A great device!July 5, 2008 Now that the yearly cost of the print version of the Wall Street Journal jumped to almost the price of a Kindle, I thought the time was right to try this device. It's been delightful. Since I always read the paper outside, the Kindle's display is perfect, and no more anchoring the meter-squared newspaper sail against the wind! No more piles of paper laying around cluttering up the place.
So I ventured an ebook. It was the best reading experience I've had in a long long time. I fight with paper books unless they have a spiral binding or very expensive hardcover backs. The book never stays open to the page, and by the time I'm finished with it, I've busted the binding up bigtime. No more! And, when I forget my reading glasses I bump the font size up!
Finally, a display that loves sunlight! Unlike the laptop, reading is a pleasure on the Kindle.
The EVDO wireless connection is great and makes adding new books and receiving the e-newspaper effective. The Kindle is not enslaved to my computer--hooray. I downloaded two books on the plane before takeoff on my last business trip. I would not have been able to download at all on this trip if I was dependent on WiFi or my computer.
The pop-up dictionary is effective, convenient, and easily dismissed to continue reading.
So I got bolder and sent a few DOC and PDF files to my kindle email address. In a minute or two, they were converted and wirelessly transferred to my device, and they looked pretty decent.
I'm totally impressed with this device. After reading many of the reviews here prior to actually buying it, I was certain that the best grade I could give it would be 4, but I'm going to give it a solid 5. Sure there are quibbles about the too-big buttons, the next-gen e-ink display will even be better, and there is room for improvement and added functionality here and there. But for a version 1.0 of a device this innovative, it's truly impressive. I'm completely sold on the concept.
I do hope that many "problems" people point out will be corrected in new firmware versions for this device rather than making us upgrade to new hardware.
So here are my quibbles:
1. I would like if the dictionary worked like the Oxford MSDICT version on my Palm so that every word in a definition is itself linked to its definition. It would also be nice if the dictionary respected the user's font choice.
2. Equations are mostly unreadable in the ebooks and WORD documents. The Kindle display has plenty of resolution to render equations, but the problem seems to be that equations are converted to images, and all images are downsized and enormously compressed. The huge compression is OK for most images, but it's a disaster for text and graphs. Why can't these images have less compression so they are readable on the device? Unfortunately, reading of technical books and papers is needlessly compromised, but the problem looks easily fixed at the expense of removing most of the compression for equations and charts. Since there is no user control of this, it has to happen on Amazon's end.
3. So long as mp3 playing is supported, how about a smarter interface for playing music and podcasts?
4. A couple of times while reading, the device headed for the home page on its own. I don't know why, but fortunately it has been rare.
So nearly thereJuly 5, 2008 I never write reviews for products, however, due to Kindle's extraordinary market positioning, and my surprising affinity to the device in such a short space of time, I feel compelled to offer some feedback. When it was first announced, I was one of those people that thought, how awful is that , the design is horrible, and it will never fly, well, I'm not completely sold on the design, as I will explain, but, it's won me over in terms of it's usage.
I purchased a Kindle and it arrived 2 days ago, and I have barely been able to put it down. I would not say that I am an avid reader, however, having this device has given me a whole new freedom to enjoy books again.
I love the idea of having all my books in one place, be it computer technical books, reading books or even newspapers, it's like a one stop shop device, especially when I'm travelling. I used to carry 2 or three technical books and a reading book with me whenever i travelled, now, I just have to carry the kindle, that's a huge weight lifted.
I also love the fact that I can browse the kindle store right on the device, the samples are a bit hit and miss, but generally give you an idea of what you are getting, however, the fact that I can order a book, and it is delivered in a matter of minutes for me to start working with, is a huge plus.
However, as much as I love the concept of the device, and some of it's implementation, there are some things that I really don't like and think could be improved.
Basically there are several improvements I would like to see to the software, but the biggest problem I found is with the hardware. I think they missed an amazing opportunity here to sell millions of these units if they had only had a better designer.
I think the unit is too angular, the keyboard is horrible to use and the unit is just awkward and uncomfortable to hold in one hand while reading. The scroll wheel, while useful on many occasions, can get tricky to use if your hands are at all slightly damp and the next and previous page buttons are just setup wrong, if you are holding it in one hand, you cannot place your thumb anywhere other than underneath the screen, which after a while is just uncomfortable on my hand. I can see me getting some RSI injuries from using this device over a long period of time.
You may feel it's a picky thing, but when reading a book, I tend to stay in one place for several hours, so the comfort of using the device is extremely important, and I think it's just an uncomfortable device to use.
Having said all that, it's not enough to put me off the device or send it back, because the pros for me, do outweigh the cons, however the price could be a little more amenable (say $100 cheaper). I think the success of this device will ultimately depend on the amount of content available for it, and the price of that content, some technical manuals, in my opinion, are still priced a little high for an electronic version. In fact, the number of titles already available for the kindle is what attracted me to this device, and the fact that it's tied directly into a marketplace so I can easily update it with new content, is what caused me to purchase the product in the first place.
Also, being able to download and read PDF files is going to be a definite must, so I hope that the amazon team get their act together and update the software to be able to read them.
Almost PerfectJuly 5, 2008 2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Kindle: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device
I'm always so proud to present my Kindle to others. It reads really well, keeps track of where I stopped reading, especially when I doze off at night, and is so easy to use to download a new item.
The only reasn I say it's less than perfect is the Kindle itself did not attach to the cover as well as I hope. I took a previous reviewer's advice and got some Velcro with a sticky back and used that on the Kindle and the cover.
Book Group Member With some Vision ImpairmentJuly 4, 2008 5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I an an avid reader, and due to advanced glaucoma, have vision problems. The Kindle permits me to enlarge the type, making it very comfortable and easy to read. Also, the convenience and savings of being able to quickly download a book from Amazon makes it equally appealing. I have tried Books on Tape, but I miss holding a book and the act of reading it in my own voice. The Kindle, even though electronic, is a fabulous "gift." for that reason. I will be traveling and it allows me to download several books and it weighs practically nothing. I am truly grateful to my friend, Ruth, who first told me about it. I love and recommend the Kindler to ALL!!!
Kindle is amazingJuly 4, 2008 6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I'll keep this short for folks who want a quick review...
I've had the Kindle for 3 days and LOVE it. The design and feel is terrific. The screen is very easy to read and is no burden on the eyes whatsoever.
The page turn is far less than 2-seconds - it is very fast. Perhaps at the smallest text size it is slower, but then you are loading twice the amount of data than at the larger text sizes.
The ability to play background music with your own MP3s - great feature! The shortcuts to turn that on and off (and to skip to the next track) are great design.
The browser is weak on its own, but that shouldn't be anywhere close to the Top 10 reasons for buying and using a Kindle. Also, there is a bit of a delay when using the keyboard and the text showing up in the display. This is also a bit annoying, but simple to adjust to.
We use the New York Times subscription on it and it is excellent. There's one navigation issue. Once in the middle of a (long) article, there's no real way to go to the next one or back to the start. An inconvenience that would be great if a shortcut was offered to handle this situation.
Oh - and some folks complain about a minor charge to convert and email a document to the Kindle. We're talking 10 cents per document. You just paid 3,600-times that amount for the device itself! (There's a workaround this anyway).
TIP: Read the Kindle User's Guide from "Location 1 to Location 1355" (i.e. cover-to-cover). There are great nuggets in there and it is very worth the 45 minute investment.
Oh - and for all the folks who want to try it before buying it, just do it. I was in that camp and then sucked it up and just bought one for my wife. It's a keeper.
Overall, it is great. Well done, Amazon.
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