Aesthetics
I truly love the way the Kindle 2 looks. It has a very sleek profile and gentle contours that are reminiscent of the iPhone. In fact, the Kindle 2 is 25% slimmer than the iPhone. It has a solid white front with a nice, silver, metal case that covers 80% of the back. The navigation buttons are integrated into the sides of the case seamlessly and don't alter it's shape or feel but are prevalent enough to find by touch alone.
The keyboard is well spaced and big enough for easy operation by even larger than average fingers. The power switch and headphone jack are located on the top of the case while the volume buttons are located on the right side near the top.
The screen is approximately 1 1/2 inches taller and 1 1/2 inches wider than an iPhone's screen (yes I have an iPhone so that is why I am referencing it again). I'll discuss more about it's look a bit later.
Overall the Kindle 2 does what I think is the most important thing aesthetically and that is it doesn't get in the way. Meaning you won't be frustrated with layout or look or feel and you will focus on operation and use.
Aesthetic Rating: A
Use
Physical Operation
Power Button - This is my least favorite button which was scary since its the first thing I touched when I got it. The problem with the button is that it is NOT a button. It is a slider thingy (the technical term I believe) that always stays in the same place and to operate it you pull it sideways and release.
The issue I have is three fold:
- The slider is smooth and has a low profile and my big fat calloused fingers rarely catch it clean the first try. If I haven't clipped my nails in a while I will use one of them to ensure I get it but between typing on keyboards and playing the guitar my nails stay pretty short.
- I can't tell how far is far enough. Obviously if I get a hold of it I make sure I slide it as far as I can but more often than not I catch it just enough to move it slightly before it slips and I am not sure if it was enough movement to activate it. This is compounded by #3 below.
- It takes a full 2 seconds for the screen to give any indication that I have properly activated the slider. So every failed attempt costs me at least 3 seconds as I stare at it waiting and then 2 more seconds to reach back and re-try and then at least 2 more seconds before it actually comes on. So best case is 2 seconds, worst case is 7 - 8 seconds from first attempt to activation (assuming of course you don't miss it again).
The buttons overall have a nice touch. There is a clear "click" (not electronic just mechanical) when you have activated it so you know you have succeeded (unlike that darn power slider thingy). It takes a little more pressure than you might think but I imagine that once again this is to cut down on accidental activation and it also may loosen up over time.
Location wise there are two buttons on the left side (Prev Page and Next Page from top to bottom). The right side contains 2 groups of 2 buttons (Home and Next Page in the top group and Menu and Back in the bottom group).
There is also a small orbital button that sits in between the Menu and Back buttons. This is used to move the cursor or navigate up, down, right and left through menus etc. In addition to the directional movements it can also be depressed to activate the current menu selection. Its location is convenient but its operation is somewhat clumsy. Once again having fat, calloused fingers does not help me here. The directional button has a low profile and a smooth top allowing it to NOT be accidentally moved but making it difficult to operate when necessary. Depressing the button is simple but pushing up, down, left or right takes deliberate effort. I am getting used to it so I am sure this will eventually be forgotten and I would certainly rather it take a little more effort to intentionally activate than easy to accidentally activate so I will give Amazon credit for that.
Keyboard - The keyboard is more than adequate for this device since I do not see myself utilizing it too much. The buttons are small but have a convex shape for a nice feel and are spaced out enough for even my big fingers. The layout is standard QWERTY but the keys themselves are arranged in a grid as opposed to being offset. The Delete, Return/Enter, Forward Slash and Period buttons fill in the bottom right corner of the grid while the space bar is flanked by the Shift, ALT, Aa (Font Size) and SYM buttons.
The keys make nice, clear "click"s when depressed that you can feel on you finger tips so you can type with relative ease and speed.
Headphone Jack and Volume Buttons - I have yet to utilize these and I imagine that unless I put some MP3s on for background music I probably never will. The only other reason would be podcasts or the Text-to-Speech feature but podcasts would most likely be on my iPhone and the Text-to-Speech feature is not worth listening to (more on this later).
Physical Operation Rating: B (just for that darn power thingy)
Features and Functions
Screen - Perhaps the most talked about feature of the Kindle is the screen and more specifically its e-paper display. I'll avoid the technical talk here since that is well documented and simply focus on my experience. I had heard much about this and even seen a few original Kindles but had never actually sat down and read from one. My first reaction was "Wow". I mean we're not talking end world hunger here but I have yet to get that menacing headache that crops up right behind my eyes when I've been staring at my iPhone or laptop screen (like right now actually). Much like the aesthetics, the best thing I can say here is that after initial evaluation you will forget about it entirely which is exactly what you want.
Below is a side by side picture of the Kindle 2 and a standard paperback.
As you can see, other than then "paper" color, there is very little difference.
Menus & Navigation - This is an area where there will hopefully be improvement in the future. There are two issues that I have. First is the relatively slow reaction time. There is a noted delay when you press the Home or Menu buttons and a less obvious but definitely existent delay when moving from item to item. Second is really just the fact that there is no free floating pointer or touch screen. Experience wise it is much like using the old Lynx browser where you must go up or down until you get to your selection. So if your selection is at the bottom, then you have a ways to go. Also, for the Home screen, if you want to change the sort or filter you must go all the way to the top before you can go right or left. Again, this is more a result of the interface than Amazon simply doing it poorly. So if there is any criticism it is in the choice of interface.
I'll take comfort in knowing that I will be using this as a reading device only and not a PDA or other hand held web device so these deficiencies won't be as frustrating. Of course you can easily see how this device COULD become such a device with some improvements.
Page Turns - The first question I get from Kindle 1 owners is "Are the page turns any faster?" Well I can't say they are faster or not but I can say that they are fast enough for me. After a bit of practice I quickly got my cadence down on when to hit the Next Page button. For me it is about 4 words from the end of the page since that is about the length of text I am reading at once. When I am on a roll the page turn never even enters my mind which again is the best compliment I can give it.
Looking at it purely from a speed observation (e.g. simply clicking the button when not reading and timing it), the Next Page displays in about .9 - 1 second while the Prev Page takes about 1.1 - 1.3 seconds. There is a flash on the screen as the text is swapped which can be a little annoying but like most things you get used to and then forget about it.
Check out this short demo:
Browser / Kindle Store - The Kindle 2 can be used not only to shop in the Kindle store but as a web browser as well. The browsing capabilities are very limited and again the navigation is very Lynx-esque. In fact think of Lynx with black and white pictures. In Amazon's defense, they say up front that text based web-sites are the best to use and of course the browser is "Experimental". I have found that mobile based sites are where you should hang out if at all. The Kindle store is optimized obviously for this browser so that experience is better but you must still navigate up and down to highlight the link you want and it is not always obvious where you are on the page.
Also, since there is no scroll bar, each web site is paginated which can get confusing. Rather than scrolling down to the next part of the story or to look at additional links or headlines, you must use the Next Page button which does essential that, it jumps to what it has determined is the next page. Needless to say that after a bit of playing around, I quickly found it to be distracting and slow and a waste of my time. I can only see me browsing the Internet if I had to (e.g. my iPhone, laptop and nearest Internet cafe were all some how inaccessible).
One note however is Amazon's regular website. This site is already well optimized for mobile devices and not surprisingly it plays pretty well with the Kindle. Again, you will typically use the Kindle Store if you are looking at Amazon, but if you were interested in simply browsing Amazon proper you could.
Dictionary - The dictionary is a very nice feature. While I don't see myself using it a ton, its nice to know that when I inevitably come across some word I don't understand, I can quickly educate myself. Its also nice that at any time I can move the cursor in front of any word and get a relatively quick response. There is no need to jump out of the text to another interface and type the word in. This makes it all the more likely that I will utilize it.
Text-to-Speech - What can I say about this other than the Audio Book narrators' jobs are safe. The speech is extremely robotic which is basically what it is since it is interpreting the text as it goes. It mispronounces even simple words ("lived" is pronounced "l-eye-ved") and often blows through punctuation marks thus making the sentences confusing and the story emotionless. If you are following along looking at the text it is fine since you can interpret the punctuation and mispronounced text. Of course if you are following along looking at the text you might as well just read it.
One interesting note is when I first tested this function, the first sentence contained the word "Facebook". To us humans that is a very common word but the Kindle 2 pronounced it "Fa-say-book". I knew then it was going to suck.
Miscellaneous
The Kindle 2 offers the ability to play MP3s while reading or I suppose just for fun like any MP3 player. To do this you must manually copy MP3 files onto the Kindle while plugged into your computer. Playback is fairly easy using the "ALT" key + Spacebar for Play/Pause and "ALT" + F to skip to the next song. The music will play through the built in speakers or through headphones. I was disappointed to find out that my iPhone headphones (the factory ones at least) will not work. More precisely, they function, but the extra length of the plug causes the contacts to misalign and you will only have mono sound. You can fiddle with it and find the right spot for stereo but it won't be secure. Big bummer since I might want to actually put some REAL audio books on there. I will now have to carry an extra set of headphones (or find an adapter) if I want to do that.
Another feature that I was excited about was the magazine and newspaper subscriptions. I enjoy reading Newsweek for example but only occasionally pick one up since I don't want the waste associated with a weekly magazine delivery. I quickly found though that a big part of the enjoyment of the magazine was in the form factor itself. The shape, the size, the feel of the paper, the color photos etc all contributed to the experience. As a result I have found my first two issues of Newsweek less than satisfying. I will continue to fight through it though since ultimately it is the content I am interested in and I will simply have to get use to this "new" method of information delivery.
There is also the ability to copy personal files such as Word documents and PDF files to the Kindle 2. It won't support these file types explicitly but Amazon offers a free service to convert them to the supported type. The officially supported file types for conversion are:
- Microsoft Word (.DOC)
- Structured HTML (.HTML, .HTM)
- JPEG (.JPEG, .JPG)
- GIF (.GIF)
- PNG (.PNG)
- BMP (.BMP)
- Compressed ZIP (.ZIP) - ZIP is opened and all supported files are converted.
There are some additional features such as Notes, Bookmarks and Search all of which I will use in a limited fashion I suppose. Bookmarks will be nice when reading a technical book so I can go back and reference various sections and I'm sure students or book club members might utilize them to recall certain passages and important sections. I mainly see myself opening a book and reading it and that is basically what I have done thus far.
Features and Functions Rating: A-
Summary
Overall I have been very pleased. I was not expecting an end all be all device. Rather I was expecting a device that allowed me to read books without carrying them around. I also love being able to read multiple titles at once without reaching for another book. In fact I have been going back and forth between a technical book, a novel and a history of the American Presidents since I got it, something I would never have done had I been forced to carry them all around with me.
One interesting thing I have noticed is the potential for this device to cost me a LOT of money. It is almost too easy now to get a book I want. No trip to the book store, no waiting for delivery and in fact no waiting at all.
It would be nice if I could get Kindle versions of books I have already bought on Amazon for free or at least at a discount. I am also a little disappointed at the cost of some of the books such as the technical books I like to read (well "like" is a bit strong, let's just go with "read"). I typically was spending $25-$45 on some of these books and was hoping that I could get them at half price or less on the Kindle, however many of them are only $10-$15 less which is disappointing. I would like to get many of the technical books I already own on the Kindle but I am not going to pay almost full price just to get a soft copy. I would rather scan each page and copy them to my Kindle than do that.
Well that is all. I'm sure I will find some features that I did not even know about later and may find that I love something I hated and hate something I loved but all in all I am happy with my purchase and am enjoying the experience.
Overall Rating: A
