Amazon’s $79 Kindle is Good, But Not Great

Just over a month ago, Amazon unveiled four Kindles that either replaced or added to the company’s line-up. Of them all, it was the tablet-based Kindle Fire that garnered most of the attention, but what if $199 is too much to justify if all you want to do is read books? Ars has taken a look at the base model Kindle to try to answer that question.

This is the first time the Kindle rids an actual keyboard, and according to the author, this is a good thing. The device looks a lot cleaner overall and ends up showcasing the screen more than the hardware, which for the most part should be how it’s done. It’s mentioned that typing anything using the rocker is an exercise in patience – expect a single word to take up to 20 seconds.

For a $79 Kindle, however, it’s hard to expect perfection, and in the grand scheme of things, typing things on mobile phones isn’t that stellar either. But with the Kindle, it seems to be so painful that it should just be avoided – instead, purchase the books online on a PC and then sync them later.

One of the reasons this new Kindle is so inexpensive is that it’s ad-supported, which isn’t something the author tackles at all. What it does strive in is having a light weight and long battery-life, so if the occasion ad doesn’t bother you, or the clunky keyboard (hopefully the Touch is better in this regard), this might just be your next e-reader.