Kindle Tip: The Free 24/7 3G Access to Wikipedia on all 3G e-Ink Kindles (not generally known), plus Article Mode for that

After reading a couple of Internet news articles this weekend that stated that the 3G E-Ink Kindles of the last two years are restricted, in their 3G cellular network access, to the Amazon store (and having talked to many who don't know that the 3G e-Ink Kindles ALL have free 3G encyclopedia access 24/7 through Wikipedia globally), I thought it was a good time for a reminder.
  In fact, it's probably the first most will have heard of it.

 This includes the first two e-Ink Kindles, Kindle 1 and 2, which had and have only 3G access, and which both have ultra slow access to web look-ups in general (these are both still being used by Kindle stalwarts, since they can read their Kindle books on it, and many see no reason to buy later models) and the Kindle Keyboard ("Kindle 3"), Kindle Touch and Kindle Paperwhite (UK model here) models that have 3G.
  Clicking on the images take you to their respective U.S. Amazon pages.

  In fact, the very first article posted by this blog on March 19, 2009, was a photo comparison of the Kindle 1 vs Kindle 2 accessing the web in their black & white fashion and showing the differences in texture of output in graphics.  At this point, it's a bit of history on models still being used.

  The differences seen between those early models, 2 years apart (2007 and 2009) reflect the number of "shades of gray" used in each.  And that led to the article March 30 that year "Are the Kindle 2's 16 shades of gray a big deal?," which is an interesting look at the differences, and the source was an excellent linked tutorial on what happens when 4, 8, or 16 shades of gray are used.
  Well, a bit of nostalgia.  A lot has happened in 4 years.

  But, MAIN POINT - ALL of the 3G models pictured and still used, including the new 3G Paperwhite, allow FREE 3G access to Wikipedia, 24/7, meaning that if you happen to be on a bus, at the beach, or at the dentist's office and reading, and are curious about an event or fact, you can just look it up on those e-Ink 3G Kindles.  They allow you to SEARCH (while reading a book), or access directly, that Internet encyclopedia at no added cost.  (I'm pretty sure it's only the English version that's accessed even in the rest of the world).   This is in over 100+ countries/areas of the world.

  If you're not reading a book and just want to go look something up at Wikipedia using what's still called the e-Ink Kindle's "experimental web browser" you can just select Menu/Bookmarks -- which takes you to the mobile version of Encyclopedia, which delivers the content at a very decent speed on the 3G models of Kindle Touch and Paperwhite and is not that slow on the 3G Kindle 3 Keyboard.

I consider this a terrific feature, for those who don't have data plans on smartphones, and of course the battery lasts longer if you use the e-Ink eReaders for that, with their larger screens.


ARTICLE MODE - Don't forget that you can use this menu feature on single web page articles.  If you're reading a specific Wikipedia article and you find the fonts too small (usually the case with web articles on a 6" screen), tap at the TOP row of the display to get the Menu.  Press Menu and choose "Article Mode" and the article will be a lot easier to read.
  Hope people find this helpful.

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Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

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