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New Amazon Kindle announced: $139 WiFi-only, $189 3G, available August 27th

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Re: New Amazon Kindle announced: $139 WiFi-only, $189 3G, available August 27th

#31

Post by minouye »

pg wrote: post #20
minouye wrote: post #18

I love my Kindle and this is awesome news. For all of you on the fence, here's why I recommend everyone buy a Kindle (haven't used a Nook, but I think most of these points apply): 1. You will read more. 2. The reading experience will be better than you think--there was a 1-2 day adjustment period for me. After that, I didn't even notice I wasn't reading paper and ink. 3. You can highlight and make notes in books that…

Why is a Kindle better than an iPad?

The longest I've read in one session on the Kindle was about 2-3 hours (typical for me if I'm reading fiction). After reading for that long, my eyes are a little sore, but the strain isn't signifcantly different from reading a paper and ink novel. I haven't read a complete book on the iPad, but from what I've seen of the screen, I think there would be significantly more eyestrain.

Maybe someone who has read a couple of books on the iPad can commment?

Re: New Amazon Kindle announced: $139 WiFi-only, $189 3G, available August 27th

#32

Post by 2mur »

I have a launch Kindle 2. I love the device for all of the same reasons that minouye listed. I never had any problems with it until this past weekend. I turned on the 3G and hit the 'sync/update' option. I knew that it was going to download and install the newer 2.5 update (which added the long-needed 'collections' feature which allows you to arbitrarily group your books). Well it bricked the device. I'm not sure how it happened. I was well outside (~6 months) the 1 yr warranty. I called them up and they overnighted a brand-new K2 at no cost. (At least it looks brand-new, it could be a really well-preserved refurb). That kind of experience is why I really like Amazon and the Kindle. I don't know if I have any reason to upgrade for myself, but at $140 I think this is getting into gift range for my Mom and the in-laws for Xmas. (just registered to tell this story... long-time lurker)

Re: New Amazon Kindle announced: $139 WiFi-only, $189 3G, available August 27th

#33

Post by minouye »

moultano wrote: post #26
pg wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is a Kindle better than an iPad?

Beyond that, why is a kindle better than my phone? * I'm not going to take a kindle to the bathroom at work, I am taking my phone. * The page turning is instant and effortless on my phone, not so on the kindle. * With white text on a black background on the phone, I can read in more situations more easily than on the kindle, and with less eye-strain.

I tried reading a book on my phone a while back. I read for about 40 minutes and then spent the next hour or so convinced that I was permanently cross-eyed.

Seriously though--maybe my eyes are weaker than most, but I just can handle the screen and have yet to meet someone who can read for an hour or two at a time without significant eyestrain.

Re: New Amazon Kindle announced: $139 WiFi-only, $189 3G, available August 27th

#34

Post by 2mur »

jakarta wrote: post #22

Can anyone give me their take on viewing PDFs with the non-DX Kindle? I've been seriously thinking about getting one. I read through reports and ebooks pretty heavily and my chief concern is that if I bought a Kindle I'd end up reading mangled PDFs where the formatting gets distorted to accomodate the smaller screen size.

The format does not get distorted. Before the 2.5 update, you were restricted to viewing the pdf in a landscape view at page width. So if you have an A4 sized doc, it would take about 2-2.5 'nexts' to get through a page. It was readable and I read a number of journal articles and programming books that way, but it was a less than ideal experience.

Post-2.5 allows you to zoom pdfs and pan.

Re: New Amazon Kindle announced: $139 WiFi-only, $189 3G, available August 27th

#35

Post by moultano »

minouye wrote: post #33
moultano wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Beyond that, why is a kindle better than my phone? * I'm not going to take a kindle to the bathroom at work, I am taking my phone. * The page turning is instant and effortless on my phone, not so on the kindle. * With white text on a black background on the phone, I can read in more situations more easily than on the kindle, and with less eye-strain.

I tried reading a book on my phone a while back. I read for about 40 minutes and then spent the next hour or so convinced that I was permanently cross-eyed. Seriously though--maybe my eyes are weaker than most, but I just can handle the screen and have yet to meet someone who can read for an hour or two at a time without significant eyestrain.

Were you doing black text on white, or white text on black? Switching to the latter was what made the difference for me. I've read for many continuous hours on my phone.

Re: New Amazon Kindle announced: $139 WiFi-only, $189 3G, available August 27th

#37

Post by someperson »

jakarta wrote: post #22

Can anyone give me their take on viewing PDFs with the non-DX Kindle? I've been seriously thinking about getting one. I read through reports and ebooks pretty heavily and my chief concern is that if I bought a Kindle I'd end up reading mangled PDFs where the formatting gets distorted to accomodate the smaller screen size.

Formatting is fine. PDF was designed for that very purpose anyway.

Zooming and generally navigating a PDF is a huge pain. Screen refreshes are slow. Much like navigating through a plot on a graphics calculator.

PDF reading is a good extra, don't expect too much. I convert all text heavy, non-technical books using "calibre" to the PRC format. Works well enough for reading for pleasure.

(PS. I have a Kindle 2. Received it a few weeks ago)

Re: New Amazon Kindle announced: $139 WiFi-only, $189 3G, available August 27th

#38

Post by minouye »

moultano wrote: post #35
minouye wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried reading a book on my phone a while back. I read for about 40 minutes and then spent the next hour or so convinced that I was permanently cross-eyed. Seriously though--maybe my eyes are weaker than most, but I just can handle the screen and have yet to meet someone who can read for an hour or two at a time without significant eyestrain.

Were you doing black text on white, or white text on black? Switching to the latter was what made the difference for me. I've read for many continuous hours on my phone.

I haven't tried that but I'll give it a shot.

Re: New Amazon Kindle announced: $139 WiFi-only, $189 3G, available August 27th

#39

Post by nazgulnarsil »

mlinsey wrote: post #30
pg wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is a Kindle better than an iPad?

E-ink is still a much better screen for reading text than the iPad's LCD. Not only does it perform much better in sunlight, but the lack of a backlight reduces eyestrain substantially (the Kindle iPad app has an option to use white text on a black background, which helps a little but nto completely). Back when I wasn't working on a startup I would often spend several hours at a time reading books on my Kindle, but th…

red or green letters on a black screen would be even less of an eyestrain.

Re: New Amazon Kindle announced: $139 WiFi-only, $189 3G, available August 27th

#40

Post by moultano »

minouye wrote: post #38
moultano wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Were you doing black text on white, or white text on black? Switching to the latter was what made the difference for me. I've read for many continuous hours on my phone.

I haven't tried that but I'll give it a shot.

I also found that it really helped to have a serif font, and relatively small type, say 15 lines per page in landscape mode.
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