kindle first impressions
Tuesday, December 28th, 2010 09:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
charmianGot some hand-on experience with a Kindle (it's not mine, but I got to use it).
I haven't really read a book with it, so until I do that, consider this an incomplete review.
Some people I talked to said that they considered the screen to be not high contrast enough. Compared to a hardback, or high quality paper trade paperback, it is of somewhat lower contrast, but IMHO, the Pearl screen is comparable to a mass market paperback. So if there's enough light, I don't think the screen is a problem. And that's really the most important thing. I get the impression with ebooks, if you are good at using computers, the most important factor in an e-reader are the display-related elements. However, the key to the Kindle's success is that they make it relatively painless for people with little tech knowledge to use. Registering the Kindle only takes a few minutes.
Form factor: The form factor really makes it clear that this thing is to be used for reading text. The other buttons are pretty darn small. They're okay for light usage, but not really very pleasant for sustained navigation of menus, or typing. The direction pad is small, the keyboard is small... The largest buttons are the navigation ones. I wonder what the DX is like? I think I would all things being equal (that is, if the DX were not costly and I had more money) prefer a DX, because that would have large buttons (probably) and also be able to read manga and image files more easily. (Haven't yet tried using Mangle for formatting manga for the undocumented, secret Image Viewer)
Web browsing: Why does the Kindle browser not default to mobile views on sites that do have mobile versions? Anyway, it's troublesome to browse, as mentioned before, because of the form factor, and because it wants to show the non-mobile versions of sites. This should be considered mainly for emergencies; a smartphone is much more suited to browsing. I wouldn't want to type an email or anything longer than a txt message on this.
Loading files: Sideloading works fine; haven't tried the more typical methods of loading in books. I used Calibre to convert some files I have, and they displayed fine. Happily, Japanese .txt files display fine. (Kindle has Japanese font support) What would make things even better would be a Japanese dictionary to look up words, but unfortunately there doesn't seem to be one available for Kindle.
Other thoughts: Anyway, with Calibre, I don't anticipate lack of .epub support being a problem, but it is too bad that Kindle's pdf support isn't stronger (I hear there are probs with text reflow), although I think I can convert those too if they are text (vs images).
Before trying out the Kindle, I had read many blogs where people talked about the need for Kindle to create apps to compete with Nook Color or iPad to court the so-called casual reader market (people who only read one book a month). With games or crosswords, the Kindle IMHO isn't really suited for games or other apps (like word processing) because of the smallness of the controls and the refresh rate of e-ink. There is little that it can do game-wise or app-wise that wouldn't be better done by an iPod Touch or an iPad. I think for someone who reads only a book a month, unless this is a damn long, difficult book, it doesn't really make sense to buy a dedicated e-reading device at all: it makes much more sense to buy a tablet, so Kindle shouldn't even bother competing.
I haven't really read a book with it, so until I do that, consider this an incomplete review.
Some people I talked to said that they considered the screen to be not high contrast enough. Compared to a hardback, or high quality paper trade paperback, it is of somewhat lower contrast, but IMHO, the Pearl screen is comparable to a mass market paperback. So if there's enough light, I don't think the screen is a problem. And that's really the most important thing. I get the impression with ebooks, if you are good at using computers, the most important factor in an e-reader are the display-related elements. However, the key to the Kindle's success is that they make it relatively painless for people with little tech knowledge to use. Registering the Kindle only takes a few minutes.
Form factor: The form factor really makes it clear that this thing is to be used for reading text. The other buttons are pretty darn small. They're okay for light usage, but not really very pleasant for sustained navigation of menus, or typing. The direction pad is small, the keyboard is small... The largest buttons are the navigation ones. I wonder what the DX is like? I think I would all things being equal (that is, if the DX were not costly and I had more money) prefer a DX, because that would have large buttons (probably) and also be able to read manga and image files more easily. (Haven't yet tried using Mangle for formatting manga for the undocumented, secret Image Viewer)
Web browsing: Why does the Kindle browser not default to mobile views on sites that do have mobile versions? Anyway, it's troublesome to browse, as mentioned before, because of the form factor, and because it wants to show the non-mobile versions of sites. This should be considered mainly for emergencies; a smartphone is much more suited to browsing. I wouldn't want to type an email or anything longer than a txt message on this.
Loading files: Sideloading works fine; haven't tried the more typical methods of loading in books. I used Calibre to convert some files I have, and they displayed fine. Happily, Japanese .txt files display fine. (Kindle has Japanese font support) What would make things even better would be a Japanese dictionary to look up words, but unfortunately there doesn't seem to be one available for Kindle.
Other thoughts: Anyway, with Calibre, I don't anticipate lack of .epub support being a problem, but it is too bad that Kindle's pdf support isn't stronger (I hear there are probs with text reflow), although I think I can convert those too if they are text (vs images).
Before trying out the Kindle, I had read many blogs where people talked about the need for Kindle to create apps to compete with Nook Color or iPad to court the so-called casual reader market (people who only read one book a month). With games or crosswords, the Kindle IMHO isn't really suited for games or other apps (like word processing) because of the smallness of the controls and the refresh rate of e-ink. There is little that it can do game-wise or app-wise that wouldn't be better done by an iPod Touch or an iPad. I think for someone who reads only a book a month, unless this is a damn long, difficult book, it doesn't really make sense to buy a dedicated e-reading device at all: it makes much more sense to buy a tablet, so Kindle shouldn't even bother competing.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-30 12:17 am (UTC)Perhaps these features have changed in the last four months though.
Thanks for the pointer about the margin snipper! I am definitely going to try that ^____^.
My reader doesn't have a touch screen or a keyboard. I am fine with this. When I see something notable in a paper, I bookmark it, which is the same thing I do with physical books (fold the corner over). I'll remember my thought when I look at the page later.
Refresh rate is good, but it takes a long time to resize the text for books not bought through the Sony ereader store.
Speaking of everyone having a smartphone, I was at my aunt and uncle's house in Ohio over the holidays, and every other commercial was for some smartphone or iPad like device. True, we were watching the Science channel, but there were a lot of these ads on the sports channel too. I think now that everyone has a flatscreen, high-definition television, this smartphones/tablets are going to be the next big consumer push.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-30 12:26 am (UTC)I'm kind of uneasy about a touch screen... I would worry that it would get dirty.
Huh, I don't think there's a diff with Kindle on the resizing.
The thing w/ smartphones, I think, is that the data rates need to come down before there is more adoption. I hear that next year the price of the lower end smartphones is going to seriously drop, to the point that they are going to be $100 retail without subsidies.