Kindle? Kobo? Sony eReader? iPad? Android tablet? Or on good old paper? There are plenty of ways to enjoy your crime fiction and Amazon has just added to the choice with the Kindle Touch. At £109 for the regular WiFi model, Touch competes with the regular Kindle which sells for just £89 these days. The 3G version of Touch, enabling you to download books on the go via mobile phone networks is £169, while a Kindle Keyboard 3G is £149.
As the name suggests, what you get for the £20 price difference is a touch screen. There are no button controls on the Touch, you turn the pages by swiping on the screen just like on the iPad and other multitouch tablets. However reviewers such as The Daily Telegraph, have found the touch screen isn’t quite as responsive as it could be. Like a regular Kindle, it’s very light and great on battery life, lasting a month in moderate use, and holds around 3000 books. Because it’s a touch screen, you have to use the lock button to make sure pages aren’t turned when it’s in your bag or pocket.
The other thing to consider before you order a Kindle Touch, is whether or not you want to wait for Kindle Fire, which is already out in the US. Kindle Fire is in colour, will run on Android like many other tablets do, and will be able to run an array of apps as well. Amazon owns LoveFilm and they’ll be tying in the functionality of Fire with the ability enjoy TV and film content via such services. There’s more information on Kindle fire on CNet, and the speculation is that it will arrive later this year and rumours are already circulating about a Kindle Fire 2. If US pricing is anything to go by, it’ll cost twice as much as Touch.
Have you bought a Kindle touch? What’s it like? How do you read digital books? Or are you sticking to print? Let us know your thoughts below.