Review And Buy

Kindle: Amazon’s New Wireless Reading Device

Revolutionary electronic-paper display provides a sharp, high-resolution screen that looks and reads like real paper.

Amazon Customer Reviews:

Solution to my book addiction   February 12, 2008
The Kindle is the first viable ebook reader that I’ve owned. I have boxes full of failed ebook platforms (PDAs and PCs), and a house bursting with about 4000 books. I’ve drastically cut back on buying books because I literally have no place to put them, and I get very little return when I resell. Plus, I like to reread books, but even if I keep them I usually can’t find them when I want to reread.
The Kindle is the first ebook platform with a credible supply chain–Amazon has enough leverage to get a critical mass of publishers to try ebook releases without onerous DRM and ridiculous pricing. The Kindle is one of the first platforms to provide a reasonably sized screen that is easy on the eyes in a package about the size and weight of a trade paperback. The Kindle has excellent battery life, unlike the tablet and PDA platforms I’ve tried in the past, and doesn’t get hot. The DRM isn’t tied to a platform, hence it doesn’t break each and every time I upgrade computers, and it isn’t controlled by some fly-by-night company who probably won’t be around to authorize my books on a new platform.
Amazon’s inclusion of on-line shopping and instant downloads, without the requirement of having another computer in the loop, is another breakthrough capability, and, based on my personal experience, makes it almost too easy to indulge a book addiction.
Ergonomically, the Kindle has the problems already mentioned about 1500 times in these reviews–the most irritating to me being the button placement. It’s almost impossible for me to pick it up without pressing some button. It’s a gen 1 product, and I can live with the warts. My books will still be accessible when the Kindle 3000 is released, and my book investment will shortly outweigh the cost of the Kindle.
I’d give it 4 stars, but I want to offset the non-owner esthetics-police reviews.

WOW   February 12, 2008
1st off let me just say WOW. The Kindle is an awesome device. For all of you who are waiting for yours be patient. It looks like Amazon is getting caught up on the back orders. I ordered mine on 01/21/08 and received it on 02/11/08 so less than a month wait and it is well worth the wait so hang in there.
My first impressions of the features of this device:
1) The E-Ink technology is very nice, no eye strain at all.
2) Wireless: this is what really makes the Kindle stand out above all of the other e-book readers on the market. I was impressed by the online kindle store and the speed of book downloads… I purchased my first book and it was downloaded in literally 15 seconds. The kindle also offers basic web surfing.. I was unaware of this feature and very impressed by it. It’s still under the experimental menu and free from what I can see… I cant imagine that it will remain free after the experimental stage but maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised.
3) Design. Once again a home run! The design on the kindle felt very comfortable in my hand and the button placement was spot on!
4) Dictionary, Once again a nice feature that goes just a step above and beyond the competition. I didnt think I would use it very much but I found myself looking up words like a mad man while I was reading my first book.
There are a couple of minor drawbacks that I thougth I would point out:
1) The included cover… the Kindle doesnt have a way that I have found to connect it to the included cover so I’m just using my cover for storage and transport not for reading. The Kindle does fit snug in the cover when you have the rubber band strap around the cover but when you open the cover I am afraid that the kindle would fall out and get damaged if I tried to leave it in the cover while I’m reading.
2) The sample chapter feature says you can buy the book right from the sample chapter and continue reading from where you left off. Well when I did this the entire book downloaded as a seperate item on my menu and I had to find my place in the book again which was a little annoying.
Other than these 2 minor drawbacks I was extremely impressed with my Kindle and even at the huge pricetag ($400) I am very satisfied with my purchase and would recommend the Kindle to any avid reader! Thank you Amazon for making such a great product!!

Fragmented Impressions from a Converted Rare Reader   February 12, 2008
Rather than write the umpteenth glowing review of this exceptional device, I’d like to give you specific views of how and why I use it daily. I am a modest reader–heck, who am I kidding, I read books rarely and magazines only on the throne–and although it’d seem that the most avid readers would be the ones to shell out $400 for the Kindle, I can tell you, this Kindle e-reader has catapulted me into the stratosphere of reader extraordinaire. I read every moment that I can sneak in, and now cannot wait to run home, throw on the jammies, and cuddle with a Mountain Dew and get reading. Not just a novelty, it is so easy to hold, and so clear to read, that I enjoy it much more than reading a hardcover or softcover book. All the people who like the "smell of books, the feel of the page" really should try this device. It has a fully returnable 30 day guarantee, and anyone will find that 10.5 ounces is, simply, much easier on the arms than trying to prop an unwieldy book, turn pages, and suffer. I did not know that I was suffering all these years. No wonder I hated Oliver Twist in junior high. It was the book, it wasn’t me. I’m okay. I keep telling myself now, "I’m okay!" Extremely reassuring to the "inner me".
Gray screen/eInk: exceptional. I’ve seen the youtube reviews lamenting the gray back screen rather than white, but once you are reading, you forget all about it, and frankly, the gray is much easier on the eyes. eInk does not flex and "oil" when you touch it with fingers like an LCD display, and as the screen is not touch-screen, you never need to touch or goop it up. It is glorious in its unobtrusiveness.
Battery: exceptional. Amazon says 2 days with wireless on, and seven days with it off. I turn on wireless a few times daily to get my newspaper and check out wikipedia, but mostly just use the Kindle on the "on" mode with wireless off. Battery life for me: at least roughly 25-30 hours of reading. Extra battery: 19.99, but unlikely to need one soon, still good to know it is user replaceable.
Cover: the book is intended to be read in the cover, quite simply. Please read me review under "Kindle cover" on Amazon for my thoughts on the cover. I love the cover and never read without it and have no issues with errant Next Page button pushes, like those on youtube reviews. Use the cover properly and the book stays well in place. No issues at all with teh cover. None.
Quality: I find the reader to be exceptional quality, with one caveat. The scroll wheel is push button type, and the Next Page button is used all the time. They are, if anything on this device, the thing to fail. They will get pushed millions of times over a couple of years. Amazon gives an unconditional one year warranty, and I’d suggest they offer an extended warranty at a reasonable price. This reader is so dependent on the scroll wheel and the Next Page button that, should one of them fail or break off one year and one month into my ownership, I’ll be more pissed that a desert rat! After pulling my hair out of my head, one strand at a time, and cursing life up one side and down the other, I will throw down text and video barbs against Amazon that make all those disgruntled Apple MacBook user-sledgehammer youtube videos look like childsplay. Amazon, get an extended warranty going at $19.99 yearly now. I said NOW!
Newpapers: Loved my two week Wall Street Journal preview, with easy to read content, but seeing as the info was all about industry and investment, I decided to subscribe to the Washington Post at 9.99 monthly for a less myopic view on news. When USA Today is available, I will stop my hard copy mailed version and get it via Kindle. No issues reading, and although graphics are rudimentary, there are also no ads. Once I am reading, I do not miss the graphics at all.
Wikipedia: the internet on this device is horrible, slow and sluggish. Even text-based websites are slow with page loading and I would say not worth even using; do not buy the Kindle for web browsing. All that said, since it is integrated with Wikipedia, that seems to work effortlessly. Click "search" button, then type @wiki and the name of what you wish to search, and boom, in 20 seconds, its there, just like on-line. Same as Wikipedai you all know. Wikipedia has enough content that, if it were published on hard paper, it’d be 2.5 miles long, I’m told. Adore the ability to search wikipedia with the click of a button or two. Could spend hours just doing that. And, on a similar note, the integrated 250k word Oxford English dictionary, that you click while reading to find any word, is fast, effective, and adds to the reading.
Silent: I like to read in bed, and my wife likes to sleep. Even the sound of my magazines irks her. Well, this device is nearly silent, even when turning pages. Win-win for wife and me.
Font: I change the size of the font with a couple button clicks all the time. I have reasonable vision, but depending on the circumstances, such as low light, if I am tired, et cetera, I change the font more than I thought I would. For instance, when in bed and my arm gets fatigued from holding the book, I lay it down on the covers, lie sideways, and blow up the font, and stare at the reader from about three feet away. Voila, I can still see it. Hugely useable feature.
Kindle Store: browse it often, and find it easily used, downloads are fast, and enjoy that Amazon saves my purchased books–forever. And managing content on the Kindle, such as unsubscribing to magazines and newspapers, and trial offers, and getting free samples of every book (I do this often and really have bought and shunned books based on reading one free sample chapter. It works!), is easily done on the device, or on the Amazon website.
In summary, although the thing is $399, the EVDO Sprint network functions without a hitch, and for spending hours and hours reading in airports, in bed, in the car, it is a stupendous device. I would read everything on it if it was available. The book list, now over 105k titles, is still spotty, but Jeff Bezos has a goal of getting all published content ever printed on here within ten years (watch the 54 minute Bezos-Charlie Rose interview on Amazon or youtube for a relevant overview).