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10082 of 10248 humans found the following review helpful.
Kindle Me!
By Robin L. McLaughlin
I’m a new Kindle 2 owner and I did not own a Kindle 1. I was very fascinated in the firstborn Kindle, but had decisive to wait for improvements based on client feedback after it was released, particularly the accidental page turning issue. Since it looked like they made the improvements I was waiting for (one of the others was a bit more free space on the case to hold it) I took the plunge and got the new one.
I thought I’d get started with listing my reasons for getting the Kindle, since I think that may most times support others who are sitting on the fence to determine if it’s for them or not.
* Storage. I’m out of shelf space and all the boxes of books do little to add to the ambience of my one bedroom apartment. On the rare occasions I want to read something again attempting to find the book in all the boxes is an exercise in frustration.
* eInk technology. I love books and using an electronic gadget isn’t the same experience. The new engineering has eradicated that concern.
* Convenience. The Whispernet is great for when you need the next book in a series right away or want to stock up on a few before leaving on a trip. Being capable to have various books stored in the Kindle to take along rather of having to pack an extra bag just for my books for a week’s vacation is a big benefit.
* Aging. I’m 47 and middle age is starting to catch up with me! Being capable to select larger print to keep away from having to use my reading glasses (just started calling for them this last year) and having a device that’s requiring little effort on my hands for keeping to read is a boon.
* Less waiting for publication. I don’t like reading hardbacks because of their size and weight. But it’s agonizing to wait for the latest book in a series to ultimately come out in mass market format. Now I won’t have to wait!
* Environment. The majority of books I buy and read I’ll only read once. I feel guilty in regards to the trees necessitated to make the paper and all the other energy employed to develop and ship/distribute the books required to satisfy my reading appetite.
* Saving Money. While the cost of the Kindle up front is steep, in the long run it will remunerate for itself and save me cash since I read on intermediate 8 books a month. With the free classics available it’s likewise going to give hope or courage to me to exaggerate my reading material, for no further and added cost.
My Kindle was one of the ones that shipped without being pre-registered to my account. After I plugged it in to my USB hub on my computer to charge the battery (the charging cord design is very clever!) I read through the original portion of the user guide which told me how to register the Kindle. I followed the instructions and a couple minutes later I was all set!
I thought it would be fitting to christen my Kindle with the Stephen King novella UR, so went to the Amazon website on my computer and clicked on the button to buy it. As soon as I’d clicked the button to assert my order it appeared on my Kindle almost immediately! I read it while the Kindle finished charging.
First impressions:
When humans say the Kindle is sleek they ain’t kidding. Everything is very nicely laid out and it just feels and looks cool!
After reading through the introductory guide that loads up mechanically at the begin and following along it took me almost no time to learn which buttons are where and what each of them do. The intro guide is a great deal to get started and I haven’t felt a need to work my way through the more elaborated guide.
The 5-way controller is teensy! I was a bit taken aback at original by this. Though after a bit of exercise it’s astoundingly easy to use. For people who have dexterity issues it could be a potential stumbling block. If that’s you I’d commend seeing if you may find someone with a Kindle 2 to undertake it out for yourself basi to see how it works for you.
Being competent to change the font sizes is awesome! It’s done on the fly with just a couple button clicks.
When starting to read for real for the original time I was VERY conscious that I was reading on an electronic gadget and was a bit disappointed that it didn’t without delay “disappear” as per the advertising. However, it genuinely didn’t take too long for that sentiment to lessen. I imagine once the Kindle is no longer my stimulating new toy and is just what I use to read books that I’ll have exclusively lost the gadget cognizance thing.
It took very little time to get applied to having to push a button to turn pages and the screen flash as they turn only genuinely startled me the initial few times. I may see how it might bother a great deal of people, but it was a non-issue for me almost right away. The page turns are very fast.
The Kindle design allows for keeping it in various dissimilar comfortable positions with either hand. Normally when reading books I only like keeping them in my left hand and for the duration of a long reading session it often starts to get uncomfortable, or even painful. I found myself without apparent effort switching my Kindle off amongst hands and into dissimilar positions in each hand without even genuinely noticing I was doing it.
I ordered the Amazon case and am rather pleased with it. It’s somewhat sturdy, looks and feels well-made, and the design is perfective for how I’ll likely be using the Kindle most of the time.
Unlike a lot of people in these reviews I think having the case as a distinguished buy right from the commence was a good move by Amazon. If a case was included, as with the Kindle 1, that would have been reflected in a higher price. But I’d imagine that in all probability 50% or more buyers end up buying a dissimilar case they like better, which means you end up paying for two cases. The way it’s been done with Kindle 2 means you may pick which case you want right from the begin and only compensate once.
Overall I’m thrilled to at last be share of the Kindle community and suppose to be spending many, many, numerous pleasant hours absorbed in books on my new best friend. Kindle me, baby!
Update 3/23/09:
I feel a bit guilty adding more to an already long review, but felt that since I’ve now had the Kindle for closely a full month it would be appropriate. I’m wholly in love with my Kindle!
Like beauteous much every one else I feel that the Kindle 2 is in dire need of a user customizable folder scheme for organizing books. That’s the biggest negative for me so far.
The dictionary function is utterly fantastic and now that I’m accustomed to having it I found it’s discouraging and hindering to be reading a paper book and not be capable to use it!
I didn’t think I’d be using the spotlight and note features much or at all but genuinely have been and they’re an exceedingly nice extra. People in book discussion groups would find these to be a big benefit.
The search function is likewise breathtakingly utile for a wide assortment of uses.
I’ve unquestionably lost the gadget knowingness thing. This is just how I read most books now.
One of the unexpected great things is not having to deal with my bookmark falling out and having to find my place again. Or being capable to just set the reader down for a couple minutes without bookmarking or losing my place because I bumped the book and it closed. It’s little things like this that in truth elevate the reading experience.
Update 6/22/10:
Yes I’m back to add even more! I may frankly say the Kindle is one of the best purchases I have ever made. I haven’t read a paper book in over a year.
The reason for this update is because I now have the 2.5 software upgrade and wanted to comment on it.
As I noted previously, the Kindle was in dire need of a way to coordinate books and documents. We now have it in the form of Collections, which is a tagging system. I think it could have been imposed a bit better, but I don’t know what sorts of constraints the designers are under. Even with it is limitations it’s still a HUGE betterment to the Kindle and corrected the one glaring flaw it had.
The Collections are all managed on the Kindle, no computer or software needed. It’s very easy to invent (or delete or rename) collections and to move books amongst them. You may name them whatsoever you like, have as few or some as you like (or none at all if you don’t want them). Books may be put into more than one Collection. You can’t make nested or sub-collections. Your collection selective information is backed up on the Amazon server just like the rest of your book info, such as last page read.
Other features added (all of them are optional):
Password. This is most utile for those who want to keep confidential documents on the Kindle. The password has to be entered to return from sleep mode or to access the Kindle from a computer. That’s a bit of a hassle for reading at home, but provides magnificent shelter when journeying or for other uses.
Social networks. You may now send passages you have highlighted in a book you’re reading to your Facebook account or Twitter. (I don’t use either of those services, but galore who use the feature say it’s beauteous neat.)
Larger fonts. Two new font sizes were added (for a total of 8). They are Humongous and Gargantuan (my terms). For any individual who has failing eyesight and is in need of text that big I’d commend getting a DX for the larger screen. On the biggest font size on my little Kindle there are only 5-8 words on the entire screen. Yeah, it’s that big!
Sharper font display. My Kindle has always had a beauteous good display and I never had the difficulties that numerous units did with greyish text or lack of contrast. I may discern a little divergence though and it’s unquestionably an improvement, most noticeable on the middle font sizes.
PDF Zoom & Scan. To make reading PDFs with teensy print or images posing no difficulty you may now zoom in and pan around PDF pages. I don’t use PDFs so can’t report original hand. Others say that while the feature is helpful and a huge improvement, it may still be discouraging and hindering to undertake and use PDFs on the Kindle natively.
International browser access. Kindle owners in numerous other countries report that they now have access to limitless internet browser use. International users up til now have had no internet access, or only wikipedia access. Amazon never declared this as an added feature, but galore of the country info pages have changed, so it will have to be an intended benefit. Great news for our global Kindle friends!
9591 of 9832 persons found the following review helpful.
Kindle 2 : First Impressions from a Kindle 1 owner
By P. Inhofer
On the one hand I love my Kindle 1… I use it everyday, I subscribe to my bestloved newspaper, I mark up my books with annotations, highlights and bookmarks.
On the other hand my Kindle 1 annoys me… unintended page changes, the awkward way I on occasion have to hold it to keep from hitting buttons, the on occasion slow page refresh, and the screen freezes that now has me journeying with a paper clip lest I need to do a reset while commuting on the train.
I’ve had the Kindle 2 in my hands for closely a day and have carried it on one commute. What follows is my “first impressions” review of the Kindle 2 from the perspective of an proprietor of the primary K1. What’s different, what’s better and what’s worse?
5 huge things I without delay noticed as different:
First, when taking the K2 out of the box I without delay cited that the back cover is not without apparent effort removable (if at all) and won’t slip off in my hands – as was standard with the K1. The keyboard is likewise much much littler and less obtrusive.
The second thing I noticed is power management. No longer do I have to press and hold two buttons to put the device to sleep. The switches for On/Off and Wireless On/Off are gone. There’s a single little switch at the top of the K2 that handles Sleep.
The third thing I noticed – where’s the silver strip? In fact, the entire navigation structure has been wholly revised – I’m still getting employed to it but it’s a big step forward. The silver strip has been substituted by a 4-way rocker that may also be pressed for “OK” commands, creating bookmarks, and doing highlighting.
The fourth thing I noticed – while page altering doesn’t seem to me to be specially more quickly – closely each other fundamental interaction on the screen is vastly accelerated… scrolling the cursor, looking up words, highlighting text, and typing text.
The fifth thing I noticed – a new power cable. This unit uses USB cables that are not compatible with K1. It’s a bit of a bummer since I was hoping my wife and I could portion power cables (she’s taking over my K1).
What’s better:
Navigation is a big improvement. Moving the cursor to a word and having the definition of the word without delay pop up on the bottom of the screen is terrific. Using the rocker to move amidst articles in a newspaper makes scanning the paper much quicker and enjoyable. Calling up the Menu strip is much rapidly and without delay and interactive. Clearly, Amazon was hard at work to make navigation more quickly and easier. The hard work is apparent.
Buttons: The K1 was a ceaseless struggle with inadvertent page changes. The design was flawed from the beginning. The single best betterment in the K2 took a few minutes of concentrated reading to realize… the button hinges are on the outside – at the edge – of the K2. You need to press on the interior of the button to get it to click. This modify alone has saved me from various inadvertent page changes. Combine that with the littler button sizes and one major source of feeling of annoyance at being hindered or criticized has been instantaneously eliminated!
Size: The K2 is thinner than the iPhone. It feels denser and perhaps a tad heavier – even though I did buy the premium cover which snaps into the K2 and adds to the weight (btw, I love the premium cover and think it’s worth the investment).
Network Speed: The K2 may use G3 cellphone connections and when it’s activated it makes a significant divergence in interactivity to the Kindle Store and when downloading Archived content.
Power Management: The little power button at the top of the Kindle is in truth a power slide. That is, slide it to toggle Sleep mode on and off. Slide and hold to do a full power down. And the K1′s wireless on-off switch has been substituted by a menu choice in software. Works for me. Also, equated to the K1 waking from sleep is super-fast.
What’s worse…
There isn’t much I liked better in the K1 than the K2. One thing: calling up clippings and notes. In the K2 these items only list the basi sentence or two of my highlights. In the K1 it displays the entire spotlight – which makes reading through them much posing no difficulty and more like reading Cliff Notes. The new interface in K2 is annoying and makes the feature much less useful. I’ll be writing to Amazon to see if we may get that changed.
Closing thoughts…
The K2 is a huge refinement over the K1. It feels as easy to read as the K1 but doesn’t seem any crisper to my eyes (I normally read at point sizes 3 & 4). In this regard, as a book, the K1 and K2 are comparable. I wouldn’t run up my credit card to buy the K2 from a faith that it’s fundamentally having little impact to read. However, in my short time with the K2 it’s a more gratifying device to use. The change in the hinging and size of the buttons is major plus and would make it hard to go back to the K1. Amazon broke a few paradigms that K1 users are accustomed to and I found myself going to the K2 User Guide to figure out a lot of content management issues that have been changed in this release.
Why 4 stars and not 5? The Kindle will never get 5 stars from me until Amazon implements the notion of a lending library where I may lend another Kindle user a book; which would have the book would decrease rapidly from my Kindle and appear on theirs. After x number of days the book would mechanically be returned to me and taken off the other person’s Kindle. Amazon says they want the device to vanish and content to stand out. I say: Until I may lend a friend a book the Kindle will never rather live up to that standard and will be, in my book, stuck at 4 stars.
307 of 314 people found the following review helpful.
The Dinosaur & the Kindle
By Susan Tunis
I am not a gadget girl. I am not an early adopter. I am a dinosaur. I am in love with books. I like the feel of them, the smell of them, and I am a ardent supporter of independent booksellers. I am the last person in the world who would buy a Kindle. However, Amazon likes me. They gave me a Kindle 2 as a reward for services rendered. Well, who would turn that down?
Here’s the shocker… I LOVE it! I can’t even believe how much I love my Kindle. A friend of mine wrote a elaborated critique of the initial Kindle, and I have to say that the new design is a tremendous improvement. Aside from being slimmer and sleeker, there are a great deal of places to hold the device comfortably without activating any functions. The screen is easy to read off of, and I frankly believe that I may read more immediate on a Kindle than I do with a conventional book. I’m not sure why. Faster page turns? What I may tell you is that it’s exceedingly comfortable and easy to read off the Kindle anywhere, but peculiarly when you have fixed space–like on public transportation. You may without apparent effort hold the Kindle and turn pages with a single hand.
The Kindle has various features that could best be described as… cool. My eyesight is fine, but I may choose the font size that suits me best. Likewise, I love the text-to-speech feature. A huge feeling of annoyance at being hindered or criticized in my life is that I can’t work on my embroidery (I’m a dinosaur, remember?) and read at the same time. Now, I may have the Kindle read to me while I stitch. Yes, it’s sort of tinny and mechanical, but it’s still a genuinely nice option to use occasionally. In addition to reading published books, I read a lot of unpublished manuscripts. It’s not not common to see me schlepping around 600 pages of loosely bound paper. The other day I had the astounding experience of forwarding an email with a manuscript attached to my consecrated Kindle address. Within seconds, the entire MS was in my Kindle, formatted and ready to go. Amazing! I may even make notes on the MS in the machine.
However, perhaps the best thing when it comes to the Kindle is the fact that I may get internet access for free, closely anywhere. I use it to check my email all the time now. I wouldn’t want to write a novel on the keyboard, but it’s sufficient for brief communications. Now when I go away for the weekend, I may leave my laptop at home! It also works fine for basic internet surfing.
One last thing I was incognizant of is how much free or nominally-priced content there is for the Kindle. I’ve got a great deal to read, and I haven’t purchased one $9.99 book yet. My introductory Kindle “purchases” were all free public domain titles. Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle–how may you do better than that? I likewise read the Kindle Daily Post in the Kindle store religiously. You never know when you’ll be offered free content like a back-listed Lee Child novel or numerous contemporary fantasy. Other writers such as Boyd Morrison and J.A. Konrath are providing novels at prices ranging from $1 to $2 dollars, as a way to find new readers. One more bestloved is the free Amazon Daily blog, which is like a fun, timely magazine with short articles that update constantly. The perfective amusement for brief snatches of time.
No, I never would have purchased a Kindle. And “real” books will still be a big percentage of my life, but I will never be without a Kindle again. This dinosaur is evolving.
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