Random Thoughts: November 2011

I got a Kindle for my birthday, yay. I've been wanting a dedicated e-book reader. Right now I am using an ipod touch for reading which has a few disadvantages 1) the screen size is small and I need to use a larger sized font, so there's only a few sentences on the screen 2) my children / husband are always borrowing my ipod. A Kindle has a much larger screen, and it doesn't play the games my children like. I wanted to stick with Amazon since I've bought e-books from them in the past, so I have a library of them. I couldn't decided which Kindle I wanted, so my sister and Mom decided for me :)

I like the Kindle with Special Offers so far. I don't find the adds annoying. There's an ad on the screen when it sleeps. There's a small ad at the bottom of the home menu (similar to a banner ad). I find the adds unobtrusive.

I like the e-ink display. I like that I can read it in bright light. My sister said she thought the letters looked a little fuzzy to her, but they don't to me. My husband doesn't like the font it uses. (Yes, he cares about stuff like that.) You can change font size, but not the font itself.

I've been reading on it pretty heavily in the days I've had it, and my eyes aren't any more tired than with reading a regular print book. I like the larger screen and can read quite a bit before having to turn the page. I did make my thumb hurt the first day pushing the next page button, but I think I was just pushing it wrong.

Entering text with the four way button isn't too bad, but if you plan on typing a lot you will definitely want to get a different model. I've been typing on it a bit because I've been setting it up, but I think after this first week, I won't type much at all other than the occasional book title. I prefer to browse for new books on a desktop.

Battery life has been pretty good. I haven't used up the battery yet. I've had it 5 days and the battery bar is still almost full. I'm hopeful I'll get a few weeks per charge. This is much better than my ipod touch that needs to be charged every night. This also means that if I want to read a paper book or my ipod is more convenient for some reason, I won't come back to my Kindle and find its battery dead. It will still be ready when I need it.

The size is not as convenient as I had hoped. It is about the size of a paperback book, but sticking it my coat pocket won't work (if I leave it in its case). It does fit without the case, but I'd need to make a sleeve for it first. The ipod touch is much more portable. Basically, I can take the Kindle where I'd take a book. It is very thin and light though.

Following links is a little annoying since you have to use the 4 way button to get the link you want, and you have to "click" twice to actually follow the link. I think in time I'll get the muscle memory to do this, but right now, it's a pain. If the books you read have many links, I'd suggest you look at the Kindle Touch.

I have put PDFs and other mobi format books on my Kindle. I've used both the usb cable and the e-mail method. Both work fine. PDFs seem to be a little annoying since your choices seem to be "fit to screen" or big (which doesn't work well when information is in columns). I'm going to work with it some more and see if I can't find something that works better.

All in all, I like my new Kindle. I'm glad I have it.

Random Thoughts

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Review: Kindle with Special Offers

Free LDS resources for Kindle users