Amazon Kindle first hands-on
By Ryan Block 
posted Nov 19th 2007 10:43AM
posted Nov 19th 2007 10:43AM
The keyboard is clicky and tactile, but with keys shallow enough that they won't get too in the way when you're reading. We're a little worried that the absolutely massive page forward / back buttons might get inadvertently triggered here and there, though.
WOW! That was quick...
Well, its better than a microscopic button that is near impossible to press, like the start and select buttons on the DS
I'm excited to read!
does it USB charge, or do you have to carry that charger everywhere?
I don't get why they couldn't backlight this. Or costs $400. Maybe if it had a bigger screen with backlight I'd pay $10 for books I already own.
E-ink does not need a backlight darn it. Thats the whole point.
I think the problem is that eInk doesn't even support backlightning - the screen itself is opaque.
I agree that this is something they should work - forget color eInk for all I care, but make the backlight-compatible...
Yawn
looks great.
this kind of connectivity sucks, though.
I relay like the look of this... I see the point that you can buy books cheaper, and such, but the idea of being able to carry a few around at once, sounds good to me, after all, a few paperback books do take up quite a bit of room, compared with this.
And the idea of being able to pop on and pick up another book, quickly and easily, sounds good to me..
Shame its US only... I want something like this in the UK dammit..
You'd really have a hard time finding books cheaper than what they're selling here, especially new releases.
That is true that is true,
Another thing, wouldn't it be nice, if they had some kind of library service, as you know, once you have read a book, you don't really want to read it again for some time, well, i don't.
Like, you might pay some kind of monthly fee or a lifetime one of payment, and be allowed to have say, 10 books "at" at once, and when you where finished with once, just hit return or something, it gets del'ed, and you get to pick another one.
I like books, i like to read, but sometime i find that i don't have time to go buy one, or go to the liberty, if i could hope on the wireless, and pick a book, and get it sent to me, i would way something up front for that.
I know people hate DRM, but, wouldn't this be almost acceptable, when we take a book out of the library, we don't own it after all.
Perhaps the next version will incorporate indiglo or something similar, even if it does eat battery.
As for the library concept, if the content is DRMed anyway, and users don't have the ability to print it or get the paper copy (buy the real book, get the kindle version too for $3 more) for the bookshelf, perhaps they'll come out with something where you can 'sell' the book back for half price...
boy that thing is ugly!~
eInk displays cannot be backlight, thus no backlight option. They can be lit from the front, like a conventional book with a simple LED booklight.
Quite possibly the best packaging for any electronic device ever.
I have to disagree. The iPhone is much much better.
Damm. And here I thought that Amazon was slowly leaving book selling business...
Are you kidding? They've got to be one of the largest online book selling companies.
I can't recall when last I bought from Amazon a book.
CE, PC components, etc - in amounts. Books?.. No.
80% of my book purchases are through Amazon.
I hardly buy books from local stores, except the used book stores.
My real question is what services are ACTUALLY available via EV-DO.. I have hard email and web, but can't get confirmation on that.. If its just access to the kindle store content + wikipedia then its cool but not amazing..
Just ordered mine as a Christmas gift for my wife... Can't wait to see it in action!
Wow! This is so 1989!
Yawn.
He's right, this stinks. It reminds me of 20-pound 286 Toshiba laptops back in the day being touted as 'futuristic'. Until it's paper-thin, wireless, and disposable I'm not touching it.
So if I get this right the EULA says you can only look at this thing, or at least make pictures of it, under pale red/orange lights?
I still think this is a bit too big, clunky, and ugly. I mean I'm sure it's purposefully big, but I can't see anyone carrying this around in the subway or anything.
I won't even get started on their use of a single format or the expense of this thing.
I'd suggest watching the video on the product page. The device is actually a lot smaller than you think. I'm quite impressed with its size though I'm sure it will get even better over time.
will it blend?
yes
Does it come with a special instrument for cleaning accumulated dirt and finger gunk out of that stenciled alphabet on the back of the device? Seriously, this thing is such a model of bad industrial design, it should be taught as a case study to first-year design students.
That said, I have been waiting for a viable e-book reader for years. Every time I move house, I break my back and my wallet shifting towers of printed books. Is this $400 Tandy lookalike the grail I've been waiting for? Fuck no. But if it brings us a step closer to a sleek, user-centered, internationally usable reader many of us really want, then good.
Have you handled it, or are you offering your expert design opinion based on some images posted on the internet? You must be from the Apple/Karim Rashid/Gehry school of ID, where marketing image is more important than usability.
http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/910/50427451.JPG
Heaven help me, I bought into the hype and ordered one. :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_adopter
I have a Sony Reader which I will gladly replace with this for one KEY FEATURE: Newspapers! If only Sony had gone through with their 'promise' of newspapers that was never delivered. I want the NYT daily pre-formatted and yes, I am willing to pay for that.
I myself am waiting to see if Sony reacts to this at all. They do have the potential and the ability to provide subscriptions services, and I wouldn't be surprised if they introduced them before or slightly after Christmas.
Sony *just* released the PRS505, what, a month ago? There's no chance that they're agile enough to materially react before Christmas. Next year maybe.
LarryX - The PRS500 has been out for over a year... the promise of 'newspapers' was made during its initial release (and it still there as a blaring claim in its manual and packaging).
Why are you so excited? only a few weeks ago you lamented that it looked like a 1980's fax machine, and as far as I can tell, that's still true.
I'm a huge fan of the Sony PRS and all of the additional online features of the Kindle are very interesting...but that design. Damn.
The videos on Amazon's site give a great overview of the capabilities. Please check it out before you start dumping on it. And for those of you who've never seen or used an eInk device, STFU and look at one before dismissing the tech.
Now, I wonder how long it'll take for some enterprising black-hats to crack that WhisperNet thing wide open for an always on EVDO connection to the web. It'd be cool to use it as a tethered modem.
Ryan got a personalised e-book/msg from Jeff Bezos .........niceeee
i don't understand the fuzz at all. guys, if apple can produce an ipod touch for 299 $, why would anyone pay 399 $ for this thing that looks like a 1975 calculator? here's a bet: if apple really does introduce a tablet mac in early 2008, all you'll need is a proper software for ebook reading....
And yet another one that doesn't get the point of eInk screens...
How did apple come into this discussion??
well then tell me: what's the point?
It's really simple m. Eink is like paper. You shine a light on it to see the difference between light and shade. All other forms of screen produce their own light. Eink produces less eye strain because it works like normal paper.
Ya, $400 paper.
I so hope this is a success - the device itself is technically nice, but too 1980-SF like in terms of design. But the whole "look ma, no PC" free data principle and newspaper/mail/blog-subscription is a great idea!
If they stop trying to have a different design at any cost, GSM-based radio service (we Europeans want that too!) and ideally a touchscreen for annotations in version 2, this could really get that whole eBook-business going (finally!)...
What a piece of crap this is. The Kindle is not what the market needs, we need a standards compliant $99 ebook reader based on the OLPC X-O with an open source operating system and a usb power/sync port.
Go build one then. If it was easy, someone would have done it. Want to get an idea of how much thought, design, and technical know-how goes into designing a device? Check out the Office 2.0 blog where Ismael Ghalimi has been posting a lengthy discussion on just that topic in preparation for next year's event. He's designing a completely open source device in a very public forum. Follow along with his posts - you'll see how much thinking and design it takes to build a device.
It's easy to sit back and snipe.
Oh, I have actually used a Kindle. It's a well-done first generation effort with a lot of really smart thinking behind it. Yes it's a little clunky. But everything works as advertised and it's extremely comfortable to use and read from. Ordered mine today - arrives tomorrow.
Can someone tell me if I can store my Network admin guides on this thing in PDF format on the media card?
Yes, you can store PDFs on this thing. When you buy a Kindle you get an email address associated with it. Send a supported attachment (of which PDF is one) to that email address and it will be automatically converted to Kindle format and sent to your device.
I think it looks awesome. Love the design as is.
I'll get one once the price is cut in half tho.
I'm literally in awe of how ugly that thing is. It's like the decided to hire a designer only when it came to the packaging. And it's super awkward how those keys are slanted but the letters on them are not.
can you annotate books with the keyboard?
I do my ebook reading on my tablet PC, but if this is cheap and light enough I'll probably move all my e-textbooks and e-books to this one. Battery life is definitely a concern. Can't wait to hear more from reviewers.
will this thing play nice with rss readers like google reader? if everything you buy is stored online, how can you add ebooks that you already own?
Yes. It will cost you either $1 or $2 per blog (or rss feed?) per month you subscribe to.
sick.
You can _not_ browse the web with this thing, only the Amazon store. So, no, google rss reader is not supported. To get documents to the device you can either have it sent directly to it via an Amazon purchase or you can email the device with an attachment in one of the supported formats and it will be downloaded to it.
Have you actually used one yet? The online User Manual states that it has a "Basic Browser" in the Experimental section, which allows you to follow links from blogs and enter your own URLs. It also pretty much spells out that you can indeed use this to browse the web. However, the experience won't be so great as it'll be greyscale text and images, no java or flash. I suppose it'd be just fine for hitting your favorite tech blog or webmail service, as long as they don't use java or flash.
So, again, can you confirm that you actually CAN'T browse the web on this thing?
What can you do with the keyboard? take notes? send email?
Sign into your amazon account. Enter in search terms. Prolly play pong too.
This is an important question, for me... does the kindle support a reverse video mode? is it possible to read white text on a black background???
If so, some photos of wehat the display looks like in that mode would be greatly appreciated.
--Jeff
It doesn't really make sense to do reverse video. This is e-ink, it looks like a printed page not a computer screen. You have to see it for yourself I guess. Reverse video would be like reading a book where the pages were printed black and the text was left white. ugh.
-Eric
Eric,
I appreciate your comment, but the Sony e-book reader, also using similar technology does indeed offer a reverse video mode.
I get what you are saying about reflective versus radiative surfaces, but there is still an advantage for people with some vision problems to read white text against a black background.
--Jeff
I don't believe this will revolutionize the way we read like the iPod did for music!
i think this is a great alternative to Newsletter, and maybe to plain text books, but anything with images is ruled out!
This is also a very ugly device!
You know what is the biggest irony about all the comments about these eInk ebook readers? The folks who negatively comment about eInk with no backlight also say that they read a lot of books (and I infer that they are well read too, aka know-it-alls).
Wow, is it me or is this whole device, pointless? It's the ugliest device released in a long time!
This should be provided as a feature on iPhones, Blackberry's etc...who wants another device to carry around?!
Amazon (and Sony) have got it wrong, we don't want a separate device..
PS - what's the story with the keypad, what the hell is that for?!
Is it me or does this thing look straight out of an early 1984 apple computer commercial where knowledge is power yes but your a mindless zombie correct?
Maybe they should just team up with Apple and develop a Kindle that people would actually enjoy taking out into the world.
The device that they have created is for the nerds who don't already enjoy going out of their dark neon lit rooms in their mothers basement.
Its very antiquated with everything annotated from the experience, user interface and even the lack of color and distinguishable branding and this is only the initial launch.
I know, trust me I do. The hardware and software systems are really a technological milestone. Gutenberg himself would fall to his knees in the sight of some casual traveler at the airport reading a blog about 12 year old girls sex habits.
But forgive me if I ask this endearing question. Is this not suppose to create an emotional attachment to books just as the Ipod created with audio philes and their respective vinyl cleaning rituals early Sunday mornings.
Is it not suppose to be a desired brand, and is this not one of the biggest shopping times in our americanized culture. A near Christmas launch provides me with a definite clause in time for a joyous kindle buying season under Bezos tree.
Exactly. This is a consumer product, and a pricey one at that.
Its functional but its not desired & there lies the quotient.
It's your choice to change the world. It's the choice of all people to find knowledge without power.
Sorry guys, but i actually like the design, i think an antiquated design suits an antiquated medium like a book, even if it comes in a new packaging,
look at it this way, this design does not distract you, if you read a book
So, if you were to buy on RIGHT NOW...Sony PRS505 or Kindle?