Live data from Hacker News

The Kindle is fine, but could’ve been much more

sixcolors.com

71–80 of 170 posts

Re: The Kindle is fine, but could’ve been much more

#71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why assume everyone knows an acronym instead of spending the extra 1000ms to type it out once for us?

Text-to-speech. Sorry, I assumed people here were familiar with accessibility tech. (If I recall correctly, the marketing material for Kindles used to use the term 'TTS', I don't think it's that obscure.)

Even if we know the acronym, it is easier to read the full words.

Think of it as an accessibility issue. Full words are more accessible.

Re: The Kindle is fine, but could’ve been much more

#72
post #40

I got my Kindle in 2012 and it still runs like a brand new device. I think Amazon's issue will eventually be that, unlike the iPhone, no one needs to upgrade their kindle more than once per decade or so. Of course if the newer models had dramatically better features or apps I would be tempted to upgrade.

They planned for that. The device is subsidized and they recover the investment with books sales.

Re: The Kindle is fine, but could’ve been much more

#73
post #40

I got my Kindle in 2012 and it still runs like a brand new device. I think Amazon's issue will eventually be that, unlike the iPhone, no one needs to upgrade their kindle more than once per decade or so. Of course if the newer models had dramatically better features or apps I would be tempted to upgrade.

i don't want to ruin your impression of your device but i used mine recently in a store next to a new device and it has noticeable ghosting(characters stay on screen)+ backlight is weaker + interface is waaaay slow

Think it needs a new battery but apparently you can't get that done

Re: The Kindle is fine, but could’ve been much more

#74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read a book per week and don't notice any typography issues. Now, I'm sure it can be improved, and I don't doubt that a typography nerd could certainly spot issues. But "bad" seems like quite an exaggeration. I like to protest against this modern trend of exaggerating how "bad" we supposedly have everything just because someone can ID some improvements that could be made.

A higher res screen would be nice. It's surprising how improving the resolution reduces eyestrain.

A kindle oasis is already 300ppi, how much higher res do you want?

And if you want larger for example a boox max 3 is 13.3 inch, "only" 2260 x 1650 for 200ppi though.

Re: The Kindle is fine, but could’ve been much more

#76
post #63

I've used Kindles for 7 years now, it's by far my most beloved gadget and I don't go anywhere without it. And I love it just the way it is — a reader of books without any other distractions. The only thing I really wish they'd do software-wise is add reading stats / achievements — they have that for kid accounts but for some reason didn't extend it to adult readers.

If you link your account with Goodreads, you can get stats that way

Is there a way to track time spent on each book?

Re: The Kindle is fine, but could’ve been much more

#77
That's the problem with many proprietary consumer devices (take the iPad into this category as well).

1. Vendor lock: You can't install or change most of the things including OS and Apps.

2. Locked down OS: You can't do anything with your device. If you try to change the OS you'll maybe brick it.

3. Planned obsolescence built in: If the vendor decides it's "time to say goodbye" you won't get updates anymore and probably feature by feature your device won't work any longer. After some time it's so old, insecure etc. you don't even want to use it to do even the simple tasks it was designed for.

The kindle isn't a reference for me in this sector at all. If you want to start the discussion about nice e-Readers you should consider comparing the Sony DP, Onyx Boox Note and the Remarkable. Those are the leading innovators and so far I'm afraid I haven't seen any device that can compete.

Personally I'm waiting for an eInk device with color (at least some colors), wacom pen that works without battery (like in Onyx & Remarkable) but an open, real linux on it so you can do anything with it. The Onyx comes close to this as it uses android but as we all know it's not really the linux you want when you wish for a "real linux" ;-)

I'm a bit sad that innovation in this sector stopped and I'd be willing to pay up to 1k $ for the described features.

Re: The Kindle is fine, but could’ve been much more

#78
post #77

That's the problem with many proprietary consumer devices (take the iPad into this category as well). 1. Vendor lock: You can't install or change most of the things including OS and Apps. 2. Locked down OS: You can't do anything with your device. If you try to change the OS you'll maybe brick it. 3. Planned obsolescence built in: If the vendor decides it's "time to say goodbye" you won't get updates anymore and proba…

Unfortunately companies can't make devices for 1 person.

Re: The Kindle is fine, but could’ve been much more

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Epubs and Mobis are for all purposes identical and can converted back and forth with ease (they are both just HTML containers), and you can certainly sideload DRM-free Mobis on Kindle, so I don't see that as a major problem. What is a problem is the very poor handling of PDFs on Kindles.

Amazon whispersync automatically converts PDFs that you send as well.

Convert how? Does it actually resize pdfs, reflow text or something?

Re: The Kindle is fine, but could’ve been much more

#80
post #77

That's the problem with many proprietary consumer devices (take the iPad into this category as well). 1. Vendor lock: You can't install or change most of the things including OS and Apps. 2. Locked down OS: You can't do anything with your device. If you try to change the OS you'll maybe brick it. 3. Planned obsolescence built in: If the vendor decides it's "time to say goodbye" you won't get updates anymore and proba…

Unfortunately companies can't make devices for 1 person.

Wow, what an informative comment: I bet OP didn't know that.
Post reply on HN