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Retailing at a mere $79, the new Kindle’s biggest draw is its price. In order to save on costs, however, Amazon has to cut down on features. In a complete reversal of the Amazon approach, the Kindle 4 is a downgrade than an upgrade over its predecessor. With no 3G, no WiFi, no audio support, it’s a return to basics for the Kindle 4. Clearly, it’s aimed at less-moneyed folks but price aside, the Kindle 4 has its own personality that will surely appeal to many consumers.

Features – Hardware and Software

Like the Kindle 3, the Kindle 4 is outfitted with the now-standard 6-inch eInk Pearl screen, an experimental web browser, excellent search feature, book lending capability, support for multiple file formats, and access to Amazon’s ecosystem (cloud storage service, Kindle store, App Store.

What it doesn’t have is the physical keyboard of the Kindle 3. There’s no touch function either. What the Kindle 4 has is a large 5-way controller at the bottom of the device. Beside the D-pad are the Back, Menu, Keyboard, and Home keys. On both sides of the device are page buttons.  While this design makes the Kindle 4 easier to use than previous Kindles, the absence of keyboard makes searching for books a taxing, time-consuming task. Library space of 2GB, which is roughly equal to 1500 books, is half the storage size of the Kindle 3.

The Kindle 4 comes with WiFi wireless technology only; there’s no mobile broadband. You get a month of battery life with wireless off. This is just half of what the Kindle 3 offers, but still very great considering that you need to charge only once a month.

All these hardware reductions, however, has given the Kindle 4 a more compact form factor than its predecessors. It is the lightest, easiest Kindle to hold. Wrapping one’s hand around the device is ultra comfortable and nice. Page turns are also faster than the Kindle 3’s.

Pros

The Kindle 4 is very easy to use and feels very comfortable to hold and use for a very long time. Just like the rest of the Kindle devices now, the Kindle 4 lets you borrow books from public libraries. Users get access to millions of digital books, periodicals, and blogs via Amazon’s Kindle Store. WiFi access at AT&T hotspots is free. There are eight font sizes available, including two extra-large fonts for customizing your reading experience. Amazon does automatic backups of all your purchased books so you never lose a book. If you lose your Kindle 4, your books can be easily downloaded to another Kindle 4 eReader or Kindle-appified device.

Cons

Without   a keyboard (either physical or virtual), taking down notes or doing searches becomes a terrible experience. The device has no speakers and audio support, which means you can’t listen to audiobooks or background music. There’s no memory card slot, so if the 1.25 GB available space is used up, then you’re stuck. There’s still no ePub support, so you’re stuck with Amazon books. The device doesn’t come with a power adaptor; charging is done via USB only.

The Bottom Line

The Kindle 4 is the cheapest Amazon reader to date. It is also the least featured. However, for less-moneyed folks and people looking for a starter Kindle, the Kindle 4 is a solid option.