13 Pros and Cons of Amazon Kindle

Amazon kindle is the electronic book (e-book) reader from Amazon. A Kindle is a small hand-held electronic device for reading books. Just like you download an mp3 player or an iPad with songs, you can download books to a kindle and read them on it anytime anywhere. Amazon Kindle was first introduced in 2007 by a tech giant Amazon.

Amazon Kindle devices enable users to browse, buy, download, and read e-books, newspapers, magazines, and other media. The Kindle gives you access to digital books and provides the best method for reading them. It enables one to store the e-books (Kindle books) from Amazon and read them at your leisure.

This e-reader has changed the public reading habits and switched them into the e portable devices where they can read digitally with great ease. It is a user-friendly device that you can set up and access anytime, anywhere.

The latest model of Amazon Kindle is the Oasis, which was launched in 2019. Even though the device is extremely lightweight and portable, you can keep a huge number of books on the Kindle. You can download books on kindle using the Wi-Fi or using mobile data, which makes it possible to download books no matter where you are.

A Brief History of Amazon Kindle

In the year 2007, Amazon launched Kindle, which now has become a popular e-book reader. Initially, it began as a single device and now it comprises a range of devices. Upon release, it was immediately dubbed as “the iPod of reading”.

The original Kindle launched with a 6-inch E Ink display. There was no touch screen however there was a full keyboard. It also offered a speaker and headphone socket, and expandable SD card storage. It cost $399 and was only available in the US. The first touchscreen kindle was Kindle Touch and was released in 2011. It has a 6-inch E Ink display and Wi-Fi feature.

Kindle Oasis 2019 is the latest edition of Amazon Kindle which has a huge 7-inch display. It has many new features like auto-brightness, waterproofing, improved battery life.
The Kindle has remained one of our favourite devices and is evolving in pace with technology.

Pros of Amazon Kindle

1. Kindle Has a Huge Collection of Free Books

Kindle has a large collection of books that you can access for free. You can get an amazing number of books from the Kindle Store for free. There are lots of classic books are absolutely free on Kindle. There’s also a way to read eBooks from your local library on your Kindle. They have some awesome books completely free.

2. Access to Thousands of E-books

You can buy thousands of books and keep them in your library and can access anytime. If you are an amazon prime member, you can get access to more than 800,000 e-books. You can carry as many books as you want in your little device. Kindle’s memory capacity also makes it very convenient for travellers. The $69 Kindle, Amazon’s base model, can hold up to 1,400 titles in its memory.

3. E-books Are Less Expensive

A great benefit of the kindle is that e-books are usually cheaper than paperback or audio versions of the same book. Having Kindle is like a time investment, it seems expensive in the beginning but if you read a lot you will find cheaper books in the Kindle format on Amazon. It saves you a lot of money. Print format books are usually expensive but Kindle helps you to get access to the same books at cheaper rates.

4. Portable

Kindles are so portable and light, unlike the paper book. Kindle is like a tablet, you can it carry anywhere with you. If you’re an avid reader and you’re going on a trip, you’d need to pack books in your luggage whereas an e-reader like Kindle is far easier to take.

Kindle’s memory capacity makes it very convenient for travellers and it’s nice to always have a book handy when you’re waiting in line or stuck in traffic.

5. Dictionary Feature

Kindle has a built-in Oxford English Dictionary. The dictionary feature is really useful and also increases vocabulary. When you put cursor near the word, you can see the definition of the word immediately.

It saves you a lot of time. You don’t have to search the meaning of the word in the dictionary because the built-in dictionary got it covered.

6. Anti-Glare Screen

Kindle comes with a special high-contrast screen that allows you to read even in bright sunshine without any glare. The text and fonts are clear and the sharp display gives the same experience as reading a print book. Kindle is very easy to read even in sunlight and also you don’t have to snuggle up with the book in the dark. By adjusting the brightness you can adjust your comfort level reading.

7. No Turning of Pages

Kindles’ page-turning function makes you feel as if you’re reading a real book. Unlike with a physical book, you can read while eating because you don’t have to use your hand to hold down the pages to keep the book from closing. The one-click page-turning feature makes reading more enjoyable and efficient.

8. Privacy

One of the great features of Kindle is that people can’t tell what you’re reading. There are just some books that you want to keep to yourself that make you feel uncomfortable in public. With a Kindle, you don’t need to worry about getting weird looks while reading in the public.

Cons of Amazon Kindle

1. Devoid of the Feel of a Paper Book

Physical books have the unique feel of a book that many readers love, Kindle fails to provide that feeling to the readers. You can hold a book, turn the pages, and feel the paper but with Kindle, each page is displayed on the screen and doesn’t feel like a book.

Kindle is not a book, rather it is a device which replicates physical book that’s why you don’t get the same feeling with Kindle that you get with the real book.

2. Affects Eyes

Paper books are easier on the eyes since there’s no eye strain that comes with an electronic device. Prolonged staring at the screen directly affects the eyesight, causes irritation in the eyes. It sometimes gives a headache too.

Digital devices expose us to “blue light,” that’s been linked to skin cancer and macular degeneration, an eye disease that causes severe vision loss with ageing. To protect eyes one should use blue light filters or lenses that reduce it.

3. You Can’t Lend Kindle Like Real Books

You can lend the real books to your friends, colleagues or relatives but you can’t lend the Kindle. One of the benefits of real books is that you can borrow books so that you don’t have to buy it on your own. You can’t lend books to people unless you give them your device.

4. Limited Functionality

The Amazon Kindle offers few features beyond its main function as an e-book reader. It’s like a tablet so it must-have features like the tablets such as installing other apps, video playing, browsing the web, clicking photos, etc. In comparison, competitors like the Apple iPad offer broader functionality by allowing the download of additional applications that extend the use of the device beyond just being an e-book reader.

5. Book Collection

Collecting books is a hobby of many book lovers out there. Since Kindle allows you to keeps thousands of books in one place, so you don’t have a physical library filled with your favourite books. For a family, it’s a lot easier to just keep a book on the shelf and everyone can read it when they want instead of wondering whose Kindle has the book now.

Conclusion

Concluding the article, we can say that Kindle is a great tool for reading e-books and its numerous benefits made it more popular. Amazon Kindle good for reading, easy to download books on to, and easy to carry. It has adjustable fonts, anti-glare screens, and offer the audio capability. With these intriguing features, the Kindle has the potential to replace hardcopy textbooks in the future.

It’s a tool for a single job but it also offers built-in Wi-Fi capabilities for downloading e-books and apps, as well as basic Web browsing. Fail to provide a feel of the real book is the main drawback of the reading on a Kindle. However, readers must decide for themselves whether they prefer a traditional paper book or the digital version which Amazon Kindle provides.

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