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Voyage to Nowhere: The Amazon Kindle Story

cgpgrey.com

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Re: Voyage to Nowhere: The Amazon Kindle Story

#72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This person seems extremely picky. I don't understand this? Why not disagree with the valid points he made, rather than just calling him picky? When you use a device a lot, as you would an ereader, I can imagine these problems becoming magnified.

The article is basically just some guy's rant against Amazon. He found some very minor nitpicks, has blown them way out of proportion, and is using them as evidence that Amazon hates readers. Or something. Factor in all the insults, and it's not really worth trying to start a discussion, IMO.

As a semi-new owner of a Kindle Voyage I find all of his points right on the money. Criticisms of the user experience shouldn't be written off as nit-picky but instead should start a conversation regarding improving the user experience.

Re: Voyage to Nowhere: The Amazon Kindle Story

#73

After having owned three kindles, I have switched to a kobo about a year ago. The kobo has many of its own problems, but it gets the reading experience right: it uses (very un-aggressive) hyphenation, and the lock screen displays the book cover. I miss going on Amazon, clicking some button, and immediately start reading a new book. Now that's a multi step process that involves a computer and a DRM removal tool. But t…

Came in here to say this, but I just use the Kobo store so it's not that different to the kindle experience sans-3G.

I love my Kobo Aura HD, great piece of hardware.

Re: Voyage to Nowhere: The Amazon Kindle Story

#74
I have to say I disagree with the author on everything except the typesetting issues. The buttons to change the page are really good and the feedback try provide is very pleasant, just like clicking a physical button. I'm also quite happy with the white light, and don't really understand why a light that is meant for me to read should make me fall asleep. Quite the opposite, if anything it should help me keep awake and concentrate on the book. The Voyage is my second Kindle and in the 4 months I've had it I've read more than 30 books on it, which is a big increase over my previous average, and it's a lot thanks to the device being great.

The fact that the author doesn't have one nice thing to say about the Kindle, and yet keeps buying them makes it seem there's some kind of Kindle dissing agenda behind it.

Re: Voyage to Nowhere: The Amazon Kindle Story

#75
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with this post, but not with regards to the Kindle, but more Amazon as an entity. Also, perfect timing to read this article, after just purchasing a Kindle Paperwhite and having it for a few weeks now. As a casual reader, I find the Kindle Paperwhite as the perfect medium for my reading needs. I can hold it in one hand, I can read it any time of the day with adjustable brightness, and the e-ink is very clear…

Yeah, I've never once wanted more options/features/modes for my Kindle. I honestly think any additional complication would make it worse.

Being able to keep your notes and highlights when updating a book is a feature AND makes it simpler at the same time. Choosing a warmer colour for the Paperwhite wouldn't make it more complicated either. And I wish my (first-gen) Paperwhite wouldn't complain about syncing details every.single.time. I move a book across collections (many of them samples-it's how I keep track of books that were recommended to me).

Re: Voyage to Nowhere: The Amazon Kindle Story

#76

After having owned three kindles, I have switched to a kobo about a year ago. The kobo has many of its own problems, but it gets the reading experience right: it uses (very un-aggressive) hyphenation, and the lock screen displays the book cover. I miss going on Amazon, clicking some button, and immediately start reading a new book. Now that's a multi step process that involves a computer and a DRM removal tool. But t…

I've been seriously considering switching to a Kobo. I already convert/strip the DRM from all my books anyways, as I loathe the idea of ever being stuck in one ecosystem (and have switched before, from Kindle -> Nook -> Kindle).

The new waterproof Kobo especially shows me that Kobo actually understands making a better e-reader.

Re: Voyage to Nowhere: The Amazon Kindle Story

#77

"Their Firephone is so terrible they literally can’t give it away" Okay, fair enough -- it was a disastrous product. "and the existence of the Amazon Echo strains all reason." Wait, what? How do you extend your hatred for typesetting and buttons on the Kindle to a product that has neither? At this point, you are just being presumptuous.

> How do you extend your hatred for typesetting and buttons on the Kindle to a product that has neither?

I'm not sure if that's why the author added it, but I really wish Amazon would first fix a bit more low-hanging fruit for its most beloved hardware product, instead of sinking time and money into unrelated crap.

It always feels good when you pay for something and you can feel that the money goes into making it even better (software updates, next hardware iteration...).

Re: Voyage to Nowhere: The Amazon Kindle Story

#78
>and white light is the worst for reading in bed. It’s proven to keep you awake.

This is not a great argument. First, because the Kindle allows you to dim the screen, and in fact, does so automatically in dark rooms. Pulling my Voyage out and comparing it to my screen with Flux, anecdotally, it looks to be producing less light than my laptop does.

And what are the alternatives? Not lighting the kindle display, and having you use an external light source? You have the same problem if you use LED lights - white light is generated in much the same way in LED bulbs, so you need to dim them as well, leaving you in the same position.

>You can tap both margins to advance the page. (Unlike Amazon who thinks readers always hold their books in the same hand. Have they ever seen people read books?)

The pressure sensitive buttons previously mentioned by the author are on both sides of the Voyage. You can use either hand to move forward or backward.

Re: Voyage to Nowhere: The Amazon Kindle Story

#79

"Their Firephone is so terrible they literally can’t give it away" Okay, fair enough -- it was a disastrous product. "and the existence of the Amazon Echo strains all reason." Wait, what? How do you extend your hatred for typesetting and buttons on the Kindle to a product that has neither? At this point, you are just being presumptuous.

> How do you extend your hatred for typesetting and buttons on the Kindle to a product that has neither? I'm not sure if that's why the author added it, but I really wish Amazon would first fix a bit more low-hanging fruit for its most beloved hardware product, instead of sinking time and money into unrelated crap. It always feels good when you pay for something and you can feel that the money goes into making it eve…

>but I really wish Amazon would first fix a bit more low-hanging fruit for its most beloved hardware product, instead of sinking time and money into unrelated crap

It'd be very surprising to me if the resources put into the Echo had any impact whatsoever on the amount of resources put into the Kindle team.

I hear this argument a lot - "Why does company X work on feature Y when feature Z isn't complete", when features Y and Z are handled by completely different teams with their own dedicated resources.

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