So, I have had my Kindle 2 for almost 5 months now and I thought is was time to share my thoughts, comment on the little guy, and provide my 2 cents into the future of e-books that are ever so present in the news/aether as of late.
This thing is one interesting device. The built in Internet connection that allows you to download a book whenever, wherever might just be the killer feature on this thing. I have found myself on several occasions buying my next book before even finishing what I was currently reading.
I have read an especially long 1000+ page book (I highly recommend Cryptinomicon btw!) and small books as well. I think what is particularly great about the Kindle is that, for me at least, it doesn’t get me wrapped up in thinking about, “what page am I on” and “how many more pages are there” because all you see is what percent of the book you have read, and even that is not a prominent statistic on the screen.
I think on of the killer features, however, is that you can place bookmarks, highlight text, and write notes and all these are saved to a plain ‘ole text file that you can access easily. As a reference tool this is wonderful! I love saving quotes and snippets from books and this makes it super easy and makes all of what you save into a digital, searchable resource.
I think overall this is a great device, the battery life is great, the price of the books pays for the device after 20 books due to the roughly $9.99 price point of new books, and the screen is readable is just about all conditions. There are of course two missing features that will make e-books mainstream: color and a touchscreen {cough apple tablet! *cough*}. That’s all for now. Stay Cool!