Amazon Kindle - Aasim's Web Corner

Category: My Tutorials > Amazon Kindle

The Kindle is an electronic device for downloading, storing, and reading electronic books, known as e-books. It was developed by a company called Lab 126, which is a subsidiary of Amazon. The Kindle has instant wireless access to Amazon.com and their huge number of e-books (over 115,000 and growing). You can read newspapers, subscribe to magazines and blogs, and even play audio files such as MP3’s or audio books. The Kindle is compact and lightweight so it is easy to handle. Just think of it as a conveniently portable television for your books.

The Kindle uses a grey screen to display a page of text. To turn the page, you just press a button to go forward or backward. It can download compatible files over Amazon’s Whispernet directly to the Kindle by using the same network as Sprint EVDO. You don’t even need a computer to download and then transfer files like you do some MP3 players and other electronics. It also includes a web browser but you are limited to only Amazon or Wikipedia. You can add and read e-books from other sites, too, as long as they are compatible. So you can download stuff fromMobipocket or even in plain text. Amazon offers an email service that can convert files from HTML, jpeg, bmp, PDF, and others into the Kindle format. There is enough internal memory in the Kindle to be able to store around 200 e-books but you can get an SD memory card if you want to add more memory.

Although the wireless service is free, you have to buy the e-books in order to download them. For instance, a book on the latest New York Times bestsellers list can be purchased for $10. Other titles will cost you around $1.99, which is significantly cheaper than a printed book, even in paperback. Books that are public domain can be downloaded for free.

The Newest Kindle DX has

All New, High Contrast E-Ink Screen: graphite Kindle DX uses our all new, improved electronic ink display, with 50% better contrast for the clearest text and sharpest images
Beautiful Large Display: The 9.7″ diagonal E-ink screen is ideal for a broad range of reading material, including graphic-rich books, PDFs, newspapers, magazines, and blogs
Read in Sunlight with No Glare: Unlike backlit computer or LCD screens, Kindle DX’s display looks and reads like real paper, with no glare. Read as easily in bright sunlight as in your living room
Slim: Just over 1/3 of an inch, as thin as most magazines

Books In Under 60 Seconds: Get books delivered wirelessly in less than 60 seconds; no PC required
Free 3G Wireless: No monthly payments, no annual contracts. Download books anywhere, anytime
Long Battery Life: Read for up to 1 week on a single charge with wireless on. Turn wireless off and read for two to three weeks.
Carry Your Library: Holds up to 3,500 books, periodicals, and documents
Buy Once, Read Everywhere: Kindle books can be read on all your devices. Our Whispersync technology saves and synchronizes your Kindle library and last page read across your Kindle(s), PC, iPhone, Mac, iPad, Android device, and BlackBerry device
Share Meaningful Passages: Share your passion for reading with friends and family by posting meaningful passages to Twitter and Facebook directly from your Kindle
Global Coverage: Enjoy wireless coverage at home or abroad in over 100 countries. See details. Check wireless coverage map.
Built-In PDF Reader: Carry and read all of your personal and professional documents on the go. Now with Zoom capability to easily view small print and detailed tables or graphics
Auto-Rotating Screen: Display auto-rotates from portrait to landscape as you turn the device so you can view full-width maps, graphs, tables, and Web pages
Read-to-Me: With the text-to-speech feature, Kindle DX can read newspapers, magazines, blogs, and books out loud to you, unless the book’s rights holder made the feature unavailable
Large Selection: Over 670,000 books and the largest selection of the most popular books people want to read, including 109 of 112 New York Times® Best Sellers, plus U.S. and international newspapers, magazines, and blogs. For non-U.S. customers, content availability and pricing will vary.
Out-of-Copyright, Pre-1923 Books: Over 1.8 million free, out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books are available to read on Kindle, including titles such as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Pride and Prejudice, and Treasure Island.
Low Book Prices: New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases from $9.99.
Free Book Samples: Download and read first chapters for free before you decide to buy.

Kindle History

Amazon released the Kindle First Generation on November 19, 2007, for US$399 and it sold out in five and a half hours. The device remained out of stock for five months until late April 2008.
On February 10, 2009, Amazon announced the Kindle 2. It became available for purchase on February 23, 2009. The Kindle 2 features, a text-to-speech option to read the text aloud, and 2 GB of internal memory of which 1.4 GB is user-accessible. Amazon estimates that the Kindle 2 will hold about 1500 non-illustrated books. Unlike the Kindle First Generation, Kindle 2 does not have a slot for SD memory cards, was slimmer than the original Kindle.
On October 7, 2009, Amazon announced an international version of the Kindle 2 that works in over 100 countries. It became available October 19, 2009. The international Kindle 2 is physically very similar to the U.S.-only model, although it uses a different mobile network standard.
Since January 19, 2010, the Kindle DX International ships in 100 countries. The Kindle DX comes with a 9-inch E Ink screen instead of the 6 inch normal Kindle screen
On July 1, 2010, Amazon released a new revision of the Kindle DX (3rd Generation Kindle DX). As well as dropping the price from $489 to $379, the new Kindle DX has an e-ink screen with 50% better contrast ratio and comes only in a “graphite” color. It is speculated the color change is to improve contrast ratio perception even further, as some users found the previous white casing highlighted the fact that the e-ink background is gray and not white.

Kindle DX

Kindle (Latest Generation)

Kindle (2nd Generation)

Kindle (1st Generation)

Author Profile

Aasim Naseem

Hey, Thanks for your interest. I’m a PMP, AWS Solutions Architect, and Scrum Master certified professional with 17+ years of hands-on experience leading projects, building teams, and helping organizations deliver software solutions better, faster, and smarter.

Outside of work, I’ve got a deep curiosity for history — especially ancient civilizations like Egypt. I also enjoy reflecting on the everyday moments that shape how we live and work. This blog is my space to share insights, lessons, and thoughts from both my professional journey and personal interests.

Thanks for reading — and I hope you will find something here that matches your interest.