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March 11, 2009

Kindle 2.0 first impressions

Got the Kindle yesterday.  Unboxing. very cool packaging. Very Apple.  totally recyclable no large manual, no device driver software, just a quick start guide, the device and a power cable.  Good stuff. 

IMG00020-20090310-1430IMG00021-20090310-1430

Using the kindle

- I somehow thought it had WiFi.  But no EVDO for 3 years.  Slower, but ok. Makes the UI easier to use, no passwords, etc.  Good decision for them.

- There are no free books on the Amazon store, you have to go to a web site that serves them, download, and copy using USB over to the Kindle.  The process is ok for a techie like me, but lacks the love of the iPhone store.  Since the first thing I wanted was free books, the first thing I did was go to other places and NOT the Amazon store. If they had free, I would be there looking for free and probably buy other stuff (like Apple).

-  The Mp3 player thing is cool.  But it won’t play QT files which is a pain

- The Audible integration is a hack, would like to have it tighter.

- my daughter LOVED the text to speech.  You can have the device read you any book, very cool.

- The browser, while no javascript and optimized for a small list of sites, does a good job on any site with an M. implementation.  First site i went to was M.twitter.com and posted a tweet. Worked like a charm!  very cool.

- The dictionary is a blast to use.  Finn and I spent half an hour this morning just looking up words.

- They need more younger childrens’ books like 6-10.  The children’s section is really teen with books like Twightlight, etc.  They need The Giggler Treatment, and more books on poop.

- Love the tactile feel of the keyboard.

- They made alot of UI decisions that make the device incredibly easy and intuitive to use and NOT like a computer.  That is good.  Stuff like you just start typing on the keyboard and the search box starts filling in, no need to open a separate box.  Having a next page button on the right AND left to allow right/left handed people is good. Having no backlight is good because of the longer battery life and more book like feel. 

- i HATE the fade to black flash back to white screen refresh thing when it changes pages or when it loads a new screen. It looks like flicker.   The refresh of graphics is slow.

-  The browser does a good job of rendering color pictures in monochrome.  I could browse my blog www.deepgreencrystals.com and see all the pictures just fine.

- I am not paying for reading any blogs, that is whack

- I like the magazine integration, I am subscribing to Technology review.

I am reading 20,000 leagues under the sea. for free.  

Posted by Martin at March 11, 2009 8:56 AM

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