“A Victorian Horror”
A Stimulated Kindle
OK, so I decided to spend a portion of my economic stimulus (I just love saying that) payment stimulating (there I go again) the economy by buying an Amazon Kindle. I played with one that our good friends purchased recently and they gave it such a glowing review I had to have one:
The first book I bought on it was Snow Crash (of course) and I also bought The Drunkard’s Walk which is amazingly good and kept me up until 2:00 AM this morning. Actually I’m sure I hit the 80% conversion path with that one because I saw the book on my recommendations list, then I downloaded the free sample (took like 10 seconds), read that in about 30 minutes and loved it so much I bought the book (took < 1 minute to deliver). Amazon FTW.
The device does have some minor annoyances one can (and should) expect from a first run device. The forward/back buttons on the side are annoyingly easy to hit on accident, it’s a little on the slow side just overall (not downloads mind you, but like searching, loading a book, going through menus, typing an annotation, etc.) but in general I am REALLY enjoying it. The digital paper display is AMAZING and just so easy on the eyes. I’ll do another review in a couple of months and we’ll see if I’m still in love with it then.
Oh, and the weird little digital navigation indicator on the right side of the screen is amazingly compelling. It looks like frosted glass with a little mirror sticker stuck to it but the mirror sticker moves all around and even stretches. It’s the most mechanical looking digital thing I’ve ever seen.
John Postlethwait said on 06/18/08 09:41 PM
It was pretty cool.
One thing I didn't ask you when I saw it today was - does it have a back-light if you need one?
Tres said on 06/18/08 11:29 PM
Nope. I don't think light would filter well through the substrate anyway.
Riona said on 06/19/08 02:12 PM
Yay! I still love mine and after a 24-hour delay in Toronto airport, I will never be without it again. That's where it shone. I got The Drunkard's Walk too!
JakeZ said on 06/20/08 12:56 AM
I think the waiting graphic is still too hidden and doesn't give enough feedback. The device still feels like it freezes up. Kinda frustrating.
Poor Riona said on 06/20/08 12:57 AM
Sux you were stuck in that airport. Hope you loved Ireland.
Tres said on 06/20/08 11:01 AM
The Kindle has a pace that is slower than we are used to but I don't think it matters. Actually, I really appreciate the speed of the device because it feels relaxing. It's like sitting down with a book, which is exactly what the design team was going for. Flipping a page on the device takes about the same amount of time it takes to flip a page in a book. If you just pick up the kindle and fiddle with it for the first time the speed seems like a problem, but after you use it for a few minutes and dive into a good book, the speed of the device doesn't matter one bit.
Momma said on 06/28/08 06:21 PM
Are you able to loan books to each other with this device. Can you get a limited "friends" sharing? Probably not, but I forgot to ask you that. Only one week till Reno!!
Tres said on 06/30/08 12:11 PM
You can't really lend books with it (might be an interesting feature though) but you can tell someone about a book and they can download a sample for free. Then, if they like it, they can buy it. Most books are only $10.
Page last updated about 2 years ago.