Amazon Kindle review

The Kindle supports standard image file formats and plain text documents - if you have Word documents, you can email them to a dedicated address and Amazon will automatically convert them to the Kindle's proprietary format. This is free if you have them emailed back or $0.10 per document if you want them wirelessly transferred to your Kindle. The service works well and converted our test Word documents flawlessly. One showstopper for some will be the fact that PDFs aren't currently supported, but given that the Kindle runs a version of Linux we're sure a way round that will be found before long.

Despite its minor flaws, the Kindle really is a breakthrough eBook reader. It isn't going to completely replace "real" books any time soon, but it could easily become a must-have for anyone who travels frequently and doesn't enjoy carrying a bag full of paperbacks with them. Amazon hasn't, however, yet said when the Kindle will be available in the UK. The US version doesn't use GSM, so will have to be re-engineered for a European version, and new carrier agreements sorted to provide the free wireless access. But given that the first batch of Kindles sold out in the US within six hours of launch, it would be astonishing if the product wasn't available in the UK sooner rather than later.

Author: Ian Wrigley