the kindle 2: a belated review

Having spent nearly a month with the Kindle 2, I have to say that I love the thing. It has its issues (more on that later), but it's easy to use and has gotten me reading again after a long dry spell. I think I've spent enough time with it (I've read 5 books so far) to finally write a review, so here goes:

I did plenty of research before buying a e-reader, and there's a reason why I decided on the Kindle over the Sony reader and the nook. While the other two readers look sleeker and nicer, they utilize a touch screen, and honestly, I'm still a bit iffy on using touch screens - especially for typing. The keyboard on the Kindle may take up quite a bit of space, but it makes it easy to search for books or anything else. Also, the Kindle is lighter and thinner than the nook (I tried one out in a Barnes and Noble store), which doesn't seem like that big of a deal (the nook weighs about 12 oz), but it does make a difference. It feels more burdensome to hold, especially if somebody plans to read for more than half an hour. The nook is noticeably slow as well, and while the Kindle isn't super fast when it comes to turning pages, it's not nearly as laggy. With the Kindle, it's more like a suspenseful holding of breath versus asphyxiation with the nook.

The e-ink display looks great, but it's the same technology on most e-readers nowadays. The lack of color on the displays is a bit disappointing, but the technology isn't there yet. The color on the nook is only on the touch screen, so the actual text display is exactly the same as on the Kindle and the Sony reader.

Barnes and Noble brags about their extensive library of books (they are a book store chain, after all), but so far I've had no problems finding free books for the Kindle. It's amazing how many books besides public domain ones you can find after a few minutes of Google scouring.

The buttons are nice, and I've had no accidental presses of the page turning buttons. However, there is a problem with the placement on the Kindle. Maybe I'm still adjusting, but I still get the "home" and "menu" buttons mixed up at times, and it can get mildly annoying to go back into the book before correctly choosing "menu." Sometimes I've gone back into the book only to press "home" again, though I think this is mostly borderline retardation on my part.

Now for some of the problems. Because there is no touch screen, I have to use a little directional nubbin' to go to words I want to look up and the sort. This usually isn't too bad, but when I want to look up a word in the middle of the page, it's a bit of a hassle to scroll all the way down.

The 3G is a great addition (and one of the reasons why I chose the Kindle over the others), but my god is it slow as all hell when it comes to anything other than the store. I tried looking a few things up on Wikipedia and using the rudimentary Internet browser, and the thing just kind of chugged along like a dying zebra inching towards the watering hole. It should be noted, though, that the other readers only allow 3G for the store, so it's nice to be able to eventually look stuff up online anywhere.

The nook has a nifty book loaning program, which the Kindle lacks. The Kindle is actually tied down quite a bit by DRM and its proprietary format, which sometimes makes it a bitch to get books on there, as I have to send an email to the Kindle to convert documents, which I can get sent back to my computer to avoid a fee, at which point I can plug in my Kindle and transfer it there. It's not particularly hard or time-consuming - 5 minutes at most, but it's still a drag to do all the back-and-forth - especially with PDF files, which take longer to attach and send.

And, as I mentioned earlier, the Kindle is not as sleek or nice-looking as its competitors. While its lightness makes it convenient for me, it probably looks like a big slab of nerd whenever I take it out at a cafe. This is a minor complaint, though, as I'm comfortable with the fact that I am a huge nerd.

All in all, the Kindle is sweet. It's probably still a bit pricey, and it still feels like "early adoption" technology even though it's the second version, but I rather like it. Granted, it's not the same as holding an actual book in your hands, but it's incredibly convenient and has encouraged me to read a lot more - probably to justify the price tag.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that now I won't ever have a KinDULL moment.

...Sorry.