March 28, 2008 – 11:45 pm
With a remarkable amount of press, both good and bad, Amazon’s Kindle evokes a response one way or the other. That is, for people who have a clue as to what a “Kindle” is as a product. For the last three months I’ve used my Kindle almost daily, and overall it’s a welcome addition to the tech gadgets I take with me almost everywhere.
It’s not perfect, and the cost alone is a deterrent to purchase. There are some fundamental issues that should be addressed in the next iteration, and others that have been resolved.
For Want of an E-Book Reader
I read a lot of books. Maybe 2-3 novels a month on average, and if I pick up a book in a series that turns out to be good, I may read 4-6 books over the course of the month until the entire series is read. To help consolidate the ever growing collection of books, I looked at the older Sony PRS-500 e-book reader at a Borders while in Redmond in June 2007. It was… okay, but non-intuitive and didn’t capture my interest. But having attempted to read content on an Apple Newton, Palm Pilot, and other small screen mobile devices, the e-ink technology of the Sony appealed to me.
When the new Sony PRS-505 e-book reader was announced in October 2007, I contemplated buying one sight-unseen, but then saw the pre-announcement information for the Amazon Kindle. My first impression was that the Kindle was ugly, had features I didn’t need (or thought I needed at the time), and was too expensive. It’s still too expensive, but I like the look and the features make the unit intuitive to use.
As the reviews came out on the new Sony and the hardware solidified on the Kindle, I decided to order one. Thanksgiving came and went, relatives visited, and it wasn’t until the Saturday after Thanksgiving that I finally placed the order. They were already sold out at this point, and I had a mid-December delivery date.
One other justification was my wife. She reads anywhere from 8-12 books a month, on average. My thought was we could share a Kindle between the both of us, and over the course of a couple years pay for the device on book savings alone.
Enter the Kindle
When my Kindle was finally delivered on time in mid-December, getting it operational was easy. The packaging is reminiscent of Apple, but is slightly less polished. The instructions to turn the unit on were easy to understand, and the wireless worked well. The one issue was that the battery indicator didn’t read properly, and it took about 6 hours to fully charge the battery.
As my first e-book device, there are things I initially liked and disliked about it. The good points:
- Intuitive - The buttons, shortcuts and navigation were easy to pick up. The scroll wheel / clicker became second nature after only a few minutes of use.
- Screen - Although not backlit or supporting more than 2-bit grayscale (capable of displaying 4 levels of gray), the screen is of good resolution for text (600×800 pixels, or 167 ppi). As it uses e-ink technology, there is a flash as it refreshes the screen.
- Standards - The Kindle has 180MB of free internal storage, but takes SD memory cards, up to 4GB in size. Also, file formats supported include Mobipocket (PRC or MOBI) and the ability convert other formats for use on the Kindle.
- Whispernet - This is the Sprint EVDO network built-in for use in the US. It’s great being able to quickly purchase a book or subscription, and for infrequent use, the web browser is handle too.
There are some aspects that I don’t like, or meet my specific needs:
- Cost - It’s USD$400. That is $100 more than the Sony, and even with discounts on digital books, represented a substantial investment.
- Power - The devices AC power adpater works as advertized, but USB charging is deficient. It can take up to 24 hours to fully recharge the Kindle via USB, or 6 hours via the AC adapter. As a frequent traveler, I like to reduce my power adapters to my laptop only, which can provide USB power to recharge other devices.
- Cover - The cover is okay and provides protection to the device when moving around. But the method to secure it is teneous, and over time has become loose. There is only one other third party cover on the market at present, and it too is getting mediocre reviews.
- Lack of Content - Amazon started around 95,000 titles available at launch, and at the time of writing, were only up to 110,000 titles. A lot of my favorite authors such as Frank Herbert and Peter F. Hamilton are not well represented either.
My Use at Home
I take my Kindle almost everywhere including work, shopping with the wife, and when traveling. Of course it gets good use at home too, in almost every room.
At home the Kindle is just like any other book or magazine. On the couch, before going to sleep, or when waiting for a process to finish on the computer, the Kindle is there and usable. I keep it in the screen saver mode to prevent accidental key presses turning pages. Going from the screen saver in-use take about 5 seconds, and brings you back to the previous document you were reading.
Although I have a few subscriptions from the Kindle store (Wall Street Journal and Salon at present) and have bought about 10 books online, the majority of my books are from free sites such as Project Gutenberg or from “other” sources to augment my already dead-tree versions of books. I use my XP workstation to convert the various formats to PRC (Mobipocket) and then copy them over to the Kindle (it appears as a USB mass storage device when plugged into a PC).
I have bought some books from the Kindle store from authors I’ve read (Stephen King, Stephen Donaldson), and others based upon the recommendation of the store, such as Ken Follett and Elizabeth Bear.
Reading at Work
My main use of the Kindle at work is for access to technical sites and the doldrum of meetings. Converting Word documents to MOBI format allow me to have access to various technical notes, FAQs, and other information useful at work.
Kindle in Flight
By far the biggest change the Kindle has had is for travel. My typical pre-Kindle travel , which includes a 1 hour trip on the Atlanta MARTA train to the airport, was either squinting at my Blackberry or listening to podcasts or music on my iPod. Reading while on the way to the airport and waiting for the flight passes the time quickly, and doesn’t have a big hit on battery life.
The biggest change is the amount of reading material I need to take. It never failed that I would be within 50 pages of finishing a book prior to a trip, and the next book was a hardback. And of course, the book to be read would turn out to be mediocre. Now I can have 5-10 books “on deck”, along with a couple subscriptions.
Most of my travel is international, which limits the use of Whispernet to download daily copies of subscriptions. So I try to make sure that there are enough books to cover my trip (and then some). There is also the ability to download content to a PC and transfer via USB, but so far I haven’t had the need to do so.
A couple years back, I’d have a set of noise reducing headphone (Bose, and bulky), a hardback book, paperback book, a magazine, and some for of iPod. I’ve since trimmed this down–not in features, but size. A pair of Shure in ear headphones have replaced the Bose (less bulk and no batteries). An iPod Touch provides music and video content. And, of course, the Kindle contains a goodly selection of reading material.
The only downside to travel is the power situation. My MacBook Pro is the core for recharging my devices, including Blackberry, iPod, and headset. By only having to carry a single power supply and converters for different countries, this reduces my clutter and reduces the space in the laptop bag or suitcase.
Is the Kindle worth it? For me, yes indeed. It has me reading again and reducing the downtime while waiting in lines, doctors offices, and the now 2+ hour airport waits.
Here are some quick links to content and forums on the Kindle, along with a link to a few Kindle cases from my favorite laptop bag designer, who also makes a set of Kindle sleeves and carrying cases:
- Amazon Kindle Page - Where it all begins
- Project Gutenberg- One of the original free book sites
- Manybooks.net - Another site with 20,000+ free titles. The site owner is responsive too
- MobileRead - Forums for different ebook readers besides the Kindle. Great information not just on the Kindle use, but also on Kindle technical details and hacking (in the good sense).
- WaterField Designs - Excellent quality laptop bags, so I know the build quality of the Kindle offerings will be top notch. I’ve ordered the slipcase and will post a review once I get it.
Please feel free to leave comments, I’m curious as to how others are using their Kindle and how it’s changed your reading style.
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