260
people found this helpful, as of 2023
ranked #107,763 most helpful
out of 571,544,897 reviews
★★★★☆
Smaller, Lighter, Faster, Brilliant
I have owned a K2 for over a year now and have really loved it. However, when I saw the K3, (or next generation Kindle), was coming out and was able to find a few images and specs, I knew I wanted it. I ordered immediately and began the long wait.
It was well worth it.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with my K2, it's still going strong and has never given me any problems at all but I had a number of reasons for ordering the K3:
Graphite- Yes,really. I wanted something not white. I think the graphite looks better and cleaner. While skins are available, I found them to be a bit distracting so I'm very glad that Amazon gave us the choice to order white or graphite.
Size- The K2 is actually nice but it seems a little big, especially in a case. I wanted something smaller and the K3 fits my hand perfectly. It's like it was designed around my hand that's how well it fits.
"Previous Page" button on both coasts- I found this to be very important because it just feels right and it's necessary. See, there you are, in bed, all propped up on pillows, comfy, holding the Kindle in your right hand, reading, while your left hand dips in to the bag of Peanut M&Ms. You're reading along, engrossed in the story-you click the next page button and for whatever reason, miss something. "Wait, what?", you say and you have to go back to the previous page to pick up that word you missed but now you have to take your hand OUT of your bag of chocolates to hit the previous page button and it disrupts the entire flow and pulls you out of your comfy little cocoon for a second. With the previous page button on the right hand side as well, you don't have to stop using your left hand to shove candy down your throat, stop petting the dog or cat, stop twisting your hair, you just continue on, reading, using one hand. The Kindle needed that button on the right side, they put it there, I could not be happier.
Placement of "Home", "Menu" buttons- While I may be used to the K2's button placement, the K3's home and menu button are where I intuitively want to press. It makes more sense to me to have them by the keyboard. This is where the bulk of the function buttons are, why have them spread out all over the place? All in one little area.
The 5 Way Controller- I am so happy with the new 5 way controller. The one on the K2 stresses me out. It's a little knob and I have been very anxious this entire time that I'm going to break it right off. This was really noticeable when I started building my collections because I had to use that controller button a lot. It took me probably twice as long as others because I was very careful touching that controller, delicately pushing it to the right or up/down. The 5 way controller on the K3 works well, more responsive to the touch and I'm less stressed. It may take some getting used to for some when using it to navigate up or down a page as the Menu and Home buttons are very close to those controls but for me, again, no problems. LOVE it.
Contrast- Ok, I read all kinds of things about contrast when I first got my K2. I, luckily, never had a problem with my contrast. It always seemed dark to me and I never felt the need for a hack or to return mine because it was good. Or so I thought. When I got the K3, holy cow what a difference! The fonts are so much darker, crisper, so much easier to read. What an absolute pleasure! They still have the grayish background and when I compare the two, the background looks almost the same color. On the K3 it's just more...clear, really. In fact, when I put my K2 and my K3 next to each other, I marvel at how I ever thought my K2 had dark fonts. It looks faded, sun bleached, hard to read compared to the K3. When they said better contrast, they absolutely meant, better contrast. The K2 was already easy on my eyes but this contrast is even better for my eyes. It's hard to tell from photos, you really have to see it in person. Excellent job on this part. Beautiful.
Wi-Fi- I ordered the 3G/Wi-Fi because I'm not always going to be home when using my Kindle. But I am so happy that they added wi-fi because this entire time, I've been mainly using the USB cord to do anything with the Kindle. I've had to shop on my computer, send the book to my Kindle, hook up the USB cord, drag it to my Kindle...and no, it's not hard but you know, sometimes I just don't feel like getting out of bed to get the laptop and the cord and set it all up. Sometimes, I just want to order the next book in the series without moving. Oh yes, the Kindle is spoiling me and now, having the wi-fi, I don't even have to MOVE at ALL to get another book! How grand is life? The set up was laughably easy. At first when it scanned for a hot spot it didn't detect mine but I don't take "no" for an answer so I made it look again. It found my signal, I put in the password and now I can shop around in the Kindle store like everyone else, I can get on the web, browse around and get my books in 60 seconds, (or less), like all the others. I didn't feel I had missed out on too much before with my K2 but now that I've been able to do this with the K3, I realize I have been missing a lot of the Kindle experience. Thank you, Amazon, for adding this feature.
So those were the reasons I ordered this unit.
As far as weight is concerned, I'll be honest that I don't really notice much of a difference. I do carry both in a case, maybe that has something to do with it but, seriously, they feel just about the same. Also, I don't mind the number keys not being on the keyboard. I never really used them anyway and it's a matter of hitting the "sym", (symbol), key to get the number menu. I guess if you like to jump around to different locations it might get old but I have discovered there are ways to get around that. (Find out which letters associate with those number keys and you don't have to use the symbol menu.) But again, for me, not a big deal.
The previous/next page buttons are a little different but once again, these work perfectly for me because as I was reading on the K3, I noticed that I hit those keys towards the very edge anyway. I picked up my K2 just to test and yep, that's how I held the Kindle so I don't have to put any effort in to turning a page. And they are quiet. No more, "click"...read, read, read, "click", read, read, read, "click"...you can't hear them.
And finally, page turns: I put my two Kindles next to each other and hit the "next page" buttons simultaneously and they both turn at pretty much the same speed. I really don't notice much difference there.
Anyway, my K2, as I said, still works and I'm keeping the K2 but this K3 is stunning. It is glorious. I absolutely love it. I had enough time between ordering and receiving and I wondered if maybe I would send it back, maybe I could just keep using the K2, maybe I'm being a bit of a tech junkie...but that would be wrong. There is NO WAY I would send this thing back. It's absolutely wonderful. I love it. I absolutely LOVE the K3.
August 2010 · Electronics · verified purchase