Kindle

Off topic posts are welcome in this forum!
No smear campaign, or you will be banned!

Moderator: Mike Everman

WebPilot
Posts: 3716
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 6:51 pm
Antipspambot question: 0
Location: 41d 1' N 80d 22' W

Kindle

Post by WebPilot » Wed Nov 25, 2009 3:41 pm

Image

It's weird ... ever since I started to use a laptop to read pdf's, I longed for something smaller and flatter. I like this ... save for the price.

More info
Image

tufty
Posts: 887
Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2003 12:12 pm
Antipspambot question: 0
Location: France
Contact:

Re: Kindle

Post by tufty » Wed Nov 25, 2009 6:15 pm

Review by a mate of mine, who's big into ebook readers, and vastly more forgiving of "little flaws" than I. I trust his judgement, but I rate consistently about 50% of what he rates on the ones we've both used. So, anyway.
Here's my quick week 1 review if anyone is interested.

It comes is rather minimal packaging (Kindle, cable, usb charger and a slim quick start guide). The Kindle e-ink has been left displaying quick start instructions (Essentially switch it on and wait). I switched in on and it booted up with about half charge. A few minutes later it had connected and downloaded the book and samples I'd already ordered without me needing to put in my details.

It feels nice to hold. Substantial. The finish is nice and the buttons feel good. With the case on (A case is essential for any of these readers. The screens can be damaged easily) I have to change my style of reading somewhat. With my Sony I can hold the case from the bottom and turn pages with either my left or right hand. Due to the odd layout and positioning of the Kindle buttons I need to fold the case right around the back of the Kindle (It's designed to allow that) which makes me feel like one of those people who mutilate paperbacks the same way.

UI wise it's a bit of a mish mash. If you have a lot of books there's no real way to keep them organised. It's pretty much a flat list. The Sony allowed for the use of a collections tag to group things together. So far so good though. Reading is a breeze and a joy to do (Currently reading Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge).

Book selection in the store is garbage at the moment. Unless you can supply your own (Ahem) or read a lot of PD then stay away from ebook readers of any stripe. Once the publishers start jumping on board like they have in the US it'll be much better. For now the store is mostly a wasteland of repackaged public domain works (That you can get free elsewhere) and really awful looking self published books (Sci-fi section anyway).

Problems I've noticed. The only way to charge it seems to be with the USB charger Amazon supply or via the PC. I've seen no reports by people who've found a different USB charger that actually works. The charging light comes on but the Kindle doesn't actually charge. Also if you dump a large amount of books on at once (I threw a hundred at it to start with) you'll be crippled for days with an unresponsive UI because it's creating a text index for the search feature most people will never use.

HGFB Score. A cautious 7/10. I prefer it to my Sony overall because of the wireless connection to the Amazon store and I can see the potential. Non-tech whores with too much money feel free to remove any marks as you see fit :)


Then, after the "now reads PDF" update:
But how well does it handle PDFs? Could I read a manual on it?
I tried 2 pikey ebooks I have as pdfs. One worked fine and the other was the usual microscopic text that you can't read. Pretty rubbish really.
I've personally used one of the Sony 505s, it drove me mad. Slow screen refreshes, horrible UI. Glorious screen, though (as they all have).

what you probably want is something from http://www.irextechnologies.com/ - you can annotate the documents, and they do PDF properly, as opposed to "shittily"

WebPilot
Posts: 3716
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 6:51 pm
Antipspambot question: 0
Location: 41d 1' N 80d 22' W

Re: Kindle

Post by WebPilot » Thu Nov 26, 2009 4:36 am


 Thanks, Simon, for all of that. As usual, I'll wait a while before making a purchase. 'New Tech' is usually cheaper but better the longer you wait. Though, I can see one of these in my hands 'further on down the road'.
Image

Viv
Posts: 2158
Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2003 2:35 pm
Antipspambot question: 125
Location: Normandy, France, Wales, Europe
Contact:

Re: Kindle

Post by Viv » Thu Nov 26, 2009 12:44 pm

Thanks Simon

Nice clear review told me what I needed to know so I wont be ordering one of those to read on my train trips then ;-)

Looks like I will have to carry on with the wait for an Itablet ;-)

Viv
"Sometimes the lies you tell are less frightening than the loneliness you might feel if you stopped telling them" Brock Clarke

Viv's blog

Monsieur le commentaire

Mark
Posts: 10931
Joined: Sat Oct 11, 2003 10:14 pm

Re: Kindle

Post by Mark » Fri Nov 27, 2009 4:37 pm

Presentation is Everything

Mark
Posts: 10931
Joined: Sat Oct 11, 2003 10:14 pm

Re: Kindle

Post by Mark » Sat Nov 28, 2009 11:25 pm

Presentation is Everything

WebPilot
Posts: 3716
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 6:51 pm
Antipspambot question: 0
Location: 41d 1' N 80d 22' W

Re: Kindle

Post by WebPilot » Sun Nov 29, 2009 4:30 pm

 People are trying to sell their used 1st generation Kindles.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/ ... ition=used
Image

WebPilot
Posts: 3716
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 6:51 pm
Antipspambot question: 0
Location: 41d 1' N 80d 22' W

Re: Kindle

Post by WebPilot » Wed Dec 02, 2009 7:25 am

 Clever ad. Since C, "Hello World" is the first program one learns to write when he/she learns a new programming language.

Image
Image

WebPilot
Posts: 3716
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 6:51 pm
Antipspambot question: 0
Location: 41d 1' N 80d 22' W

Re: Kindle

Post by WebPilot » Mon Dec 07, 2009 4:38 am

Image
Image

Mark
Posts: 10931
Joined: Sat Oct 11, 2003 10:14 pm

Re: Kindle

Post by Mark » Sun Dec 13, 2009 5:31 am

Presentation is Everything

WebPilot
Posts: 3716
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 6:51 pm
Antipspambot question: 0
Location: 41d 1' N 80d 22' W

Re: Kindle

Post by WebPilot » Sat Dec 19, 2009 7:50 am

Image
Image

tufty
Posts: 887
Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2003 12:12 pm
Antipspambot question: 0
Location: France
Contact:

Re: Kindle

Post by tufty » Sat Dec 19, 2009 8:21 am

Might be time to hold fire on those e-ink displays.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oawX3wenxNc

This is the screen that's rumoured to be in the rumoured Apple tablet. And even if it's not, it kicks e-ink into touch in terms of usability, pretty much. E-ink appears to have slightly more contrast, but the flicker on page refresh is horrendous.

WebPilot
Posts: 3716
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 6:51 pm
Antipspambot question: 0
Location: 41d 1' N 80d 22' W

Re: Kindle

Post by WebPilot » Wed Dec 23, 2009 5:27 am

Kindle Wireless Reading Device.gif
Amazing ... thin as a pencil.
Image

tufty
Posts: 887
Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2003 12:12 pm
Antipspambot question: 0
Location: France
Contact:

Re: Kindle

Post by tufty » Wed Dec 23, 2009 7:41 pm

Image

WebPilot
Posts: 3716
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 6:51 pm
Antipspambot question: 0
Location: 41d 1' N 80d 22' W

Re: Kindle

Post by WebPilot » Thu Dec 24, 2009 3:30 am

 My gosh, is that a Kindle she's sitting on?
Image

Post Reply