I got my new Kindle (third generation) today. Thought I'd post a little review on it for some of the other MSers that might like (or hate) it's new features.

What I wanted to see was the upgraded Text-to-speech (TTS), and the audio menu.

The TTS is a lot better than the TTS on the K2. I played the TTS on my K2 and compared it with the K3's. It comes on faster, responds faster to the control buttons (spacebar to stop it) and it sounds so much better than the K2's. The voice is a lot clearer and doesnt sound as computerish. The K2's TTS kind of reminds me of the computer from WarGames. ("Would you like to play a game?") The K3's TTS speech is more like the TextAloud program that I have on my laptop that has Natural Voices (special audio voices that sound more human) My computer is having problems with the TextAloud program lately, so now I'll just put the Kindle on the side table and listen to that to fall asleep at night.

I like the audio menu a lot. What it does with that, is you can turn on the audio menu and it'll read out to you where you're at on the menu screens. So, if I'm on the Home screen (where all your books and collections are listed) it will tell me what books I have on the Home screen. When you go into the menus, like the Settings screen, you can choose what settings you want to change because it'll tell you what setting you're on.

The audio menu is a great added feature.

I thought it had male and female voices, but I havent been able to figure out how to turn on the female voice. (the K2 had male and female voices)

The text on the screen is much sharper than the K1 had or what the K2 has. The screens refresh a heck of a lot faster when you turn the page. Instead of having to wait several seconds for the page to turn, it's more like milliseconds now. The text is darker and easier to read.

What I dont like about the K3. Right now, I dont have a schnazzy cover for it like my K2 has. My Kindle is totally nekkid. I'm using one of my little netbook bags that I've been using to carry my K2 around when I'm out in public. (I'm a safety girl. Even tho the K2 is dressed in a pretty cover, I still use the netbook bag as extra protection in my purse.

Since I dont yet have a cover for my K3, I'm really paranoid about it getting dropped. I wouldnt let anyone touch my Kindle unless they were sitting down and I wouldnt let my nieces see it, because of the fear that they'd think it was an iPad and they'd start stabbing the screen or something.

and right now, I've got a numb right hand. Not only do I have a bad case of the dropsies everytime I pick anything up that's slightly breakable. Everything feel slippery to my right hand. (why is that?) I nearly broke my wrist today in the bathroom. Was holding onto the side of the sink as I was about to sit down to do...something, and my hand slid right off the side of the sink and I whacked my ulna (bone on the outside of the forearm) on the corner of the sink. That's going to leave a mark.

So, I'm really scared that I'm going to drop my Kindle. It's not as slick feeling as a naked Kindle 2 is, but the K3 is smaller and much much lighter (love that...arms wont get tired as fast) and because it's smaller and lighter, it feels like it's so much easier for me to drop.

I'm cashing in my loose change tomorrow at a Coinstar machine and get myself an Amazon gift certificate and order myself a factory cover from Amazon until the company that I really want to get my cover from gets some inventory in. (they had to wait to get their Kindles before they could start production on the covers they're making) I talked to the representatives at that company and they said it could be a month before their covers are released. I need a cover!

Other thing I dont like. The Page Turn buttons are skinny, teeny tiny little buttons. Numb fingers dont really like those buttons. I wish the K2 and the K3 came with the ginormous big Page Turn buttons that the K1 came with.

I kind of miss that K1 sometimes...gave it to my sister and brother-in-law. Shocked the hell out of them when I did that, but my sister loves it. She can read all those PDF's of autism papers she's been collecting over the years finally. (I'm tempted to get her a Nook for her b-day if the price comes down on those...then she could do library books. Something the Kindle doesnt do)

For the few things I dont like about the new Kindle, I love all the new features. I'm going to have fun getting more reading done. I tried reading a hardcover book earlier this week. Gave up after a bit because the book was so heavy and the stupid thing kept sliding out of my hands. (at least I didnt have to worry about breaking that book, other than tearing a page or something)