[gsurya]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

Hi frank, the kindle doesnt work outside the USA as it uses the Sprint Network to download data, so its useless.

This is totally wrong. Kindle has a separate tie-up on 3G network across the world, works everywhere. I have had one for over 3 yrs now.

[gsurya]

Originally Posted by Samurai

My Kindle doesn't have 3G. So I was never charged for sending via Kindle email id. But I didn't use Kindle email Id after first few months. Now my Kindle is in the third year, and I use Wifi or USB for all my file transfers. Since my android phone can act like Wifi hotspot, I really don't see a point in having a 3G Kindle.

I have a 3G Kindle, but agree its not of great use. It did come handy when I traveled to few places where I had no wifi, but could still use my Kindle to access the unwieldy browser.

[gsurya]

Originally Posted by areddy

Hi, Where can I buy a Kindle in India and how much does it cost? I can see that it is not officially supported in India. So what happens in case of a support or warranty issue?

I had an issue with a Kindle I bought during warranty, they just shipped me a new one & disabled the old one in their system as it would be unviable for me to ship it to them.. it becomes unusable with their store. You can just throw it away. Great support purely based on trust.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by ampere

Sorry. That was my mistake. I thought Amazon had started charging for converting pdf to mobi. (Nothing to do with 3G/Wifi).

I use Calibre for all the conversions.

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by Samurai

I use Calibre for all the conversions.

I find amazon conversion better than calibre for column formatted PDFs. calibre has options for ignoring header footer etc but not very intuitive.

[SankalpDesai]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

My wife brought us a base level 69 Dollar Kindle last week. No pouch though.
A nice little thingy. Only black and white but it has wi fi so that is lovely.
Very light, very easy to use and read from. No backlight is a bit of a disadvantage but overall it is highly portable very easy on the eyes etc compared to the iPad.
Easy to carry and easy to charge with that USB charger.
The iPad has zillions more functions and I like the page turning effect and colour effects on its iBooks and other e readers.
Portability and tiny size and lightness are the Kindle's strengths.
Good toy indeed and for my type of use I think the base level one is sufficient.

Shankar,

Need some help. I've been contemplating on buying the Kindle for some time now. I too am planning on going for the lower end model as it suffices my reading needs. I wanted to know -

1. Did your wife buy it in India or in the US?
2. Does this model work in India (as it is with ads, which I'm ok with)
3. If bought in India, how much were the shipping charges?

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by SankalpDesai

Shankar,

Need some help. I've been contemplating on buying the Kindle for some time now. I too am planning on going for the lower end model as it suffices my reading needs. I wanted to know -

1. Did your wife buy it in India or in the US?
2. Does this model work in India (as it is with ads, which I'm ok with)
3. If bought in India, how much were the shipping charges?

Bought in BestBuy in a US Airport.
It works perfectly in India along with my Amazon Kindle Account which I am using to download books.
It syncs seamlessly with my ipad, ipod touch and iphone as well, since I have downloaded the Kindle I device apps onto those.
The Kindle base version cost 69 USD. It is very light and user friendly.

If you buy Kindle Fire its great. Just like an ipad. However one key thing that users outside of the US dont get is tha unlimited access to movies and other fancy content.
It is also sad that many new book releases on kindle are still not available to consumers in India. However, equally there are many things that are not available for us i deivce users on the Indian I Store.

[mjumrani]

Originally Posted by SankalpDesai

Shankar,

Need some help. I've been contemplating on buying the Kindle for some time now. I too am planning on going for the lower end model as it suffices my reading needs. I wanted to know -

1. Did your wife buy it in India or in the US?
2. Does this model work in India (as it is with ads, which I'm ok with)
3. If bought in India, how much were the shipping charges?

I bought a Kindle Paperwhite a few months ago. It was the one with special offers and works flawlessly.

It was bought from amazon and shipped to a forwarding company (SNS).
From there it was shipped to India.

Cost was $119 + $10 for shipping plus customs.
Landing cost was near 8500 INR.


So if you bought the cheapest kindle, the price would be just less than 5000 INR.

And AFAIK, amazon is a very consumer friendly company and will help out in case you are in India and something goes wrong. Though you will have to change your story a bit of how you got the kindle in that case.


The only other option would be to buy the kindle at Croma for 6999 which isn't isn't worth it.

[SankalpDesai]

[quote=shankar.balan;3078172]Bought in BestBuy in a US Airport.
It works perfectly in India along with my Amazon Kindle Account which I am using to download books.
It syncs seamlessly with my ipad, ipod touch and iphone as well, since I have downloaded the Kindle I device apps onto those.
The Kindle base version cost 69 USD. It is very light and user friendly./quote]

Originally Posted by mjumrani

I bought a Kindle Paperwhite a few months ago. It was the one with special offers and works flawlessly.

It was bought from amazon and shipped to a forwarding company (SNS).
From there it was shipped to India.

Cost was $119 + $10 for shipping plus customs.
Landing cost was near 8500 INR.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I'll enquire with a couple of friends in US to check if they're planning a trip to India anytime soon.

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

If you buy Kindle Fire its great. Just like an ipad. However one key thing that users outside of the US dont get is tha unlimited access to movies and other fancy content.
It is also sad that many new book releases on kindle are still not available to consumers in India. However, equally there are many things that are not available for us i deivce users on the Indian I Store.

I've heard good reviews about the Kindle Fire but I'm a little wary of buying one right now as my primary need is a good e-book reader.

Originally Posted by mjumrani

The only other option would be to buy the kindle at Croma for 6999 which isn't isn't worth it.

Naah, don't think I'll try that option.

[mjumrani]

If you want a tablet get nexus or iPad. Forget the rest.

[shankar.balan]

You cant go wrong with the Base level Kindle if all you want is an e book reader. It has wi fi and downloads stuff from Amazon via Whispernet which is deliciously simple, quick, efficient, enjoyable and easy...

[nileshch]

Originally Posted by mjumrani

I bought a Kindle Paperwhite a few months ago. It was the one with special offers and works flawlessly.

It was bought from amazon and shipped to a forwarding company (SNS).
From there it was shipped to India.

Cost was $119 + $10 for shipping plus customs.
Landing cost was near 8500 INR.

Interesting to know it cost you only 8.5k. I recently got a Paperwhite through a friend travelling to US and it cost me 8.2k to get it delivered to his US address (including some local TX tax and priority shipping).

How does the forwarding company route work?

[mjumrani]

Originally Posted by nileshch

Interesting to know it cost you only 8.5k. I recently got a Paperwhite through a friend travelling to US and it cost me 8.2k to get it delivered to his US address (including some local TX tax and priority shipping).

How does the forwarding company route work?

I used a friends Amazon Prime account and saved on 2 day shipping cost.

The address provided was the forwarding company's NY address.

They just catalog the item, weight it and send it to their Dubai Facility from which it comes to India. Takes around 5-7 days but personally I have always received a product within 5 days.

They charge 10$ for first pound and 8$ thereafter. They handle customs which I pay in cash when the product arrives at my address.

I just reconfirmed the cost, it was 8.9k not 8.5k.

There are multiple companies providing such a service. Aramex's Shop And Ship is one, another is ppobox. Both are quite reliable. In the case of the later they calculate and take custom with the shipping charges.

[OmThoke]

Originally Posted by anurag_p80

Ummm.....I do not know of anyone using a digital ebook here. But the Kindle seems to be quite popular and has good reviews

Well, who says no one has Kindle in India? (perhaps you were right when you posted this comment actually). I've one, but don't use it very often, because I mostly read ebooks on my Galaxy Tab... My wife takes it, and reads in office cab, since she's not allowed to carry tabs inside her office.

And, BTW I bought it from Croma, because I wanted service and support in India, and nobody else is currently providing the same (at least in my knowledge)

[nileshch]

Originally Posted by mjumrani

I used a friends Amazon Prime account and saved on 2 day shipping cost.

The address provided was the forwarding company's NY address.

They just catalog the item, weight it and send it to their Dubai Facility from which it comes to India. Takes around 5-7 days but personally I have always received a product within 5 days.

They charge 10$ for first pound and 8$ thereafter. They handle customs which I pay in cash when the product arrives at my address.

I just reconfirmed the cost, it was 8.9k not 8.5k.

There are multiple companies providing such a service. Aramex's Shop And Ship is one, another is ppobox. Both are quite reliable. In the case of the later they calculate and take custom with the shipping charges.

Thanks for the explanation. That looks like a nice way to import stuff without exorbitant shipping charges!