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Apple and the Kindle

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Re: Apple and the Kindle

#41

Post by dfc »

dholowiski wrote: post #36
dfc wrote: post #12

I cannot highlight/annotate samples. I have a second generation kindle. Is this a new feature of the newer models?

You have this one? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Amazon-kindle-gen2.jpg I can on mine. I believe this was a software update... have you been out of 3g service (or had 3g turned off) for almost two years?

That's the one, firmware: 2.5.8 (555370010).

I have 3g right now and just tried to highlight something in the samples for "Song of Two Worlds" as well as "SEAL of Honor" and was unable to.

I also tried adding an annotation and when I started to type a message came up on the bottom of the screen that says, "Annotating is disabled for sample content."

Re: Apple and the Kindle

#42

Post by hyperbovine »

subwindow wrote: post #39

So far I've had a pretty frustrating experience with the Kindle (Kindle 4 no keyboard, no touchscreen) from the get-go. Sure, the box was nice, but as soon as I powered it on it was frustrating. Since the Kindle was a gift, I had to enter in my Amazon account information before I could do anything else. Total buzzkill. I wanted to flip through a book and see what the screen was like and how it worked, but instead I h…

.txt files are not paginated to begin with. There is a physical keyboard option available for people who insist on having 35-character passwords.

Re: Apple and the Kindle

#43

Post by WalterBright »

subwindow wrote: post #39

So far I've had a pretty frustrating experience with the Kindle (Kindle 4 no keyboard, no touchscreen) from the get-go. Sure, the box was nice, but as soon as I powered it on it was frustrating. Since the Kindle was a gift, I had to enter in my Amazon account information before I could do anything else. Total buzzkill. I wanted to flip through a book and see what the screen was like and how it worked, but instead I h…

On the other hand, when you get a Kindle in the mail you don't have to connect it to a computer with iTunes on it to get it to work.

I can also load books from my computer onto the Kindle using drag-and-drop without needing iTunes (or any Amazon software) installed.

Re: Apple and the Kindle

#44

Post by breck »

euroclydon wrote: post #20
breck wrote: post #3

> Or (and this is incredibly aggravating) when you select a word in the Kindle, depending on how common a word it is, the option that comes up highlighted by default is either “full definition” or “start highlight”. Since e-ink’s refresh rate is so slow, you typically don’t see what’s actually come up until you’ve pressed the button for the second time. So I often “double click” on words to highlight them, but some p…

After reading ebooks on my iPhone and now iPad, I couldn't go back to the kindle. The UI was just so terrible and slow. I use white on black for night time reading, and can still fall asleep. Incidentally, this is the same reason I could only use Duck Duck Go for one day before going back to Google search. The Google search UI has just spoiled me with its responsiveness.

> The UI was just so terrible and slow.

Have you tried the latest one? It's noticeably faster. Worth the $79. (And I'll get the touch screen as soon as it's available).

> I use white on black for night time reading, and can still fall asleep.

I've heard this from multiple people. I should try it.

I read my Kindle on occasion for hours and hours. Not only does it not hurt my eyes, but it's so light. The iPad is quite heavy.

I really wonder if Apple will ever come out with an eInk screen. After reading how upset Jobs got over Android ripping off the iPhone, I kind of think that maybe they never will and that they'll just let Amazon have that market.

Re: Apple and the Kindle

#45

Post by [deleted] »

shrikant wrote: post #6
jgrahamc wrote: post #4

To me the Kindle has two killer features: the screen (because I can read it like paper for hours) and its weight (can hold it for hours like a paperback book). Those two things made it a 'wow' device. The 3G access made it effortless. None of those things seem very clever and have been pretty easily duplicated in the Nook. The software itself (and this applies to Kindle and Nook) is rather ugly and it feels slow to r…

> The software itself (and this applies to Kindle and Nook) is rather ugly and it feels slow to react. Both need Apple to come in and make them work. Yeah, and I'd lose the ability to side-load books, and would have to void the warranty on the device to be able to read books from non-approved sources. As someone who's never bought an e-book from Amazon for my Kindle, no thank you.

[deleted]

Re: Apple and the Kindle

#46

Post by rryyan »

WalterBright wrote: post #43
subwindow wrote: post #39

So far I've had a pretty frustrating experience with the Kindle (Kindle 4 no keyboard, no touchscreen) from the get-go. Sure, the box was nice, but as soon as I powered it on it was frustrating. Since the Kindle was a gift, I had to enter in my Amazon account information before I could do anything else. Total buzzkill. I wanted to flip through a book and see what the screen was like and how it worked, but instead I h…

On the other hand, when you get a Kindle in the mail you don't have to connect it to a computer with iTunes on it to get it to work. I can also load books from my computer onto the Kindle using drag-and-drop without needing iTunes (or any Amazon software) installed.

Connecting with iTunes is actually no longer required for iOS devices starting with iOS 5.

You can also add PDFs to iBooks on the device without iTunes -- not sure about epub files though.

Re: Apple and the Kindle

#47

Post by mattmanser »

ernesth wrote: post #27
harshpotatoes wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't speak for the ugliness, but as for the slow to react... I think the reason it feels sluggish are two reasons: The screen technology has a slow response time. This is alittle difficult to fix, due to the nature of the technology: an electic field turns on or off causing tiny balls to be pulled to the top or bottom of the screen causing light to be reflected/absorbed. Due to the size of these balls (microns), i…

Bookeen seems to have fixed the slow response time of eInk with the Cybook Odyssey (supposed to be released this month). http://bookeen.com/blog/web-page-scrolling-on-eink/

I love my Kindle and can forgive the response times which I'm sure will improve, but on the other hand I agree with John, the software's low quality. It's nowhere near my iPhone in terms of polish, thought or fairly obvious testing.

For me these things bug me:

The keyboard is missing some obvious keys like comma and apostrophe. You have to go into [Sym] for them but you use them all the time when making notes. They're important keys that have been inexplicably relegated to the extra menu.

There's no first letter capitalization when you start typing a note or start a new sentence. Extremely irritating.

The bookmarking system is confusing, inconsistently named and clumsy.

Some things take a silly long time to figure out, like switching between your present page and the chapter list and back. This is mainly because the menu in a book has silly options in it (Turn Wireless Off is the first option? wtf?).

The arrow rocker doesn't work at all well in landscape mode.

Some things require a full screen refresh while others do not (opening a menu doesn't, closing it does). It's just that little bit jarring.

You can't zoom on pictures enough, very irritating for books which have little maps of battles or such like.

I've had it go titwozz more than once when plugging it into my PC. Is it charging, is it not, screen suddenly resets.

Apple wouldn't have let any of that obvious stuff go out of the door, you notice pretty much all of it within the first few days.

Re: Apple and the Kindle

#48

Post by quandrum »

[deleted] wrote: post #45
shrikant wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The software itself (and this applies to Kindle and Nook) is rather ugly and it feels slow to react. Both need Apple to come in and make them work. Yeah, and I'd lose the ability to side-load books, and would have to void the warranty on the device to be able to read books from non-approved sources. As someone who's never bought an e-book from Amazon for my Kindle, no thank you.

[deleted]

whoosh

He's implying that would be the result of the Apple Kindle.

Re: Apple and the Kindle

#49

Post by tlrobinson »

I loved my Kindle(s), but the screens are very fragile. I've already cracked two of them.

If you have a Kindle, you need a case, and should never take it out. iPads seem much more durable (and indeed heavier)

Re: Apple and the Kindle

#50

Post by lreeves »

ugh wrote: post #13
shrikant wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The software itself (and this applies to Kindle and Nook) is rather ugly and it feels slow to react. Both need Apple to come in and make them work. Yeah, and I'd lose the ability to side-load books, and would have to void the warranty on the device to be able to read books from non-approved sources. As someone who's never bought an e-book from Amazon for my Kindle, no thank you.

iBooks supports ePub and PDF, iOS supports MP3 and AAC and can play h.264 encoded videos. Apple sells music without DRM (just like Amazon) and videos as well as books with DRM (just like Amazon). Loading your own media without DRM is never a problem. Apple is about as permissive as Amazon when it comes to selling and playing or displaying media. You might be confused by apps. Apple is indeed less permissive with them…

Additionally iBooks will even synchronize your bookmarks for sideloaded books between devices (something that Amazon has removed from Kindles).
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