Amazon Kindle 2 review
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted February 26th 2009 11:02AM
posted February 26th 2009 11:02AM
Hardware
The look of the previous Kindle was, frankly, jarring. It was an angular, odd looking device that appealed on some strange, sci-fi level, but certainly wasn't immediately approachable. And it wasn't just the jutting body design; the original Kindle dismissed any kind of familiar navigation for its bizarre slider / click wheel combo with a silver-backed LCD strip, which was good for moving up and down through menu options, but not much else. Then, of course, was the issue of button placement. There's probably not a single Kindle owner who hasn't been frustrated by the low, easy-to-accidentally-tap placement of the next / previous page buttons, which were not only extra sensitive, but impossible to avoid.
The Kindle 2 does away with almost every awkward convention introduced in the original version. The device is now cleanly laid out, very much shaped like a large iPhone; a big rectangle with rounded edges. The keyboard has gone from that unnatural, slanted arrangement to a standard, familiar keyboard layout, and the keys are now small and round instead of rectangular pellets. The next / previous buttons occupy a very similar location, but are much smaller (as opposed to taking up the entire side of the device), so the threat of constantly hitting them is noticeably alleviated. They've also been stiffened up, so even if you do accidentally brush past one of them, it takes a little more effort to engage.
As we said before, the slider control is gone, replaced with a five-way rocker, which allows for horizontal as well as vertical movement -- a huge help when you're navigating through text (we'll get to that in a minute). We like the new navigation, but it's not as speedy for jumping through lists -- which is how a lot of the Kindle's menus are presented. Instead of smoothly sweeping up and down, you have to notch, notch, notch till you get where you're going.
Along the side on the upper right is a volume rocker, and down along the bottom is a microUSB port. The back is now flat and smooth bushed aluminum, with a set of stereo speakers along the bottom, and a strip of gray rubber up top. Up on the top of the unit is a 3.5mm headphone jack and a slider power / sleep switch.
The screen itself is looks somewhat clearer than the original version, helped largely by the fact that the e-ink display can now show up to 16 shades of gray as opposed to the previous four. You can definitely see those differences in font smoothing and on images (which, incidentally, you can now zoom in on). Additionally, Amazon says the new screen refreshes 20 percent faster, and in our tests, that seems to be true -- though it's more noticeable in cursor movements and text display rather than full page turns. That faster refresh means the Kindle 2 gets one step closer to acting less like a static page, and more like a slow computer; and it's an improvement, without question.
Inside, Amazon has axed the SD slot in favor of putting 2GB of storage onboard. We would have preferred that they had given us the option of both, but 2GB should be more than enough for most people's book / newspaper needs, and since you can offload as you like while retaining the material, it doesn't strike us as a huge issue.
All in all, the hardware has been seriously streamlined, and the result is nothing short of gorgeous. Besides being evened out and pulled in, the Kindle 2 is also astonishingly thin -- just 0.36-inches -- which makes it a pleasure to carry, though we miss some of the bulk of the original for reading duties. It's not a huge deal, but besides the frequent mis-tapping of buttons, we still feel the original more closely replicates the "book holding" experience. But ultimately, the question that will be nagging most people here is, "why didn't they do this stuff the first time around?" and it's a valid one. It's amazing to consider how many (original) bad hardware choices have been overcome with this new design, but also somewhat vexing if you were an early adopter.
Software
Not a ton has changed in the software of the new Kindle, but what has changed makes a world of difference in ease of use. Some of the alterations are clearly just mutations spurred on by moving from up / down navigation to a full four-way experience, but others seem like no-brainers that we wish had been included on the first pass.
The first big change we noticed was in the search function. In the original Kindle, you had a dedicated search button which would bring up a text entry field, then transport you to a page to select how you wanted to search, then to your results. Now, you've got search tool in your menu that you can jump into from the home screen which gives you a load of options for how and where you want to look -- a slightly more familiar format. This seriously streamlines the process of finding what you want, and proved to be a big help on more than one occasion. Additionally, searching your own content is handled much better, allowing you to begin typing in your query while you're on your home page -- the same goes for finding text while you're in a document.
Using the dictionary while in a document to look up words used to be a huge hassle; you had to select an entire line of text and see a definition for every word... on a separate screen. Whether that was a bad UI decision or a limitation of the navigation is anyone's guess -- but it's fixed here. Now you can use the cursor much like you'd expect, to jump through a document word by word, and your definition pops up along the bottom in real-time, like a little alert.
In general, menus seem cleaned up and organized a bit better, with less items to move through and more succinct descriptions of functions. Additionally, the look and feel of the UI has been given an update, forgoing some of the more extraneous graphic bits and more clearly defining sections, like the info bar up top and the page information along the bottom.
Kindle 2 menu (left) vs. the original model (right)
We did, however, have some troubles trying to use Whispersync, a new feature that Amazon is touting which allows you to keep your books and articles continuous across devices (as well as the spot you stopped reading in). While trying to sync an issue of the New York Times, we could get the management section of Amazon to tell us it was sent to our original Kindle, but it never showed up in our list of content. For books it seemed to work as described, though we're at pains to understand why you'd be going back and forth between an old Kindle and a new one. Now, going back and forth from a Kindle to, say... an iPhone -- that we get.
Of course, there's been a lot of controversy about one of the new functions of the Kindle 2, namely its "read to me" mode, or text-to-speech. This item has been the subject of a heated debate, sparked mostly by an accusation from the Author's Guild that the technology infringes on author's copyrights by turning your regular text into what amounts to an audio book. Something tells us if the Guild took a moment to listen to this voice, they might reconsider the accusation... because it's an insult to voice actors. For our money, the text-to-speech option is a nice novelty, but not remotely useful for prolonged readings, or readings of anything but the most simplistic material. This is the "computer voice" we've come to know and love -- nothing more, nothing less, and it's not exactly pleasant. While it is available in male or female varieties, and can be slowed down or sped up, it's hardly a stand in for an actual human (recorded or otherwise).
Wrap-up
When you step back and take a look at the device, it's clear that the most notable changes have come in the form of hardware tweaks. Besides the text-to-speech function, there's not much you can do on the new Kindle that you couldn't do on the old one. Books still cost just as much to download, and you still have largely the same set of options when you get them on the device. The buy-in for the unit itself is $359 -- not cheap -- and everything you put on it is going to cost you a little bit more. After a while, that can start to add up, and we're not convinced it makes sense for just anyone. Ultimately, it boils down to a question of needs, because -- like the first Kindle -- the Kindle 2 doesn't represent such a sea change in technology that we think everyone should run out and buy it.
A lot of people are fond of calling the device an "iPod for books" as if that's just what most people want or require, and we're not so sure of that. Still, the Kindle 2 delivers an enjoyable experience with noticeable leaps in usability, and big leaps in industrial design. If you travel lightly, are a voracious reader, and absolutely love gadgets, you'll probably get this device. Is that everyone? No... but it's a lot of people we know.
I kind of miss the shape of my Kindle one.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/legendmedia/3307477599/
Though I've never touched either, I was a bit intrigued by the Kindle one. I like the shape a lot. I agree with Joshua, "It was an angular, odd looking device that appealed on some strange, sci-fi level". There's something about it that I really like. The new curves don't quite do it for me.
Yeah. I had to buy the cover for it, because without that, it feels like it's going to slip out of my hand.
Yeah, right! I kind of like the older shape too. It felt good in my hand. Just my opinion.
I prefer a proper book I think.
That's why I thought the Sony Reader was a better design from the beginning. It's just a screen w/ a little bezel for the "bare minimum".
But their content is so poor that you really don't find much usability if you're not truly into the mass consumption titles (which I can't understand why anyone would buy when they can get it free from their library).
If you like more obscure authors, publishers, subjects either will have major gaps.
Me too. I've been trying to fold this thing for 10 minutes and I'm have no luck whatsoever.
I'm loving mine so far! If it were for 100% casual reading, I probably wouldn't have bought it at the current price, but my school uses a LOT of Ebooks and text documents. The Kindle will make it a lot easier to get my reading done without have to be tethered to my laptop for hours at a time. Traveling and reading on a plane will be easier to as my Dell XPSM1730 isn't exactly portable :(
Can you modify the text size? I am thinking about getting one for my elderly mother and I think the larger type would be better for her. I read in the review that you can "zoom" in, but I am guessing that means needing to pan from left to right to read a sentence. I am hoping that you can just select a text size. Can you?
Thanks for taking the time to reply...
~Ana
I said it once, I'll say it again. This thing should not be a cent above $150...
And Sony's OLED tv shouldn't cost as much as it does. You know what though? It's a moot point because that's how much the tech costs right now.
They could probably make it that price, and then you'd be paying a monthly fee for the wireless service. I like it this way better.
@Richard: And new hardware manufacturing aside, let's not forget the initial throwing of some money at the folks who worked hard to make the new tech possible.
Shaped like a large iphone!!?? Give me a break. Just because the thing is rectangular with round edges. My table looks like an iphone! Apple haters for this comment i give you permission to flame on engadgets favoratism.
Dude, you've got issues. How is this favoritism towards apple?
10 Reasons Why Kindle 2 Misses The Mark? ;)
mcfluglbutt,
On this site, there is a heated debate among bloggers that engadget favors the iphone alot. It is argued that they favor it so much so that they prefer it over many other things. I try to stay neutral but end up disagreeing with this argument for the most part, but with this one quote i would say that there is some sort of favoratism.
So McNoobbutt, thats thats the issue.
lol, mcfluglbutt
but isn't Josh a Palm fanboy and not an iPhone fanboy?
So...wouldn't Josh have said 'It's like a large iPhone clone'?
When I read that line about being shaped like the iphone, I stopped reading the review. There are a many viable ebook readers on the market, why is this thing being compared to the iphone right of the bat, instead of other ebook readers. Its as if anything with a touchscreen, plays music, is white, and now apparently is rectangular, reminds people of either the iphone or the ipod. What about sony's reader for a comparison?
@jonathans
Exactly my feelings. When I got to this line "shaped like a big iPhone", I lost all interest to the review. As much as I respect Joshua, this comparison undermines my trust to the whole article. Let's compare everything to iPhone, yeah, right.
Just of the curiosity I searched the article for the word "iPhone". I found another line in Joshua's article:
"...Now, going back and forth from a Kindle to, say... an iPhone".
...
...
:)))
LOL
No vavoritism, huh? Maybe it's a marketing strategy - compare everything to iPhone to become a success. Even Jon Stewart did that in interview with Bezos, right?
Anyway, I will finish reading the interview, but those iPhone comparisons... LOL, just LOL.
wow, can someone explain to me why it's OK to be an iPhone hater, but not an iPhone lover? Isn't that a little childish and one-sided?
Maybe engadget likes iPhones, or maybe they're comparing it to an iPhone because there are 20 million of them in the wild, and commercials on prime time TV every 10 minutes. People know what an iPhone looks like, and nobody freakin knows what a Sony eBook reader looks like.
I have an iPhone. I have a Kindle2. The Kindle 2 does look like an iPhone, especially from the back. It's aluminum with a plastic band across the top. It's as thin as a #2 pencil. It's nice. I've only had it a couple days, but so far, I love it. And I can stop reading eBooks on my iPhone...
This thing would be perfect if they had simply left the SDHC card slot and if they did away with the DRM on the kindle books. Or presented a .azw reader for the computer. Anyways I won't even consider it until those two things are done.
I believe it's possible to read .azw books through the mobipocket reader (PC software) if you do a simple rename of the file. You can also download the books directly to your machine through the "manage my kindle" link.
What surprised me is that a lot of the e-books aren't much cheaper than the regular books--at least for current titles. There are no printing costs, and no transportation costs, so you'd think they could seriously discount the material. For me, unless they radically lower the price of their e-books, it's just not worth it.
For most new releases the price is far cheaper for the ebook than the real book.s new books cost between 20 and 30 bucks, where the ebooks are 10.
"For most new releases the price is far cheaper for the ebook than the real book.s new books cost between 20 and 30 bucks, where the ebooks are 10."
And the second the book is released on paperback it drops down to $3. The ebooks are based off of the price of the cheapest current paper format rather than having a price based on their own costs and profits. Ebooks would be a lot more compelling if their price matched what was delivered (just like I have a hard time paying $10 for a digital album that costs $10 on CD).
Production actually accounts for very little of a book's cost. (especially with a hardback)
Most of it goes to the author and various other people involved.
I am sure that the publisher gets more money than the printing costs. Things like the Kindle mean that we will one day be able to do without publishers. Books will be cheaper then.
@Dave
From what I heard this is the issue with publishers. Some publishers just don't want to reduce the price for ebook in comparison with paper version, but some publishers do. This is why some ebooks on Amazon are much cheaper than paper versions and some are almost the same price.
I heard Amazon has tough times to deal with this Publisher's greed.
Cost of books production is not as insignificant as Plothole said. Remember the article about NY Times saying that it will be cheaper for them to give Kindle for free to each of their subscribers and distribute newspaper electronically, than printing it? Here is a link for you:
http://www.businessinsider.com/2009/1/printing-the-nyt-costs-twice-as-much-as-sending-every-subscriber-a-free-kindle
So paper cost is not a small thing, rather opposite.
From what I understand, the problem is not Amazon, but greedy/paranoid publishers. Otherwise ebooks would really cost much less than paper versions.
@Electromodo
Books and newspapers are not the same thing though. There is a different cost breakdown.
If this thing had an apple logo at the top, i wonder how many more people would buy it. just speculating though.
If it had an Apple logo, I would buy it. Sad but true.
If it had an Apple logo, it would probably be a different and (sadly) better product. No matter how well Amazon makes and markets the Kindle, it doesn't have the same mass appeal as AAPL products...
Nah, if it had an Apple logo, it would be the same product with a different but equally restrictive DRM back end.
This wouldn't have an Apple logo on it because Apple would not release this product. They tend release new products by waiting until a market is more mature, then release a refined product that delivers a noticeably better user experience. In other words, if Apple made one of these, it would be after e-ink was fast enough to behave close to a normal screen and touch-screen or other technology was available to remove that awkward keyboard and allow the computer functions to be largely hidden.
Amazon is in a different position. They're releasing the Kindle to speed the transition of the industry to more paperless reading, which will be likely to both increase consumption of books and dramatically cut down on storage and transportation costs. Amazon makes most of its money selling books; Apple makes most of its money selling hardware/software integrated devices.
I am dying to get one, but the price is really high, and makes me wonder if I should get it or not.
I do read a lot, but my first use for this would be for school. I teach French in college, and I have to carry around at least two books a day that feel like bricks in my bag. My main concern is that these books are not eBooked yet (did I just invent a new verb? Yay).
When text book publishing co. will understand that I don't need to carry around a 300 pages book every day just to teach classes, I will be a happy man!
I have a new riot call: eBook Text Books... eBook Text Books...
Ipod for books, huh? Im sorry, but i paid 209 dollars for my Ipod, and it serves very well as an "Ipod for books" as well as a *GASP* IPOD! Stanza is a great program that allows me to load my personal files with little fanfare or difficulty.
If you've ever used an e-ink device you would know the comparison is silly. The iPod/iPhone isn't even even the same league as a true e-ink device for reading plain text. We happen to have an iPod Touch, iPhone, and Kindle 1 in our home and the Apple devices simply don't compare. In fact, after using all three, the thought it sitting down to read for a couple of hours on an iPhone is simply absurd. They may work phone for scanning through some work docs during a commute, on the road, etc..., but no serious reader is going to want to use them for extended reading... at least not after using an e-ink device.
Yeah, but the iPhone doesn't take almost a second to even START redrawing the screen like the Kindle 2 does. And if there are grey-scale pictures on the screen the Kindle 2 does this 3-stage or so refresh to draw the image.
It's really weird. And coupled with the $360 price, it makes it very hard to justify one.
Sure, e-ink has lots of room for improvement, but the fact it takes a second for the Kindle to draw a new page doesn't change the fact that small LCDs are complete shit for extended reading and have terrible battery life in comparison to e-readers. Waiting for the page to redraw isn't that much different than physically turning a page and the advantages for extended reading are worth it IMO. As I said, we got all three of those devices in out home... the Kindle arrived last and I was blown away at how good it was for reading books. It looks amazingly like real paper and looks even better in bright light (the opposite of LCDs). The Apple devices are simply terrible in comparison.
Yeah, but those other devices can do the job and lots of other jobs too. $360 for the Kindle and all it can do is read books and already with problems at that that we both mention.
I guess if you're loaded, why not have another device, you'll be well prepared for the overpriced content (that you can't loan out or sell) too.
If I had to buy every book I read, even at a discount, it would triple my reading material budget. Most books I buy are loaned out at least once and over half of the ones I read are borrowed.
Well, first of all, you've changed the tracks on me here. You've gone from defending using an iPod to arguing for used/borrowed books. Technically, both an iPod and Kindle would have the same issues are far as buying used or loaning goes. The used/borrow route is going to be cheaper for most things you can think of. If you're someone that does than then obviously a device like the Kindle isn't for you.
But I generally read serveral hardback books a month. I'm caught up on all my series and authors and I generally don't like to wait for the paperbacks, so I end up buying new hardbacks most of the time. I also don't usually sell books so I have to invest in bookcases. As I stated elsewhere in these comments I dropped nearly $400 on a bookcase a couple of years ago. As with anything, it just depends on your personal situation. For me a Kindle is actually worth the price even at the current level.
All that aside, I'd still never read any novels on an iPhone. I'd rather use the actual book long before I'd ever think of using a device like the iPhone. It may be multi-purpose, but that doesn't mean it's well suited for every purpose. In this case it amounts to nothing more than an inferior stop gap.
Great review! Grrr...The instant availability sold me. I'm waiting UPS overnight thanks to Amazon Prime. :)
If i could get all my text books for it id be sold in a second. Lugging books isn't fun. Im not holding my breath tho.
Other then that holding a book at home is a huge pleasure in this digital world. This isn't needed outside of uni's imo. That coming from a gadget freak like me too.
Got mine in last night and I dig it. I offered to trade mine with my wife's 1G Kindle and thankfully she loves (as the put it) the "Battlestar Galactica feel" of the G1 and I can keep my slick little G2.
Well, when you put it like that, I'd probably want the K1, too. I wonder if BSG eBook readers had beveled corners?
Kindle 2 rocks