Anyone here use a kindle reader or the kindle app on their phone? How do ye find it?
Does the app take up.mich storage or is the reader worth it etc etc.
Talk to me like I'm an idiot, because I am!
I have a kindle paperwhite. It's the one that has the white background instead of the grey background. I think all of them have even backlighting now (some used to just have a kind of torch bulb shining down.) It's the middle tier Kindle and probably grand for 90% of people. Actually reading from it, the thing you do with your eyes is perfectly grand and I have zero complaints about that. I have no problem reading on it for hours, when I'd sometimes get headaches from computer screens.
If you're just reading regular books, things without illustrations, lots of footnotes and not PDFs or technical stuff where you're flipping back and forth then I find it perfect for reading. The only downside from the "reading" perspective is you often can't really judge how long the book is, or how much you have left to go despite the percentage indicator. We're just geared to understand the thickness and weight of a book. This does have a small effect in some books where you're expecting them to finish soon, but they don't, or you're expecting a lot more to happen but there's afterwords and all that at the end and it's a bit of a surprise.
The downside is you're mostly tied into Amazon, or at least you'll find yourself going to Amazon for books rather than buying the file separately and emailing it to the kindle (they'll give you an email address you can email the file you got elsewhere to and the Kindle will download it automatically.) The likes of Project Gutenberg is great for out-of-copyright books, tens of thousands of classics, and if you want to go that route the Kindle will be really helpful, but it is an extra few steps although not a problem for anyone who knows there way around the internets.
Otherwise, with the Amazon business, I'd recommend the Kindle for a few separate types of people. If you're someone who absolutely devours books and are happy reading pulpy stuff as a way to unwind there's so many cheap books available that'd cost a fortune in Waterstones, or are just not be available, you'll get thousands of hours out of the Kindle, with books often costing €3 or less. Another way to go is if you have a long list of mainstream books you want to read, but aren't too pushed about "reading them now" you can do well with setting up alerts for when they go on sale and picking them up cheap. The third type of person is the kind I am, where I'm having a bout of insomnia and get a notion in my head at 3am to read a specific book, and I want it there and then, then the Kindle is great for that. And I've heard from people who travel and move a lot that don't want boxes or suitcases of books that it's really handy.
Then of course there's people who borrow books from their online Russian friends, but I wouldn't condone that, and Amazon probably makes it easier to pay for books than following your online Russian friend's malware infested link.
All in all, if you're thinking about getting a Kindle, you're probably a reader, and most readers I know who thought about getting a Kindle made use of theirs in some way. Don't bother with the phone app as a "trial" it's no way the same as reading off the e-ink surface, which is the whole point of them. And lastly, they seem to be decently made. I know people who've had theirs for about six or seven years and they're still going strong.