can someone tell me about kindles?

[MamaChocoholic]

I spend a lot of time at night holding the babies to keep them asleep. I also have a lot of work I need to be doing, but it's a bit hard in the dark so I end up on MN at 3am. I would like to be able to catch up on my reading. I always have a stack of A4 pdfs with small print. Can't read them on my phone (screen to small to read a line of A4 without scrolling), but could I on a kindle?

I would need to be able to

• download them from the web, where I'd have to log in, or otherwise transfer them from a laptop to a kindle
• read them in the dark - is there a backlight?
• hold the kindle with one hand and scroll without feeling like my arm will fall off.

Is this possible? And does a kindle do colour for images?

Alternatively, I need to get a speech recognition something working on my phone and I can write notes, but I suspect that would be a whole lot harder!

No, you can't read a kindle in the dark, there's no back light. But this is a good thing IMO, nicer on the eyes.

Good thing if you only need to read in a well lit room! Oh well, better think of another way to make my nighttimes productive.

You can get a case with a built in light or a clip on light.

Case with light. It's bloody wonderful and actually worth the money!

Good lighting of kindle and little bother to anyone else- DH reads I sleep and vice versa

Kindles aren't in colour though. I'm not sure what the new kindle will be like. What about an iPad? You can have a free kindle app and that is obviously in colour and backlit. it might be a bit heavy though.
To transfer PDF files, you need to send them via an accredited email address. Therefore, I have My home and work emails as allowed accounts.

OK, case with light, good idea. The cases are about £49 though . Are the clip on lights any good?

So could I email pdfs from work to an address I associated with my kindle, then download (presumably via home wifi?) once home?

I think an iPad would be overkill, and I don't want to get caught in the web of apple, so I can live without colour. Sounds like a plan.

No one answered the last question though - is it ok to hold and scroll one handed?

You don't scroll just turn a page forward or back at the press of a button on the side where you hold it. You can email documents direct to your kindle via whispernet if you have 3G.

If you don't scroll, does it squash a whole a4 page into a 6" screen? Can you not zoom? Otherwise, I'm not convinced that the papers I read with their stupidly tiny print would be readable.

No idea what whispernet is or whether I have 3G

You can change font size, so the PDF files are fine. One handed is also very do-able.

You can zoom. The doc handling is ok. I use it for knitting patterns lol

Whisper net is just what a,axon call their sync proscess.

You can get cases and lights from Ebay for around £10 (I use mine when I take the DCs to the cinema).

You can send pdf's to your kindle email address or do what I do and just drag them across from the computer.

If you can't get your PDF font size to change when it's in the Kindle (sometimes I have difficulty with PDFs) I use a piece of free software called Calibre and change my PDFs into mobi format (which is kindle format) and then reload them onto my Kindle and then it's possible to make the text much bigger.

Kindle is perfectly easy to use one handed, nice and light and you just need to use your thumb to press the button to change the page.

No colour though - it's all black and white.

You can get an android tablet for a whole lot less than an ipad, which will do all you need much easier than a kindle.
I love my kindle for books, but I can't read pdfs on it, and have I tried! I use my tablet instead.

Archos makes a colour eBook reader. Its heavier than a Kindle but lighter than an iPad and it can be had for under £100. It isn't backed by Amazon so buying books isn't a smooth user experience but free clasics can be downloaded off the Internet.

Mickey- alicia in the post above you has info about getting PDFs to work on a Kindle.