Welcome to KrunchGear’s Kindle 2 Dekontainment, a video in which we unbox the Kindle 2 and show off some of its various and sundry features. Here are our initial photos including the Kindle Kover (k) which is konsiderably better than the original cover. This one actually snaps into the Kindle and can’t fall off.
Click through for our unboxing video.
Photo Gallery by Picturesurf
Since I haven’t really looked into it much, is the kindle worth buying? I buy a ton of web development and coding books every year. I was always curious if there is any real selection of books available for the kindle related to those topics and are they worth enough less in the electronic format to make up the difference of buying the “sort of pricey” kindle.
why not search amazon for this as opposed to asking here?
I don’t really understand the point of this thing. Why not just buy the book? You really want your whole life to be digital?
> You really want your whole life to be digital?
yes
Someone put their grumpy pants on today… Jeez.
EBooks are much easier to carry than RBooks (where R = “real”).
Except you have to clutch them securely so you don’t drop your costly electronic item on the sidewalk, and you’d better be careful not to scratch the display–get a case to carry it around in–, and you’d better take them to the toilet at work so they don’t get stolen or lock them up, and don’t forget to charge them–don’t want your batteries to go dead right in the middle of a page turner.
Can you place yellow sticky notes in pages?
Presumably he’s asking for an objective view on if the kindle is worth buying- In which case, Amazon is the last place he should check for the answer:D It’s kind of like searching microsoft.com for “should my computer be a PC or an apple?”
That’s a valid concern (not wanting to give up books, everything being digital, etc.), and Bezos has responded to it before. His basic point was that people loved their horses, but once they had a car, it didn’t mean they’d still ride their horses to work every day.
Yes, reading is something emotional for a lot of people, but that doesn’t mean it can’t change.
I don’t want my whole life to be digital but this is certainly something that I can’t wait to get my hands on.
I tend to read weird, University-published books (lots of history stuff) that aren’t available on Kindle, which stinks. So yeah, definitely check Amazon before you drop any cash to make sure the books you want are available on Kindle.
I have a Kindle and I would say that it’s not well suited for reference books. How often do you flip open a reference book with your thumb and scan through the page corners until you find the right one? That kind of experience is a bit painful on the Kindle–while there’s a search feature, it feels slower than thumbing through the book (though it may not be…but you have to enter text and wait for results).
Kindle is still best suited for turning novel pages in linear order. I do have a Bible on mine, which is decent, but only because of short chapters and a usually goal-oriented look up model (open to book chapter:verse).
Unfortunately I can’t really see the pics as the PictureSurf integration doesn’t seem to work right… both the larger pictures and the thumbnails disappear when I move the cursor around. But from what I could tell, the Kindle looks good.
You should be fired. The video is terrible. You can’t get someone to hold the camera? You included background music? You are so klever.
A hands-free mic would go a LONG way for him….
yeah, i suck. i also look forward to seeing your video review.
Just because you made one does not mean you are absolved from criticism.
I had no problem with the review itself, just saying that they should spring for a hands free mic for you, thats all.
i just found my shure lav mic which I’ll use from now on. I’m actually talking to
JeffJim who I’ve discovered has been trolling us for a while.Troll? I’m honestly offended. I hardly read CrunchGear. Sure you didn’t mean Jim?
Yes. Sorry. Jim.
Sign the petition to ask Amazon.com to give free e-versions with any dead tree book purchaed by a Kindle owner. I still want books in my library!
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=p8mHGojrK_KP7Zm0eEFS6Gw
Can i put on kindle some private book (not bought on amazon) pdf and read on it?
Is reading on kindle really like reading a book? I really don’t like reading book on my lcd notebook :(..
yes you can. you email yourself the PDF and it shows up on the kindle.
I own a Kindle and it took several weeks to get used to it. Holding it and those darn buttons are annoying. But now I find, I can’t live without it. The text is super clear and clean. You can easily connect it to a PC and transfer files to the Kindle. But they have to be text files. It doesn’t support PDF unless you email it to yourself, then it’ll convert the PDF to a Kindle version for .10.
uhm, it would be nice using pdf files bypassing amazon server… no way to do that?
reason is simple: people in europe can’t use kindle gsm network, so i tought to use simply pdf file (like those: http://www.mininova.org/sub/50/seeds )
Photographer, could use some shots of the Kindle in your hand — really hard to tell what the dimensions of this thing really are.
Ah, the Kindle or the ASUS 1000HE!? I can’t decide. Maybe I should just order both?
Is it meant to be spelt KrunchGear?
i have been reading ebooks for a 5-6 years.started on palm, now on my hp ipaq 214 (vga screen). never bought a book ;) just using mirc. there you can find almost every book you search for. and 4 free :)
For free with questionable legality of course.
there still people using mirc for illegal download?
I have bought a Kindle 2 and am waiting for it to arrive at my house this Friday. I want it for 2 reasons: I travel a bit for business, and since I HATE to be sitting on a plane or stuck in a terminal without something to read, the Kindle 2 will allow me to always have plenty to read but to do so without carrying a ton of weight. Secondly, I have to curtail how many books I actually buy, as I am running out of space in my house! Buying an e-book allows me to read it and not take up additional shelf space. If I really love the book, I will spend the extra money to buy a hardback.
just bought kindle 2….been dying for it. just hate schlepping all the books i read. too, sinfully, i end up leaving the hardback books on the seat of any plane. psyched to download stephanie meyer’s books as guilty pleasure but equally psyched to read newspapers et al. fingers crossed i’m going to dig
Hey John, any news on what’s happening with the Kindle outside of the US? I travel with 2 paperbacks wherever I go and would love to replace the bulk and weight with a Kindle, but can’t find any definitive information on purchasing a) the device and b) books in the UK.
no news yet. I’ll keep you posted
This product is a shameless knock-off of the iPod. How dare Bezos defy the Empire (but why didn’t he give it a bigger screen?)
Very impressive Kindle 2. I think sales will definitely pick up for Kindle 2. Amazon will do fantastic this year:
http://www.wealthalchemist.com/Blog/2009/01/amazon-anti-recessionary-stellar-q4-2008/
Epic Meh. Back to eBook Sleep until Kindle 3 (or something else).
it’s easy to imagine the Kindle being combined with the functionality of a cell phone, PDA and mp3 player to make an all-in-one gadget
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0skwNkuhX2U&feature=channel_page
Just curious, how do they manage to stand not being able to see in color? It is like black and white tv…It would be a bit depressing to read for example…children’s book or fashion magazines….
Most books and newspapers are printed in black and white, with the only color being on the cover. Does that depress you? If so, the Kindle is not for you; wait a few more years for color E-paper.
Ok…this product is way overpriced. I would have to blame it on the Sprint connectivity. Saying that, this type of product is the future. Sometime in the near print media will be an “antique” item.
I’m sure everyone is noticing the obvious signs with the current distribution method for newspapers and magazines and the probable bankruptcy of many large publishers. Think about the cost to print and distribute newspapers and magazines? Not just the resources such as the raw materials used to print the paper but also the fossil fuels used to deliver these from press to final destination. I would guess 95%+ end up in the trash or recyclers. Books present the same problem, except instead of ending up in the trash/recyclers many sit in warehouses or bookstores. The Kindle, or more like some future, cheaper form of it, will one day replace physical print media. It is just a matter of time…solely driven by the economics of the “old” print media business model.
Hi I have a question: I bought the Kindle 2 for my husband for his birthday, and I had it shipped to our house. If he gets home before I do and sees the box as it ships from amazon, will he know what it is right away (and ruin the surprise??) Please if anyone can let me know what the shipping box looks like, that would be much appreciated!!!
Diana, if the K1 is similar to K2, it’ll arrive double-boxed, so the only thing he’ll see is an Amazon-logo’d cardboard container. The same as if you bought anything from them..
The K2 does not come double boxed and as the video shows, the outside box says “Kindle” on it. Amazon was smart though and typically places the shipping sticker over this label so unless you pull that off you won’t see the Kindle label.
Also, as with the K1, there are easy ways to get PDF, along with other E-Book formats to the K2 without having to e-mail to your kindle address and paying the .10 fee.
Is this product overpirced?? If you are a casual reader, meaning 2 or 3 books a year, then yes this product is not for you.
If you average more than a book a month then no this is not over priced at all. You save so much on the purchase price of books this thing pays for itself in under a year -(my wife averages 2 books a month).
Also – this device is like a mini-laptop. My wife was out updating her facebook page on this thing as it comes with a Web Browser and basically has free internet on it. It also doubles as a MP3 player. This product is not just a E-Book reader, it is much much more.
Oh – another feature I was not aware of – with the Kindle you can read the 1st chapter of every Amazon Kindle book for free. This free sampling of books is very nice.