How would you change Amazon's Kindle?
By Darren Murph 
posted February 1st 2008 6:30PM
posted February 1st 2008 6:30PM
As with most highly-anticipated devices, this particular one was also met with its fair share of critics and proponents, but judging by the initial difficulty it had remaining in stock, it seemed well on its way to e-reader stardom. Granted, we've no clairvoyant on staff, but we're guessing a few of those orders went to a few of you all. Assuming that's the case, why not give ole Jeff and company something to think about for Kindle v2.0? Yeah, we know you've been enjoying those unannounced easter eggs and whatnot, but now that you've had ample time to flip through a few paperless pages and really get a read (ahem) on this thing, what alterations would you make going forward? How's about a color screen, for starters? Maybe a little more responsiveness? A little less '80, a little more '08 in the design? Or, say, native Engadget support in the RSS reader? We're only partially kidding on that last one, but feel free to agree and tack on a dozen more worthwhile changes in comments below.
Add Wi-Fi, Bluetooth for file & book transfer(Allowed?) & enable a USB port to allow pendrives to transfer data.... Besides all these... I wouldnt favor a Color Screen as it will destroy the feeling of e-book reading!
I'm surprised I haven't seen this one yet-
Anonymous reading.
I would love to see the kindle re-done with a means for completely anonymous reading and browsing. I don't like the idea that at least two corporations have access to data on when and where the user accessed which content. I suspect it won't be long before kindle access logs start showing up in courtrooms and background checks.
I dont have a kindle, but I do have the Sony Reader. Let me tell you, its wonderful, especially for travellers and execs on the road all the time. Sure, its not better than carrying a single book around, but the point is, you can carry around a FEW HUNDRED books, not to mention newpapers, blogs, etc. I don't think it needs to be lower cost (remember, it has embedded in the cost basically unlimited free cell phone download service). What it needs is better, more elegant design. People buy the expensive apple and sony stuff at least partly because of the beautiful design, and the kindle is, in a word, ugly. I will probably got one though, and end up with both readers. I think its a great idea, if you are a reader that is. I often read 10-20 books at once, and its a great way to do that.
I would keep it the same but lower the price so the poor folk (like me) can have one too!
I would make it more useful for reading e-textbooks with interactive features. Part of the reason ebooks haven't taken off (besides price, display, and battery life) is that they don't add much to the reading experience for novels. Who needs a TOC, index, hyperlinks, embedded pictures, movies, sound files, animations, etc. in a novel? All of these things make sense in a textbook.
Use the forthcoming iPhone SDK to create a Kindle book reader for the iPhone. And another one for the Air. Support Windows if you must (grin).
It comes down to a single question: Does Amazon want to be in the hardware business, or the book business?
The Kindle does have the ability to download from your computer.
The 10 cent transfer charge is only for the wireless, not USB transfers.
You can access gutenberg.org from it.
It does have an SD card slot.
You can highlight passages and insert notes.
Other than that, you guys are on top of things.
I would like a page back and forward option that works like a browser and actually shows previous page viewed.
The Kindle needs an OLED screen. The current screen, while it has sufficient dpi and can be read in sunlight, is still in general dark with poor contrast. An OLED screen would solve this problem while still conserving battery life. On the other hand, an OLED Kindle would be quite expensive --though I think anyone willing to read books could and would probably buy an OLED Kindle.
What I'd like to see on the Kindle (from an actual Kindle owner):
1) allow others to buy Kindle editions for me as a gift. Currently you can only buy Kindle editions for yourself, not someone else.
2) Color eInk. Thus far there are no color eInk displays for eBook readers, though I know there is color eInk available.
3) Add more publishers and content, faster. I want to buy the old D&D Dragonlance novels, the Planesecape novels and so on for my Kindle. Wizards of the Coast is already on the Kindle, but only with newer editions. How about all the old and Out of Print stuff? Out of Print is where the Kindle could shine!
4) Faster processor. Currently taking notes is kind of clunky as it takes a while to load the interface and then it can't keep up with my typing, even on the small keys of the Kindle.
5) Larger screen so I can fit more text on the screen.
6) How about dual screens, like an open book so I press "next" less frequently?
7) A better solution for holding the Kindle. That leather case is... craptastic at best. I find it slips out on one corner or the other while reading which is damned annoying.
8) Add a guarantee that if the Kindle goes the way of the dodo, I'll have a way to continue to read my content, either by converting to DRM free TXT/PDF/Whatever format, or offering me a reader on my PC.
9) Software to convert a file LOCALLY instead of having to send it to Amazon for conversion.
10) Faster screen refresh if you can't do #6. Sure, hitting next is like turning a page, but with the Kindle I essentially "turn" twice as many pages due to the single screen format.
11) Cheaper price for the hardware. $200 is nearing the sweet spot; $100 these things would be killer; especially since Amazon is likely really raking in money with the Kindle edition sales. And don't do an Apple and offer a rebate that cna only be used on Amazon goods after the fact if you decide to drop the price; make it a real cash rebate.
In response to: What I'd like to see on the Kindle (from an actual Kindle owner):
I'm a Kindle owner. This gadget is revolutionary and should be viewed from the perspective of what it is and what it does rather than by what it hasn't yet evolved to. Even science fiction writers of past years couldn't have envisioned us sitting in an easy chair, browsing through 100,000 book titles, finding one that looks interesting, reading reviews on it, reading it's first chapter or so, clicking on, "Buy", paying a fraction of its hardcover price, and then, within a minute, actually be reading that book. For that matter, can you imagine that writer envisioning the day when readers would simply click on an unfamiliar word and be rewarded with instant dictionary definition. Pretty amazing stuff.
Then, if you think about it, would that science fiction writer have envisioned opening his or her Kindle in the morning and being immediately able to start reading the NY Times, Boston Globe, Time Magazine, or any number of other periodicals even before the hard copy of these hit the streets. Or finding an interesting sub-topic, looking it up in Wikipedia, or Googling it to find massive amounts of information on that topic - again - all from the comfort of one's living room easy chair. It goes on and on.
As for cost, by the time you've read fewer than 30 new release best sellers the Kindle will have paid for itself just in book price savings alone. For me, a long time early adapter gadget buyer, this is one $400 purchase on which I'll never begrudge the amount I paid for it.
Make it available outside of the US!
Wish #1: Availability somewhere outside the US please (specifically for me -> Switzerland)!!!!!!!!! I guess this means then support for the technologies used by mobile phone operators outside of America.
Wish #2: Lower price for each downloadable e-book ($10 a pop for something electronic seems high when compared to music files.......) But I guess this would come when the market is bigger..........
My main pet peeve with the Kindle is that it doesn't permit you to organize your library in folders rather than having to scroll through a single list of either all books or all periodicals. Also that there is no way to edit the title and author of documents you get converted, so that they don't have format extenders and don't list the email address from which you sent them as the author.
Learn from Sony: I've used both and the Sony PRS-505 is a pleasure to use.
* Go to the 8-level grey scale screen (like the PRS-505).
* More metal less plastic.
* slim it down.
* collaborate in the open standards efforts - and in the meantime, encourage 3rd party and open source format conversion utility development. Mass-convert the entire Project Gutenberg catalog.
* Ok to keep the cap on books at $9.95 for new editions (cheaper than a paper-based book), but, like Sony, have lower prices once editions go into paperback or into subsequent "printings".
* Enter into collaborative development agreements with representative university communities to explore use for course packs, course reserves, etc.
* Expand annotation capabilities into basic text editor - create/export .txt files from the unit itself.
* add tcp/ip or wifi for network access - maybe via pc cardbus.
Do it all for $250.00 on the next version, and keep going down from there until it reaches commodity pricing...
I wish it had text to voice capabilities. I have students who are struggling readers who could use that feature. The ability to hear the text while following along would be great. Even just the ability to hear the pronunciation of a specific word would help students with reading difficulties. Additionally, a built in dictionary that would define a highlighted word would be great. There is a niche in the school market and I don't know why more companies have not gotten into it. Many students today have reading deficits. They are so into technology, it would seem a natural fit.
Native PDF support and the ability to highlight any document it can read.
Better CASE! The one that comes with it is #@%...ugly.