Friday, August 08, 2008

A few more thoughts on the Kindle

I guess I'm just unlucky. I'm beginning to think I might have been better off with a Sony Reader. Somehow I got a defective Kindle. I had read about people having problems with it freezing, but didn't think I would need to worry about that. Well, I do.

So far (in the one day I have owned it), my Kindle has frozen 4 times. Frozen to the point where the key combination that is supposed to reset it doesn't work. Frozen to the point where I had to manually reset it (using a paperclip in a little hole behind the back cover.

Oh, and its "whispernet" doesn't work. It get a signal just fine, but then can't connect to the internet. Its not the cell reception - something in mine is broken.

At least the customer service at Amazon seems to be pretty darn good. They are overnighting me a new one, and then I have a month to return this one.

I'll update and let you all know if the new one has the same problems.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Kindle

As I wrote on Cathy's blog today, I bought a Kindle. I thought I would share my thoughts on it with you all.

Now, as for the wireless connectivity of whispernet, I really don't know anything about it. I knew it wouldn't be good in the apartment since my cell phone reception is so terrible, and I wasn't surprised to find that I didn't have any connectivity. I'm sure I will enjoy being able to download books instantly while I am away from home (traveling within the US or during my commutes after I move to Chicago).

As far as the reading experience goes - its alright, but not so fantastic that I think I will use it all the time. I big part of the problem is the screen size and the time it takes to refresh the screen or put up the next page. I read very quickly, and the lag time is extremely noticable. Its particularly annoying if you accidentally press the forward button. I wish the page held more words as well. I have my font set on the smallest font size, but its still not enough. I wish it could hold as many words as a regular book page.

All in all, I'm glad I bought it, and I think I will get a lot of use out of it. Its really going to be nice to have it in Europe (otherwise I would need to lug around a ton of books). Still, if I didn't read as quickly I wouldn't need something like the Kindle so much, but because I read so quickly its flaws are more annoying.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Warning

I'm taking this down in the next couple weeks.