Right, that’s seven page turners packed into the suitcase, just don’t go near the bookstands at the airport, after  all there are so many interesting things to do whilst waiting the totally unnecessary 3 hours after checking in. Maybe a quick look, what harm can it do, aha, the latest Faulks, hang on that’s oddly titled ‘Miss Peregrine’s School for Peculiar Children’ Roughly 20 minutes later you now have several new additions and the problem of portage. I have a small child with a Peppa Pig backback, ideal but no apparently this is the only way a certain bear will travel so you end up stuffing every available space in hand luggage and becoming at the least a trifle hot and bothered as you stare at the serene passesnger opposite unfold a neat paperback sized electronic reader and smirk infuriatingly at you over the top.
Now there are two camps, how can you compare a real book with one of THOSE and then there are people such as myself that have recently become a convert. Why. Read on for an overview that may suggest it may be a worthwhile purchase and allow bears to travel in small backpacks without a hardback shoved up its threadbare nose.
When playing with the new Kindle a few things jump out at you. First, it’s all screen since the frame around the device is much smaller (actually 21 percent) than its predecessor. It’s also light—a critical point for those of us that haven’t found any way to truly consolidate our devices. And the pages turn quickly. Is that enough to warrant a purchase? It is at Amazon’s price of £111 and if you want a 3G version it’s £152
Overall, the new Kindle swung me back on to the side of e-readers in this never-ending debate about multifunction (think iPad) vs. mostly single function devices (e-readers). The latest Kindle (in white and graphite) is a handy extra gadget to carry around. For me, the e-reader vs. iPad debate doesn’t necessarily apply since it’s not a level playing field. Price alone dictates that. There will be iPad/Kindle households depending on the family.
The good…
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One hand reading is really easy. The 3G/Wi-Fi version of the latest kindle checks in at 8.7 ounces. It seemed as light as my phone, I compared a few weights. The first Motorola Droid weighs 6 and a bit ounces. Droid X weighs 5.44 ounces. The iPhone 4 weighs 4.8 ounces. Overall, the latest Kindle is 15 percent lighter than its previous version, but feels less since the body around the 6-inch screen is smaller
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The navigation. In the end, I was hoping that the latest Kindle would have a touch screen. Russ Grandinetti, vice president for Kindle content, said page turns would be slower with touch because of the way light interacts with the screen and the E-ink to get to the touch layer. However, Amazon has improved on the latest Kindle. The buttons on the side of the device are solely for turning pages. The home and toggle buttons are now below on the keyboard. Overall, getting around is easier. The navigation joystick also has been overhauled.
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Page turns. The Kindle page turns are blistering. Amazon treats page turns the way the Usain Bolt treats athletics tracks—you just can’t be too fast. Pages turn 20 percent faster than the previous Kindle. Simply put, the Kindle turns pages faster than I can. It’s instant book gratification. I spent two weeks with the Wi-Fi Nook and found the page turn speed as well as navigation slowness to be an issue.
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The screen has a higher contrast. The latest Kindle’s screen has 50 percent better contrast than its previous E-ink screen. It shows.
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The browser. Even though the Kindle is primarily for reading, I find myself browsing for real-time data from time to time. The latest Kindle has a Webkit browser. It’s still odd seeing black and white Web pages, but the latest Kindle is a vast improvement when it comes to browsing.
The still lacking…
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Color. Even though nearly everything I read offline is all text—history and non-fiction—I still want color. Grandinetti, like a bevy of Amazon execs, says that color E-ink screens just aren’t ready for prime time.
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E-Pub. Amazon rivals make a big deal about the e-commerce giant failing to support open standards. Grandinetti says that Amazon is able to better optimize its own software and format with the hardware. Given the page turn speeds, I can buy that argument. Amazon also argues that content is DRM’ed anyway so the E-Pub support is a bit of a red herring. Add it up and Amazon says it’s far more important that e-books can be read anywhere at anytime. That’s a valid argument given the popularity of Kindle apps for Android, BlackBerry and Apple’s iOS. I’m in the camp that cares about portability more than the open format. I know many reading this may not agree with that.
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Third party apps. Amazon has made a few announcements about third party apps coming to the Kindle, but a few board games would be good. With the iPad, I’d probably do three things: Read, browse and play Scrabble. The Kindle could close a gap by providing word games for its book worm crowd.
Bottom line…
For education, the Kindle makes sense for History and English students—based on physical book consolidation—but the lack of color would rule it out for science and engineering students who would have to rely heavily on graphics.
With the price, the arguments against getting a dedicated e-reader tend to fall away. Amazon with £111 and £152 priced about right.Grandinetti says he envisions multiple Kindles in a household. That argument at £111 is quite believable.Simply put, e-readers may become a mass market device beyond the rabid reader set. If anything, e-readers will be book replacements and a way to consolidate your periodicals. Given the prices, why wouldn’t you be getting one.
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