Diving into the Kindle 3′s alternate features

The Kindle 3 was one of the hottest selling ebook readers of the holiday season. And for reading books, there’s really nothing better to curl up on a cold winter day next to the fire. But not many know that the Kindle has other useful features which may turn this eBook reader into a serious internet device.

Under the “experimental” option in the main men, the Kindle offers three pet projects they have added to the ebook reader for real world testing – Web Browser, MP3 player, and Text to Speech.

The web browser works just like your basic browser, only imagine that you’re trying to use it and your mouse is broken. Now you have to navigate with keys instead of pointing and clicking. This is the web browser experience. Not very great for every day use, but if you find yourself reading a passage of a book and you want to share it on Facebook or fire off an email to a friend, it’s certainly useable.

Next is play mp3. This is a nice feature in that users can load the Kindle with some of their favorite MP3s, and then listen to them while reading. Excellent if you find yourself on a bus or train for a few hours and just want to pass the time.

A useful feature for disabled readers or kids who just want a bed time story and mom or dad aren’t around to read. Users can start Text-to-Speech in the “text menu.” Press the Text key to enable (Aa button, right of the space bar) and the SYM key together to turn on/off. The Kindle will then begin reading to you.

In addition to these, users can also download PDF files free to their kindle by emailing them and tagging them with @ free.kindle.com in the email address. Finally, users can manage their social networks. Going into the settings feature under the menu button, users can log into both Twitter and Facebook and share thoughts.

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