OK, so I’ve finished my first book on the Kindle, and I have to say I like it. Once again, I’m not wading into the DRM discussion, because it has been easy for me to add non-protected material for free. I can say that functionally they got it right. I was on vacation, could do the whole trip on a single charge, and even buy a new book without my laptop from the airport. Having tried many an ebook in my time, this one is clearly the best.
Summary:
Good –
Lightweight
Easy to read screen
Easy to put material onto
Computerless browsing of store and delivery of materials
keyboard
Included dictionary
Clipping and Note Taking
Bad –
Awkward email interface to convert books
Horrible web browsing
Cost
No backlight
There are a few things for the wish list (aren’t there always):
Cheaper – I’d love to have a class I was teaching use these, but can’ in good conscience have students plop down $400 for the device
Better production tools – Converting a document through e-mail attachments for local use (as opposed to having them delivered directly to the Kindle for $.10) is just plain odd. I’d love a desktop or web based method. As it is, you email a doc to a free address, and get a web link back that has the converted document. Odd that we have to go back to a listserv interface for a new ebook.
In fact what I would really like to see is a sort of kindle community (accessible on the web and through the Kindle) that allowed for the production and exchange of documents, reading lists and reviews. Something that allowed me through the web to convert a document and then share it with everyone. There is a Kindle/Amazon service for publishers, but it is geared around producers working in isolation to build books to sell. It would be much cooler to create an online community that let folks not interested in making a dollar off of books to convene.
A real solution for reading at night
A better cover
So would I recommend it? Yes, certainly over the Sony ebook, which is more stylish, but the wireless book buying of the Kindle is miles beyond the Sony book store.
Nice to read a review by someone who has actually used one. Most of the negativity centered on the clunky design and the (hypothetical) limitations of the DRM. I still have reservations about how closed the book buying options are, but I have to remind myself that this *IS* an immature product.
Have you been able to use it in Syracuse? My impression was that the Sprint EVDO network wasn’t able.
I’ve had no problems with the wireless in Syracuse or in any of my travels. Part of how I judge the success of a gadget is if I keep using it after the initial enthusiasm, and I keep turning to my Kindle to read… something I can’t say about the Sony reader.
Well, that’s good news. Sprint’s network coverage webpage (the source of my speculation) made it seem like Syracuse was not yet on their EVDO grid. Rochester was obviously hot, but Syracuse looked like it was mostly only good for regular cell phone service, not EVDO.
Have you used the Kindle with any technical books — ie. computer or mathematics books with tables or charts? Inadequate screen real estate for displaying graphics and tables has been the main problem with using my Palm as an e-book reader. I noticed that the Kindle store has quite a number of technical books for sale (at technical book prices!), but if you can’t read charts of data because of the Kindle’s lo-res grayscale display, it would be a problem.
I haven’t really used it for tech books seriously. I have converted several big docs that had plenty of tables and graphs. While the conversion process wasn’t perfect (they were pretty big) the tables and figures did pretty well.
Kindle does not handle HTML table commands according the the Amazon site. How did your tables get converted?
I went back and checked some of my converted documents, and indeed, the tables have been converted to formatted lists. While it did a pretty good job(I used the free e-mail conversion method), it is now bugging me.