- Joined
- Sep 28, 2004
After reading ten books this year I decided that I could re-coup the cost of a basic kindle before the end of the year. I feel that this post isn't overly PC related but it is about technology.
First things first, if you want a full review for the frontpage, and I'm not sure this device is applicable, I'll spend the time to write a thorough one. In this post I want to just get word out about the thing; the good, the bad and the ugly
Second off; I need to define some variables.. This device is an 'eReader/ eBook reader'. It isn't a tablet. The information Amazon provides for these things is surprisingly sparse when you compare it to regular old PC hardware. Furthermore, they seemlessly blur the lines between such devices by offering their 'Kindle Fire' device, which is indeed a tablet running Android OS. It boasts several advantages over the Touch and its paraplegic sibling such as backlight, apps, color display, functional web browser... But when you compare the Fire to other tablets such as iPad2, ASUS Transformer, Galaxy Tab 7... Its comparatively a piece of crap. The only justification for it is that its roughly half the cost of the competitors, so.. fair tradeoff.
Third, the actual Kindle Touch. Theres good, bad and ugly.
The GOOD: The display, @600x800 is actually very sharp and quite easy on the eyes; something these E-INK (TM) PEARL displays are known for. I can also attest that they are great in direct sunlight. Amazon claims the battery last for two months. Well, the fine print is that they will IF you have wifi off, and only use the device for 30 minutes a day. OK. That works out to about a 30hour on-time if my math is correct. However I believe these displays only actually consume electricity when the 16 shades of grey are modified, which brings up the variable of the speed at which people read. Another point, I'm not 100% sure how these displays work but they 'refresh' about every six pages before the entire screen goes black-negetive-normal, in a very distracting way.
This is where the BAD comes in. When the page 'quick-refreshes' (my term) there is a faint ghost of the previous screen. It isn't too distracting, but if it really annoys you, you can change a setting to force Full Refresh at every page turn. You think have to REALLY hate ghosting in order to feel that a Full Refresh is less obtrusive. It really is THAT annoying. Having the entire screen inverse color real fast is distracting as all heck.
This is where the UGLY starts, but doesn't crash to a 'sportscar into a wall' sort of finale.
Its quite unclear, but the consensus of users out there is that TEMPERATURE actively affects the display. Yes. I first noticed it when reading in 77° direct sunlight. My display started Full Refresh at every page turn. I checked the setting, it was off. I went back inside and let it cool off.. normal 6-page refreshing. Alright, at least my unit isn't broken, its a repeatable phenomenon. On the other hand, there seem to be an equal number of users reporting the same thing when the device drops below 60°! The temp range here is WELL within the published operating temperatures. So what gives E-INK?
UGLIER STILL. The OS. It really is beyond atrocious. A 1997 Palm Pilot has more polish and function by a factor of 10. I understand that the display is a handicap in some regards but you just feel like the device is broken when you're using it. Like the level of antiquity is a joke being played. I didn't expect it to have the flow, glitter and polish of a tablet, this thing does what its made for very well; reading text. And, honestly once you get a handful of books on there you rarely interact with the OS. But still, what a pile of crap.
VERDICT: Do you read five to ten books a year? Do you buy these books or borrow them from friends or a library? If you're spending the money on said quantity and even selling them back immediately, just buy this thing or the non touch variant. Yes, buy it, now. The Ad-supported version is $99 and those ads are really NOT that intrusive. You have a static banner on the bottom of the menu screen and the screensaver (also static) isn't that intrusive. Just turn the unit up-side-down. If you really hate ads; jailbreak it (more on that in a bit). Despite the OS being a bad joke, once you get your books on there you rarely see the beast. This is a high quality eReader, with the best current display that most manufacturers are using. Its priced right and for the most part keeps you thinking about your book and not buyer's remorse. The build quality is alright, some panel-seems have gaps but whatever its not a big deal.
EPILOGUE? Aside from these pros and cons, theres a few more things I wanted to point out.
-Getting books on there can be achieved in a few ways. One is going to the Amazon store on the device and downloading. Another is using a unique Amazon email address to email documents to your device. And lastly when you plug it in to your computer via USB it shows up as a storage drive, just drag an drop.
-Another note, it does not support the format of ePUB, which is very standard everywhere else.
-A great resource for older classic books whose copyright have expired is the Gutenberg Project, where you can freely download all sorts of classics.
-Ads and jailbreaking. Amazon charges $40 to 'unlock' your device, which is pretty steep. Although the ads are not too intrusive you can get rid of them and add your own screensaver (static image). Depending on your firmware version this is super easy or a process involving software from three different sources. Mine was the latter, and not all that difficult in the end. The harder part was navigating documentation.
-Jailbreaking also allows for landscape orientation, but in the book I tried it with text was cut off, so take that with a grain of salt.
-The built in dictionary is great, just hold your finger on the word and a definition box comes up.
-Web Browser. Filed in an area call Beta. Unless you're visiting Amazon.com I recommend forgetting its there.
-Getting a dictionary installed was actually pretty convoluted.
Hopefully you potential buyers will read this before purchasing, its information I wish I had known of. I'm still quite happy with my purchase and use it quite often.
First things first, if you want a full review for the frontpage, and I'm not sure this device is applicable, I'll spend the time to write a thorough one. In this post I want to just get word out about the thing; the good, the bad and the ugly
Second off; I need to define some variables.. This device is an 'eReader/ eBook reader'. It isn't a tablet. The information Amazon provides for these things is surprisingly sparse when you compare it to regular old PC hardware. Furthermore, they seemlessly blur the lines between such devices by offering their 'Kindle Fire' device, which is indeed a tablet running Android OS. It boasts several advantages over the Touch and its paraplegic sibling such as backlight, apps, color display, functional web browser... But when you compare the Fire to other tablets such as iPad2, ASUS Transformer, Galaxy Tab 7... Its comparatively a piece of crap. The only justification for it is that its roughly half the cost of the competitors, so.. fair tradeoff.
Third, the actual Kindle Touch. Theres good, bad and ugly.
The GOOD: The display, @600x800 is actually very sharp and quite easy on the eyes; something these E-INK (TM) PEARL displays are known for. I can also attest that they are great in direct sunlight. Amazon claims the battery last for two months. Well, the fine print is that they will IF you have wifi off, and only use the device for 30 minutes a day. OK. That works out to about a 30hour on-time if my math is correct. However I believe these displays only actually consume electricity when the 16 shades of grey are modified, which brings up the variable of the speed at which people read. Another point, I'm not 100% sure how these displays work but they 'refresh' about every six pages before the entire screen goes black-negetive-normal, in a very distracting way.
This is where the BAD comes in. When the page 'quick-refreshes' (my term) there is a faint ghost of the previous screen. It isn't too distracting, but if it really annoys you, you can change a setting to force Full Refresh at every page turn. You think have to REALLY hate ghosting in order to feel that a Full Refresh is less obtrusive. It really is THAT annoying. Having the entire screen inverse color real fast is distracting as all heck.
This is where the UGLY starts, but doesn't crash to a 'sportscar into a wall' sort of finale.
Its quite unclear, but the consensus of users out there is that TEMPERATURE actively affects the display. Yes. I first noticed it when reading in 77° direct sunlight. My display started Full Refresh at every page turn. I checked the setting, it was off. I went back inside and let it cool off.. normal 6-page refreshing. Alright, at least my unit isn't broken, its a repeatable phenomenon. On the other hand, there seem to be an equal number of users reporting the same thing when the device drops below 60°! The temp range here is WELL within the published operating temperatures. So what gives E-INK?
UGLIER STILL. The OS. It really is beyond atrocious. A 1997 Palm Pilot has more polish and function by a factor of 10. I understand that the display is a handicap in some regards but you just feel like the device is broken when you're using it. Like the level of antiquity is a joke being played. I didn't expect it to have the flow, glitter and polish of a tablet, this thing does what its made for very well; reading text. And, honestly once you get a handful of books on there you rarely interact with the OS. But still, what a pile of crap.
VERDICT: Do you read five to ten books a year? Do you buy these books or borrow them from friends or a library? If you're spending the money on said quantity and even selling them back immediately, just buy this thing or the non touch variant. Yes, buy it, now. The Ad-supported version is $99 and those ads are really NOT that intrusive. You have a static banner on the bottom of the menu screen and the screensaver (also static) isn't that intrusive. Just turn the unit up-side-down. If you really hate ads; jailbreak it (more on that in a bit). Despite the OS being a bad joke, once you get your books on there you rarely see the beast. This is a high quality eReader, with the best current display that most manufacturers are using. Its priced right and for the most part keeps you thinking about your book and not buyer's remorse. The build quality is alright, some panel-seems have gaps but whatever its not a big deal.
EPILOGUE? Aside from these pros and cons, theres a few more things I wanted to point out.
-Getting books on there can be achieved in a few ways. One is going to the Amazon store on the device and downloading. Another is using a unique Amazon email address to email documents to your device. And lastly when you plug it in to your computer via USB it shows up as a storage drive, just drag an drop.
-Another note, it does not support the format of ePUB, which is very standard everywhere else.
-A great resource for older classic books whose copyright have expired is the Gutenberg Project, where you can freely download all sorts of classics.
-Ads and jailbreaking. Amazon charges $40 to 'unlock' your device, which is pretty steep. Although the ads are not too intrusive you can get rid of them and add your own screensaver (static image). Depending on your firmware version this is super easy or a process involving software from three different sources. Mine was the latter, and not all that difficult in the end. The harder part was navigating documentation.
-Jailbreaking also allows for landscape orientation, but in the book I tried it with text was cut off, so take that with a grain of salt.
-The built in dictionary is great, just hold your finger on the word and a definition box comes up.
-Web Browser. Filed in an area call Beta. Unless you're visiting Amazon.com I recommend forgetting its there.
-Getting a dictionary installed was actually pretty convoluted.
Hopefully you potential buyers will read this before purchasing, its information I wish I had known of. I'm still quite happy with my purchase and use it quite often.
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