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I got a few Kindle decals sent over to me from DecalGirl and I’ve had a play around with them… My first thought is that I don’t love the idea of decals – I’m more of a ‘naked’ Kindle, iPhone, iPad, laptop etc type gal…

BUT

If you are a decal lover, there are super top quality. I see so many people match all of their decals together with their iPhones/Blackberrys, Kindles etc and its pretty cute… Honestly, I got sort of lost on the DecalGirl site as there are just SO many skins for SO many different gadgets, but that’s not exactly the worst thing in the world. The selection there is just insane! Not only can you choose from a bazillion different skins on their site, but you can also create your own custom skins.

DecalGirl’s skins come in a high gloss as stock, but you can pay a little extra ($5 from memory) to have them made in matte. Since I am not a glossy lover in general, I got two matte skins – the brushed steel and black cat. They arrived quite fast and were not damaged in the mail at all…

Brushed Steel Front (click for larger view)

Brushed Steel Back (click for larger view)

Out of the two skins I received, I liked the brushed steel one better than the black cat… Though it is very drab. I like that it is quite plain and nothing much is really going on with it, but essentially it is just grey with some streaks. When my eLuminator light is shined directly onto it you can JUST see there is a faint sparkle/sheen/shimmer to it, but I feel there should be a LOT more to take away from the boring ‘grey-ness’ of it all…

Black Cat Front (click for larger view)

Black Cat Back (click for larger view)

I think the design of the black cat skin is super cute and I actually like it a lot… But I don’t love it on the Kindle, I just think it is a cute picture! (man I’m boring!) It looks so close to the photo of it on the DecalGirl website which I really like – I hate getting things which look totally different to their picture. I just feel it is a little busy for my Kindle (but there are MUCH busier skins around and I hear it is quite easy to read with one on)…

One downfall is that I hear a lot of people aren’t too confident in actually applying their Kindle skin and there are absolutely no directions that come with it. It may seem pretty straight forward (and it is), but you don’t know that until you have tried it. Trust me, it’s not like trying to put contact on a school book! I think it would be better if it came with some form of instruction – even the simplest 1, 2, 3 step… Instead it says “For additional install tips, visit us @ www.decalgirl.com” … Additional? I think not… There are none to begin with! Plus, can’t seem to find anything on the website either… (maybe I’m just blonde? … Oh wait, yeah that could be it!)

Anyway, I think these decals are brilliant if skins and dressing up your gadgets is for you… Me? I like naked electronics, but hey…

OK that was the LAST Kindle/Kindle accessories review- I promise! (I think…)

Brige xx

PS- The blog is going to be moving to a new location soon so make sure you check back for updates!

I know I have been posting a lot of reviews lately, especially Kindle reviews, but I have some really cool products I want to share so you’re just going to have to put up with me!

I lovvveeee all of the M-Edge products (as you may know by now!) and to many Kindle owners it is important for them to be ‘dressed’ well!

Today I’m reviewing the Prodigy jacket – both the synthetic and leather variations. Over Easter I ordered my black leather M-Edge Prodigy cover over the internet. Unfortunately when I received it, it was the synthetic version and not the leather one… I emailed their customer support who were very prompt to reply to the situation. I have to seriously applaud M-Edge and their team as their customer support was FANTASTIC! They were super kind, super apologetic and super prompt. Was really a great experience as they were so easy to deal with… After about three or four emails I was dispatched a new, leather cover, this time in pebbled purple as I asked for this rather than be sent another black as I now already had the synthetic black variety and didn’t want two of the same colour.

(click image for larger view)

It arrived in only a few days (sent from the US to country Australia) and I LOVE it! There is a clear difference between the synthetic and leather and they really both are quality covers!

The synthetic version is a little lighter to hold than the leather version but is more static and feels much more artificial… It feels a tad ‘plasticy’ but it nice nonetheless.

The leather version (for only around $10 extra) is the clear winner. It is soft, flexible and gorgeous. The colour range available is brilliant and no matter your taste you can definitely find something for you.

(click image for larger view)

Most of the M-Edge covers also include a pocket to house their e-Luminator Light which I see as a huge plus as it stores the light safely away with your Kindle. Having the extra space for the light inside your cover only adds a small amount of width to the cover so it’s not a big deal, but it really keeps everything neatly together which I just love.

M-Edge uses Amazons hinge system in their hinged book-like covers (such as the prodigy and go! jackets) which I love. My kindle always feels safe and secure within the hinges and with the addition of the extra straps, it feels extra safe! Not only do they use the same system as the simple Amazon cover, but they also use the same hinges so you don’t need to worry about damaging your Kindle at all – the Amazon cover and the M-Edge cover uses not only the same system but the exact same hinges.

All in all the covers are seriously gorgeous to look at, protect your kindle, have a pocket your your M-Edge e-Luminator Light. I would buy them in every single colour if I could and use them when my moods change!!

If you’re considering purchasing a cover for your Amazon Kindle, look no further than M-Edge… Check out their entire range at www.medgestore.com

Until next time!

Brige xx

I love the M-Edge product range and the e-Luminator2 light for Kindle is perfect as it fits snugly into the jacket and looks great. If you don’t have am M-Edge jacket for your Kindle, though, this product may not be for you as it only fits with the M-Edge custom covers. There is no clip which clips it onto your device, but rather, the cover has a pocket which the light slips into.

Although the first picture I have posted here shown the light shine on the screen of my Kindle, that is just the photo – I get absolutely no glare from it what so ever.

The light is advertised as being super bright with 20 hours bright light without dimming from 1 AAA battery. I have had mine for around two months now and have gone through five batteries with mine thus far so I am not sure how accurate that is… Mine starts to fade very quickly after changing the batteries and a lot of the time the one dot setting (the dimmer of the two settings) is brighter than what is meant to be the brightest setting, though the colour is a little more yellow.

Even though my e-Luminator burns our rather quickly, I still love this light. It is small, compact, lights the entire screen and fits perfectly with my M-Edge case.

Until next time…

Brige xx

I’ve had my Kindle (K2) for over a month now so I figured it was time to do a proper review, rather than just the happy “I got it, I luurvvveee it” squeals I did before…

I think the most amazing thing about the Kindle is the paper-like display is uses. They call it “e-paper technology” and its just brilliant! It really is like reading from actual paper and is very easily read in bright sunlight without the typical glare you’d get usually. The technology, put very simply is much like an etch-a-sketch… When you ‘turn the page’ the screen very briefly flashes black, clearing away the previous page and replacing it with the next… Much like shaking off your etch-a-sketch.

The Kindle is so light and so thin, weighing around 280 grams and feels very natural and easy to hold in your hands.

I think one of the major pluses about having an e-reader like the Kindle is the money and space you save on books! A typical novel is anywhere from $16-$40 (AU), whereas a Kindle e-book is usually from around $0-$9.95… There are literally millions of out of copyright books available for free at the Kindle store also (pre 1923) with titles such as Treasure Island, Sherlock Holmes and many, many more.

Space is a huge issue with books and seeing as the Kindle can hold up to 1,500 titles in your pocket there will be no more bookshelves with books stacked haphazardly inside them and falling to the floor because there is simply no more space!

The battery life is phenomenal. I haven’t charged my Kindle in over a week and in that time I have read every day and completed three books. My battery STILL hasn’t even reached its half way point.

OK, so as I’ve mentioned above there are GREAT things about the Kindle and I really do love it, but it does have some cons in my opinion…

Firstly, and this is my biggest issue with the Kindle, there is no real ordering system inside the device itself. You can only order your titles by author, title or in order of purchase within your home screen. To me, with what this device is capable of, that’s just not good enough. I really feel that Amazon should include software with the Kindle, or at least have some form of internal system within the K2 where you can sort and order your books in order of your own preference.

It is frustrating that when you order them by author (what I typically do), that within some books, the meta data is incorrect meaning that (on my Kindle) I have Alexandre Dumas up there next to Maggie Alderson (what a difference in authors, hey?!)… There are third party programs such as Calibre which can search and edit your alt tags and meta data but it’s not exactly what I am after, nor is it created by Amazon. Also, if you have a series within your Kindle and choose to sort by author so they are all next to each other and not scattered over 80 pages haphazardly, the order of the books is not correct. Rather than being (for example) ordered 1-8, it can appear 5,1,3,8,4 etc in your home screen which is very, very frustrating.

So within my Kindle I have no way of sorting books I have read from those I haven’t (short of removing them from my device) which I think is – or should be – a very important feature. It would be SO nice to order them in order of 1. what I have read and/or 2. in order of what I want to read. I think that is something the iPad and iPhone’s “Classics” has over the Kindle – the ability to easily order your books and the beautiful home screen you get with it… The good news it, I heard on Kindle Boards that Amazon is currently working on something to fix this ‘issue’!

The second (and very minor) thing which could have been SO easy for Amazon to include is font and screen saver changes. There are loads of hacks for these two things (which I wont do as it makes it very hard if not impossible to install official Amazon updates after this, plus it’s not that important to me), but I see many people who do. It’s actually not important to me to have the ability to change my screen savers as I find the Amazon ones quite nice, but it would be good to have the option, especially as customising and personalising your Kindle is super popular! As far as fonts go, I am more than happy with the default, but then again, many people aren’t.

Due to international publishing law and the copyright of publishers internationally, not all books are available in all countries. For example, a certain publishing house in the US may own the rights to a specific book and give permission for the book to be published digitally. A different publishing house in (for example) Australia may own the rights to that book within this country and has NOT given permission for it to be published digitally. Therefore, even if a certain book is available in the Amazon Kindle Store, it does not mean it is necessarily available to you in your country… This is not an Amazon or Kindle 2 issue – but definitely worth noting.

There are two MUST BUYS with your Amazon Kindle! One being a cover or ‘jacket’ for it (as your Kindle doesn’t come with one) and a light. The jacket is obviously for protection (and of course style!) and the light in my opinion is a necessity. The screen isn’t back-lit (as your eyes respond much better to a paper like screen and never begin to hurt as they would reading a back-lit screen) and is a little darker than the bright white of regular paper. With lights starting at around $15 for your Kindle it’s not a huge expense, but DEFINITELY worth it.

Anyhow, those are my pros and cons for the Amazon Kindle and I’d like to end this review by mentioning a few things… No matter what frustrates me about this device or the things I wish it included, I still absolutely love it and would recommend it to anyone… I thought I would miss holding a book and loving a book but at the end of the day, I haven’t even noticed it. The way I see it, if you’re engrossed in a story, it’s all the same, no matter if you’re reading it on paper or e-paper. I LOVE my Kindle and I don’t think I’ll ever be without one now.

Next week I’ll be reviweing the M-Edge Prodigy Jacket for Kindle, the M-Edge e-Luminator2 Booklight and Kindle skins from Decalgirl

Until next time…

Brige xx

When we were in Terrigal we came across this awesome shop called ‘Typo’. It’s seriously my kind of shop! I lovvveee notebooks, office stuff and all sorts of things like that… I was in heaven strolling around there looking at everything. The decor in the shop was beautiful and I wish I’d had my camera with me to take some photos of it. We didn’t end up buying much from there (as Mic kept reminding me I don’t need any more notebooks etc!) but I did notice that everything in there was actually very reasonably priced!

I was hoping I would find that Typo had an online store, but alas, the web address tricked me and there is no online store. (check out the website here)

I did end up buying a portable coffee mug (as I have this weird thing where I prefer to drink tea and coffee out of take away mugs rather than real mugs, but cant buy them all the time!) and Adam bought their “OMG WTF” mug with suits him to a tee!

If you haven’t already walked into a Typo store, you definitely should – but be warned, you WILL want to buy everything!

“Love built on beauty, soon as beauty dies…” – John Donne

Until next time…

Brige xx

I have finally got the first thing on my dream board and will have to mark it off with a big fat tick! I am loooooving my Amazon Kindle SO much! I honestly can’t put it down. I really thought – although I wanted one with all of my might – that in the end I would enjoy it but still miss books. Books create a romance with the reader. You love the feel of the pages as you flip them… BUT! Not once have I even thought of this whilst reading my Kindle! I am very shocked at how little it’s bothered me to give up that romance. I am now obsessed with it and have read waaaay tooooo much so far! I haven’t even thought about watching television once since I bought it. Hubby even bought me the first season of One Tree Hill the other day (because Lizzie told him to!) and I haven’t even started it as I cant stop reading! Maybe I will put the Kindle down tonight and watch a few episodes of it… Or then again, maybe I wont haha!

Here are some pictures of my awesome new toy…

My Kindle in her box

Pull tab on Kindle box

Snug inside the box – already powered on

Amazon Kindle cover

Kindle with light

“There are no scientific tests for race… Blood is blood, and bone is bone. Race is a con game. Don’t play…” – Will Shetterly

Until next time…

Brige xx