for everything else.
Justin2039
Monday, August 8, 2011 at 3:04 PMAmazon is demonstrating it’s fear of losing market share. It hasn’t got a chance of succeeding, given the power of FOSS. If you don’t know what that is then you are a born loser. Wikipedia is a good example of FOSS success and they don’t make any profit at all.
Look it up on Wikipedia.
Steve
Monday, August 8, 2011 at 4:24 PM“LOOK AT ME GUS! Look at me! I’ve learnt a word! You guys are… born losers if you don’t know what it is! I’m so smart, born losers like you should look it up on Wikipedia! /smug”
“Look son, no-one likes a Hermione, now shut the hell up or I’ll knock your teeth in.”
Lemo
Monday, August 8, 2011 at 3:46 PM@Justin2039
FOSS = Free Open Source Software
you = Tool
what do you call a man with a 1 inch wang….. Just-in
Richard
Monday, August 8, 2011 at 3:54 PMFOSS? Generally consumers could not care less about whether their software is open source or not. There’s examples where it has reached substantial market penetration (Android and Firefox) and areas where it hasn’t (Desktop OSs).
Whats more, it seems to me that with the Amazon marketplace there is almost no doubt that Amazon are planning on releasing an Android based Kindle in the very near future that utilises their application store as the default. Their biggest competitor, Barnes Nook, already has adopted Android and with their own App Store now Amazon has even more incentive to go that way than Barnes and Noble did with their tablet.
Steve
Monday, August 8, 2011 at 4:30 PMWhile I’m interested to see what the new Amazon tablet will be like, I’m more interested in the ereaders.
Ereaders aren’t the most exciting tech devices, so hardware revisions aren’t too drastic nor noticeable. I’ll be happy with my Kindle 3 for a long time, and the new touchscreen ereaders don’t attract me. I like having buttons to flip pages, instead of swiping. And the qwerty keyboard at the bottom lets the device stand upright on your lap.
cayal
Monday, August 8, 2011 at 4:53 PMBought a Kindle 3 weeks ago and it’s brilliant. Exactly what I needed, an easy to read device and nothing on it will distract me.
CharlesB
Monday, August 8, 2011 at 5:31 PMWhat happens with our Kindles when Telstra opens its 4G network and probably closes the 3G one ?
poltak
Monday, August 8, 2011 at 5:34 PMAfter owning an ASUS Transformer for 2 months, I’m thinking of selling it and replacing it with some kind of kindle.
I agree with what’s written about tablets vs readers in the article, and really that’s all I use my tablet for.
It was fun playing some quality android games for the first few weeks, but I don’t really see the point anymore and seeing the price difference between tablets and a reader like the kindle, it’s not really a hard decision.
light487
Tuesday, August 16, 2011 at 8:50 AMYer.. I was just thinking that the Kindle is just about ready to have an upgrade coming out. I am on the verge of picking one up. I have the iPod Touch app for Kindle already and have been slowly adding to my Kindle book collection. I’ve tried Apple’s iBook app but since they have no “real” books worth reading, that’s not an option.
My mum and sister both have Kindles.. I’ve seen them in action and they do appear to be better than most of the other offerings out there.. but having said that, if there is indeed a Kindle 4 on the horizon, I want to wait for that instead.
As for 3G versions of Kindle.. I think they are a waste of money.. it’s an eBook.. it’s not a smart phone. You connect to your Wifi hotspot (whether at home, work or wherever), “sync” your books and then turn off the wifi to save the battery.. why you’d actually use it for surfing the net is beyond me. If you’re going to do that, buy a tablet PC instead.
carinas
Wednesday, September 7, 2011 at 1:50 PMFinally got a Kindle and now it looks like I’m going to have to buy one for my 10 year old for Christmas!
We both love the lightness, the absence of glare & eyestrain, the instant gratification of buying downloads, getting books from the local library without leaving home (yes we read these epub on the Kindle with a wee bit of tweaking, takes 60 seconds), not to mention downloading foreign language overseas newspapers…
And when my son was sick he put it on text to speech & listened to the book, for A$159, a bargain.