Amazon Kindle review [Update]
- November 21st, 2007
- Read 6954 times
- 25 Comments
I’ll be the first to admit that e-books suck. They’re great in theory, but they’ll never catch on. There’s nothing that screams dork more than an e-book. E-books are the future. Apparently there is some miscommunication going on and some are under the impression that I think e-books are not the future. I, like many others, enjoy the real thing. There’s just something comforting about having a paper book to carry around, to bunny ear, scratch notes on, highlight words/phrases and whatever else you may like to do. The refresh rates suck and you just want to pull your hair out while waiting for the next page to load. You don’t know how far along you are in the book. Those are just a couple reasons among a slew of arguments to hate e-books. Although, part of me thinks it’s a waste of resources even if it’s made from recycled paper. Traditional books have their pros and cons, but e-books are just janky and stupid, right? Well, yes, they are, but the Kindle from Amazon is a different beast.
My initial impressions were pretty off. I just wasn’t all that impressed and sort of left it on my desk for half a day, but I always want to floss the latest in technology when traveling so I brought it along for my trip to the Bay Area for turkey day. I figured I’d at least have Internet access while waiting at the airport. Then I started to tinker around with it as I got bored with the browser, which is phenomenal, but we’ll get to that later. The Kindle is a well thought out product. It incorporates the New American Oxford Dictionary and Wikipedia, which is extremely helpful when you have no idea what’s being said in an article from the NYT, Time, CrunchGear or any one of the books available from Amazon. I often find myself not knowing the definition of a particular word and I always tell myself I’ll grab the dictionary and look it up. I also tend to highlight phrases or passages that I’d like to share with others or just keep for myself, but I can’t always find them when I need them. These are just a few examples that I know many of you find yourselves in as well. Kindle takes care of all that. If you’re reading a book/magazine/newspaper and you need to look up the definition of something then do a quick search without ever leaving that page. It’s that simple. The Search function on Kindle is superb as it checks the Web, Wikipedia, New American Oxford Dictionary, Kindle Store and any book/magazine/blog that’s on your Kindle. It’s the most comprehensive search engine I’ve seen and it’s on an e-book of all places! If you need to highlight something then go right ahead. Want to take a few notes in a particular section then do it. Any notes or highlighting you do shows up on the main menu under the “My Clippings” category. Need to know how far you are in the book? If you’re like me then yes you do. At the bottom of the screen is an indicator bar that fills itself in as you go along. Navigating through books is as easy as any paper book. If you need to check out the table of contents or you need to jump to the beginning or go to a specific location then do so by way of the menu. You can add a bookmark, though, the last page you were on is always remembered. Bookmarks show up under “My Clippings” as well. Can it get any easier? I don’t think so.
As far as the hardware goes, it’s fantastic. I’ve adapted to the keyboard and it’s quite easy to use. However, I don’t really enjoy the placement of the navigation buttons. I fidget around quite a bit and I find myself accidentally hitting the next page button a lot. It’s annoying, but I do like that the buttons are so big. The scroll wheel is neat, but it attracts a lot of lint and dust and anything else floating around since it’s sticky, but I’m just being super picky. As I said before, the refresh rate is outstanding. There’s really no lag when jumping from page to page. Text is visible in just about any lighting situation and font size can be adjusted however you like. I just wish it supported SDHC, but that’s only because my largest SD card is 2GB. It’s nice to be able to transfer your files to and from the SD card depending on how much content you already have. Music playback on the Kindle is quite good, though, any music that’s loaded is on shuffle and you can’t even see what you actually loaded so pick your music wisely. It’s under the Experimental category so I won’t harp on it too much. The Kindle automatically goes into sleep mode if it’s left untouched for 10 minutes. It’s a bit awkward at first, but it eventually becomes quite comfortable. I can’t comment on battery life just yet, but I’ll update once I know what the approximate range is for just viewing and when EVDO is activated.
All other material that you subscribe to is easy to view and gives you the option of a traditional look like on your computer or a truncated list of just headlines. It’s very simple and that’s the whole point. You just want to read articles without obnoxious ads distracting you from finding out that the U.N. says Somalia is the worst humanitarian crisis in Africa. Kudos to you, Amazon.
The Web browsing experience is very good so long as the sites you frequent aren’t Java-based. As long as it’s mostly text then you should be fine. You’re on Sprint’s EVDO network so it’s quick and it’s free. I just Facebooked while I was waiting for my flight. The standard site sucked, but the mobile site was a breeze because the screen is so large. The fact that you get free Internet is a huge plus in my opinion and what other e-book has that? Who knows if Amazon will start charging in the future, but for now it’s free and it’s awesome. Books literally take a minute or so to download. That’s the beauty of the Kindle. You never have to sync with your computer to receive your books. Don’t worry about accidentally deleting books off your Kindle because it’s all backed up on a server just for Kindle users.
Here are just a couple of things that I haven’t played around with or tested. I haven’t e-mailed anything to the Kindle because I just didn’t have the time, I don’t know what the e-mail address is because this is Biggs’ Kindle and I don’t know what the “small fee” to Amazon for reformatting entails. The Kindle doesn’t support PDF so there’s no point in trying to make that work. I wonder if and when this will be hacked. As I mentioned before, I’m not sure on the battery life so I’ll have to get back to you, folks, on that one. I also didn’t use Ask Kindle NowNow, but I think Erick had a few comments on that over at TC.
Now that I’ve had a positive experience with an e-book, I find myself asking if this is something I’ll continue to use. No, I won’t. I won’t use just any e-book. After the Kindle everything else on the market pales in comparison. I’m actually going to purchase books since some are as cheap as $3.19. I can’t say enough about the free Internet! Is it worth the $399 price tag? Maybe not, but it could be very soon if the hackers get to it. I dig the Kindle and I hope people give it a chance because it’s a great device and I think it’ll put a fire under some asses in the e-book industry.
Lame
8 months ago
Dude, you do NOT get free Internet browsing. Pay attention.
Reply
justelise (Who am I?)
8 months ago
Really? Someone likes this thing even with all of the draconian DRM? I like the EVDO idea, but I would settle for wi-fi and the ability to read PDFs over EVDO. Honestly crippling PDF reading is a deal breaker for a lot of people. It’s just plain silly to come out with a device that lacks it.
Joan (Who am I?)
8 months ago
E-books are the future. You are a geek if you can’t grasp that.
tim (Who am I?)
8 months ago
“E-books are the future. You are a geek if you can’t grasp that.”
I think the word you mean to say is “dork”. He is not a geek for not getting it.
Peter Ha (Who am I?)
8 months ago
“but e-books are just janky and stupid, right? Well, yes, they are, but the Kindle from Amazon is a different beast.”
“I dig the Kindle and I hope people give it a chance because it’s a great device and I think it’ll put a fire under some asses in the e-book industry.”
What else do I need to say? E-BOOKS ARE THE FUTURE! Are you happy now?
Peter Ha (Who am I?)
8 months ago
@Lame
The Internet is free. Wanna know how I know that? Because I have one and I’ve been using it to Facebook, check on CG and whatever else I want. Do you have one? Didn’t think so. Pay attention.
rafael (Who am I?)
8 months ago
No PDF support is a deal breaker for me. Too bad. If it wasn’t for that limitation, the Kindle was exactly what I was looking for…
I hope Amazon does well with the v1 though, so they can at least justify the investment on a v2 without these limitations. Can’t wait.
haha (Who am I?)
8 months ago
You “Facebooked”? Sorry, that totally negated any intelligent thing said in this post.
david pogue (Who am I?)
8 months ago
Yet another repetition that the Kindle doesn’t display PDF files.
It does. You email a PDF to the Kindle, and it shows up like any other book! I’ve done it, and I’ve confirmed with the Kindle’s product manager.
Hope this helps!
–David Pogue
Symonty ( SDHC and MP3 ) (Who am I?)
7 months ago
SDHC and MP3 Player …
I am happy to report sdhc seemed to work fine, used a Transcend SDHC 8GB card and it worked great.
Also Did you mention the mp3 player! That was a surprise, but no controls still good to see.
Got to play with one from a friend at amazon, so I was not scared to break it ( haha ) anyways …
Peter Ha (Who am I?)
7 months ago
@David
You are correct. I was referring to PDFs that, for example, are on an SD card.
@Symonty
I did mention the MP3 player and it was great to see even though you have no control.
prima (Who am I?)
7 months ago
WHat about its ugliness? This think looks it came from Star Trek of the 80s!
John Z (Who am I?)
7 months ago
The Kindle looks/is different in-person. Photos, especially the first ones that leaked out do not do it justice. I’ve had one since December 5th and I like the design and the Kindle feels good holding in your hand.
Carl (Who am I?)
7 months ago
How do they charge you for the ten cents per everything you e-mail to your Kindle? Do they just tack it onto your Amazon account?
Toby Segaran (Who am I?)
7 months ago
My girlfriend and I are both heavy readers and frequent travelers. We used a Sony Reader and were very happy with it, but found the content was annoying to get onto it.
We’ve had a Kindle for 4 days and like it so much that we’re getting another one so we won’t fight over it. It appears that almost all the criticism online is from people who have never used an ebook or aren’t even in the target market (tech geeks who don’t read novels?). We wrote a full retort here:
http://lifetinker.com/?p=25
John Z (Who am I?)
7 months ago
Toby’s right. Most negative reviews are from people who read negative reviews for other people who have never actually used one. Besides, i could of sold mine on eBay for over $1,000 but i don’t want to give mine up!
Kindle Kind (Who am I?)
7 months ago
Is the fact that it can’t show a PDF truly an issue to anyone? Neither can my collection of paperback books, luckily that’s why I only READ them. Since when did anyone really want to get something like a Kindle, and then stare at the same PDF’s they can view ON THEIR COMPUTER with it? I doubt there is a single Kindle owner in the world that doesn’t have a computer too (and a cell phone, pda, iPod, laptop, etc).
Ben U (Who am I?)
7 months ago
@Kindle Kind
Most lengthy electronic documents I read are in PDF format. Often they are image-based (copyright-free books from googlebooks, for instance, scanned at a university library). I hate to use up an excessive amount of paper to read these; at the same time my eyes get pretty red if I am reading on my laptop all day. A portable eInk display seems to me an ideal solution.
mattmchugh (Who am I?)
7 months ago
I haven’t handled a Kindle yet (I’ve handled a Sony Reader… t’wern’t much impressed), but judging from this review and others I’ve read, the Kindle seems like a decent device — almost certainly the best attempt at an electronic text reader to date. But no way it’s the much-mythologized “iPod for text” … the touch-it-and-want-it gizmo that will push electronic books irrevocably into the mainstream.
However, sell the thing $99 bucks, and maybe we’re gettin’ close. That’s the consumer sweet spot. Mark my words.
– mattmchugh
Punit Sethi (Who am I?)
6 months ago
Hey folks
Just a question - so how about people outside US? How would books be delivered to them? Or is it that Kindle is for US only..?
Geo Mealer (Who am I?)
6 months ago
You can download books on your computer and move them onto the Kindle via USB, like other eBooks. This would be your only option outside of Sprint’s service (including outside the US).
As has been mentioned, it does support PDF via Amazon’s conversion, and current models support SDHC though it’s undocumented that it does so.
Regarding holding it, assuming you’re not using the cover, the key is to realize that the keyboard isn’t active unless you’re in an input field. That whole bottom area becomes a handhold while reading, even though it’s a little counter-intuitive to hold something by the keys. The cover makes this a non-issue (if you’re otherwise happy with it) as it has multiple places that can serve as a handhold.
Gabrielle (Who am I?)
5 months ago
I’m so excited, my Kindle is coming in on Monday!
Anyways, I just wanted to say that the Kindle DOES support PDF, although picture-heavy PDFs might screw up. But I read a review where the woman showed a knitting pattern PDF on her Kindle, and the images worked perfectly. Also, Amazon does charge 10 cents to do a conversion, e.g. for PDFs, but that’s to send it wirelessly to the Kindle. You can send it to a different email address (which I can’t remember), and they send it to you via email. The only difference is that you have to plug your Kindle to your computer. I really don’t know why they don’t put that up on Amazon’s Kindle page. I guess they want to make some money with it, but I bet a lot more people would consider it if they knew this.
Oh, and glad to hear the web browsing works good!
Thanks for a great review. :)
mark (Who am I?)
5 months ago
I have a Sony E reader and a Kindle. I travel and read a great deal. There is no comparison between the Kindle and the Sony. The Sony is far superior in looks, construction, ergonomics etc. An ereader should be just that and nothing else. The wifi is silly when you can hold a hundred books at a time. Who needs it? Read a newspaper. I have put hundreds of hours on both and now never even pick up the bulky, ugly Kindle.
Amazon Kindle (Who am I?)
4 months ago
I do think e-book is the future. More and more people will not likely to bring a “stone” and walk around. However I hope amazon can ship kindle to worldwide so that everyone can enjoy the best ebook reader!
G58 (Who am I?)
3 months ago
That’s the ugliest, most stupid thing I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen EVERYTHING! Why would anyone design anything as ugly and counter intuitive as that? It’s huge! Those keys are revolting. Why???
I’ve already got my MacBook Pro (Gorgeous) and my iPhone (Gorgeous), do these fools really think I’m going to lug a white plastic 1970s Palitoy brick around with me? Put it beside something that’s been designed, and it’s: Huh??!!!!!!!!!!!!
If I was returning to civilisation from being castaway for 30 years on a desert island, I’d commit suicide if I was given this. Even then I’d know it was wrong - So wrong. It looks like a 1979 Texas Instruments calculator had an abortion and it came out albino. Nasty, nasty, nasty.