Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Extended road-test part 2 : Kindle

The second part of my gadget review. In part 1 i told you how the iPad changed my life and made me more successful with women (well maybe not). In this episode i will look back at the Kindle, a device that can only be described as lovable.

There are two kinds of books i read, scholarly tomes and novels (usually Star Trek and Scandinavian detectives). In the latter category i tend to only read a book once and then it gathers dust on my shelves or in a box so i procured the Kindle to replace these paperbacks. I suspect i will always buy non-fiction books but for paperback novels the Kindle is the way to go.

My initial thought about the Kindle was that the screen was wonderful, clearer than an actual dead tree novel in many cases and as the text could be made larger much easier and less tiring to read. Nothing has changed. I can fly through books much easier on the Kindle than reading a paperback. I usually read in bed and its much more comfortable reading with a Kindle, and you can do it with one hand (no funny remarks please). The battery life is stated as up to a month and i have found this to be true (if you turn wireless off). In fact since i bought the Kindle in January i've only needed to recharge it once so far.

Navigating through a book is fine, when its a novel. It might be more problematical in a text book where you needed to find a specific section. Occaisionally you do accidentally hit the next or previous page buttons while reading though (maybe i am just clumsy?)

Its maybe not perfect though. Although new books can be cheaper electronically there is no second-hand or bargain market like there is with paperbacks. Depending on what you like to read of course there are free options available to read on the Kindle (though i've never been one for "classics").

You can do other things with the Kindle apart from reading though i found the web browser a bit of a pain to use. For reading its unsurpassed and it does that so well you don't really mind not being able to do much else with the Kindle. It does it exactly what it says on the tin, or the box.

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