I've had my Kindle 2 for a couple of weeks now, and have decided to post a brief review. Firs, I just want to say that I love it. Not only did it meet all of my base expectations, but I found little nuances about the Kindle that made me like it even more.
Many other reviews cover the basics of the Kindle. I'll reiterate a few for convenience:
- E-ink is great. It looks like ink on paper. Its not backlist like an LCD screen so its very easy on the eyes and easy to read even out in the bright sunlight.
- Its very slim and portable. It seems to have the perfect weight to it and its very thin. I use the Kindle cover/protector so mine feels a little different than holding it bare. However, the cover is pretty low profile and is really easy to hold. I do recommend it to keep the screen safe, especially if you have kids or pets.
- It has free cellular wireless access through Sprint's Whispernet service. This is a really nice feature that really sets the Kindle apart from the other e-readers. I have a newspaper description that just shows up on my Kindle each morning, delivered wirelessly via Whispernet. Obviously the biggest reason that Amazon provides the free wireless connectivity is so you will shop at Amazon's store to buy new books, magazines, newspapers, etc. for your Kindle. The shop is easy, intuitive, and tempting. Oh yea, you can use the little built in browser to get on the internet if you need to. The Kindle was not built for web surfing, but it certainly works and can be useful in a pinch.
- The Kindle 2 has lots of built-in memory. There isn't really much more to say about this feature other than - it's way more than enough memory for reading material. If you ever get to the point of filling it up, you can simply archive your older stuff to free up room.
The above features are what made me want the Kindle when I first learned about it. However, after owning one for a few weeks, I discovered other small nuances (not necessarily 'features') that make me love my Kindle all the more.
- The kindle sits nicely on a flat surface. I never really thought about it until after I had one. But with a normal book it is difficult to lay it flat and read from it without it closing or flipping pages automatically (unless it's a large hard-backed text book). The Kindle of course doesn't have this issue. I quickly discovered how useful this was when I was at home eating lunch and decided to read a bit while I ate. I simply woke my Kindle form sleep mode and began reading; tapping the page-turn button every now and then.
- The Kindle remembers where you stopped reading. I knew that it had this feature, and I would have expecting nothing less from a $360 e-reader. However, I didn't fully contemplate how convenient this was. Its so easy to just wake the Kindle from sleep mode and start reading that I find myself not hesitating to read with I have a spare 5 minutes or so. With a normal book I always felt like I had to get the book, relocate to a sofa or relaxing chair, and sit back holding the book with two hands while I read. This pretty much precluded me from reading unless I had at least 30 minutes to spare. I know that sounds ridiculous - but I'm just telling you like it is (for me anyway).
- I don't have to turn off the Kindle. Basically, the Kindle uses no power while its displaying a screen. It apparently only uses power while refreshing the screen (turning a page or loading a new menu) and when wireless is activated. This means that I read and when I need to stop I just stop. No bookmarking the page or turning off the Kindle. Just stop reading, get up, and leave. When you come back, wake it from sleep mode and there you go. Just to be clear, it remembers where you last left off in every book you have on your Kindle, not just the one you are currently reading. Additionally, you can set multiple bookmarks in a book. Just add a bookmark with a description and you can jump to that particular page anytime you want, forevermore.
- The Kindle has a built-in dictionary. Another feature I knew the Kindle had but did not realize how much I would appreciate it. You simply move the cursor in front of a word and it pops up a brief definition at the bottom of the screen. If you want a bigger, more detailed, definition you simply push a button and it takes you to a full screen definition. Hit the Back button and you will be right back on the page you left off of. Admittedly, my vocabulary is not that good. Sometimes I get obsessive about using the dictionary and it breaks up the flow of my reading. Regardless, you will find it very helpful when enough context clues are not there to adequately satisfy your thirst for an expanded vocabulary.
Those are the major points that, after a few weeks, I feel are worth mentioning. Before I finish, I do want to point out that I think the text-to-speech feature is not that good. It is one of those things that sounded "neat" when it was highlighted as a new Kindle 2 feature, but that in reality is next to useless. If you are impaired and need to hear book being read, then you are most likely going to find a better product than a Kindle to read books to you (like an mp3 player and real audio books). For anyone else, why would you want books read out loud to you in a computerized voice? If you find yourself needing this feature, then you too may want to look into real audio books since they are nearly infinitely better than a book being read to you using a text-to-speech computerized voice.
