$79 Kindle Hands On
Last week Amazon announced their long awaited video ipod.
(P.S. I previously only published this to a listserve).
What wasn't expected at the announcement was that we would finally
have a top quality e-reader available for under $100.
Needless to say the day after the announcement I checked my Amazon
Gift card balance and was able to order the $79 kindle with $7.01 tax
and free super saver shipping . Leaving a paltry $2.79 gift card
balance. It was all worth it because on Monday evening I came home to
my new 4th generation Kindle.
Since I did my research before I wasn't surprised that like Apple with
its ipod it no longer came with a wall charger, just an usb cable.
Feature wise the kindle has finally become an electronic device just
for wirelessly reading text.
When the kindle was $259 plus dollars each they needed to give you
"extra" features that you rarely used. For $79 they can provide a
greater value per dollar for their customer. I also suspect without
any evidence that their $79 reader has the highest profit margin of
all of their new hardware releases since they removed the keyboard,
mp3 player, 1/2 the memory, 1/2 the battery and the power supply.
Content wise amazon just started providing an excellent system for
borrowing books from public libraries. You can also e-mail books and
documents to your kindle and they will be stored for free on Amazon
Servers. On the downside some of their current Kindle games and apps
are not currently compatible with the new Kindle.
Anyway lets get to the meat, a hands on review.
First off the new device is amazingly light. It is significantly
lighter than a paperback or a magazine.
I remember when I read my first novel on my k2 and it was easy to hold
it for 6 hours of reading. At a certain point with the k4 you don't
even realize that you are carrying it.
I really like the push button to turn it on. Its now like a smartphone.
The whole device feels much more solid. More like the metal K2 than
the plastic K3. Although it is also made out of plastic. The buttons
especially the 5 way controller feel sturdy and give excellent
feedback.
Below are the approximate dimensions of the K2, K3, K4
(yes k3 and k4 have a larger screen than the K2)
Device Screen
K2 8x5.25 4.75x3.5 40% of the area of the device is the screen
K3 7.5x4.75 4.875x3.5 48% of the area of the device is the screen
K4 6.5x4.5 4.875x3.5 59% of the area of the device is the screen
these new dimensions give the device a totally difference feel. The K4 feels
and looks like a small picture frame.
On the new Kindle the boarders are only 6/16 of an inch on the long sides
and 10/16" on the top and 16/16" or 1 inch on the bottom compared to 2 inches
on the bottom of the K3 and 2.5 inches on the bottom of the K2.
This change of dimension accomplishes something very very important. It makes
the Kindle comfortable to hold sideways in one hand. Since your
fingers are closer to
to the center of mass of the device the torque of holding it steady
is reduced thus
putting less strain on your thumb that balances the divice. You can
also handle it
with your thumbs at the side (new bottom) where the page forward and
back buttons
are (they work very nicely this way excellent feel) while the device
is held on both
sides with your index fingers.
As I read through Pride and Prejudice ( I am currently at 58% / page
203 of 333).
I was able to hold it comfortably in any position. I think my favorite
is sideways since
the sideways menus require fewer clicks to reach and item then in the
standard position.
(Yes I know its not a big deal but .. details matter.. the seconds add
up over time).
Also when I am surfing the web more pages can be displayed without having to
scale them which saves a lot of time redrawing screens and scrolling
left and right.
Along with the keyboad being removed the font/size/screen rotation
button has been
removed and it function have been moved to a more convenient space
which is in the main
main accessible through the menu button. This is most useful when
using the web browser.
Most reviews I have read said that the screen resolution and quality
is the same as the K3.
I suspect it is a little better because I can now comfortably read for
a long period of time at
at a smaller font size. ( I doubt my vision has gotten better.)
Since the press gave the latest nook high points for having a screen
that only flashed black every 6th page turn Amazon implemented that feature in the K4. I had
suspected that
irregularly timed screen flashes would be more distracting that the
kindle method of
flashing every page. In fact it MUCH worse than that. The black
screen blanking is
necessary for the Kindle to work as a "book" instead of a computer
screen. During that
"flash" your eyes stop staring at the screen for a second while the
pages changes.
Without the flash you eyes remain on the page and the words very
disturbingly melt away
then reform.
This was a almost a deal breaker for me. I was trying to train myself
to look away when
I clicked a page advance when I found that if your kindle has the
latest software you can change the screen refresh back to have it
happen on every page. I had to download and upgrade the software to
have this feature
(http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=200774090
) but I suspect it will the default software for anyone who purchase
it in the near future.
Living without sound. I have so many mp3 players that I don't miss it.
Now if the kindle played my amazon mp3s on my kindle over wi-fi I
would have been so amazingly happy but that has not happened yet. My
8 year old does like to use text to speech on his K2 so if you are
purchasing for young children the $79 version might not be for you.
Living without 3g. No biggie anywhere I read has wi-fi. Also I have
become so spoiled with the free doc transfer by wifi its my primary
means of downloading content now. I use the "klip.me" service to
e-mail long web articles to my kindle for later reading.
Living with Advertising, wish they actually had more deals to chose
from. But if you don't like it you can pay $30 to have them removed
later. So don't have to make the call to live with or without the ads
without actually trying it out.
Living without a keyboard. To be honest I have been unhappy with the
keyboard ever since they removed the number row from the K2. The lack
of keyboard will mean that I wont be using it to send messages from
gmail. Using the soft keyboard is like using a remote control on you
dvr to write out the name of the show your recorded or searching for
netflix movies using my roku box remote.
Overall I really like it. I will keep my K3 since its the last model
that will have free unfettered internet access and that is useful
when I am traveling, but for day to day use the K4 is my go to
machine.
It easily fits into my jacket pocket, the wi-fi and web browser seem
to be bit faster and have a longer range. The menu options actually
improve web browsing (mostly gmail and google reader to read my
favorite sites).
Oh and one final note now for $79 dollars you never need to purchase
another book again if you don't want to. You can borrow books directly
from the public library, feedbooks, and project gutenberg and they
wirelessly download to your machine over wi-fi. Very very nice.
I will probably be posting this review to the web later, so if you
have any question or thought that you think people would like to know
about this product please drop me a line.
(P.S. I previously only published this to a listserve).
What wasn't expected at the announcement was that we would finally
have a top quality e-reader available for under $100.
Needless to say the day after the announcement I checked my Amazon
Gift card balance and was able to order the $79 kindle with $7.01 tax
and free super saver shipping . Leaving a paltry $2.79 gift card
balance. It was all worth it because on Monday evening I came home to
my new 4th generation Kindle.
Since I did my research before I wasn't surprised that like Apple with
its ipod it no longer came with a wall charger, just an usb cable.
Feature wise the kindle has finally become an electronic device just
for wirelessly reading text.
When the kindle was $259 plus dollars each they needed to give you
"extra" features that you rarely used. For $79 they can provide a
greater value per dollar for their customer. I also suspect without
any evidence that their $79 reader has the highest profit margin of
all of their new hardware releases since they removed the keyboard,
mp3 player, 1/2 the memory, 1/2 the battery and the power supply.
Content wise amazon just started providing an excellent system for
borrowing books from public libraries. You can also e-mail books and
documents to your kindle and they will be stored for free on Amazon
Servers. On the downside some of their current Kindle games and apps
are not currently compatible with the new Kindle.
Anyway lets get to the meat, a hands on review.
First off the new device is amazingly light. It is significantly
lighter than a paperback or a magazine.
I remember when I read my first novel on my k2 and it was easy to hold
it for 6 hours of reading. At a certain point with the k4 you don't
even realize that you are carrying it.
I really like the push button to turn it on. Its now like a smartphone.
The whole device feels much more solid. More like the metal K2 than
the plastic K3. Although it is also made out of plastic. The buttons
especially the 5 way controller feel sturdy and give excellent
feedback.
Below are the approximate dimensions of the K2, K3, K4
(yes k3 and k4 have a larger screen than the K2)
Device Screen
K2 8x5.25 4.75x3.5 40% of the area of the device is the screen
K3 7.5x4.75 4.875x3.5 48% of the area of the device is the screen
K4 6.5x4.5 4.875x3.5 59% of the area of the device is the screen
these new dimensions give the device a totally difference feel. The K4 feels
and looks like a small picture frame.
On the new Kindle the boarders are only 6/16 of an inch on the long sides
and 10/16" on the top and 16/16" or 1 inch on the bottom compared to 2 inches
on the bottom of the K3 and 2.5 inches on the bottom of the K2.
This change of dimension accomplishes something very very important. It makes
the Kindle comfortable to hold sideways in one hand. Since your
fingers are closer to
to the center of mass of the device the torque of holding it steady
is reduced thus
putting less strain on your thumb that balances the divice. You can
also handle it
with your thumbs at the side (new bottom) where the page forward and
back buttons
are (they work very nicely this way excellent feel) while the device
is held on both
sides with your index fingers.
As I read through Pride and Prejudice ( I am currently at 58% / page
203 of 333).
I was able to hold it comfortably in any position. I think my favorite
is sideways since
the sideways menus require fewer clicks to reach and item then in the
standard position.
(Yes I know its not a big deal but .. details matter.. the seconds add
up over time).
Also when I am surfing the web more pages can be displayed without having to
scale them which saves a lot of time redrawing screens and scrolling
left and right.
Along with the keyboad being removed the font/size/screen rotation
button has been
removed and it function have been moved to a more convenient space
which is in the main
main accessible through the menu button. This is most useful when
using the web browser.
Most reviews I have read said that the screen resolution and quality
is the same as the K3.
I suspect it is a little better because I can now comfortably read for
a long period of time at
at a smaller font size. ( I doubt my vision has gotten better.)
Since the press gave the latest nook high points for having a screen
that only flashed black every 6th page turn Amazon implemented that feature in the K4. I had
suspected that
irregularly timed screen flashes would be more distracting that the
kindle method of
flashing every page. In fact it MUCH worse than that. The black
screen blanking is
necessary for the Kindle to work as a "book" instead of a computer
screen. During that
"flash" your eyes stop staring at the screen for a second while the
pages changes.
Without the flash you eyes remain on the page and the words very
disturbingly melt away
then reform.
This was a almost a deal breaker for me. I was trying to train myself
to look away when
I clicked a page advance when I found that if your kindle has the
latest software you can change the screen refresh back to have it
happen on every page. I had to download and upgrade the software to
have this feature
(http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=200774090
) but I suspect it will the default software for anyone who purchase
it in the near future.
Living without sound. I have so many mp3 players that I don't miss it.
Now if the kindle played my amazon mp3s on my kindle over wi-fi I
would have been so amazingly happy but that has not happened yet. My
8 year old does like to use text to speech on his K2 so if you are
purchasing for young children the $79 version might not be for you.
Living without 3g. No biggie anywhere I read has wi-fi. Also I have
become so spoiled with the free doc transfer by wifi its my primary
means of downloading content now. I use the "klip.me" service to
e-mail long web articles to my kindle for later reading.
Living with Advertising, wish they actually had more deals to chose
from. But if you don't like it you can pay $30 to have them removed
later. So don't have to make the call to live with or without the ads
without actually trying it out.
Living without a keyboard. To be honest I have been unhappy with the
keyboard ever since they removed the number row from the K2. The lack
of keyboard will mean that I wont be using it to send messages from
gmail. Using the soft keyboard is like using a remote control on you
dvr to write out the name of the show your recorded or searching for
netflix movies using my roku box remote.
Overall I really like it. I will keep my K3 since its the last model
that will have free unfettered internet access and that is useful
when I am traveling, but for day to day use the K4 is my go to
machine.
It easily fits into my jacket pocket, the wi-fi and web browser seem
to be bit faster and have a longer range. The menu options actually
improve web browsing (mostly gmail and google reader to read my
favorite sites).
Oh and one final note now for $79 dollars you never need to purchase
another book again if you don't want to. You can borrow books directly
from the public library, feedbooks, and project gutenberg and they
wirelessly download to your machine over wi-fi. Very very nice.
I will probably be posting this review to the web later, so if you
have any question or thought that you think people would like to know
about this product please drop me a line.
posted by Scott at 10:09 PM
2 Comments:
All the forced breaks in this review make it look like an e.e. cummings poem. Unfortunately, you are no e.e. cummings.
Funny... I shouldn't be so lazy with the formatting.
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