I've recently joined a book club and have decided not to review the books that we'll read for the club discussions. So, I'll skip the review for the last book I read - The Open Road by Pico Iyer. Instead, I'm going to talk a little about my new toy.
I've seen a lot of talk about "eBook readers" -- hand-held electronic devices for reading books -- over the last few years and, since last fall, some pretty positive reviews of Amazon's new device called the Kindle. The device was so wildly popular since it's launch that they've been impossible to get. So, when I got an email from Amazon a few weeks ago saying that they were finally caught up and had immediate availability, I decided to take the plunge. I've never been much of a fan of reading things on my computer screen. As much of a techie as I am, I still have a tendency to print documents and read them on paper. Even so - a new toy is a new toy and, after a few clicks and waiting a few days, my new Kindle arrived on my doorstep.
The first thing you notice, even before you open the package, is that the Kindle weighs almost nothing. The device, on the surface, is about the size of a trade paperback book and just over a half inch thick. The display takes up about two thirds of the device leaving room for a full keyboard. The second thing you notice is that, obviously, somebody who actually reads books has been deeply involved in designing not only the device, but the experience. When I powered up the device, the screen was already labeled "Marc's Kindle" and one of the documents on it was a letter labeled "Welcome Marc" from Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon. While these seem like just cute touches, the implication was refreshing -- no long registration process to go through; no details to supply - since I bought the device from Amazon and they already know me, my Kindle was already my Kindle and was synced with my Amazon account.
OK - so no registration, but how hard was it to actually get something to read on to this device. The first pleasant surprise was that I didn't have to hook the Kindle to my computer or even to my Internet access. The device uses cellular service so it's all set to go - no communications subscription required. Even at the lake where cellular service is weak, I had no problem getting started. It came up on a screen that let me search for available books (there are about 150,000 so far). I typed the author's name using the small but usable keyboard, and up popped a list of the author's books, including the one I wanted. One more click (using a clever, scroll wheel, sidebar cursor - trust me on this one) and I had purchased the book. Within 2-3 minutes the entire book had been delivered and was ready to read. (Note - you can also shop on Amazon with your computer and just tell it you want the Kindle edition. By the time, you get back to your Kindle, the book will be there.) While you can add memory cards to get more capacity, as it ships, the Kindle will hold roughly 200 books.
Great so it's easy to use. Still, ultimately, the only value for a book reader is, well, to actually be able to read books. So now I had my first book and was ready to give it a shot. I selected the book and up popped the first page. On first glance, the display technology is amazing. The device uses what's called eInk - a very high contrast display. On second, third and 50th glance, still amazing. I'm halfway through my second book and reading the display is like reading paper - none of the typical computer screen eye strain. There's no back light which makes it easier on the eyes - though, of course, it means you can't read in the dark. The contrast is strong enough that regardless of the ambient light (including in sun light), I've got no issues with the display quality. It's a little annoying when you move to the next page because there's a sort of flash as the previous page is erased. Surprisingly, I stopped noticing this very quickly. One great side affect of using a display is that it's trivial to change the size of the print. While this is terrific for folks who are starting to need "big print" books, it's good even for the rest of us. I've found myself, after a long day staring at a computer screen, picking up my Kindle and bumping the font size to make it easier to read.
How about the reading "mechanics". Turning a page is easy - there are big "next page" buttons on both sides of the screen, tapered downward to make them feel more natural. If anything, it's a little too easy to flip pages and, once in a while, I find myself flipping forward at the wrong time. On the left side of the screen, there's a big "prev page" button to go backwards so it's not a big deal and a problem that seems to be diminishing with familiarity. The size and shape of the Kindle adds some unexpected advantages - since there's only one screen (where a book has two at a time), one handed reading is far easier, especially given the extremely light weight. The single screen also makes "awkward position" reading - like lying on your side - far easier.
One great feature, especially if you're reading for a purpose - work, a book club, learning - it's trivial to annotate. It was hammered in to me growing up to have respect for books - not just what was in them, but the physical book itself. For that reason, I've always had problems with highlighting, writing notes in the margin or, most painfully, dog-earing. With the Kindle, it's easy to do all these things without damaging the book. You then get a separate area you can go to that'll let you see your highlights and notes and jump directly to the spot in the book that you wanted to remember. Another advantage -- once you have highlighted a section of text, with a couple of clicks, you can bring up the definitions of all the words in the section using the built in dictionary.
The device also has a moderately featured web-browser and an mp3 player built-in, along with the ability to subscribe to various newspapers, magazines and blogs. In addition, there is a very simple way that you can take documents of certain types from your computer and have them moved to your Kindle - a great way to keep lots of documents you need for work or travel. I haven't played with these features yet.
So far, the battery life has been a non-issue. Most of the time, you can leave the wireless access off - a simple, easy to access switch - and increase the time between charges. With wireless mostly off, I'm halfway through my second book with only a single recharge - i.e. it'll give you at least a full book on a single charge.
As always, no device - especially a first release - is perfect and this one is no exception. The few minor quibbles I've got with the device itself include (1) as mentioned above, there's a sort of flash when you change pages, (2) the button arrangement is a little funny with different size buttons on each side, (3) the buttons aren't configurable - it'd be nice to make a few harder to use, (4) the fake leather cover that ships with the Kindle is terrible, but I've ordered a better one.
The one big downside of the Kindle is, of course, price. The device currently sells for $400. That may come down but it's more likely that the price will stay up there for a while as they add features. If you read a lot and buy a lot of books, the price shouldn't be a barrier at all for a simple reason -- the cost of the books that you buy are dramatically lower. Current best-sellers that, in hardback, would sell for $25-30 are $10. I have yet to pay more than $14 for a book and lots of older titles are available for as little as $3-4. For a reader like me, that means the device will pay for itself in less than a year.
As you can tell, I'm really high on the Kindle. It's the first eBook reader I've seen that actually appears viable. That said, however, there are downsides to the whole eBook experience. I made my first post-Kindle trip to a bookstore a few days ago and was kind of lost. I kept seeing books I was interested in but didn't want to buy so that I could get the Kindle edition. For the first time in ages, I walked out of a book store without a purchase. In addition, since there's no physical book, you can't pass on your latest discovery to a friend. Finally, while there are already a whole lot of Kindle compatible books out there, not every book is available.
I obviously highly recommend this device - especially to a few groups of folks - those who read a lot; those who buy books as soon as they're released; those who need a little larger font size; those who carry their books around with them. Amazon's stated design goal for the Kindle was that it should "disappear" after a few uses - it should just be a book - surprisingly, they seem to have largely succeeded.
Ask me for a demo next time you see me. I love showing off new toys.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment