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Kindle2: The Book Made Better

So you may remember a few months back (actually quite a few months back) in our Apr 07 issue, I wrote a review of the Sony Reader, which was one of the first devices to use the new eInk screens. Overall the Sony unit and its slightly modified second gen model performed admirably but were hampered by their less than fantastic ergonomics and a quite poor online store for purchasing the books to read on it. While I gave the Reader a good review at the time, I soured on the device after a very short time due to the previously mentioned problems.

With that said, there was still a call to make a device that can truly replace the printed book, and wunderkind Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com stepped up to the plate with the Kindle. While the Kindle has now been out for almost a year, it sold out so many early production runs, that I wasn’t able to get my grubby little mitts on one until just a few months ago (I also wasn’t looking to repeat the burn I got with the Sony Reader).

The Kindle addresses most of the grumbles that I had with the Reader and actually makes Sony’s job darn near impossible, because there really is no reason to buy the Reader now that the Kindle is out.

First off, the design of the Kindle, while not perfect, is still head and shoulders better than the Sony device. While the Sony Reader had multiple ways to ‘turn’ its pages, they were still smallish little buttons that weren’t quite as easy to press as they should be. The Kindle addressed this in a big way (really big) and made both the left and right edges of the device into big back and forward buttons. Actually the left side that would fall under your left thumb has both buttons with the back button on top and the forward button being just where your thumb would fall. The funny thing about this set up though is that the upper back button is about three times the size of the forward button (which is the one that you will probably using the most unless you’re one of those people who likes to start at the back of a book and work your way forward). Either way, it can almost be TOO easy to flip the pages, and since the eInk pages take a second to change it can be a bit of a distraction if you accidentally hit either button while in the middle of the page.

The rest of the Kindle’s design is nothing short of genius. While the Sony reader came in midnight blue and the second generation came in either blue or silver, it never really blended in, and you always felt like you were holding an electronic device. The Kindle on the other hand is a crisp white color and has a bit of a wedge shape, with the thick end on the left side so that it perfectly balances in your hand. Both the thick left side and white color help to immerse you in the illusion that you might just be reading a paper book with the front cover folded back.

The Kindle is an absolute joy to hold just by itself but if you are going to take it out and about, you are going to want to either use the included cover or go out and buy one of the third-party offerings that are out there. While the included cover is nice and quite functional, it does less than a stellar job securing the Kindle and it always feels like it is on the verge of falling out. If you want a serious upgrade to the supplied cover, take a look at M-Edge Products at www.buymedge.com. Their executive jacket is nothing short of superb for your Kindle. Using real leather and a much better system for securing the Kindle, it really is a must have if you are going to spend the kind of money that Amazon is asking for the Kindle. With the Kindle in one of the M-Edge covers it almost feels like you are carrying around a nicely leather bound edition of your favorite book, when really you are carrying around 100 of your favorite books!

Just like the Sony Reader, the main reason for owning an electronic reader is for that person who is the voracious reader who doesn’t like hauling around twenty pounds of books on vacation or for their morning commute. Even with the Kindle’s built in memory, you have enough room for well over a hundred books and with the built in slot for an SD Card, you can expand that to thousands of books!

So other than the better ergonomics and slightly better functionality, what it the real reason for buying a pricier Kindle over the Sony Reader? That reason would be Whispernet. The real beauty of the Kindle that actually makes it a must have device for anyone who loves to read is the fact that you can get almost any book, at any time, no matter where you are. That’s right, when you are finished reading your novel on the beach and are nowhere near a bookstore or a computer for that matter, you don’t have to worry; just fire up your Whispernet connection and browse over 150,000 titles on Amazon.com and download it with just the click of a button! Considering the fact that Whispernet uses the Sprint network, you will most likely have a connection no matter where you are. With the Sony Reader, you had to use their painfully slow and unintuitive bookstore from a computer and then download the books you bought onto the Reader. On top of this they charged an outrageous amount for a book that they didn’t even have to print on paper or store in a warehouse. Sometimes you would only save $5 off the cover price of a current bestseller!

The Kindle makes it a breeze to find any book you like from the Amazon library since it has a built in keyboard at the bottom of the device that you can use to enter in any search you like, or you can just browse through their collections with the easy to use scroll wheel. The best part is that New York Times bestsellers typically are only about $10, which is a considerable savings over their cover price and much more reasonable for a digital version. You can even download a sample of the book to check out first before deciding to buy it.

Where Whispernet really shines though is in the delivery of periodicals such as newspapers and magazines. You heard right, tired of stacks and stacks of newspapers piling up in your garage, or the thought of cutting down whole forests just so you can get your daily news fix? Well the Kindle will download the latest edition of such venerable favorites such as the New York Times or the Washington Post while you sleep and when you wake up, it will be waiting for you to peruse while drinking your morning coffee with no annoying newsprint to smudge on your hands. There are a little over a dozen newspapers (unfortunately the Free Press or Detroit News are not on the list yet), and about the same number of magazines such as Time, Newsweek, and Fortune that you can subscribe to, all for much less than their print versions. I do have to say that while this is an undeniably cool feature of the Kindle, they do need to work on the interface for the newspapers since it is not nearly as intuitive for browsing as flipping through the paper skimming the stories to find one of interest.

If you love books or read lots of periodicals, you really need to take a look at the Kindle. While it is quite pricey at $359 (it was $400 when it launched), the money you save on books and especially newspapers, can quickly make it worth it. You also need to factor in the convenience of being able to haul your whole library while also having access to the whole Amazon catalog in one little device. Also, if you or someone you know has trouble reading normal size print and has to wait for the large print editions to come out, they no longer have to wait since the Kindle can change the size of the font on the fly.

At the time of this writing (early August), there is a rumor that Amazon has its second generation Kindle waiting to be launch right about the time this article is published. There are also rumors that they may also come out with a larger 8.5″ x 11″ version (the regular Kindle screen is 6″ diagonally). This larger version would make it easier to display newspapers or textbooks. Imagine every student with all their textbooks in one device that weighs about a pound!

That is it for this month, and as always, if you have any questions or would like to see something reviewed here, let me know at jeff@healthandleisureonline.com.