If you really want to simplify your life, this is one device you’ll wonder how you lived without…
Yes, it’s Amazon’s Kindle 2!
What is the Kindle?
Quite simply, it’s the most amazing slim-line reading device available — it’s truly a ‘green’ way to read books.
It stores hundreds of books, and allows you to bookmark, note and keep track of your favorite (or in my case, most inspirational) parts of any book.
Thanks to Amazon, you can receive over 240,000 books on the Kindle, and generally, they’re much less expensive ($9.99) than their printed version. You can also read blogs, and online newspapers.
It’s small too!
The Kindle 2 is another nail in traditional media’s coffin…
One of the things I absolutely love about the Kindle is that I can take a LIBRARY of books with me wherever I go, and read (or re-read) what I want – when I want – all from this little slimline device!
Here’s some of the benefits:
- Slim: Just over 1/3 of an inch, as thin as most magazines
- Lightweight: At 10.2 ounces, lighter than a typical paperback
- Wireless: 3G wireless lets you download books right from your Kindle, anytime, anywhere; no monthly fees, service plans, or hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots
- Books in Under 60 Seconds: Get books delivered in less than 60 seconds; no PC required
- Improved Display: Reads like real paper; now boasts 16 shades of gray for clear text and even crisper images
- Longer Battery Life: 25% longer battery life; read for days without recharging
- More Storage: Take your library with you; holds over 1,500 books
- Faster Page Turns: 20% faster page turns than the older Kindle
- Read-to-Me: With the new Text-to-Speech feature, Kindle can read every book, blog, magazine, and newspaper out loud to you
- Large Selection: Over 240,000 books plus U.S. and international newspapers, magazines, and blogs available
- Low Book Prices: New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases $9.99, unless marked otherwise
What an amazing device, get yours before they are sold out. (The original Kindle was on back-order for weeks!)
See you at the beach! 
February 27th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
From my good friend, Don Prior III, a Kindle 1 (previous generation):
I have a Kindle 1 and it is pretty cool. Their main design goal was to make it so that after using it for a minute you forget you are using a device, and it just seems like you are reading a book. Mission accomplished.
A few other kick ass features include:
- Ability to instantly download books and other content via the built in cellular Internet connection (no monthly service charges either!) You can either browse and buy books right from the device, or as I often do by browsing Amazon.com from my computer and clicking a button to have a book delivered wirelessly to my Kindle.
- Ability to download a “sample” of books (usually the first couple of chapters) before buying a book.
- Because of the electronic ink display, the battery lasts for a friggin’ long time, especially if you turn off the wireless. I’ve been reading a book on mine for two weeks without having to charge it (the wireless is off).
- It has a built in dictionary, so are you are reading you use the scroll line to click on a line of text from a book, and up pops the dictionary with all of the words on that line along with their definition.
- No back light = no headache even if you read for hours (just like a book).
- Amazon backs it up for you for free. So if you ever lose it or get a new one, they will automatically replace all of your books wirelessly (and even any notes that you stored on it).
- It is awesome going on vacation with that thing. A lot of the time when I’m going on a long trip I like to bring books. Should I bring one, or more than one? What if I finish one early, or if one of them sucks. Inevitably you end up bringing too many or not enough. Not so with a Kindle! In fact, when we were recently in Hawaii we went to see Pearl Harbor. When we were leaving we were sitting on the plane waiting for people to finish boarding and I used the Kindle to download a couple of history books on Pearl Harbor and WWII. Awesome!
Things that it isn’t so great for include…
- Magazines. Real magazines are glossy and full of color and look great. Not so much on the grey scale Kindle screen.
- Random Access Materials (newspapers, magazines, and even some books). There are some materials where you want to be able to quickly skip around, or skim pages, etc. That type of thing doesn’t end up working so well on a Kindle (takes too long).
- Books with pictures / charts. Pictures and charts and other graphics are a much bigger deal in magazines than they are in books, but there are some books that have maps, historical pictures, or other useful illustrations. For the most part those kind of things pretty much suck on the Kindle (at least on my version 1 device). At beast they are just difficult to read or unclear, while at other times they are entirely useless.
- Because it is an electronic device, you can’t use it at the very beginning and end of a flight (“Sir, please put that away and put your tray in the up-right position.”)
A few other thoughts…
My Kindle has a user replaceable battery and an expansion slot for a RAM card. The Kindle 2 doesn’t have either, and I especially think that is a problem in terms of the battery (I think that is one of Apple’s biggest mistakes – not allowing users to replace batteries. I heard they even started doing that on their new Mac Book Pro’s – shitty!)
The Kindle2 has a built in text to voice reader, so if you hop in the car or on the tread mill you can have your Kindle read out loud for you. That might be interesting, but from the videos I’ve seen it sounds like Mr. Roboto reading. Also interesting is that Amazon is being sued over this, because some people think that capability infringes on the audio book rights, which are a completely separate deal from regular book rights.
Bottom line.. I love it. I read more with it, and I like the fact that I don’t have to worry about where I’m going to put all of the books that I buy. I’ve got enough of those already.
March 9th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Great reviews of the Kindle 2, thank you. I have not purchased one yet, although I plan to (perhaps once there is some more competition in the marketplace). Our colleague Jakob Nielsen has just published a fairly thorough review of the Kindle 2, comparing it to physical books with real data. Overall his review is very positive. Enjoy:
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/kindle-usability-review.html
Keep up the great work!
Ted Billups
http://www.billupsdesign.com
September 7th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Hey Charlie – OK, I’m sold, I need one. Can you read other media – newspapers, magazines, etc. on the device as well? Dean
September 7th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Yes, you can, you do need to subscribe to them via the Amazon Kindle service – you can check http://www.amazon.com/kindle for complete information!
September 10th, 2009 at 6:20 am
Thanks, I’ll check it out. Dean
October 8th, 2009 at 7:40 am
[...] have to say, since my original post “Simplify your life with the Kindle“, it has completely changed how I read, how much I read, and where I [...]