![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ewxI’ve bought a Kindle. I love it.
The screen is clear to read and the updates quickly for ordinary reading. It is not lit but the (separately sold) cover includes a small reading light powered from the device itself. I’ve not made much use of this since I’ve always had some other light source available so far, so can’t really comment on how useful it is. Battery life is pretty long - I haven’t quantified this, but I can say that I only had to recharge it a small number of times in a two-week holiday.
The small size makes it convenient to hold while reading. I don’t recall my hands yet getting tired while using it.
PDF support is distinctly ropey; for instance it could only display the first 46 pages of a PDF of a novel. (As it happens in that case I have HTML too and converting it via Amazon’s converter did the job.)
It is not the device to use for reading image-heavy books. The occasional picture of a C19th Russian general in line with the text is fine (albeit in grey-scale) but a collection of maps at the start or end of a book suffers both from inconvenience of reference and from lack of fine detail - more a problem with the small size of the screen compared even with a paperback than the resolution of the display. (It’s also worth mentioning that the images embedded in some ebooks aren’t up to much even when a better display is available.)
Built-in 3G is wonderful. There is no telco setup to do: it’s just online automatically, all the time. Not only can it automatically download purchases, but it has a (slightly slow and rudimentary) web browser too - perfectly adequate for BBC news and Gmail. Don’t even think of trying Youtube. I assume the cost is hidden in device and book purchases. (The 3G version is more expensive than the wifi-only version, but I found it well worth it.)
It comes with not one but two decent dictionaries (NOAD and NODE), with easy lookup access for words in books you’re reading. Simply moving the cursor to a word will bring up the first line or two of the definition, and you can click through to see all the details, a brief etymology, etc.
It’s not disposable in the way that a book is, by which I mean if you accidentally damage a book you’re only out the cost of that book (if that), if you damage an e-book reader then that’s another story. In particular if you sit on it on the train then it breaks and you have to buy a replacement. It coped with knocking around in a rucksack with a bulky camera for two weeks though.
Once the replacement arrived and was connected to a power source it was very quick to get back up and running with the books I’d already bought: losing your Kindle doesn’t mean losing the books you’ve bought, nor (provided you’ve turned on synchronization) your annotations and bookmarks. I’ve not yet investigated the possibility of getting the old one repaired.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-02 12:05 pm (UTC)How dou you feel about the Fire? I've got an iPad and a Kindle, and once I remind myself I can't swipe to the next page by touching the screen on the Kindle, I really appreciate the difference that the e-ink display provides.
It wouldn't surprise me if they start giving away the basic Kindles for free, or next-to-free. The profits on Kindle versions of books must be immense compared with dead tree production, distribution and storage costs.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-02 12:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-02 12:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-02 02:44 pm (UTC)I broke it on the Saturday night, got them to phone me on Sunday morning and I had a replacement by Tuesday lunchtime.
Getting the courier to collect the broken one was a pain in the arse, but when I eventually sent it back at my own expense, Amazon refunded it after an email from me without even demanding a copy of the receipt.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-02 05:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-02 01:06 pm (UTC)The Fire is really an attempt to do for films what the Kindle does for books, isn’t it?
I’ve been thinking about that. Our current film watching is basically three DVDs a month from Lovefilm (now part of Amazon, incidentally…), plus the occasional broadcast film or cinema trip. It works very well for me; I’m watching, and generally enjoying, a great many films that I might not otherwise have done. I’m not sure that a truly on-demand approach would generate as much film watching - and therefore, I assume, as much money transmitted back up the chain.
I’m also less convinced about watching films on hand-held devices instead of a proper TV; Virgin Media need to get a grip on video-on-demand…
(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-02 12:29 pm (UTC)How does the web browser cope with Wikipedia? That strikes me as the killer app for a web-enabled eBook.
Can eBooks be hyperlinked, and/or are they in practice? You mention the hassle of glancing at the maps at the start of the book; it feels as though the Kindle ought to have "go to the map that relates to this page", "go to the index entry for this word", "go to the answers for this quiz" and similar features. Does it at least have the digital equivalent of sticking a couple of fingers in the book to allow rapid flitting to and fro between sections?
If one buys an eBook on Amazon and sticks it in a 3G Kindle, does one also get the book to keep on one's own server in an open format? I can still read the paper books my late grandmother bought between the wars.
I think I'm still holding out for an eBook reader that's got two A5 displays in a robust clamshell arrangement.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-02 12:57 pm (UTC)It copes pretty well with Wikipedia, and has Wikipedia search built right into it (also Google). It usually uses the mobile version (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_copula) (which may be WP detecting the device and redirecting, I don’t know).
Yes there are hyperlinks in ebooks. In the ones I’ve read so far they are mostly used for footnotes and references. The problem is really that flicking between two points, no matter how easy the UI makes it, is inevitably slower than doing the same in a paper book due to the screen refresh - you wouldn’t want to do it multiple times in a sentence (“they marched from A [find A on map] to B [find B on map]”), something that’s pretty practical in a paper book.
The book files can readily be retrieved from a Kindle via USB or on some platforms downloaded and read using a Kindle application. They are in some encrypted format but obviously if an ordinary application can view them then, well, the rest is an exercise for the reader…
(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-02 04:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-02 05:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-02 05:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-02 05:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-02 06:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-02 08:58 pm (UTC)My only gripe with my first gen one is the audible click of the next page button, which I believe they fixed on the later ones? Amazon have just emailed me about the new lighter version (no keyboard) for £89 which I may look into. I wouldn't want to lose the 3G as I do use that, but I've almost never used the keyboard!
(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-02 09:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-03 10:44 am (UTC)Mind you given that the main thing that stops me reading is Internet access I don't think 3G would be a good thing - I'd be looking for the most Luddite device I could find. But the biggest issue by far for me is the DRM problem - pretty much put me off Kindles altogether, though there doesn't yet seem to be an e-reader out there that takes a more enlightened approach. Since I don't have the software chops to get round it myself, I'm still in two minds about whether to take the plunge.