While we have several generations of Kindles, we jumped on the Kindle Touch 3G Wifi. The Kindle Touch and Kindle DX are the only models we own with International Capability. After a couple of months of use, I have to say the touch screen is a bit finicky. I've had to touch several times to get the page turn to work, but trying to touch the proper title in the archive section often results in the wrong book getting downloaded instead. Particularly annoying is the very first title in the list. For example, to skip to my Wall Street Journal, I must touch a tiny 1 of 21 pages at the top right, and if all works correctly the W. But I usually hit the first book too. In Archive it's more annoying, because I end up downloading the first book in my archives! On the home page, it’s way too easy to open a book when you’re trying move the homepage up while looking for a book.

I love the pinch and sweep functions. With pinch, I can shrink my font size, and doing the opposite of pinch makes my fonts grow!

In Magazine Mode, they have a very cool feature! You can use a graphical mode where four sections to a page with pictures, or menu where the sections are on the left, and the article titles can scroll on the right. But a not so cool feature is on the individual pages, on the lower right is the title of the next article. If the page turn touch is too far down the page, I end up looking at the next article. Since I bought the original Kindle, my subscription for the Wall Street Journal has gone from $9.99 almost $20. Just recently they added the Wall Street Journal online as a benefit to the Kindle version. But you still have the two week trial on subscriptions! I tried to download the Wall Street Journal via 3G while in Cozumel, and learned that there is an additional weekly fee of $4.99 for accessing subscriptions internationally.

Kindle Active Content: When I ordered the kindle touch, I thought the games would be so much easier with a touch screen, but unfortunately only six of the twenty-six I've purchased will work on my Kindle Touch. I'd hoped for more active content to be converted, by now, but few so far.

WiFi The Kindle Touch Basic internet is really fast via Wifi compared with my Kindle 2 and Kindle DX, and I love this new speed! I went to a restaurant recently and they had free Wifi! The Kindle Touch has an article mode I really like. Once you load your webpage to a particular article, go to the menu then choose Article Mode for an easy read. Unfortunately, you need to find a wifi hotspot to surf the internet because the browser is disabled in 3G. I sent my sister's family the Kindle Touch 3G for Christmas, and it's good I sent the 3G model because she doesn't have wireless in her home. This is the single most disappointing aspect of the Kindle Touch!

Purchasing Books: One of the big draws with the new original Kindle was that Best Sellers were to sell for $9.99. But once the Kindle became so popular the publishers forced Amazon to raise their prices. Prices are getting better. The first thing to do when you have your new Kindle is to Subscribe to the Kindle Daily Deal and Check out the 100 Books for $3.99 or less. Go to Kindle Store, and click on the eBooks Tab, then in the left hand corner under Book Deals, you'll find the two links. The kindle daily deal is only available for that day only to people in the US. Most are marked down to 99c or $1.99! Also do a search for free books blogs. There are thousands of free books available! I love purchasing what would be otherwise heavy manuals in Kindle format! So much easier to read!


Library Books This is another wonderful feature! I can browse the public library’s online database and check out a book. It will direct me to Amazon to download the book. Keep in mind that you can only read the book on the Kindle you first download it to. You can’t download it to multiple devices. Once you “return” the book, the title will remain in your listing with the [Returned] label. If you tap on the book, it will take you to the store for purchase.

Prime Lending Library I’ve used the lending service a few times. This is another wonderful new feature! In a few short months, the library has grown from around 10,000 to over 87,000 books! From the Kindle Store Home page, Browse All Categories. At the bottom of the pop-up menu is the Kindle Owner’s Lending Library. You’re limited to one book at a time, as well as one book per month.

Recommended: Yes