Kindle review: The dream machine

Image from jblyberg

I read a lot. I've never cared for hardbacks, finding them too heavy and awkward, and over the last few years I've gradually been ridding myself of the hundreds and hundreds of books that were crowding our hall and taking over our apartment. 

So an ebook reader seemed ideal for me. Initially, I checked out the Sony Reader because, frankly, I thought the Amazon Kindle looked like ass. But the Domestic Spending Committee didn't approve the purchase, so I waited until a friend got her Kindle, and once I saw it I knew I had to have it.

The design

On first glance, the Kindle doesn't look half as slick as the Sony Reader. But over a few months of heavy usage, I've come to really appreciate the thought that went into its design. All the features I love in an iphone - touch screen, backlighting, color - are missing. But once you start to use it, you realize that those features would not work at all in a device you might hold and stare at for three to four hours at a stretch.

However, I realize now that when you hold a gadget for several hours at a time, you change your hand position a lot. A touch screen would be impractical, because you'd probably end up jumping away from your page. The keyboard is a bit bigger than I'd like it to be (I don't use the annotation feature and really use it only for buying books on the go) but it's just hard enough to use so that you don't accidentally do something that takes you away from the page.

Another cool feature is the gray rubber battery cover. It's got a pretty cool graphic etched on the back which seemly uncharacteristically decorative until you realize that it provides just enough tackiess to stop your fingers sliding off as you read.

I have only one real gripe about the design: the edges seem a bit pointed and hard, and sometimes are uncomfortable to hold after an hour or so. But in general, I'm amazed at the hardware design. Once you're used to it, the Kindle really does vanish, and you're aware of nothing but the words on the page - just like a book.

The buying experience

Love. Lovelovelove. LOVE the fact that I can see a book on Amazon and instantly send it to my Kindle. Or be sitting on a plane waiting for takeoff and order a book for the flight. I don't put books on my Amazon wishlist any more - I just send samples of anything I like the look of to my Kindle. If I like the sample, it only takes a minute to get the whole book.

New books (i.e. freshly released hardbacks) are $9.99.  Older books are $7.99 or cheaper. Almost every classic is available for around a dollar or so. I did some some calculated math to demonstrate to the Domestic Spending Committee that we'd actually be saving money. For me, the unexpected result is not that I opt always for a Kindle book rather than the dead-tree version - it's that I read so much more than I used to, I think because of the ease of ordering. I'd say I'm reading at least three times as much as I used to. I can't remember the last time we turned on the TV or watched a DVD.

Newspapers

Another unexpected bonus. For me, the experience of reading the New York Times on the Kindle beats either the Web or paper versions hands down. No blinking ads. No dirty ink. Just pure content delivered before I wake up.

Battery life

It's pretty good, especially if you remember to turn off wireless. Definitely a couple of days.  I plug it in at night anyway, just out of habit and because I did forget once and had to sit on an eight-hour flight from London with nothing to read.

If you're looking for multimedia iPhone-like megagadget, the Kindle isn't for you. It does only one thing - display text - but it does it extremely well (caveat: I haven't used a single one of its other features - blog subscriptions, experimental email ...). But if you're something that looks and feels like the experience of reading a paper book only cheaper, faster, and more easily accessible ... well, you're not getting mine.