gadget review
thefreak (aka the King of Gadgets) got me a Kindle for Christmas. So far, I really like it.
The good:
The screen! The Kindle uses a kind of LCD screen-- they call it e-ink, but seriously, it's good ol' LCD. Still, it's really easy to read, and because it's not backlit, you don't get the eye-stabbing headaches that happen after intently reading from a computer screen for hours. Also, the ebooks are laid out well, in that they're formatted to be quite easy to read-- you're not looking at dense black blocks of text, plus you can change the text size if it gets too squinty.
Size: The last version was kind of a brick, to put it kindly. But the new version is almost the same size and weight as my calendar. It's easy to stuff in a bag, though it's not quite as good at holding post-its. ;) Even though it's smaller, the controls are still easy to use-- I'd figured out the basics after a few minutes of playing around.
Network: The Kindle has a built-in network that connects anywhere where you can get a cell phone signal. So, if you're sitting in the airport-- or the car, the park, the office with the firewall from hell-- and decide that you absolutely need something new to read, there's no need to go looking for a wireless hot spot, you can whip out your Kindle, open up the store and download your new book in a couple of minutes. How cool is that?
Dictionary: If you run across a word you don't know, a few clicks over to the word in question will bring up a dictionary so you can look it up-- without leaving your page. This is more of a nice perk than a must-have feature, but I thought it was pretty cool. By the way, a "wen" is a boil or a wart. Thanks, Kindle!
Cost: Most of the e-books I've bought have been slightly cheaper than the paperback versions at the bookstore. The library still has the edge (it's hard to beat free)-- but I have a friend.. um.. yeah, a friend, who always forgets to return her library books and ends up racking up bunches of fines until she might as well have just bought the stupid book in the first place. *ahem* In that sort of situation, this is a good tradeoff. I also have another friend who swears that you can find e-books available for download online for absolutely free, and that the Kindle will totally play these files, as well as any PDFs you can get your hands on. If that was true, that would be dishonest, so it's a good thing it's only a rumor, and you sure didn't hear it from me. ;)
Battery life: Pretty good. I've been using it for a few days and I haven't run out of juice yet. It charges either from your computer, or it can plug into any old AC outlet while you're on the go.
The "meh":
Store: The Kindle store is basically a stripped down version of the regular Amazon store. It works pretty well-- provided you know what you're looking for. If you like to browse, though, it's a lot easier to hook up the Kindle to your computer (with the included USB cable), browse all you like, and then copy your downloads over to the Kindle when you're done.
Blog/newspaper subscription. It's a neat idea, but why should I pay .99/month for something I can read for free on my laptop's RSS feed?
Audio: Some of the books I've downloaded have audio capability-- I haven't tried this out yet, but if you're the sort that likes to listen to audio books, this might be a cool feature to have.
The bad:
No pictures: Only black and white here. It does display black and white illustrations, but the main focus is on displaying text. On the other hand, if you wanted to buy a kick-ass photo book, you wouldn't be reading it on a 3x5 inch screen, would you?
Screen size: It's a little smaller than a regular book, so if you read quickly, you'll spend a lot of time flipping pages, which leads to...
Refresh: There's a noticeable lag when you hit "next page" while the next page loads. It's not a deal-breaker, and I've got used to it, but it's still a little jarring.
Hard to "flip": If you're like me, you like to thumb back and forth in your book, to reread something you might not have caught in the first go-round, or forward to see if you can finish the next chapter before falling asleep. (I'm reading the Game of Thrones series now, and there's an index in the back to help you keep all the characters straight.)
The Kindle lets you set bookmarks, but it's a little clunky. This is probably just something inherent in an e-book.. I'm not sure how you'd get around this.
-------------
So there you go. All in all, this is very cool, and I'm looking forward to going on a trip with only the Kindle and not three or four paperbacks. Will it replace all your books? No. But if you like to read (a lot), this is a pretty cool gadget to have.
The good:
The screen! The Kindle uses a kind of LCD screen-- they call it e-ink, but seriously, it's good ol' LCD. Still, it's really easy to read, and because it's not backlit, you don't get the eye-stabbing headaches that happen after intently reading from a computer screen for hours. Also, the ebooks are laid out well, in that they're formatted to be quite easy to read-- you're not looking at dense black blocks of text, plus you can change the text size if it gets too squinty.
Size: The last version was kind of a brick, to put it kindly. But the new version is almost the same size and weight as my calendar. It's easy to stuff in a bag, though it's not quite as good at holding post-its. ;) Even though it's smaller, the controls are still easy to use-- I'd figured out the basics after a few minutes of playing around.
Network: The Kindle has a built-in network that connects anywhere where you can get a cell phone signal. So, if you're sitting in the airport-- or the car, the park, the office with the firewall from hell-- and decide that you absolutely need something new to read, there's no need to go looking for a wireless hot spot, you can whip out your Kindle, open up the store and download your new book in a couple of minutes. How cool is that?
Dictionary: If you run across a word you don't know, a few clicks over to the word in question will bring up a dictionary so you can look it up-- without leaving your page. This is more of a nice perk than a must-have feature, but I thought it was pretty cool. By the way, a "wen" is a boil or a wart. Thanks, Kindle!
Cost: Most of the e-books I've bought have been slightly cheaper than the paperback versions at the bookstore. The library still has the edge (it's hard to beat free)-- but I have a friend.. um.. yeah, a friend, who always forgets to return her library books and ends up racking up bunches of fines until she might as well have just bought the stupid book in the first place. *ahem* In that sort of situation, this is a good tradeoff. I also have another friend who swears that you can find e-books available for download online for absolutely free, and that the Kindle will totally play these files, as well as any PDFs you can get your hands on. If that was true, that would be dishonest, so it's a good thing it's only a rumor, and you sure didn't hear it from me. ;)
Battery life: Pretty good. I've been using it for a few days and I haven't run out of juice yet. It charges either from your computer, or it can plug into any old AC outlet while you're on the go.
The "meh":
Store: The Kindle store is basically a stripped down version of the regular Amazon store. It works pretty well-- provided you know what you're looking for. If you like to browse, though, it's a lot easier to hook up the Kindle to your computer (with the included USB cable), browse all you like, and then copy your downloads over to the Kindle when you're done.
Blog/newspaper subscription. It's a neat idea, but why should I pay .99/month for something I can read for free on my laptop's RSS feed?
Audio: Some of the books I've downloaded have audio capability-- I haven't tried this out yet, but if you're the sort that likes to listen to audio books, this might be a cool feature to have.
The bad:
No pictures: Only black and white here. It does display black and white illustrations, but the main focus is on displaying text. On the other hand, if you wanted to buy a kick-ass photo book, you wouldn't be reading it on a 3x5 inch screen, would you?
Screen size: It's a little smaller than a regular book, so if you read quickly, you'll spend a lot of time flipping pages, which leads to...
Refresh: There's a noticeable lag when you hit "next page" while the next page loads. It's not a deal-breaker, and I've got used to it, but it's still a little jarring.
Hard to "flip": If you're like me, you like to thumb back and forth in your book, to reread something you might not have caught in the first go-round, or forward to see if you can finish the next chapter before falling asleep. (I'm reading the Game of Thrones series now, and there's an index in the back to help you keep all the characters straight.)
The Kindle lets you set bookmarks, but it's a little clunky. This is probably just something inherent in an e-book.. I'm not sure how you'd get around this.
-------------
So there you go. All in all, this is very cool, and I'm looking forward to going on a trip with only the Kindle and not three or four paperbacks. Will it replace all your books? No. But if you like to read (a lot), this is a pretty cool gadget to have.