Amazon Kindle

I had one for a couple of weeks. I stopped using it.

On one hand, it's pretty great. You can get newspapers and blogs just by turning it on. You can't get every newspaper in the world but several of the top newspapers are available (NY times, LA times, etc). The batteries last forever on a single charge. It's all pretty seamless in the way it works because of the wireless connection.

The display is adjustable for size of the type, which is obviously better than a book or newspaper. The display was "nice". Viewing angle was good and contrast was adequate. It's backlit in green for low level light. But, it didn't shout anything special to me. It's black and white (or dark gray and light gray actually). If you've seen the Sony version, the Sony really looks like real printed paper. This seemed more like an LCD display.

If you are a serious reader, this thing can definately save you time and carrying space. I am not a book reader but I do like periodicals. I get so much info online anyway so I didn't really see much advantage. However, if you travel a lot, it can have some big advantages.


I didn't like the look and feel. The buttons are a bit confusing and the display refresh rate can be a bit slow. What I really didn't like is that when you download a newspaper, you don't get any photos or advertisment. You might say "wow" no ads! But some of us actually like browsing what's on sale, seeing movie ads, etc.

I didn't like the color of the basic "computer gray" plastic case. It seemed a bit odd and even generic to such a bizarre concept. As to the feel, the corners are too sharp and I felt it was uncomfortable to hold for a long period of time in my hand. The buttons are confusing. Even two weeks later, I was pressing the wrong buttons to go forward or back.

It's bigger than a paperback but about the same size as a first edition. It's thinner than a typical book.

If you're a reading "scanner", this is not for you. You have to go page by page to read an article. There is a menu but jumping back and forth is a bit of a waste of time when using it a lot. I found it confusing to find the sections and stories I wanted to read.

The best thing about it as that no matter where you are, you can get something new to read. The operation is completely wireless (running through Sprint PCS) so as let you simply turn it on, browse (or get auto updates of what you want to read) and download it quickly. The bad part is the look and feel and it does make reading a bit more work. Auto power off seemed a bit confusing to me also.

Would I recommend it? Well, yes and no. First, I understand there's a new one coming out so I might wait. Second, if you read a lot of books and travel a lot, this might be what you need. Third, if you like staying in touch with newspapers and periodicals but don't have time to rush out and buy them, this is a great way to get the information you need.

But, if you're not a big reader, it's really not for you. If you like the "newspaper" or magazine experience and not just the word content, it's not for you. If you like reading and then collecting books, it's not for you.

I wish it had some other form of entertainment, such as simple games, trivia, etc. Maybe they do now. I stopped using it about 2 months ago. Streaming video would have been great too but the technology isn't here yet for that I suppose.

So, if you like to read, I would give it a try. Don't take my negativity too seriously because reading is a personal style to every individual. I'm not that much into books so it had one knock against it already from my point of view.

I have to give Amazon credit for being a great retailer. I buy a lot of stuff from them using their Prime free shipping scheme. It's cheap, reliable, and super easy to track. The sight is easy to navigate and they do a good job of offering you alternative or additional merchandise that makes sense. If they don't carry whatever it is your looking for, they have tons of third party suppliers tied in. The only thing I don't trust are the customer reviews. People tend to be more interested in telling their negative stories than positive ones.

So, Amazon in general gets a big thumbs up from me.

 

Get an iphone to browse online news and read regular books. The kindle sucks.
Controls suck. They really, really, really suck. It should be absolutely intuitive, it's fairly easy to do, and they still got it wrong. Wow.
The screen sucks.
Looks suck.
How it feels in your hands sucks.
It's a first gen product. Sony is way ahead, but even they need to go through a couple more iterations.

Unless you take it on vacation in place of your laptop, it doesn't even help there. You still need your laptop for the dvd player, email, downloading and sharing your camera pics, etc. So now you have to carry the laptop and this useless device. Lame. Wait till they come out with flexible e-paper that displays text and video. In color.

Even the name sucks. Kindle? Spindle? WTF? What kind of associations is that supposed to bring up in your mind? Definitely not "font of knowledge" or "easy book" or anything like that. Amazon skimped on the consumer testing with this one--fair enough, their review process will give them plenty of feedback for the next version.

 

I like what I'm seeing with these reader devices from Amazon, Sony etc. but I'll wait for v.3 or v.4 of a product line before adopting something like that. To be honest what I would like on something like that would be voluminous legal texts and resources - some of these practice guides take up several huge books or binders and would be handy to have all on something that small.

Plus, we have a decent library system with a location only .5 mi from my place so I have a hard time justifying the cost when I check out plenty of books for free.

 

In regards to the reviews above, I would rely on advice from folks who have actually used one (like the first review). The person above suggesting an iPhone as an alternative is just so off base I don't know what to say.



Re: the Kindle.

The one that is out now *is* the 2nd generation one. People say it is a huge improvement over GenI. I haven't used one but was going to get one for my grandmother if they were available, but they weren't.

I've done quite a lot of research on this, and from what I saw...

Pro:
Works over cell network, so you don't need WiFi to use it.
Tons of content
Easy to use, not perfectly intuitive but easy to learn
Those who have them generally seem to get very addicted to them
You can send your own content to the unit, like PDF files, etc
Light, small, very long battery life

Con:
Screen could be bigger (not heard too many complain but this is my opinion)
Despite getting things electronically, you don't save over the price of buying a book
You can't resell content you buy like you can with a book, there is no ability to sell a book used to another person or to share them
You can send content to the Amazon service who will convert it for your kindle, but for a fee (you can do it yourself for free but it's not seamless)
Expensive to buy
Some say the screen is not as good as the Sony, although Amazon says the latest kindle uses the SAME exact screen as the Sony



I wasn't going to pay a premium because I wasn't use if my grandmother would like it... I would have paid sticker though. It seems like a really neat device for a person who reads alot and the effects of capitalism will solve many of the problems (like the cost of e-books vs. paper and the lack of marketplace to sell on used e-books).

All the reviews I have read say the latest kindle feels/works like it's a Gen4 device. They say it's a massive improvement over the GenI unit.

 

The Kindle is to books what iPod is to music, or TiVO is to TV. Kindle is a product that you don't "get" till you get it, and then they'll have to pry your cold dead fingers off for you to ever give it back.

It is ergonomic perfection, I am stunned as to how "whole" the product is, and so thoroughly well designed. It is very much a case that the Kindle as a whole is so much more than the sum of its parts.

I purchased one for my wife last Christmas; the best gift I've ever gotten for anyone ever; she uses it every single day and has probably gone through about 100 books by now.

The screen is as good (and as bad) as printed paper. Which is to say that it has all the drawbacks/advantages of printed paper; it can be read at similar angles, but you can't read it without sufficient ambient light. (I don't know why a previous poster said that it has a green back light; it has no light at all which is one of the reasons that the battery lasts forever). My wife uses a little LED light if she wants to read in bed, or in the bath. One very nice advantage over paper is that the Kindle has the ability to quickly change font size.

The Sony unit is not really a competitor as it is lacking in several areas. The most important of which is the user experience. Turn on Kindle for the first time; and you want to read a book. Go to the storefront, and let's say you want to find a book to purchase. Key in "crime novels" say. Up comes a list of books to browse. Hmm.. I like "Kathy Reichs", "Devil Bones" ... that sounds interesting ... I'll read the critic reviews, and some of the other Amazon users' reviews. That sounds like something I might like, I'll check out the first chapter. Bing! Downloaded, wirelessly. Read the first chapter, I want to read more! I'd like to buy it ... ooh, look -- I save $6 over the printed version ... score! 10-15 seconds later, the whole book has been downloaded and is ready. Another few clicks and you can check out the other Reichs novels that you might like. Also, the whole Amazon book shopping experience is available ... "people that like Reichs novels also enjoyed these books..." sort of thing.

The Kindle can have upgradable memory, so can carry a staggering number of books. Or, for simplicity you can leave your "books" on Amazon's servers and let them manage your DRM for you. You can transfer to/from the unit if you'd prefer to only have a few books on it at one time.

I think it's neat that you can subscribe to newpapers/periodicals and they're automatically downloaded for you as soon as they're published. I personally use a web browser at work/home to do that, but if you were commuting on a train or other public transport, I think it would be a neat way to read the news.

The "digital ink" technology does have very poor refresh; changing the page takes about half a second. This is really a non-issue for all except the fastest of speed-readers. This technology only consumes any power from the battery when changing pages; the constant display of the page consumes very tiny amounts of current.

Another example of the thoughtfulness of the design is the unit's integration with SprintPCS network. The user is blissfully unaware that it is connected to Sprint -- there's no contract to sign, cellular payments to make, wifi connections to find, price-per-MB plans to worry about, it just works whereever you are and everything is transparently handled by Amazon who bear the cost. Of course, Amazon pass that cost onto it's customers book purchases, but you'd never know it since the books are priced very reasonably and often at decent discounts compared to the printed versions. The breadth and depth of the book choices is also extremely impressive; this isn't like trying to find a blu-ray version of a movie, it's like going to a very well stocked library in a major city (80,000+ titles).

TiVO was launched in 1999. It's popularity spread organically through the enhusiasm of its user-base and took several years to become commonplace (even if as the mundane "DVR"). Kindle's user base will grow pretty much the same way. Only time will tell whether Kindle will prevail over other eBook readers ...

 

Got one for my mom for her birthday. My mom is an avid reader and she is addicted to this. Says it's a great device. Highly recommend it because it's easy to buy books anywhere at a cheaper price. Almost any book is accessible within seconds.

 

My wife bought a Kindle in late 2007, second day it was offered.

She's always liked to read, but seemed to skip around and not finish books.

This has taken reading into a new level for her. In 2008, she completed 19 books on it.

It's nice because a lot of books that would be paperbacks, and headed for the used bookstore after reading, are available at 20% to 50% less than retail, and they're permanently stored in her online "library".

At age 56, her eyesight is not what it used to be, and the ability to adjust font size is a big help.

I tried reading on it, but had many of the difficulties that bdelp mentions in his review. I'll stick with traditional books until a much-improved version comes out.

My wife says "buy a Kindle!".

 

I was an early adopter, got one for me and one for my wife in late 2007, I absolutely love it as does she.

We got them primarily for traveling, but use them all the time now.

I modified both ours by making the right side control flaps in-operative, and modified the cover to hold the Kindle more securely.

I also modified the light I bought (MightyBrite) to clip on the cover when its folded back.

If you use it only as a ebook reader, and don't expect too much from the browser its well worth it.

 

I have the Sony ereader and bought my wife the Kindle a couple of months ago. Here's some pros and con's.

Battery life: They both use e ink technology but the Kindle has a wireless card that will suck the battery dry quickly if left on. The Sony has no wireless card (con) but lasts up to two weeks before needing a charge.

As mentioned above, the Kindle has a wireless card with limited web browsing and of course you can download books virtually anywhere you can get a cell signal. There is no charge for the wireless service which I believe runs on Sprint's Whispernet.

You have to download the ebooks to your computer and then to the Sony ebook which can be cumbersome.

Amazon has many more titles and as someone mentioned earlier, you can downoad magazines and newspapers and blogs. There is a charge for some. The Sony ebook store has been recently upgraded but although it has a good selection, the proprietary software sort of sucks.

The Kindle has a qwerty keyboard, the Sony doesn't.

Bad button placement on the Kindle. Sony has a better placement.

The Kindle is much larger than the Sony.

The Kindle is still a first generation product whereas the Sony is in it's second generation.

The verdict: I like the Sony much better and the wife loves her Kindle. I read about 75 books on mine last year and she's read about 15 since getting hers in Nov. They are great products and we don't travel without ours.

Hope this helps.

 

I saw that write up. The wife's Kindle died last week. I'm hoping they will replace it with the new one.


Edit: Right after I posted this, she called and said she had been trying to charge the Kindle on what turned out to be a dead outlet. Seems it's OK after all.

 

Just got a Kindle 2 as a gift and am less than impressed. Had it been something I had purchased myself it would already be on it's way back to Amazon. The idea behind it is neat but lacking a lot in the actual execution.

Extremely difficult to use if you aren't somewhere with Sprint coverage. You have to find the "manage Kindle" page and then download the files to your computer and then find the right folder on the Kindle to drop them in so that it will see them. It's like being back in 1996 and figuring out how to add a printer on Windows 3.

From what I can tell you have to pay for the conversion to Kindle format, but I can't figure out what that might be. Same with receiving emails on the thing, it says you can do it for a small fee but no details.

 

I agree the Kindle isn't for everyone, what I found is that I don't want to use it as a general reading replacement, but it is very useful for having a bunch of "books" without the weight and bulk of carrying them around, so it was great for long trips. The main benefit for me is that the power and display solutions are better than a netbook or PDA, which I also carry on trips.

As far as conversion, when you register, you get 2 e-mail addresses set up for you, both can be used for conversion, with different effects. "name"@kindle.com is how you e-mail a file to your kindle, which gets converted (in one of the acceptable input formats) for a fee ($0.15 per MB), "name"@free.kindle.com is how you e-mail a file for free, the conversion gets sent back to your amazon e-mail account for you to download by USB wire.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200140600

Basically, they're saying the Sprint network fees are costing them a small amount and are included in the price of buying an e-book online. The real problem is that the PDF converter is so-so and can sometimes lose images, flow and other useful document features. There are solutions to that, but it requires even more hands on action that most don't want to mess with.

 

I agree that it isn't for everyone, so far I'm relatively happy with actually using it for reading. Much easier than dragging a few magazines around on airplanes.

The service though is atrocious so far and would be enough to deter me from buying one myself or recommending it to others. Just got an email from them saying my credit card had been declined for my magazine subscriptions. I buy a few thousand bucks worth of other stuff a year from Amazon so how they could have screwed up it up is beyond me.

They did respond to my previous issue that certain magazine subscriptions had somehow magically appeared in triplicate on my account. They couldn't tell me how it had happened but for whatever reason they can't actually do anything about it (i.e. delete them) they just have to go to "inactive" status. They did assure me that I wouldn't be billed for them, can't say that I'm particularly confident in that assertion now that they are screwing up billing.

It's a neat little device it's just to bad that Amazon's "Kindle Team" can't get their crap together.

 

Thinking about getting one of these for my girlfriend. She is the type of girl that reads 3-5 books a week. Do you think she would like/use this? Which of the two is better now days? Should I just get her a library card instead? Thanks.

 

My wife finished another book on her Kindle a couple of nights ago.

She actually bought a hardback which she is reading now; I think she has 5 or 6 lined up on the Kindle after that.