Impressions of the Amazon Kindle
updated 22nd October 2008 @ 00:03 EDT
I treated myself to a Kindle a couple of months ago, and I'm pleased to say that I've been enjoying it a lot. I've read just over a half-dozen books on it so far; some at home and some while traveling.
At first, the page turning buttons are a little frustrating because it is very easy to accidentally press them. This is something you train yourself not to do in pretty short order.
The screen is very clear and easy to read, and has a configurable font size to cater for the eagle eyed through to the bleary eyed. There's no back light, so you need to provide your own illumination, just as you would for a regular dead-tree book.
I've found it very easy to read. I'd read in some reviews that the visible page refresh takes a second or so when you turn a page, and that some people found that annoying. I view that as being equivalent to actually turning a page and giving your eyes a moment or so to move back up to the top left of the screen. I've started to press the "next page" button as I'm reading the last line; this is an unconscious action.
The online store integration works well; you can literally pick out a book and have it appear on the device within a minute. I find this especially appealing if it's the weekend and I don't feel like taking an hour out to drive down to a book store, but it's also good if I finish a book while I'm on the road, particularly because I don't then have to lug an extra book or two back home at the end of the trip.
The battery life is excellent if you remember to turn off the mobile antenna when you're not using it. I've been purchasing a book or two before a trip and been reading for several hours on the plane in each direction and an hour or so each night for several days on a single charge, and the battery is still only about half-way done when I arrive home.
While I was in the UK, I was unable to use the wireless antenna to access the store, but I did download a couple of books to my laptop and copied them across via USB (you can mount the kindle as a mass storage device).
My only real annoyance with the device is the page turning buttons; they're quite easy to nudge as you're settling down to read, so you have to click the button for the opposite direction to correct that.
So, in all, I'm really enjoying the device; a little pricey, perhaps, but it's the kind of thing I've been waiting for for several years--definitely way ahead of reading ebooks almost half a decade ago on my old HP iPAQ.
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Price is the Key
Thanks for the review Wez. I've been tempted, time to time, to get a Kindle.
Price is the big holdback, because in the end, I don't see myself being able to buy something like this, without having two of them, so my wife & I wouldn't have to share. (IE, her going on a trip and taking it, and therefore leaving me without my book I was reading)
I also have a 'dream'. This dream, would involve a kindle-like device, that would have both audio & text versions of the same book. And allow you to easily switch back and forth between them.
So I could hop in the car for a drive, and have it read me the next 2 chapters. Then curl up in bed in the evening and be reading the text from where it left off. Lemme know when that is available :)
it does audio too
The kindle does have audiobook support (and experimental mp3 player), but I've not tried it... yes, it would be very cool to have it seamlessly read you the book while in the car.
I'm not an audiobook person; I quite enjoy reading in a quiet room and find listening to spoken words harder than reading. I think it's because I can read much faster than people tend to speak, so listening takes more time per sentence and I find that I have to really divert attention to listen effectively when anything worth listening to is going on.
Yes, I think the price is still a bit high, and I've heard that some significant advances in the screen technology have been made this past year; I think it won't be long before the price goes down and we get even better devices.
Got mine last monday
Hey Wez,
I got mine last monday and have been plowing through books since. I agree the buttons are just a bit annoying, but you train yourself not to push it. Also, i'm with you about the page turning, i find that i push it in the bottom right and by the time my eye goes to the top left its changed already.
Phil