A look at what the new Kindle Touch 3G offers - some differences

KINDLE TOUCH 3G
Free 3G + Wi-Fi, 6" E Ink Display, 3G Works Globally

Notes about the new Kindle Touch 3G
The product page presentation begins with the feature that differentiates this device from the Kindle Touch (WiFi only):

  "Free 3G wireless, no annual contracts or monthly fees."

  "Kindle Touch 3G uses the same wireless signals as cell phones, so you don't need to worry about Wi-Fi connections, passwords or internet charges.  Unlike cell phones, with Kindle Touch 3G there are no monthly fees or commitments — Amazon pays for Kindle Touch 3G's wireless connectivity."

This model also comes with WiFi, local network access.

As with the older Kindle 3 with 3G (now called the Kindle Keyboard 3G),  it has Text-to-speech (TTS) , can read audio books and play mp3's, including podcasts

All Kindles can borrow from public libraries now.

I'll be pointing out only differences between the older and new model offering 3G, as it's easy enough to see what Amazon offers by just going to the Product page for the Kindle Touch 3G.  I very much recommend readers take the time to slowly go over that page.



UPDATE - Amazon Kindle Team has made an official response to this question.  The Kindle Touch 3G has a more limited use of its 3G connectivity in that the 3G has been enabled for connection only to the Kindle Store, to download books and periodicals, and to access Wikipedia.  The experimental web-browsing feature isn't enabled for 3G but can be used via WiFi.  The Kindle Keyboard 3G   (UK: Kindle Keyboard 3G), will still have its 3G enabled for the experimental web browser.

  Click on the link above to read the statement by Kindle Team.

Points to keep in mind, on this touchscreen Kindle:
You can tap  ("no need to swipe") to turn pages, so Amazon points out you can hold the Kindle in either hand.

   Speed. Even the Kindle Basic ($79 to $109) has been praised (it's already shipping) for its noticeably faster page turns and speedier processes in general, over the older keyboard models.

  A new feature named "X-Ray" is available on the new Touch models and Amazon explains it this way:
  "Explore the 'bones of a book.' With a single tap, see all the passages across a book that mention ideas, fictional characters, historical figures, places or topics of interest, as well as more detailed descriptions from Wikipedia and Shelfari."

  They reiterate that Amazon is providing "free cloud storage for all Amazon content" (meaning content you purchase from them -- music, video, as well as books).

  Battery Life:  Amazon used to base battery life on a rational 1 hour per day usage, but ever since
Barnes and Noble decided to base theirs on only 1/2 hour per day usage, and columnists picked up BN's results without looking at what daily usage it was based on,  Amazon has now changed its basis for
calculations, to match the 1/2 hour per day that Barnes and Noble apparently feels its users spend on books.
  So now, 2 months between charges  (with Wireless Off)  is claimed rather than 1 month.

  Also see Kindle Customer Service advisories on best battery maintenance practices.

  (I'm a Barnes and Noble card-carrying paid-member and am enjoying a NookColor, but this battery usage thing is for the birds, and I don't mean Angry ones, just BN's idea of disinterested ones.

  Content formats supported:  This isn't different from before, but it's often been said by people who don't know much about the Kindle, that the Kindle supports only Amazon's one format.  Here is the actual list of formats supported (this hasn't changed) :
  Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion

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I'm really glad that Amazon is keeping the Kindle Keyboard models active, as there are many who still prefer even a clunky physical keyboard to a touchscreen one. The Kindle 3 (Kindle Keyboard) has been known for its beautiful screen contrast, moreover.

Amazon has more to say on the special features in the lower portion of their page, which may receive less views, so I'll add some of it here

New Touch Experience - EasyReach
"Amazon invented a new type of touch experience that eliminates the fatigue caused by continuously swiping to turn the page, and that allows readers to hold Kindle with either hand while still turning pages comfortably  

  Page turns and other navigation with this model:

    Tapping on most of the screen area will page forward,
        the most common action done when reading;
    tapping in a narrow area near the left edge of the device turns to the previous page; and
    tapping on the top part of the screen brings up the toolbars for further options."

Customer Fonts - as with Kindle 3 model:
  "... hand-built, custom fonts and font-hinting to make words and letters more crisp, clear, and natural-looking  ...  improving legibility at small font sizes where few pixels are available..."

Support for Non-Latin Characters
This hasn't changed since Kindle, but it bears repeating here:
  ... Kindle Touch displays Cyrillic (such as Russian), Japanese, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), and Korean characters, in addition to Latin and Greek scripts.

Full Image Zoom
(I miss this feature in reading normal books on my NookColor and it's said that the Adobe DRM format
for ePub has something to do with the limitation on that unit, which is otherwise very capable.)
"Images and photos display crisply on Kindle Touch 3G and can be zoomed to the full size of the screen."

Real Page Numbers
Again, many still don't know about this newer feature, which is on Kindle 3's as well.
  "Easily reference and cite passages or read alongside others in a book club or class with real page numbers.  ... we've created algorithms that match specific text in a Kindle book to the corresponding text in a print book, to identify the correct, "real" page number to display.

  Available on tens of thousands of our most popular Kindle books, including the top 100 bestselling books in the Kindle Store that have matching print editions.
  Page numbers are displayed when you touch the top of the screen.  (On the Kindle 3, it's done by pressing the Menu button.)

Carry and Read Your Personal Documents
Few know about this feature, which is getting even more support now.
  "You and your approved contacts can e-mail documents – including Word, PDF and more - directly to your Kindle and read them in Kindle format.  Delivery via Wi-Fi is free; there is a small fee for delivery via 3G - see details.

NEW TO KINDLE 3 AND NEW E-INK KINDLES
  "Your personal documents will be stored in your Kindle library on Amazon and ready to download conveniently anywhere at any time. You can add notes, highlights and bookmarks, which are automatically synchronized across devices along with the last page you read using our Whispersync technology."
  (Nate Hoffelder (and Felix Torres) had first noticed this by viewing the ManageYourKindle webpage source code and noting variables for pdocs and archiving.)

  ALSO, as has been true for well over a year, "You can read your PDFs in their native format AND convert them to the Kindle format so that it reflows like a regular Kindle book"

Personal Kindle Book Lending
  Besides public-library lending, already mentioned, "each eligible book (eligibility determined by the publisher] can be lent once for a period of 14 days."  [Publishers have held B&N to the same personal-lending rules]

Special Offers and Sponsored Screensavers
  This applies onlly to the "Special Offers" Kindle models, in this particular case the $149 Kindle Touch 3G.
Special offers are received on the unit, which also has sponsored screensavers seen only when not reading.
  Examples:
• $10 for $20 Amazon.com Gift Card
• Save up to $500 off Amazon's already low prices on select HDTVs
• $1 for a Kindle book, choose from thousands of books

Audible Audiobooks
As with previous models, you can listen to Audible books with the Kindle Touch 3G (as well as play mp3's).

DECISIONS
For those who are having a difficult time deciding on which of the many Kindles to get, be sure to see the "Compare Kindles" table on that product page, which comes with images of each model.  I haven't had time to give the WiFi-Only version of the Kindle Touch a thorough look yet, but the two devices should be the same except for the 3G module

   If you have any questions on what you see in that table, please feel free to ask here, and you can also visit the Kindle Community forums where there is always help from other customers 24/7.

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For daily free ebooks, check the following links:

Temporarily-free books - Non-classics USA: by:    Publication Date   Late-listed    Bestselling   High-ratings UK: PubDate   Popular What is 3G? and "WiFi"?       Battery Care Highly-rated under $1,  Newest: $1-$2, $2-$3

Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK):    Top 100 free UK-Only:    Top 100 free USEFUL for your Kindle (U.S. only, currently):   99c Notepad 1.1,   99c Calculator,   99c Calendar,   99c Converter

Kindle Software v2.5.x Tip 06/20/10 - Subscriptions and Personal Docs

I'm a fan of the TeleRead website - News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics - and recommend dropping by the site if you haven't, for a treat.  Varied, stimulating reading.

SOFTWARE VERSION V2.5.x CHANGES IN HANDLING OF "SHOW ONLY" categories
While at TeleReadtoday, I wrote a reply to a commenter's question, which is one that is asked often on the Amazon Kindle forums since the slow arrival of the new Kindle software update, which allows user-customizable categories and folder-like organizers named "Collections."

  (See the Intro and Guide to v2.5.x Features for one quick way to get the update for your Kindle model if you don't want to wait for the slowly distributed wireless delivery to a few million, globally.  It includes a step-by-step walkthrough for downloading the software and starting Collections.)

PERIODICALS AND PERSONAL DOCUMENTS, IN SOFTWARE VERSION V2.5.x
  Because the Kindle owner is able to decide the type of organization that would work best for them, Amazon eliminated the older structure of pre-set folders at the top of the Kindle (hidden until one navigates there) that allowed us to view only "Personal Documents," only "Subscriptions" (Periodicals), or only books (the default was: all Kindle content).

  The whole idea of Collections or categories with the new software update is to give us more control over how we want to see certain types of material.

  Here's what can be done for similar filtering of views.

Periodicals
When you sort your Home page listing by "Most Recent First," the "Periodicals" folder (a pre-set 'Collection’) is always on the last page, as is the "Archived Items" folder, which holds the titles of books at Amazon you own which are not on your Kindle currently but can be re-downloaded at any time.

The process to get to "Periodicals" (Subscriptions) is sometimes a bit faster now, since cursoring up, up, up is quite slow on the Kindle.

Now, you would just look at the number of pages shown at the bottom for your Home listing.
  Example: Page 1 of 8

If it's 8 pages, and you’ve chosen "Most Recent First" sorting:
  type '8' on the keypad and you’ll see gray text come up that says to 'click’ (on the 5-way)
  Example: click to go to page 8
Do that and you'll be on the last page, which has Periodicals and Archived Items

If you’re sorting by Title (alpha) on the Home page, then type ONLY the first character (no more than that or you'll be taken on a long Search instead) of the title you want and you'll see that gray-text, this time saying
  Click to go to P titles
which, if done, will get you to the P's where you’ll find the "Periodicals" pre-set folder or Collection.

Otherwise, "Periodicals" and "Archived Items" are always together on the last page when sorting Home listing by either "Most Recent First" or by "Collections."

Personal Documents
Another pre-set category that some Kindle software v2.5.x users miss is the "Personal Documents" view, but that was always problematical before, with Amazon deciding what a personal document is.  It often didn't correspond with our idea of it.

  Books purchased from sites like feedbooks.com or manybooks.net (mnybks.net) too often wound up in that folder, and actual personal documents could show up on the main book listing.  So, I prefer the current flexibility.
  The Kindle owner now decides what to designate a Collection or folder for any type of book or document.

  In fact, you can make a Collection titled Personal Docs and put ALL your personal documents in there as well as add each one to more topic-oriented Collections.

The new system is flexible when we remember that any book or doc can "belong to" a few Collections.

Wrinkles and Features
The latest issue of any periodical or subscription will show up on the Home listing, even when viewing by Collections sort, and the older issue it replaces will be put by Amazon into the Periodical pre-set Collection.

The latest blog overwrites (removes) the previous one and will always show up on the Home page listing.

Hope that helps some!

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Check often:  Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.

Amazon Customer Service Q & A: Oct 7-12

These are from the Customer Service area of the Amazon forums, with links to the actual postings (which don't have hyperlinks or bolding for titles).
  I'll be keeping these reformatted copies, with hyperlinks added, as a set, in the reference section on the right-hand column.

10/7  Q&A
  Downloading Outside the U.S.,
  Non English Content and
  Documentation

Initial post: Oct 7, 2009 4:51 PM PDT
Last edited by the author on Oct 9, 2009 3:22 PM PDT
Amazon Kindle Customer Service says:

Traveling Outside the U.S. with Kindle (U.S. and International Wireless)

When traveling abroad, you can download books wirelessly from the Kindle Store or your Archived Items. U.S. customers will be charged a fee of $1.99 for international book downloads (this fee only applies when the U.S. customer is outside the U.S.).

U.S. customers can continue to receive all of their newspaper, magazine, and blog subscriptions via Whispernet while traveling abroad, for a weekly fee of $4.99, or $1.99 per issue.

To avoid any fees, customers can always download books, periodicals, and personal documents via their computer and transfer to their Kindle using USB. To download Kindle content to your computer visit www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle.

For non-U.S. customers, there are no additional charges for receiving books or periodicals wirelessly outside their home country.

English Only Text-to-Speech

The Text-to-Speech feature on our latest generation Kindles and Kindle DX can read English-language newspapers, magazines, blogs, and books out loud to you, unless the book's rights holder made this feature unavailable. The Text-to-Speech feature does not support reading in other languages.

Foreign Language Kindle Books

The Kindle Store includes primarily English-language books and U.S. and international newspaper and magazine titles with prices listed in U.S. Dollars.

To see if an item that interests you is available, please search for the title in the Kindle Store (http://www.amazon.com/kindlestore).

Foreign Language Kindle User's Guide

You can find non-English versions of some Kindle documentation available in PDF format on our Kindle Support pages:
  http://www/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200317150.

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Oct 9  Q&A:
  Help Pages,
  Personal Docs,
  Your Country Setting, and
  Kindle U.S. Wireless Owners

Initial post: Oct 9, 2009 9:49 AM PDT
Last edited by the author on Oct 12, 2009 4:05 PM PDT
Amazon Kindle Customer Service says:

Updated Help Pages

The answers posted by Kindle Customer Service in this forum are often taken from the Kindle Support Pages. We've recently updated these pages to make it easier to find the information you're looking for, you can visit them at: http://www.amazon.com/kindlesupport.

Customer service focuses on the most common questions and keeps these announcements at the top of the forum, making them easy to find. You'll also find that many knowledgeable Kindle owners participate in these forums and will answer questions for new Kindle owners.

Foreign Language Personal Documents

Kindle can display non-English content that uses the ISO 8859-1 character set (which is based on the Latin languages). The only characters from this set not currently supported are: spades, clubs, hearts, up-arrow, down-arrow, alpha, beta, and gamma. Kindle also supports Greek characters and monospace fonts.

Your Country Setting

When shopping the Kindle Store you will see the book selection available to you based on your home country. Your home country or region should be set to the country where you live. You can update your home country or region on the Manage Your Kindle Page (http://www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle). Scroll down to the "Your country" section and select the "Edit" option to change.

Kindle U.S. Wireless Owners

The new Kindle with U.S. and International Wireless uses different built-in 3G GSM technology that allows it to access Whispernet internationally. A Kindle with U.S. Wireless only cannot be modified or updated to allow it to access Whispernet from outside U.S.

Edit: added "Browsing the Kindle Store by Country" section (10/9)

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Oct 12  Q&A:
  Ordering Kindle in Australia,
  Shipping Kindle to APO Addresses,
  and Kindle U.S. Wireless Price Drop

Initial post: Oct 12, 2009 4:03 PM PDT ...
Last edited by the author on Oct 13, 2009 ~11:45 AM PDT
Amazon Kindle Customer Service says:

Australian Customers Ordering Kindle (U.S. and International Wireless)

To order Kindle (U.S. and International Wireless) in Australia, please click the link presented to you after selecting that country on the Kindle product page. This will take you to a separate page for Kindles shipped to Australia:
http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-International-Generation-charging-Australia/dp/B000GF7ZRA

This Kindle purchase will include a USB cable for charging via your computer, but does not include a US power adapter.

Shipping Kindle to APO Addresses

U.S. Customers living or traveling abroad can have Kindle (U.S. and International Wireless) shipped to eligible countries. Shipping may not be available to all APO/FPO addresses. To check, please enter the shipping address at checkout. We do not allow you to place orders to APO/FPO addresses where we will not be able to ship.

Kindle U.S. Wireless Price Drop

If your order for Kindle (U.S. Wireless) was shipped between Sept 6 and October 6, 2009, please contact Customer Service and we will refund the $40 price difference.