The browser is OK, but when the the refresh rate of the e-ink screen is measured in seconds rather than miliseconds, displaying web pages, especially anything with javascript that has multiple refreshes per page-load takes a very long time. It terms of compatibility, it seems that any website that works on the iPad will work on the Kindle, but it will be much slower. Obviously you can forget about getting videos to work.

Re: What I don't understand is...

What's the advantage of even the 2nd day of battery life?

1. Charging things up is annoying, especially since we have so many gadgets requiring it nowadays.

2. Batteries only have a limited number of charging cycles, so an e-reader that needs charging more regularly will die quicker.

3. Conventional books don't need charging at all. Reducing this requirement as much as possible lessens this particular disadvantage of e-readers.

Re: What I don't understand is...

Wow. You don't understand that people travel, yes, sometimes to where electricity isn't available? Or even that daily plug-in is yet another task that sensible people can do without?

Well aside from the fact that you don't have to remember to do it, how many recharge cycles can your phone battery take before it begins to deteriorate? Now if you only had to recharge it once a month, how much longer would that battery last?

Weird

And here I was thinking that reading improved your general literacy...

"but if we’re talking out of the box, then you are tied to Amazon."

@AC 16:55 - Not really; the box comes with a USB cable too, and if you can get a MOBI file onto your computer you can treat the Kindle as an external drive and copy files onto it that way. Calibre not needed.

Of course you could argue that having a computer isn't an "out of the box" thing either, but we're all Reg readers here and TBH the odds are that in practice we'll have several times more computers than eReaders at any given time...

But thats the point, straight out of the box you are not tied to amazon, all amazon do with the kindle is make it very easy and convenient to use amazon, there is nothing on any of the kindle readers that ties the user into amazon.

Indeed, it's not tied, they just make it really easy to buy from Amazon.

For the last few days I've been using the experimental web browser on the 'mobile' version of the Gutenburg project website, downloading various out-of-copyright books.

Over the free 3G.

In another country, on the other side of the world.

I'd say that's not really tied to anything in particular - not even my home country!

I don't see any technical reason why I couldn't do the same on any other website that offers downloads in MOBI format, whether paid-for or free. (I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any!)

The downside that I've found is that my home library doesn't support Kindle for e-loans - at present that's only supported in the US.

That particular feature is a good reason to go for the Kobi or Sony one instead - though check with your library before committing.

I suppose if you are in a hotel, your travel adapter will be used to charge your phone / fondleslab / laptop / camera batteries / shaver and not having to charge your e-book reader as well would be a bonus.

That's OK for you rich folks ...

I'd prefer paper too if I could afford it.

Well, obviously I could afford the paper itself as a one-off, but the space to keep a half-decent library is too far beyond my means. The e-reader solves that.

Doesn't look the same, doesn't feel the same, and doesn't smell the same --- and no backlit screen is going to lull me to sleep the way a book does (although some sort of warm-light setting might, in the future, take care of that objection, I suppose).

@Thad

The whole point of e-ink is that it is reflective contrast, not back-lit. This does of course eman you still need a torch to read th thing under the covers, but is why it is also kinder on the eyes.

I bought the WiFi-only Kindle Keyboard a couple of weeks ago (Amazon are selling them as "refurbished" for £79, though the packaging and device look untouched), and I gave the text-to-speech a try.

It's rather better than I expected - yes, the voice is American (but I can live with that ;-)), and the T-to-S can pronounce most words correctly, even a few names. I wish the program would recognise headings and pause either side of reading them (it speaks headings with no pauses), but again it's only a minor irritant for me.

I didn't expect to use text-to-speech on the Kindle, but I occasionally have it read something to me when I'm making dinner (it makes an interesting alternative to Radio 4). I'd also be interested to know if any of the other e-readers offer a similar feature.

(BTW - let me join the many here who have already said it: if you buy an e-reader (especially a Kindle), install Calibre on your PC/Mac. Already, I find it almost invaluable, and I haven't even tried many of the features yet...)

My girlfriend is a library manager and Amazon UK are currently refusing to play nice with Overdrive, the library lending service that most (all?) UK e-lending systems use. Not the library's fault there's no Kindle support, they are trying!

The Kindle works with some US Overdrive-powered systems, so it's technically possible and therefore will probably be coming to the UK at some point. It seems foolish of Amazon not to get involved, but then I guess there's limited profit for them - although library lending does become a selling point which they can lever more customers in with, or a point which they lose sales to Sony/Kobo on.

Battery lasted me a 10-hour flight, 2-hour layover, 6-hour flight, and three days afterwards inc. browsing on the internet.

Then I though I probably ought to charge it because the battery symbol was at 50%.

As to the memory - it's enough. You're probably never going to fill it because the navigation to open the books is probably not going to work very well >1000 books.

Not that I can see a way they could do better given the limitations of how e-ink works.