Proud Owner of a Kindle 3 Wi-Fi - A Quick Review

There are enough technical reviews out there, so I just wanted to put down my thoughts just as a book lover who wanted to move to the Kindle. Going green, not having space for more books - whichever way I want to put it, I was looking not for a lot of technical brilliance and hoopla, but really something that can seamlessly substitute my beloved books.

I know this is probably too early to be posting a review considering I got my hands on the Kindle about 4 hrs back but I am just too thrilled and need to put down my feelings somewhere. My FB friends have already heard enough since the time I've been tracking my Amazon package and then finally received it :). So to you my blogger friends here goes !

Bullet points to make my ramblings look more organized ;) :

• I chose the Kindle Wi-Fi after much thought. The "free worldwide 3G" was a very tempting idea, and nearly until the last day I had more or less set my mind on the Wi-Fi + 3G which costs 189$. But then I thought about my kind of usage - mostly at home, definitely not a jet-setting lifestyle that I would suddenly decide that I need a book right NOW and need to order it :). Also the additional 2$ cost of ordering a book from India really put me off and I settled for the most Value for money(VFM - my latest acronym) proposition.
• At the beginning of my search, I thought of various means of getting it - the usual being asking someone in the US to pick it up and then wait for someone to visit before getting my hands on it. But to my surprize, this was one electronic product that Amazon offered international shipping(Yes - even to India!) ! And the Amazon delivery - I am just super impressed by - Ordered on 24th night, Received on 28th morning - and able to track it every step of the way(Believe me I checked 4 times every day!).
• My first reaction - Wow it's so sleek and so light!! I knew it was supposed to be light and easy to hold and read, but I didn't expect it to look the way it did. Pleasantly surprized and looking forward to taking it along in my handbag everywhere unlike some bulky books that I had to specially take a larger handbag along for ;).
• The process of transferring a book to it seems simple enough. I had already downloaded a few free books in readiness. Just copied one of these (*.mobi format) to the Documents folder of the Kindle and I was all set!
• Read a few pages and am quite wowed by the e-ink format. Don't know if it's less strain on the eyes than reading an actual book, but it's definitely not more :).
• Amazon offers to package a power cord(at half-price) along with your Kindle. What comes along anyway (in the International Edition) is a USB cable which you can use to charge your Kindle from your computer. The power cord options were US/UK/EU/Australia so instead of ordering one of these and anyway needing an adapter I decided to just use the provided USB -- this seems to work just fine!
• The eternal question - to cover or not to cover? I like the simple look and would have preferred it coverless, but in a house with children this is not usually a good idea :). The Kindle covers at Amazon cost 59.99$ (like the good old Bata prices - cos that sounds better than saying 60$ doesn't it ;) ). These come with a light and I'm sure must be worth their price but were too expensive for my taste. The only unlighted covers(34.99$) were from different vendors who wouldn't ship to India. Finally found some nice covers at the Amazon UK site(GadgetPlus) for 11 pounds - cost about double with the shipping charges but still seemed like a decent deal. Unfortunately didn't find anyone making tailormade covers for Kindles in India yet :(. Maybe a good market to jump into?
• Edit: Forgot to mention the zillions of free books available out there. Not just through Amazon but also other sites and downloads. Most books out of copyright are available for free, some otherwise too ;). I have 400+ books waiting to be read already and I just started looking! Leave me a comment if you need any pointers.

There there I'm ending it now - my impromptu review of choosing and buying the Kindle and some first thoughts :). I seem to have become incapable of writing a short blog post - thanks to you all out there who humour me and read them all the same!
Oh and if my review makes you want to buy it immediately, please use the link on this post ;).