Amazon Kindle 2 – First Impression

I’ve been looking at an ebook reader for the longest time.  I’ve always leaned toward the Kindle, since I saw the first one.  The technology has advanced and there are some nice looking competitors, such as the new Sony devices.

However, I always went back to the Kindle, and started looking at the Kindle 2 and DX.  From what I can tell the DX is super, but at a ’super size’ and thus I ruled it out.  Maybe someday, however…

I focused on the pros and cons of a few readers, and narrowed it down to the Kindle and the Sony Reader Pocket Edition, and the new Touch Edition.  The touch looks like a great device, but the lack of wireless (at least for me) put it out of the running.  Sure, folks will say it isn’t necessary, and just drains the battery.  I can agree with the battery life argument but for total flexibility, convenience, and just the cool factor of another wireless device the Kindle is the winner.

Since I had made up my mind, I tried the Kindle app on the iPhone and looked for free ebooks to try.  I did several Google searches which revealed literally tens of thousands of free books.  I downloaded several directly from Amazon to try that channel, as well as a few others to check compatibility and ease of getting them on the device.  This all worked flawlessly and whetted my appetite for more.  Not only “more”, but more screen space to make the reading experience more like a book, as well as easier on the eyes.

The next search I did was to see if there are any hacks available.  Just as with other electronics, especially computer related devices, you can almost be sure someone wants to tweak and get more out of the hardware.  The Kindle community didn’t disappoint in this respect.  Even if for nothing other than tips and tricks, hints and how-to’s, a little bit of time invested in Google pays big dividends.

I couldn’t wait any longer.  I ordered the Kindle 2 and a Patagonia case, along with an extra power adapter on Monday.  It arrived on Tuesday and I was off and running.

The first thing that struck me was the weight of the reader.  I don’t know what I had in mind, but it was heavier than I imagined.  Now, it’s not “heavy” but had a solid feel and is not uncomfortable to hold for long periods.

The metal / brushed aluminum back is a bit slick, and doesn’t have the non-slip rubberized “grip” that was found on the Kindle 1.  The button placement is logical and allows for a comfortable grip on the device.

I don’t own a Kindle 1, and only have a 10-15 minutes with one.  I can’t give a fair or complete comparison, but a couple of quick first thoughts.

Without a side by side look, the screen is about the same, although the 16-bit graphics of the K2 have a visible edge over Kindle 1.  I do like the scroll wheel navigation device of the K1 over the 5-way of the K2.  Again, don’t have a lot of time with either device, but out of the box, the K1 wins this category in my opinion.  (I guess with time I will get used to the 5-way.)

Been playing with the wireless delivery, conversion via email, and even a few web sites that do conversions for books and blogs / RSS feeds.  All methods, both free and paid (via Amazon’s conversion and wireless delivery) work well.  Been impressed with the few conversions of Word docs, as well as PDFs.

I did a quick copy and paste of some web site tips and tricks to a Word doc, converted that, and then sent to my Kindle email address.  Sure, it cost me $0.15, but worked well and can be a viable way to get content to the device.

I looked at the “Experimental” section on the Menu.  All I had available was the web browser.  Uploaded a few MP3s from iTunes and they played fine.  Whether in the background, or just through the speakers (or headphones) the Kindle will work fine in a pinch, or as intended, background music while you read.  Of course, you can’t have MP3s play while Text-to-Speech is active, but to me that is common sense.

Installed a hack to allow personal graphics and photos to be used as the Kindle ’screen saver’.  Sure e-ink doesn’t need a screen saver, but cool to prove the concept.  Downloaded several graphics / photos, and gave it a try.  Even took some to Photoshop CS4 and added my own “Jim’s Kindle” stamp.  I guess, from reading, they don’t really support customization in this area as did the K1, but it works fine for me.

Been trying all sorts of hacks and conversions.  As above, the screen saver hack works great.  Also trying native formats other than .azw.  The .prc files I have loaded work fine.  I am still trying to get success from the ePub conversion.  I got errors at first, now nothing, so must be something I’ve done.  Still need to investigate, especially since Google has seemed to embrace this format with their “1,000,000 free books.”

In the end, I really do like the device.  Sure it’s new, it’s new (to me) technology.  But I’ve started reading more, and that’s what it’s all about.

UPDATED – 2009-09-06:

Something I forgot to mention… Since living in Alaska, we deal with a lot of darkness through the winter months.  We are well in to autumn now, and the days continue to get noticeably shorter, losing over five minutes of daylight each day.

That said, one of the things I miss with the Kindle (or any e-reader I believe) is the backlight of the iPhone or iPod.  Granted that would certainly impact the quality of the display, and more importantly the battery life on the Kindle, but I realized last night how much I lie in bed, in the dark, and read.  With the iPhone/iPod, the ‘natural light’ was provided in the form of a backlit screen.

So, for now, the light on the night stand will be illuminated, but I think I might check out one of the book lights that are available.  In any event, that is a small consolation for the convenience and benefits of the Kindle.

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