The Blog of Daniel

Just my place to write without any delusions of self-importance.

The Amazon Kindle 2 in Review

I promised to write a quick review about my Kindle 2 so here it is.  Smile

The Pro's:

Too many to list!  My sole reason for buying the Kindle 2 was for the adjustable font sizes.  It does indeed do that so I am as happy as can be.  As for the rest of the features, every single good thing that Amazon says about the Kindle 2 is true.  All of it.

The Kindle 2 is also a perfect gift for people with physical disabilities involving limitations of their hands or who may be bedridden for long periods of time.  Here is a review written by a 29-year-old quadriplegic Kindle 2 owner.

The only negative comments I have heard have been from non-owners who casually look at it and after turning the pages a few times then say the page flipping is too slow or annoying.  That is instantly countered but people who actually own one who can attest that within minutes of using the Kindle 2 your brain tunes it out and you don't notice the flip at all.  Your brain is just too busy to notice.  It really is a non-issue.

The Cons:

I haven't found any cons.  Seriously.  There is, however, one thing that that will make or break your enjoyment: Lighting.

  If you are very sensitive to the lighting conditions, then it is important to understand that the Kindle 2 does not have a screen like a regular computer screen and therefor has no back-lighting.  This means that it is just like a real book and if you don't have any lights on, you don't see a thing.

From there, you need to understand that just like a real printed paper book, the screen is going to take on the color of the light you're illuminating it with.  If you read it using a soft white incandescent or CFL light bulb, your screen will take on a yellowish hue, but if you use a pure white light source like sunshine or Daylight style Compact Fluorescent bulbs (CFL), the pages will be brilliant and white.  For night time reading in bed, you can use a MightyBright LED light.

The Price:

Yep, $359 is expensive but it was worth every penny.  Before the Kindle, reading was so difficult that I stopped reading.  With the Kindle 2, I've read 3 books in a week.  For the penny pinchers, here are a few good points.

  • No hidden costs.  $359 includes wireless web access with no monthly fees.
  • Most books are $9.99 or less.  A few cost more but those books are still way under list price.
  • There are almost a million free books out there.  Some are old, and some of the old are timeless classics, but there are also many brand new free books on Amazon and a lot of new books from new authors who haven't been discovered yet.  Check out manybooks.net and do a search on Creative Commons books.  Many are excellent.  I have even seen NanoWrimo participants publishing in Kindle format.
  • Amazon also has random specials where I was able to pick up 3 excellent full length novels for $4.59 and several others for free.
  • To top it off, you can download the first chapter of most books for free so there is no mystery shopping.

If you are thinking of buying a Kindle 2, do not let anything I say here discourage you.  It's the best thing I have bought in years and I write all this just so that everyone can get as much enjoyment out of it as I now do.  Buy it!  Buy it now!

Oh, and if you buy it from the SaidSimple Bookstore, the commission goes to support Disabilities-R-Us.

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