Thousands of South Africans have fallen under the spell of amazon’s kindle e-book reader, a beguiling device that does its job with minimal fuss and impressive efficiency. Now say hello to the long-awaited Kindle Fire Tablet plus a trio of smaller, lighter e-book readers – an improved entry-level kindle, the Kindle Touch and the Kindle Touch 3G.

We were about to go to press with a sneak preview of the new Kindle tablet when Amazon took the wind out of our sails by publishing details not only of their 7-inch colour touchscreen device, but also three new monochrome e-book readers at affordable prices – two of them featuring touchscreens.

The upgraded entry-level Kindle (it costs R622 in the US) features a design that’s 30 per cent lighter and 18 per cent smaller than its predecessor, and turns pages 10 per cent faster. It comes with the same electronic ink display. Joining it is the Kindle Touch, with a touchscreen that makes it easy to turn pages, search, shop, and take notes, and the range-topping Kindle Touch 3G. Kindle’s free 3G connection means you never have to hunt for or pay for a Wi-Fi hot spot: you can download and read books anytime, anywhere, in over 100 countries. Amazon pays for the 3G connection, so there’s no monthly fee or annual contract.

Not surprisingly, though, it’s the Kindle Fire that’s attracting the most attention. Slim, stylish and thoroughly desirable, it features a dual-core processor for fast, powerful performance, an accelerated browser, free storage in the Cloud, the celebrated Whispersync technology, and a brilliant LCD colour touchscreen – all for the equivalent of R1 560. It’s apparently available for pre-order only for US customers, but as we’ve said before, there are ways…

What really excites us about this device is its Web browser, dubbed “Amazon Silk”, which introduces a radical new paradigm – split browser architecture that accelerates the power of the mobile device hardware by exploiting the computing speed and power of Amazon’s Web Services Cloud. This really moves the goalposts.

Here’s how it works: the Silk browser software resides both on the Kindle Fire and on the massive server fleet that comprises the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2). With each page request, Silk dynamically determines a division of labour between the mobile hardware and Amazon EC2 (that is, it decides which browser sub-components run where), taking into consideration such factors as network conditions, page complexity and cached content. The result is a faster and more satisfying browsing experience.

The Kindle Fire uses IPS (in-plane switching) technology – similar to that used on the iPad – for an extra-wide viewing angle. According to Amazon, the display has been chemically strengthened to achieve 20 times the stiffness and 30 times the hardness of plastic, making it extremely durable and bump-resistant.

Just the facts

Display - 7-inch multi-touch display with IPS (in-plane switching) technology and anti-reflective treatment, 1 024 x 600 pixel resolution at 169 ppi, 16 million coloursSize - 190 mm x 120 mm x 11,4 mm

Weight - 413 grams

System requirements - None, because it’s wireless and doesn’t require a computer

On-device storage - 8 GB internal. That’s enough for 80 apps, plus either 10 movies or 800 songs, or 6 000 books

Cloud storage - Free Cloud storage for all Amazon content

Battery life - Up to 8 hours of continuous reading or 7,5 hours of video playback, with wireless off. Battery life will vary based on wireless usage, such as Web browsing and downloading content

Charge time - Fully charges in approximately 4 hours. Also supports charging from your computer via USB

Wi-Fi connectivity - Supports public and private Wi-Fi networks or hotspots that use the 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, or 802.1X standard with support for WEP, WPA and WPA2 security using password authentication; does not support connecting to ad-hoc (or peer-to-peer) Wi-Fi networks

USB port - USB 2.0 (micro-B connector)

Audio - 3,5 mm stereo audio jack, top-mounted stereo speakers

Content formats supported - Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, non-DRM AAC, MP3, MIDI, OGG, WAV, MP4, VP8

Documentation - Quick Start Guide (included in box); Kindle User’s Guide (pre-installed on device)

Visit www.popularmechanics.co.za to watch a video of Alan Duggan on the Expresso show, where he compares the Amazon Kindle with the Nook Color.

Converting your Nook Color to Android

A couple of months ago, we showcased two market-leading ebook readers, Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook Color – both impressive devices, and each offering a variety of attractive functions.

In the weeks that followed, we read up on a variety of hacks – some of them horrifyingly complicated – designed to convert the touchscreen-equipped Nook into a full-fledged Android tablet. Now, we’d like to introduce a simpler solution in the form of N2A (Nook To Android), a pre-programmed SD card that not only does the job for you, but does so without voiding the device’s warranty. The bad news is that the supplier does not ship the card outside the US; the good news is that lots of us have friends in that country (go ahead and exploit them).

The N2A uses a modified version of Google Android called CM7, created by a group of developers – known as Cyanogenmod – who are dedicated to providing the highestquality Android mods for the Android cellphone and tablet community. N2A are also keen to acknowledge XDA Developers, a large group of Android developers who create new features and bug fixes for CM7 and other projects. Both groups offer their software and updates for no charge under the Android Open Source Project and the GNU Public Licence, which allow N2A to legally use, distribute and support their software and updates.

When you buy the N2A card, you get a quality Sandisk MicroSD card and all the services to get Android and the added features. N2A stress that you are not purchasing the software, as this is provided free of charge under the licences mentioned above.

Your N2A microSD card, created specifi cally for the Barnes & Noble Nook Color, comes pre-loaded with Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread and the Android Market. It does not alter the device’s internal memory and will not void your warranty.

How does it work? Piece of cake. Turn off your Nook Color, place the N2A microSD card into the slot behind the grey door, then turn it back on – it’s that easy. Everything runs straight from the micro- SD card. If you take the card out, your device will return to normal, with no trace left behind.

Your newly activated Android Tablet connects to any Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n. Once connected, you can open any of the pre-installed apps (such as Gmail, Facebook, Angry Birds, Pandora, Nook or Kindle).

Alternatively, check the weather, news, or your Google calendar. You can also download thousands of free and paid apps from the Android Market. It’s like owning a R4 000-plus Android tablet for half the price.

Why not Android 3.0 Honeycomb? N2A say they experimented with Honeycomb early on and found multiple reasons not to use it as the platform for their cards. Honeycomb was created for the Motorola Xoom, and Google has not yet released the source code. When Google finally does so, say N2A, they will gladly step forward. Until then, Gingerbread is the flavour of choice. Who knows, they might just skip Honeycomb and aim right for Ice Cream Sandwich.  Visit www.n2acards.com