There are now two types of Amazon Kindle available from Amazon UK, and the Amazon DX which at present you have to order from the States. Amazon has not done a great job making it easy for customers to identify the difference between the models so I will try and demystify below.
Kindle Wi-Fi.
Currently £109.00 including free shipping and this is the 'base' model available. This model has a 6 inch diagonal screen, 9mm think (less than a pencil), can hold up to 3,500 books, has a battery life of one month with the Wireless turned off and three weeks with the Wireless turned on. It downloads books from Amazon UK in 60 seconds, has Wi-Fi access for Internet browsing etc,
Kindle 3G + Wi-Fi
This is currently £149 in the UK and is exactly the same to look at the Wi-Fi model, but it has the addition of free 3G global wireless coverage for downloading books and Internet access in over 100 countries. It is very slightly heavier than the model above and the battery life with wireless on is reduced to 10 days. In all other respects it is exactly the same.
Therefore in deciding between the two models that consideration is whether you will be using the Amazon extensively outside the UK and wanting access to the free 3G network while you are away (you can still access the internet (with it's basic browser) using the Wi-Fi, in hotels, bars etc). I guess unless you travel a lot and need to access your e-mail etc while you are away and do not possess one of the latest smart phones such as an iPhone, HTC desire, Blackberry etc, then the more expensive 3G model may be what you are looking for. I suspect for the majority of people the standard Kindle Wi-Fi will be the most appropriate model out of these 2.
Kindle DX
This is currently $379 ( approx £250) and has to be purchased from Amazon.com although they ship to the UK. This has a 9.7 inch diagonal size screen, it still holds 3,500 books, includes the 3G access and has a reduced battery life of seven days with wireless on and 2 to 3 weeks with a wireless off it is also approximately double the weight and slightly thicker. So the difference other Kindle 3G + Wi-Fi being the screen size.
Conclusion
The Kindle Wi Fi is exactly the same as the Kindle 3G except it does not have 3G, so for use as a ebook reader only and not wanting to download books while out of the UK it is perfect. To surf the web, download books abroad and over the internet you need the 3G, and if you want a bigger screen then the DX has it and the 3G.
Overall I would suggest that for most people the basic Kindle Wi-Fi meets their needs and at £109 it represents a bit of a bargain. Having used the 6 inch Amazon Kindle (an older model) the 6 inch diagonal screen is perfectly adequate and I suspect is easier to read, than the larger screen, as there is reduced eye movement.
For those of you that are interested in how the Kindle has developed from the earlier generation, it has reduced in overall size and weight whilst maintaining the same screen size, increased the already impressive screen contrast by 50% and has increased the number of books that can be stored by nearly double and has an improved PDF reader along with various other improvements and of course reduced the price!
The Amazon Kindle does appear to be marking itself out as the way forward for electronic book reader's.
Kindle Readers available in the UK
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