Kindle 3G or Apple iPad? Get the One with Free Wifi!
Having difficulty deciding whether to get the Kindle 3G or the Apple iPad? Knowing which one gets you free Wifi with no contract might help you reach your decision lickety-split!
Just the other day a friend of mine asked me if I thought she should get a Kindle 3G or an Apple iPad. She wanted to get a device that she could use to browse the internet while she sat on the bleachers at her son’s ball games. But here’s the thing: she didn’t want a monthly contract, and she didn’t want to pay a fee to use the internet.
So I did a little bit of research to help her out and found out something very cool about the Kindle 3G. Do you know what it is?
The Kindle 3G has free wifi! Yep. It’s 100% free.
No catches – I checked.
So upon my recommendation, my friend got the Amazon Kindle. She loves it, especially because she doesn’t have to pay any fees.
Are you wondering how Amazon can sell a device that can get online without monthly fees or a contract that locks you in? Because I sure was. I dug a little further into the fine print and read exactly how Amazon pulls it off.
Here’s how it works: Amazon sells two different types of Kindles. There’s one that has Wifi enabled, but it only works if you’re on a Wifi network, like your own home wireless or an internet café with free Wifi. They price this Kindle at $140.
Then they sell another type of Kindle, the Kindle 3G [http://www.squidoo.com/3g-kindle], at $189. That extra $49 gap is what pays for your 3G access. But that’s the only fee you’ll ever pay for just plain surfing. So for free Wifi throughout the lifetime of your device, you don’t even have to shell out $50.
How cool is that? That’s less than the cost of one month of cell service for most cell phones!
Now, there’s only one caveat: If you want to download any data, like your e-reader subscriptions to the New York Times, you’ll have to pay a fee. But if you only want to browse, there are no fees.
So what exactly does this extra $49 pay for? It pays for worldwide access to the Internet on a 3G GSM network. This is the same type of network AT&T uses; only with Amazon it’s probably more reliable than AT&T’s.
So if you need to take your Kindle 3G [http://www.squidoo.com/3g-kindle] to, say, China, you’ll still have free 3G internet access anywhere near a GSM network. GSM, by the way, is the worldwide cellular network, unlike the Verizon network or other US-based cell networks.
The other thing my friend liked about the Kindle 3G was the keyboard. Instead of bringing up a touch pad, there’s a permanent, fixed keyboard beneath the screen on the Kindle. Thus, if you’ve got pudgy fingers or just don’t like typing on a screen, you’ll probably love this Kindle.
But it’s the screen on the Kindle 3G that really stood out to her. She told me that she can read the Kindle screen in broad daylight at the ball games. Evidently, it has something to do with the display being different than the Apple iPad.
Instead of giving you a crystal-like display that shines like the dickens in the sunlight, you get a white-page display with a matte background. So no more glare, and no more squinting with your eyes and adjusting your position every which way to try to avoid the sunlight.
Just the other day a friend of mine asked me if I thought she should get a Kindle 3G or an Apple iPad. She wanted to get a device that she could use to browse the internet while she sat on the bleachers at her son’s ball games. But here’s the thing: she didn’t want a monthly contract, and she didn’t want to pay a fee to use the internet.
So I did a little bit of research to help her out and found out something very cool about the Kindle 3G. Do you know what it is?
The Kindle 3G has free wifi! Yep. It’s 100% free.
No catches – I checked.
So upon my recommendation, my friend got the Amazon Kindle. She loves it, especially because she doesn’t have to pay any fees.
Are you wondering how Amazon can sell a device that can get online without monthly fees or a contract that locks you in? Because I sure was. I dug a little further into the fine print and read exactly how Amazon pulls it off.
Here’s how it works: Amazon sells two different types of Kindles. There’s one that has Wifi enabled, but it only works if you’re on a Wifi network, like your own home wireless or an internet café with free Wifi. They price this Kindle at $140.
Then they sell another type of Kindle, the Kindle 3G [http://www.squidoo.com/3g-kindle], at $189. That extra $49 gap is what pays for your 3G access. But that’s the only fee you’ll ever pay for just plain surfing. So for free Wifi throughout the lifetime of your device, you don’t even have to shell out $50.
How cool is that? That’s less than the cost of one month of cell service for most cell phones!
Now, there’s only one caveat: If you want to download any data, like your e-reader subscriptions to the New York Times, you’ll have to pay a fee. But if you only want to browse, there are no fees.
So what exactly does this extra $49 pay for? It pays for worldwide access to the Internet on a 3G GSM network. This is the same type of network AT&T uses; only with Amazon it’s probably more reliable than AT&T’s.
So if you need to take your Kindle 3G [http://www.squidoo.com/3g-kindle] to, say, China, you’ll still have free 3G internet access anywhere near a GSM network. GSM, by the way, is the worldwide cellular network, unlike the Verizon network or other US-based cell networks.
The other thing my friend liked about the Kindle 3G was the keyboard. Instead of bringing up a touch pad, there’s a permanent, fixed keyboard beneath the screen on the Kindle. Thus, if you’ve got pudgy fingers or just don’t like typing on a screen, you’ll probably love this Kindle.
But it’s the screen on the Kindle 3G that really stood out to her. She told me that she can read the Kindle screen in broad daylight at the ball games. Evidently, it has something to do with the display being different than the Apple iPad.
Instead of giving you a crystal-like display that shines like the dickens in the sunlight, you get a white-page display with a matte background. So no more glare, and no more squinting with your eyes and adjusting your position every which way to try to avoid the sunlight.
