So much of what people are saying about the Kindle seems misinformed. Both casual and serious pundits are publishing information and opinions about the device, seemingly without having used one for more than an hour, let alone own and use one for enough time to actually get a feel for it.
Example: everybody is talking about the features of the Kindle DX, TechCrunch published how the device will fail unless people pirate books for it, others say it's not worth the money, and how it does this and not that, or not that but this, or how it's just a "holdover device". Interesting, since the device hasn't even released yet and we have no idea what Amazon has in store for textbook reading folks, like student, programmers, engineers, etc. Discounts? Programs? Student pricing? Aside from rumor and speculation, nobody really knows.
But I guess folks have to say something about it, even if it's just something they heard from somebody who heard something somewhere they know not where..
So, here's some things you should probably know, from somebody that actually owns a Kindle 2 and uses it every day:
- News is FREE. You do NOT have to subscribe to get it. In fact, the Kindle's integrated web browser, which is suitable for rendering text and image versions of just about any newspaper website, comes with pre-installed bookmarks for CNN, BBC, CNET, ESPN, MSN Money, and others. And of course, you're always free to visit NYTimes, etc.
- Same with Blogs. Use the browser.
I actually do pay-subscribe to a couple of blogs, like TechCrunch and OReilly Radar, and have bought a couple of single issues of the NYTimes, but I don't have to at all.
- Whispernet (which I believe is Sprint 3g) works, and is free. I've heard people say "well yeah but you have to pay for the wireless". No, you don't. It's one of the things that imho makes the device worth the premium dollar tag (well, it is still pricey). So on top of free news and such, you can surf and access it for free.
- Free content: there's a lot of it. Of course, some is dreck. But that's indie for ya; it's up to you to find the gems.
- You don't end up spending a fortune on new things, though of course you have the opportunity. Really though, it's not like iTune songs or apps, how many books will you buy in a month?
- The device is not intended to be a laptop replacement. I've heard, "pointless, I'm going to get a Netbook (or some such app) when it comes out." It's apples and oranges. I've always carried a book, or three, and/or a newspaper, along with my laptop, and I would never break out my laptop on a subway or in any kind of upscale social setting, like a nice restaurant or some such. A tablet, or netbook, or anything else backlit, will always have the readability issues of a computer. The Kindle is more like a book than a laptop, e-ink technology and all that, and consolidates my reading material nicely. It's a complement, exactly as my bag 'o books used to be, but without the bulk and weight.
- Navigating the device is easy. There's keyboard shortcuts and simple menus. When you first pick it up, you may not think so. People said the same thing about the iPhone. Two or three days later, you're skipping around the device like a pro.
- Same for highlighting, taking notes, bookmarking, etc. It's easy and fast. With the way people thumb type these days, I don't think the keyboard is a detractor. In fact, hardcore thumb typers still seem to prefer the tactile keys over the iPhone-style screen keyboards.
- Your annotations and clippings are not hard to find, primarily because they get automatically put into another "book" of their own (more like a file actually) called "My Clippings". This is great; I can clip articles, highlight and annotate passages, and review them in a consolidated document. Also, using "My Notes and Marks" while in the book itself, is easy.
- You CAN use PDFs on the Kindle 2, and in fact, the DX is documented as supporting them natively. For the Kindle 2, you mail the document (word files too) to your Kindle account (me@kindle.com), and it converts it to Kindle-friendly format, which you can then download to your device from your Kindle portal.
- The PDF conversion works. I haven't had any trouble with any documents so far. I know that complex PDFs can break, but I haven't encountered the issue yet.
Note: this is something I actually don't know all that much about other than some basic testing. There seem to be numerous conversion utilities, like Stanza, that enable converting and sharing with a Kindle, but for now, I've just been using the Amazon store for content primarily. I suspect over time there will be numerous ways to convert other e-book formats and documents to your kindle, and again, the DX has more robust format support, and future versions of the product no doubt will augment this.
- Printing: "My Clippings" is just a .txt file. You can connect via USB, grab the file, and print it. True, it's a limited .txt file, but printing is sort of contrary to the intent of the device; again, it's more like a book than a computer. Books don't have a "send to printer" feature.
- You can replace the fonts for greater contrast. I've already done it, and it substantially enhances the readability. The process is easily reversible and does not brick your device. You can find the info here:
https://sites.google.com/a/etccreations.com/kdesignworks/Home/font-install-files
In closing, the more I use it, the more I think the Kindle is a great device. If you're the sort that carries around books, reads enough on a computer to make your eyes hurt, and likes to read on the go or pretty much anywhere you have a few minutes to relax, I recommend it.
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