My son has his thrillers on this and some fairy tales for my daughter. So there is one major problem of snatch-fight with this which is the only problem:-). It only has a single password to lock it. Would have liked time based separate passwords for different sections to resolve the wars.
The icing on the cake is the mp3 player. Yes, the kindle can play mp3 through two small speakers on its backside. It can also read out the books to you. It can also readout the commands to you as well. But then you cant select which song to play. The music is intended only as a soothing accompaniment to your reading. You can only start/pause/go to next song. Wonderful! How much time I would have wasted(if it had more options) playing around with menus instead of actually listening to songs. And if I would have listened to the songs I would have disturbed all others sleeping in the bedroom.(I do most of my reading on the bed before going to sleep). So actually I have never switched on the speakers any time. I still call it icing because it had settled the buying decision. People who read novels will probably vouch that any sound is actually a disturbance.
Battery life is not to be considered since it(spec=30 days) is long enough. The occasional times you connect it to your PC for downloading books is sufficient to keep it charged. The Kindle goes to sleep after some time if you dont operate it. But battery is not removable. Blessings. Will worry about it when its life is over.
Weight and thickness - hasnt any worth talking about.
Build Quality - in the class of a proper cell phone - seems will last long. Very long.
The screen update rate is slower than normal LCDs. This only means that it happens in about the blink of an eyelid. Which is about the time you take to turn the page in a thriller. The turn buttons are thoughtfully placed on both sides and are a breeze. This slower speed also means that you should put out the notions of using this as an Internet access device out of your mind. But believe me, just reading books on it is a pleasure.
Interestingly I never could use the WiFi. It refuses to connect to my laptop running Vista saying that "peer to peer networks are not supported". Amazon should do something about this. You will need to buy a proper WiFi router if you really want to connect. My advice - there is no real need to connect. You will normally download on your PC, convert the books and load 100s of them in the 3GB memory and read them till time immemorial. Books are normally less than an MB. I never felt constrained as usb was a jiffy.
Comparison with iPad.
What iPad? Rs.35K for buying istrain, handstrain and iWorry? But dont think that I wont buy the iPad for internet browsing. That is what that device is damn good at.
The Lighted Cover accessory
At Rs.3000 it is pretty costly for India, you can buy a same size diary at one fifth the price. But in hindsight, I feel nice that I bought the cover. Maybe the consideration for the shipping cost of Rs1000 to be paid again if ordered separately was also there. Anyway, this makes the kindle as thick as a diary. It is built like a tank and our usual running for the scratch guard and worrying whether it will get crushed under you while sleeping can be safely put to rest. No, the weight still remains within what you expect of thick novel. You can hold it up without hand pain. I paid the small extra for the lighted one but felt that eyesight problems due to reading in poor light are not worth the savings. Now the other people in the bedroom can go to sleep while I am reading. Even though the amazon site review that says that the lighting is fully uniform all over the screen, it isnt. But then it is good enough so that you dont feel strained in a dark room. Even in a lighted room it can provide better illumination. With the cover, I handle it as a normal book. Can be thrown into the suitcase while packing for trips. The Kindle fits at its left edge into the cover through two hooks which also carry the current. A small LED light gets pulled out from the corner which bends by itself and becomes ON when fully pulled out(Magic!).
So what is my conclusion after buying a Rs.13000 item to read novels, that can be bought for Rs.100 at any roadside in India(Wife’s point of view)? Now I have about 80 novels in my PC library - all converted and ready to read, several childrens classics, and several recipe books that can be read keeping the Kindle on the dining table while the missus is cooking(Hey, I know diplomacy. Have even told her she can touch the buttons with wet hands. Still refuses to touch anything worth this much with water). That is in the first 3 days with pure google search. Have stopped searching and downloading till I finish these over next few months. Wondering if Amazon will give a discount so that I buy two more for the children. Amazon can remove the speakers and wifi for all I care;-).
A wonderful product for book worms. Very satisfied that I bought it. No wonder it seems to be the best selling product from amazon.com.