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May 9, 2009
Amazon's Kindle EBook Reader
Do you buy and read quite a few books? If so the Kindle 2, the second generation electronic reading device from Amazon might be the ticket for you.
The Kindle 2 is compact - about 8" x 5.3" x .36" and only weighs 10.2 ounces. It can stores up to 1500 books, the original Kindle could stores about 200. And is has a purpose built 6" screen that Amazon calls 'electronic paper'.
You load books, magazines and newspapers through Amazon's Whispernet, which uses Sprints 3G network. When you make a purchase it is downloaded through this network, the cost is part of the book purchase, no additional monthly fees or data plans. Books usually download in less than a minute.
Extra features include:
- a dictionary,
- a 'read to me' feature that converts text to speech, letting you listen instead of read. This feature is disabled on some books,
- and you can increase or decrease the size of the text.
OK, how well does it work. I received a review sample a couple of weeks ago. I downloaded a few books from the over 230,000 that are available. Most new releases are $9.99, and older books can be a buck or less.
I kicked back and started to read. It took a little while to get used to not holding a regular book, but it soon felt natural. The page turns are fast and the controls quickly become intuitive. The quality of the black text on the white screen is very good. I really like the ability to change the size of the text. I am at the age when I need to use reading glasses occasionally. I don't need them with the Kindle 2, just increase the text size and I can easily read without the dreaded 'readers'.
The Kindle 2 costs $359.00. If you don't read many books or usually get most of your books from the public library, the Kindle 2 is probably not for you. But if you are like me and buy quite a few books, often new releases that cost $25 or more, the Kindle 2 could actually save you some money over time.
Beside price the only real downside that I have with the Kindle 2 is that I had to send the review sample back after 15 days. For more information please go to Amazon Kindle 2.
Posted by Bob Gatton at May 9, 2009 4:06 PM
Comments
You're lucky. I ordered a Kindle2 for my mom for Mother's Day and she has yet to be able to read a book. They neglect to tell you you can't download a book if you live in an area that a cell phone won't work. She called Amazon cs several times, repeating her story. The first guy said her zip code showed a "strong," reception and the second guy said it showed no reception, so she followed his directions and drove 25 miles to a town where her cell phone worked and still couldn't get the Kindle2 to work. She called back only to be told she'd be called back in a few days after they "tweaked," it - they never called and never tweaked. She called back and repeated her story to diff. cs operator again who transferred her to diff. techy who had her go thru whole useless procedure again and in the midst she got cut off. Called back got diff. operator, diff techy, all of whom refused to give their name or ext. number, got cut off again, but had left her number this time in case they got cut off she could be called back, but they didn't....... She is 88 years old, retired librarian, computer savvy and considered buying a Kindle but decided she couldn't afford one - so I stretched my budget to get one for her -- only for both of us to be disappointed and frustrated. Finally the last guy said almost offhandedly that she could download books from a computer if all else failed. She didn't see any usb connection included until he told her it was hidden in the plug of the charger cord !! Of course if it came with a users manual she could have read this but you have to download the user's manual and she couldn't get any reception to download the manual !!!! Why do they say you can use it anywhere -- doesn't require a Wi Fi, hotspot or pc. Very misleading. So far it's been useless to her. Why do you have to tell your story first to the operator and then get transferred and then tell your story all over again to a techy and then if you call back you have to start all over? Don't they keep your record on a computer database? Why can't you call the same person back? Why is their extension such a big secret? Maybe Amazon should have LLBean train their people in customer service.
Posted by: Judy Thom at May 19, 2009 10:34 PM
hey this is a very interesting article!
Posted by: KeHoeff at May 28, 2009 5:49 PM
The price of the Kindle2 is now $259.
http://www.amazon.com/
Posted by: Bob Gatton at October 7, 2009 7:54 AM
