Comments on: Review: Kindle in South Africa

By: JvN

JvN — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 10:42:58 +0000

The charger works perfectly well in South-African plugs provided you buy an adaptor (I use it all the time). It is very easy to charge through the notebook too – I have even used my Blackberry’s charger to charge the Kindle. There is no need to order a European charger – just buy an adaptor.

By: Louise

Louise — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:03:52 +0000

Thanks for the review:-

If it is a US plug could you use it –
With an adaptor or what?
I am not too keen to charge it through my notebook & need to know whether to order European charger. Still new in the game as you can see

By: JvN

JvN — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 09:44:19 +0000

@Eliab:
1) No monthly charges, even when roaming internationally
2) No restriction that I am aware of (other than the state of your credit card)
3) Battery life great – two weeks plus if you turn of the Wireless. With wireless probably four or five days. But there is little point in leaving it on.

By: Eliab

Eliab — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 07:29:40 +0000

Thanks for the review.I currenlty own the sony PRS 505 I am in love with the e reader ( I have had it for almost a year now bought it in the states not yet available in SA) since I am an avid reader. But I am tempted to get the kindle since the e books are much cheaper on Amazon than most websites but before I buy it can you please answer the following questions for me:

Do you have to pay monthly service cost i.e for the number of downloads?
Is there a restriction on the number of books that a person can purchase at a time?
Is the battery life good? (currently on the sony I can go two weeks on about 5 books average of 550 pages per book)

Has anyone bought the kindle DX? would like to hear review on that one. SA perspective much better.

Thanks so much for your help.

Cheers
E

By: JvN

JvN — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 08:00:10 +0000

Hi Nicole. Your level of access to the bookstore is determined by where you live, rather than by where you buy the Kindle. In order to do online purchases you have to register a credit card, which of course ties you to a billing address. I believe they use that to allocate you to a specific bookstore. No matter where you buy the Kindle, you still need to link it to your Amazon account – easiest way for you to check whether the store has the books you want, is to download Kindle for the PC or iPhone, and see what is available. This link should give you a good indication as well: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/1284007011

Re customs costs – the cost is included in the price you are charged. It is high, but then – I actually received a refund from Amazon after ordering my Kindle – turns out the customs charges were less than they anticipated. Easiest way to check the cost is to order a Kindle – total cost is shown before you check-out. Expect to pay around ZAR3000 delivered to your door.

By: Nicole

Nicole — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 12:00:33 +0000

From reading the above, am I correct in saying that if you purchase the Kindle from Amazon.com, then you have access to all international books however if you purchase it from a local store, you are limited to SA downloads only? This is the deciding factor on whether to purchase or not to purchase. I would purchase from Amazon. Your comments would be appreciated. Thank you

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:48:25 +0000

After reading this review I doubt if I still want to buy the actual Kindle itself. I mean, reading newspapers without the pictures?! Besides, the Kindle would be more useful if it had South African newspapers and magazines.

As for the hardware itself, all along I assumed that the Kindle had a touch screen. I mean, these days just about every electronic gadget has one.

Anyway I am currently reading Kindle books on my notebook and iPhone. The iPhone version is particularly user friendly (even though the screen is smallish).

By: Lee

Lee — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 09:32:50 +0000

Apart from buying the Kindle from Amazon can you recommend a local reseller

By: Janesa

Janesa — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 08:31:35 +0000

Please provide the link to all e-books available in South Africa.

Appreciate all the comments. I’m considering buying one, but I’m still uncertain. Have been reading a lot of comments, but there’s still many pro’s and cons.

By: Scotch

Scotch — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 14:43:24 +0000

Thanks for the comprehensive revue. You mention above that wireless connectivity is built in and there are no additional costs. So to download a book, as long as you can connect via 3G/Edge, is it correct that you don’t have to pay for bandwith?

The point raised by emma has been mentioned before, where the person said: “It seems as though we can buy the reader, just not any decent books.”

As someone who’s an avid book reader, could you clarify this – is there a decent selection of books available for the Kindle that can be bought and downloaded in SA?

You also mentioned in a reply above that “If a book is available in the Kindle store, you can buy it”.

Obviously the availability of books for Kindle in South Africa is the crucial point here and any help on this would be appreciated.

Many thanks.