This is for Jeff Miller, who seems to be collecting views on the new Kindle (AKA Kindle 2). I should preface this by saying that I haven’t previously owned an ebook of any sort. The short version of my review is this: I like it.
I didn’t buy the first version of the Kindle because I wasn’t sure how the ebook war was going to end. Sony had their offerings. I didn’t want to buy something to find out the publishers weren’t going to support it. The Kindle 2 won me over. I also purchased the leather cover and extended warranty (which covers 1 “CNJ is an idiot” incident). I’ve been using the Kindle for about 2 weeks now, so these are fairly early impressions.
Starting up
I used a demo model of some non-Kindle ebook in Borders. The thing lost any chance of having me as a customer because it didn’t instantly turn on. Maybe it was broken (except that it did eventually turn on). The Kindle turns on and is usable almost immediately. I think this is important, and I honestly didn’t even think it would be an issue until I used the demo unit that Borders had.
Battery Life
I read a 300 page book, a newspaper, and a few online articles without recharging. I’ve actually only charged the device once, when it first arrived. For a couple days I had the wireless off, thinking it might help the battery life. It might have helped, but I have no evidence that it was necessary. I do turn it “off” as opposed to putting it into “sleep mode.”
Interface
The important part is the screen. The screen is quite easy to read, even for hours at a time. I’ve read it inside and outside. I kind of wish it had an integrated book light, but I suppose I could always order a Snuggie and get a book light for free. Despite the fact that the Kindle itself has face dimensions about the same as a small book, the screen is only a portion of the device. The Kindle screen is slightly wider than the iPhone screen is tall (I have to turn the iPhone sideways to read articles). That slight increase in width and substantial increase in height are very noticeable.
I do wish that they had put the previous page button where the home button is. I need to flip back a page with some frequency, and it’s annoying that this must be accomplished with the left hand. The Kindle is very comfortable being held in one hand. For forward-only reading, this isn’t a problem. The next page button is on both the left and the right side of the device. For normal use, I think the book prefers left-handed users.
The keyboard is usable, but the only time I use it is for the browser. For that purpose, it’s a bit lacking. The “:” and “@” are only accessible via the symbol menu. Shift-2 results in a 2. It’s a minor irritation.
Portability
This is a big win. I carry my Kindle everywhere I go. Of course, I carry my laptop bag everywhere I go, but the point is that the Kindle rides along. I even took my Kindle for a motorcycle ride up into the hills behind Santa Barbara. The laptop wasn’t allowed to come along. My girlfriend and I had a picnic dinner on a water tower. We both read books while we waited for the sun to set. Her book was substantially heavier than mine, and I had a decent selection of titles to choose from.
One drawback is that the Kindle costs 350 bucks, so I haven’t taken it into the restroom with me. I’m not much of a bathroom reader, but I know many people are. It just doesn’t seem right to me. I know people who’ve dropped cell phones into the toilet. I’m not really sure how that happens, but I’d feel really bad if I broke my Kindle that way.
Features
Amazon Whispernet is nice. I like being able to buy a book on Amazon on my iPhone, my computer, or my Kindle and the book is ready for reading within a minute. That said, the Amazon store for the Kindle lacks a few features. I can’t add Kindle books to my Amazon wish list. I emailed Amazon about this and they pointed out that I could use the “Save for Later” button. But that button is only available when using the Kindle store. I can’t save books for later on my iPhone or computer.
The web browser for the Kindle is surprisingly usable. The first thing to do is throw away any pretense you have of using “Basic Mode.” I tried it. Not so good. Advanced mode is pretty much a must.
The Kindle automatically downloaded and installed an update while I was showing it to a friend. Since I wasn’t reading from it at the time, I couldn’t say if it interrupted me. I may have been showing my friend how to put it to sleep or something. Still, it did it without any real interaction on my part. I think that’s a plus, but I would have found it annoying if it did it in the middle of reading. Again, my memory is sketchy about the details.
I haven’t used the ability to transfer documents to the Kindle via email. Instapaper supports it, but I didn’t particularly feel like paying Amazon’s fee. Instapaper is no longer accepting logins from me using the Kindle’s browser, so I may have to suck it up. It’s a shame, because Instapaper had become my favorite Kindle feature.
Content
This has to be the biggest drawback for the Kindle. 240,000 titles sounds like a lot until you start trying to replace one of the 7 bookshelves in your 1 bedroom apartment. They have the New York Times bestsellers, but they’re lacking a significant portion of my home library. On the plus side, the bestsellers are cheaper on the Kindle than in normal bindings. Oh, and I discovered that the publisher used for many law school texts happens to have a very similar name to a publisher of erotica on the Kindle. I learn something new every day. In case you are wondering, they didn’t carry any of the law references I was looking for.
The newspaper selection is acceptable to me, but the prices aren’t. Why would I pay more than the subscription price for the kindle version of the paper? This is why I thought Instapaper was so nice. I could flag a bunch of articles from my computer and catch up reading them on the Kindle. I bought a copy of the Financial Times, mostly for this review. I was immediately turned off when I discovered that the first article had copy-editing (actually, kerning) errors that were not present in the online version. Paying extra for a version of the paper that has additional errors was unacceptable to me. Incidentally, the navigation of the Kindle version of the paper was significantly easier than navigating the paper using the Kindle browser. That wasn’t sufficient to justify the cost to me.
The magazine selection is lacking. I almost bought a copy of the New Yorker just to try it, but decided that it wasn’t really worth my time.
Another drawback is the inability to loan out a book. The content is locked to your Kindle (though you can apparently access the content on the iPhone Kindle reader as well). The only books I really loan out are comic books, and I’m unlikely to switch to Kindle for those. If you are a mad reader / loaner (my girlfriend, her twin, and her mother all read the same books), you might want to factor that into your purchasing decision.
Conclusion
I’m happy with my Kindle purchase. I’ve found more opportunities to read since I bought it, which is an incredibly positive feeling. I’ve created a queue of books to read, and it’s nice having them with me everywhere I go. Assuming I would have bought the books anyway, I’m a little over a 10th of the way to breaking even (using Amazon’s prices). The only drawback that really irks me is the lack of support from publishers, but that actually is improving on an ongoing basis.
