Kindles are fantastically smart devices that have finally made eBooks successful. For years we were warned that eBooks were going to ‘do for publishing what mp3s did for the music industry’, but it wasn’t until the Kindle came along with its low asking price, e-ink screen, light and friendly design, and free internet connection that this seems like it’s finally becoming a reality.

As such there’s a good chance that you already have a Kindle among your gadgets, but are you getting the very most you could out of it? Here we will look at a few of the little tricks and features that Kindle has up its sleeves that many people aren’t aware of.

10 Syncing With a Phone

If you have an iPhone or an Android then you can benefit from downloading the Kindle App and having a go at reading books on your phone. If that’s not enough for you though, then how about the fact that you can also then sync this with your Kindle so that you are always on the same page? Smart.

9 Listen to Audio Books

Any book can become an audio book with the handy dictation feature built into the Kindle. It also supports a lot of real audiobooks (from Audible.com).

8 Store Files

The Kindle can serve as a portable harddrive allowing you to simply drag over files onto the device and carry them with you. While you will miss the convenience of a tiny pen drive, Kindle’s storage can still be used to store those extra files.

7 Listen to MP3s

And if those files happen to be MP3s then you will be able to listen to them while you read your books. It’s not a feature rich MP3 player by any means, but it’s certainly impressive.

6 Read PDFs

And here’s something else you can drag and drop then access on the Kindle – PDFs. This means that if you have ever purchased an eBook online for the PC, you can now open and edit this on the go.

5 Play Games

The Kindle 3 comes in-built with Minesweeper and Connect Five – both of which are rather difficult. These are hidden away, but to find them all you need to do is to hold shift+alt+M at the main menu.

4 Leave the Screen On

If you should want to, then the Kindle will allow you to leave it on with the screen displaying images and text and simply walk off without worrying about the battery life being wasted. The reason for this is that the screen is made of tiny droplets of ink that are moved around into various configurations. The only time you use energy therefore is when you turn the page or when you use the net, and this is why the ‘off’ screen doesn’t look off at all.

3 Browse the Web

You can also use the Kindle to browse the web and if you have a Kindle 3 (still my favourite) then you’ll have a keyboard that you can also use for writing e-mails fairly quickly. This is very handy and though most people would rather use their phones to browse, it’s useful when that’s not to hand as it has free 3G (depending on your model).

2 View Pictures

You can also use the Kindle to view pictures stored on the memory. This might not be an overly exciting feature, and the pictures are of course in black and white, but it’s still just another little thing to add to the list.

1 Browse Abroad

If you were umming and ahing about potentially getting a Kindle then this just might sway it for you – the device not only offers free internet at home but also when you’re abroad meaning you can use it to read your local news site while you’re relaxing by the pool in Spain.

Trevor Smith loves his Kindle. While he is not a big fan of dictation feature, the free internet has helped him many times while traveling. Trevor is a writer with HomeWetBar.com, a website with some unique and exciting gifting options for men.