Amazon Kindle Lives Up to the Hype
I recently bought and finally received the Amazon Kindle. It took about 5 weeks from when I ordered it till I actually received it. There is a lot of hype surrounding this new gadget and I am here to give you my impression.
The Kindle comes in a ridiculously large box that is meant to impress but in my opinion lacked environmental awareness. The device could very well change the way we read books and save many trees along the way but is that much packaging really needed. Anyway, the Kindle is very light and a good size. You need to charge it up when it comes but you can play around with it while it is charging.
The screen is almost like reading a book. There is some glare to it even though most said there is not but it is nothing like looking at a computer screen, the Kindle is much better. You can change the font size to whatever you want. I love the fact that I may never have to turn a page again because pressing the button to go to the next page is heaven sent. I almost feel like pressing it all the time it is so easy. There were many complaints about the positioning of the buttons. If you hold the Kindle like you hold a book you can unintentionally turn the page. When I was reading though, I didn’t feel the need to hold it like a normal book. I think the reason you mainly hold the book on the sides is because you’re holding the pages in place. With the Kindle there is no need to hold the pages and therefore I felt like holding towards the bottom of the device was more comfortable.
Unfortunately, I don’t have the Sprint access available in my area and I haven’t been able to use the device to browse the Amazon store or any of the other online features. I was able to easily hook it up to my computer with a USB cable and add the books I purchased to my device without a problem. In the future, I hope to have a connection though because one of the greatest features of the device is it’s push technology aspect allowing you to have the latest Blog news and subscriptions to newspapers and magazines that automatically download when available.
The battery lasts a long time. I have never really tested how long because I have always kept up with keeping it charged, you get used to doing that when you have cell phones and ipods and such. The technology that was used to create the device only uses power when the text or images on the screen actually change and that is why the Kindle can keep it’s charge for such a long period of time. Although, when you have the Sprint Internet switch activated the Kindle will use more power. That doesn’t seem to be a hassle though so don’t consider that a negative.
The biggest negative is the price of the device. The Kindle currently costs $400. That may seem like a lot but if you’re an avid reader and don’t get your books from the library the device will pay for itself in due time. The books cost much less than their paper equivalents. If you don’t read often you may want to wait until there is a price reduction which I am sure there will be within a year’s time. If you’re a gadget lover like myself, nobody will be able to stop you but at least get the Amazon credit card when you make the purchase, that way you get a discount and large amount of points that will put you much closer to a $25 gift certificate as well.
The Kindle is certainly a great product and it may take the 2nd generation of the device or later but I think the way we read books is about to change forever. There is a Sony device that is also available that uses the same technology but it doesn’t have the built in Internet and the synergy that comes with being an Amazon product. Amazon will win this...