E-readers Remain a Viable Device Purchase

I am a latecomer to the e-reader game. I already owned a smartphone and a tablet with the Kindle Reader app installed on them and was not in the market for a targeted e-reading device. It went against my minimalist, many-to-one relationship principles.

Then my curiosity about the operating system got the better of me.

I now own a Kindle Fire HD 7 — one of the older, heavier ones, purchased refurbished via third-party seller. I enjoy the experience of reading a book or magazine on my Kindle in a way that I never have on my Dell Venue 8 running Kit-Kat. For me it isn't the same as using a garden-variety tablet with an e-reading app installed on it. When I reach for my Kindle, one experience is halted in order to accommodate a different one — and my thinking shifts accordingly. Yes, it's psychological, but then that's in part what e-reader OEM are counting on — the perception of Kindle use as a niche experience. And I have to say, they are certainly on to something.

The design of the device — in particular, its bulk and weight — discourages me from carrying it around; I'm used to my lighter, thinner Dell Venue. Consequently, when I use my Kindle I am typically in the same quiet, cozy spot.

The infection of advertisements that plague the device serves to keep me focused on what I picked it up to do. Consequently I have isolated its tasks to:

1. reading

2. playing word games

3. reading

4. making amazon.com purchases

5. reading

6. listening to music

When I'm done, I leave the device where I found it.

Unlike my Kindle Fire, my Android tablet is designed to facilitate multi-tasking, with an Android app store boasting increasing entertainment options and expandable device storage. It is not designed to cater to a primary task.

Since obtaining my Kindle, not only are Amazon purchases faster (which I didn't think was possible), but I spend more time reading books than I have since I was young — a much better use of it, I have decided, than goofing off on social media.