catsittingstill (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
catsittingstill) wrote2008-04-27 09:39 am
catsittingstill) wrote2008-04-27 09:39 am
Playing with my new toy
I'm really enjoying the Kindle so far. I've gotten very little done around the house. Some preliminary observations.
1) Lots of people have trouble with pressing the page turn buttons by accident. This happens to me occasionally; the most notable instance was when I was reading the user's manual and turned it over to look at the back. But in general I don't have much problem with it.
2) connecting it via USB (to a Mac) is easy and fast and it shows up as a thumbdrive, just as advertised. Moving Mobipocket files onto it was likewise easy and fast. In fact, generally, It Just Works. (except for websurfing; see #4 and #5 below)
3) I paid for one blog: my favorite, Pharyngula. This will cost 1$ per month unless I decide to cancel in the next 2 weeks. (I can cancel after that, of course, but I have to pay for what I've consumed up to that point.) The Kindle version of the blog is much easier to navigate than the general web version, though the web version works better if I set the experimental web browser to "Advanced" (the default mode is "Basic"--it reminds me of lynx except that it can display pictures.) If they had my local paper in a Kindle version, I'd probably sign up for that too.
4) Sometimes while trying to websurf I have had the Kindle either freeze up, or go blank, or try downloading a page repeatedly. I'm not sure what causes this. So far turning the unit off and back on has solved the problem, but I know where the reset button is and how to use it if necessary.
5) I have totally *not* been able to get the pseudo-GPS to work. (To be fair, this is not something that Amazon advertises the Kindle as being able to do.) I'm not sure whether I'm doing something wrong, or whether I'm just in an area that doesn't permit it (only covered by a single tower, say) or whether some change in the Kindle software has made it impossible generally. I have version 1.0.8 of the Kindle operating system, FWIW
6) Putting the Kindle to sleep is becoming reflexive. I like the "screensaver" pictures that come on when I do this. :-)
7) The battery is running down a little faster than I expected, given that I only use the EVDO when downloading or websurfing. I charged it up full Friday night--more like 3 1/2 hours than the 2 hours the manual recommends, but I was using it a lot of the time; maybe that makes a difference. There is a handy charging light on the Kindle so you can see when it's done. I used it a lot Saturday and it's down to half charge. Some people reported getting a bad battery, with a life of about half what was expected. I wonder if I got one like that?
8) I have already bought my first Kindle book. Read to the end of one of my samples, (_The Omnivore's Dilemma_ for those who are interested) and followed the link. It was about seven dollars, so I went for it. I think I'm going to try to limit myself to one Kindle book a month, though; I can't afford to get too crazy with this. I will have to think more carefully about next month's.
9) It's a bit heavier than I expected. Not that it's *heavy* but it weighs a bit more than a book of the same size; it's...dense. The book cover has been working better than I expected from some of the reviews, and it seems to do a good job of protecting the Kindle when I put it in my pack. The "back" key on the right side (which works sort of like the "back" button on a web browser) sticks up a little above the "next page" key and the housing. I'm not sure if this is consistent or just on my unit, and I'm not sure whether this is on purpose. It does make it easy to tell by feel whether I'm about to press the back key by mistake instead of the page turn key, which is kind of handy.
10) The Kindle can go in a pocket--but only the biggest pockets I own (cargo pockets on a military jacket). Around the house this is no problem but when travelling it may have to go in a backpack.
11) The "chicklet" keyboard works better than I feared it might. I had hoped to be able to touch type on it (I have slender fingers) but no way was that happening. However the whole typing with the thumbs thing works better than I expected. The display delay doesn't bother me; it's always a letter or two behind, but the keys depress with a little click I can hear and feel, so I don't need to watch the screen to see if they registered. There are no punctuation marks to speak of on it, but some of them can be accessed with the "alt" key. For the rest, you need to hit the "sym" key and then select the desired mark from the menu, which is a bit of a pain. It works as advertised to make notes in "margins" of e-books and documents. I sent a "to do" list (in Word) for conversion (as advertised, fast and free)--then updated it by adding notes. The downside is that the notes aren't directly visible from the document; there's a little icon to show there's a note there, but you have to click it and then pick "edit note" from a menu to read what it says.
12) it works fine with the free e-books from manybooks.net. Furthermore, fictionwise has a document you can download directly to the Kindle that lets you download their free e-books directly to the Kindle over the Whispernet. I also downloaded an issue of Baen's Universe to it, and that works fine except that the illustrations for the stories are not all one might desire in 4 greys.
13) The screen is kind of grey. How grey it looks depends on the light, but it's definitely black and grey not black and white. I notice this a little sometimes, but I don't think it's a dealbreaker for me.
2) connecting it via USB (to a Mac) is easy and fast and it shows up as a thumbdrive, just as advertised. Moving Mobipocket files onto it was likewise easy and fast. In fact, generally, It Just Works. (except for websurfing; see #4 and #5 below)
3) I paid for one blog: my favorite, Pharyngula. This will cost 1$ per month unless I decide to cancel in the next 2 weeks. (I can cancel after that, of course, but I have to pay for what I've consumed up to that point.) The Kindle version of the blog is much easier to navigate than the general web version, though the web version works better if I set the experimental web browser to "Advanced" (the default mode is "Basic"--it reminds me of lynx except that it can display pictures.) If they had my local paper in a Kindle version, I'd probably sign up for that too.
4) Sometimes while trying to websurf I have had the Kindle either freeze up, or go blank, or try downloading a page repeatedly. I'm not sure what causes this. So far turning the unit off and back on has solved the problem, but I know where the reset button is and how to use it if necessary.
5) I have totally *not* been able to get the pseudo-GPS to work. (To be fair, this is not something that Amazon advertises the Kindle as being able to do.) I'm not sure whether I'm doing something wrong, or whether I'm just in an area that doesn't permit it (only covered by a single tower, say) or whether some change in the Kindle software has made it impossible generally. I have version 1.0.8 of the Kindle operating system, FWIW
6) Putting the Kindle to sleep is becoming reflexive. I like the "screensaver" pictures that come on when I do this. :-)
7) The battery is running down a little faster than I expected, given that I only use the EVDO when downloading or websurfing. I charged it up full Friday night--more like 3 1/2 hours than the 2 hours the manual recommends, but I was using it a lot of the time; maybe that makes a difference. There is a handy charging light on the Kindle so you can see when it's done. I used it a lot Saturday and it's down to half charge. Some people reported getting a bad battery, with a life of about half what was expected. I wonder if I got one like that?
8) I have already bought my first Kindle book. Read to the end of one of my samples, (_The Omnivore's Dilemma_ for those who are interested) and followed the link. It was about seven dollars, so I went for it. I think I'm going to try to limit myself to one Kindle book a month, though; I can't afford to get too crazy with this. I will have to think more carefully about next month's.
9) It's a bit heavier than I expected. Not that it's *heavy* but it weighs a bit more than a book of the same size; it's...dense. The book cover has been working better than I expected from some of the reviews, and it seems to do a good job of protecting the Kindle when I put it in my pack. The "back" key on the right side (which works sort of like the "back" button on a web browser) sticks up a little above the "next page" key and the housing. I'm not sure if this is consistent or just on my unit, and I'm not sure whether this is on purpose. It does make it easy to tell by feel whether I'm about to press the back key by mistake instead of the page turn key, which is kind of handy.
10) The Kindle can go in a pocket--but only the biggest pockets I own (cargo pockets on a military jacket). Around the house this is no problem but when travelling it may have to go in a backpack.
11) The "chicklet" keyboard works better than I feared it might. I had hoped to be able to touch type on it (I have slender fingers) but no way was that happening. However the whole typing with the thumbs thing works better than I expected. The display delay doesn't bother me; it's always a letter or two behind, but the keys depress with a little click I can hear and feel, so I don't need to watch the screen to see if they registered. There are no punctuation marks to speak of on it, but some of them can be accessed with the "alt" key. For the rest, you need to hit the "sym" key and then select the desired mark from the menu, which is a bit of a pain. It works as advertised to make notes in "margins" of e-books and documents. I sent a "to do" list (in Word) for conversion (as advertised, fast and free)--then updated it by adding notes. The downside is that the notes aren't directly visible from the document; there's a little icon to show there's a note there, but you have to click it and then pick "edit note" from a menu to read what it says.
12) it works fine with the free e-books from manybooks.net. Furthermore, fictionwise has a document you can download directly to the Kindle that lets you download their free e-books directly to the Kindle over the Whispernet. I also downloaded an issue of Baen's Universe to it, and that works fine except that the illustrations for the stories are not all one might desire in 4 greys.
13) The screen is kind of grey. How grey it looks depends on the light, but it's definitely black and grey not black and white. I notice this a little sometimes, but I don't think it's a dealbreaker for me.
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