Amazon Kindle E-Book Reader gets official

[Kaido]

May 6th, 2009 Update:

Kindle DX is out. One-time fee of $489, includes lifetime cellular service. Pre-order here:

http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-D...eration/dp/B0015TCML0/

February 9th, 2009 Update:

Kindle 2.0 is out. One-time fee of $359, includes lifetime cellular service. Pre-order here:

Updates:
-just over 1/3" thick (about as thin as a magazine)
-holds up to 3,500 books, periodicals, and documents
-9.7" diagonal e-ink screen with 16 shades of gray
-auto-rotating screen (read in landscape or portrait mode)
-3G wireless
-native PDF support
-275,000 books now available
-10.4" x 7.2" x 0.38"
-4-day battery life, 4-hour charge time

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00154JDAI

Updates:
-nicer-looking design (10.2 ounces, 1/3" thick)
-25% longer battery life
-More memory (1,500 books now)
-20% faster page turns (screen refresh is quicker)
-text-to-speech feature
-improved ergonomics (smaller page-flip paddles)
-230,000 books now available

Engadget hands-on

Gizmodo hands-on

What I still don't like:
-no color choices (only white!)
-5-way tracknub sounds stiff (touchscreen please!)
-still early-adopter e-ink screen (no color)
-no backlight (I thought this was an improvement over books?)
-no flip/widescreen
-hardly any price cut on e-books

All it all, it looks like a worthy update. They've de-uglified the design, although you'd think they would realize that colors sell (think like Apple, Bezos!). If they sold these in hot glossy pink, every school girl would want to have one. They've improved the ergonomics - the page flip buttons look WAY better than the previous design.

My primary complaint is the price of books. A lot of authors get maybe $1 per paper book sold, so having an e-book version with zero physical overhead aside from a download server means that Amazon and the publishing houses are just raking in the profits. I'm sure a lot of that has to do with R&D and a subsidized cost for a new hardware product and lifetime Internet service on Spring's cellular network, but come on...I want to see like a 50% price break for books! That would be a HUGE incentive for people to buy one of these things!

There's still no horizontal flip. When I open a book, it's "widescreen" because of 2 pages. The Kindle is 1 page, not 2 pages. imo it would be much more comfortable holding it widescreen than upright. Just a thought. Also, no backlight. How dumb is that? I want to hit a button and have the screen be readable in the dark or on an airplane or something. Major deficiency.

I still think it's a very cool concept and once I read some in-depth reviews, I'll probably bite. Aside from the ergonomics (my primary complaint with the first model), I really liked my Kindle 1.0. It seems that this has been addressed for the new one.

I don't think that E-book readers will replace real books for at least another 5-10 years. E-ink needs some serious improvements, including backlighting, sharp color reproduction, and touchscreen, especially multi-touch. One reason I still really like paper books is that I can highlight and underline things to my heart's content. Having a digital version of that with something like a Wacom tablet pen would be wonderful, because you could overlay your notes and have multiple notes on the same page to flip through.


********************************************************************

Neato!

Newsweek

Kindle Product Page | PDF User Guide | About Your Kindle PDF

Kindle E-Store

On cellular access built in plus searching and on-device purchasing: "The vision is that you should be able to get any book?not just any book in print, but any book that's ever been in print?on this device in less than a minute," says Bezos.

Details:
$399, free 2-day shipping
6" E-ink screen (600x800 rez @ 167 ppi, 4-level gray scale), easily readable in direct sunlight, no backlight (which is a Good Thing)
10.3 ounces, lighter/thinner than a typical paperback, can survive drops (7.5 x 5.3 x 0.7")
Battery life: With Wireless on - recharge every other day; Off - use for a week; 2 hour recharge
Free EV-DO "Whispernet" on Sprint for OTA book purchases (Lifetime subscription)
No computer needed, but does have USB port
Free automatic online backup of books, including 100 of the 112 current NYT Best Sellers
Books for $9.99, optional subscriptions to newspapers and select blogs for monthly fees
Store 200 titles onboard, hundreds more on a SD memory card
Search within a book for a phrase or name
Wikipedia access
Basic Web access (experimental) - supports JavaScript, SSL, and cookies but not media plugins (Flash, Shockwave, etc.)
Capture passages of electric books with a highlight pen
88,000 books available at launch
Reads Word and PDF documents (sent to your Kindle email), plus image files (JPG, GIF, BMP, PNG)
Audiobook support (has a headphone jack)

Major bummers:
Ugly white design
10 CENTS PER EMAIL
No color screen
Not nearly as much battery life as Sony's e-reader

So, whatcha think about E-books?

 

[loup garou]

I love ebooks.
This thing is retarded.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: loup garou
I love ebooks.
This thing is retarded.

Why do you say it's retarded? It looks pretty good to me. The biggest flaws I see are (1) the $399 pricetag, (2) the somewhat ugly design, and (3) the white color, which is bound to get dirty since you're operating it with your hands. I also wonder if there is a subscription fee for the cellular Internet access. $399 + monthly Internet fee + price per book?

 

[imported_LoKe]

I think that's an amazing device. It's like buying music or movies online. This way, you wouldn't have to own a huge collection of books (wasting paper, no less) and you could choose to read anything you want on the move (bus, plane, etc).

I'm surprised it took this long.

However: Too expensive. They should offer x free books with purchase to slightly offset the cost. I won't be buying it at $400.

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: loup garou
I love ebooks.
This thing is retarded.

Why do you say it's retarded? It looks pretty good to me. The biggest flaws I see are (1) the $399 pricetag, (2) the somewhat ugly design, and (3) the white color, which is bound to get dirty since you're operating it with your hands. I also wonder if there is a subscription fee for the cellular Internet access. $399 + monthly Internet fee + price per book?

$400 and then ebooks cost more than paperbacks? Retarded.

eink display and it only gets 30hrs battery life? Retarded.

No backlight? Retarded.

Browsing the web on a B&W eink display? Retarded.

What Amazon or another large bookseller/publishing group needs to do is use their clout to standardize ebook formats and release a single software platform that can run on one of the many, many, MANY devices people already own that they can read ebooks on. Oh well, hopefully this initiative will get them to increase the amount of ebooks out there, and once someone rips the DRM they'll surely be ensconsed in, I can read them on my phone, like I already do with Mobipocket ebooks from the NY Public Library. I can already do everything this thing does on my phone, for way, way less. Of course the screen is smaller, but at an overall size advantage, and hey, I have good eyesight.

 

[AnyMal]

No backlight? That's just dumb.

 

[BarneyFife]

who would pay a subscription when you can read the news for free on the internet? waste of money.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: AnyMal
No backlight? That's just dumb.

That's actually a PLUS of E-ink - no backlight means no extra strain on your eyes. Having a backlight is like staring at a flashlight. E-ink offers no-backlight technology.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: BarneyFife
who would pay a subscription when you can read the news for free on the internet? waste of money.

I agree. I can see it working for newspapers, but a subscription fee for "select blogs" ? That's ridiculous! If it has an actual browser then you can just go to the blog for free lol.

 

[potato28]

Looks stupid, I like regular paper books better.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: loup garou

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: loup garou
I love ebooks.
This thing is retarded.

Why do you say it's retarded? It looks pretty good to me. The biggest flaws I see are (1) the $399 pricetag, (2) the somewhat ugly design, and (3) the white color, which is bound to get dirty since you're operating it with your hands. I also wonder if there is a subscription fee for the cellular Internet access. $399 + monthly Internet fee + price per book?

$400 and then ebooks cost more than paperbacks? Retarded.

eink display and it only gets 30hrs battery life? Retarded.

No backlight? Retarded.

Browsing the web on a B&W eink display? Retarded.

What Amazon or another large bookseller/publishing group needs to do is use their clout to standardize ebook formats and release a single software platform that can run on one of the many, many, MANY devices people already own that they can read ebooks on. Oh well, hopefully this initiative will get them to increase the amount of ebooks out there, and once someone rips the DRM they'll surely be ensconsed in, I can read them on my phone, like I already do with Mobipocket ebooks from the NY Public Library. I can already do everything this thing does on my phone, for way, way less. Of course the screen is smaller, but at an overall size advantage, and hey, I have good eyesight.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems you're getting very technical.

This is a simple device that anyone can get to replace their existing books with. To get a book and read it, it takes you only a matter of minutes and is billed to your credit card, no need to drive to B&N or wait a few days for it to be delivered.

Also, you don't think 30 hours is enough for the average user? How often do people need more than that? Even when I'm on a plane to India, it's less than that, not to mention you simply can't read for that long.

Even though there are existing simple devices, this makes the entire process of getting an ebook and reading it ten times easier, and it isn't a phone or PDA. People hate being on their phone or PDA all the time. Let's say it's the winter and you're sitting next to a fire with a cup of coffee - do you really care to whip out that PDA you have with you at all times that is bound to alert you of emails or do you take this device out and read a book without any distractions?

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: BarneyFife
who would pay a subscription when you can read the news for free on the internet? waste of money.

I agree. I can see it working for newspapers, but a subscription fee for "select blogs" ? That's ridiculous! If it has an actual browser then you can just go to the blog for free lol.

Radiohead allowed you to name your price for the music and contrary to what most people would expect, people paid pretty much right on the average retail price for it. It could have been had for free, 10% of the price, whatever.

People don't mind paying for things, especially when it makes their life convenient.

 

[ppdes]

Why is the screen black on gray? I don't like the looks of that at all. I love reading on my PDA - the bright back light allows a white background and VGA resolution on a small screen means enough resolution to be readable. I look at backlit LCDs all day at work and hours on end at home. I much prefer them to cheap newspaper quality gray backgrounds like that thing has.

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo

Originally posted by: loup garou

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: loup garou
I love ebooks.
This thing is retarded.

Why do you say it's retarded? It looks pretty good to me. The biggest flaws I see are (1) the $399 pricetag, (2) the somewhat ugly design, and (3) the white color, which is bound to get dirty since you're operating it with your hands. I also wonder if there is a subscription fee for the cellular Internet access. $399 + monthly Internet fee + price per book?

$400 and then ebooks cost more than paperbacks? Retarded.

eink display and it only gets 30hrs battery life? Retarded.

No backlight? Retarded.

Browsing the web on a B&W eink display? Retarded.

What Amazon or another large bookseller/publishing group needs to do is use their clout to standardize ebook formats and release a single software platform that can run on one of the many, many, MANY devices people already own that they can read ebooks on. Oh well, hopefully this initiative will get them to increase the amount of ebooks out there, and once someone rips the DRM they'll surely be ensconsed in, I can read them on my phone, like I already do with Mobipocket ebooks from the NY Public Library. I can already do everything this thing does on my phone, for way, way less. Of course the screen is smaller, but at an overall size advantage, and hey, I have good eyesight.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems you're getting very technical.

This is a simple device that anyone can get to replace their existing books with. To get a book and read it, it takes you only a matter of minutes and is billed to your credit card, no need to drive to B&N or wait a few days for it to be delivered.

As I said, this could easily be done with software on another device. I do it on my phone from the NYPL already.

Also, you don't think 30 hours is enough for the average user? How often do people need more than that? Even when I'm on a plane to India, it's less than that, not to mention you simply can't read for that long.

30 hours is pathetic for an eink display. It only draws power when the page is refreshed. It should last days. Basically it lasts long enough to read one book, then dies...what good is it being able to store 200+ books on if you have to plug it in to charge after you finish one anyways?

Even though there are existing simple devices, this makes the entire process of getting an ebook and reading it ten times easier, and it isn't a phone or PDA. People hate being on their phone or PDA all the time. Let's say it's the winter and you're sitting next to a fire with a cup of coffee - do you really care to whip out that PDA you have with you at all times that is bound to alert you of emails or do you take this device out and read a book without any distractions?

First of all, if someone doesn't have the self control to ignore these distractions or the common sense to turn off the phone's radio when they don't want to be distracted...ugh...forget it.

My point wasn't so much that there's ONE existing device out there that's better than this, it's that this is something that's bugged me about ebooks forever. There's very little reason to have a bunch of divergent formats and software. Amazon had an excellent opportunity here to create (or adopt) a single software format and push it...instead they linked it to this albatross as a sad attempt at iPod-like dominance in the field. Hell, they could offer their format to other devices AND sell this thing, and maybe they will and I'll take all this back...I just don't see it happening and there hasn't been any hint to that effect so far.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: loup garou
30 hours is pathetic for an eink display. It only draws power when the page is refreshed. It should last days. Basically it lasts long enough to read one book, then dies...what good is it being able to store 200+ books on if you have to plug it in to charge after you finish one anyways?

Don't forget it has a cellular connection in there, which is eating up battery juice. 30 hours seems decent to me...I rarely read for more than a few hours at a time, except for textbooks when I'm studying. I don't have a problem plugging it in at night, especially if it has something convenient like a dock available. I drop my iPhone in the dock when I get home, I don't see what would be so different about an e-book reader...

Also keep in mind this is a first-gen device from Amazon...it will get better in time!

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

30 hours is pathetic for an eink display. It only draws power when the page is refreshed. It should last days.

If it was that simple, I'd imagine they would have done it. I don't know the details of the technology, but why would they do something decreasing the usage time?

Basically it lasts long enough to read one book, then dies...what good is it being able to store 200+ books on if you have to plug it in to charge after you finish one anyways?

What's the issue? Read a book, set it aside, and let it charge again. I don't think the storage capacity is a selling point, it's more for the convenience.

How many hours do people read at once? Let's take a serious book reader and say they read 4 hours at a time, twice a day, every day of the week. That's 8 hours per day - you can use it for almost 4 days without a charge. You're bound to be at home at least one of those days and so all you have to do is plug it in for an hour or two every now and then and you'll be fine. Is that really asking too much?

First of all, if someone doesn't have the self control to ignore these distractions or the common sense to turn off the phone's radio when they don't want to be distracted...ugh...forget it.

People pay for convenience, why wouldn't they here? Not everyone is serious enough to read a book that they'll turn off those different things. Look at it from this other point of view - you have this phone with you every day of the week and when you sit down to read a book in the evening, you just don't want to be disturbed. You worked hard all day long and just want a few hours of peace - continue reading a book and don't have to look at that phone for the rest of the evening.

All I'm saying is that battery life isn't an issue for people, especially because it's 30 hours and that people are willing to pay for something like this rather than reading from a PDA or whatever they have.

 

[Epic Fail]

iPhone >>>>>> kindle

 

[SludgeFactory]

The main thing I would want in a reader is an uber-cheap E-ink device with a nice sized screen and a decent amount of storage. I don't need connectivity so that Jeff Bezos can beam his ridiculously overpriced content directly to me.

 

[imported_LoKe]

Originally posted by: yamadakun
iPhone >>>>>> kindle

You're going to read a book on a tiny ass phone? Pass.

 

[imported_LoKe]

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
Radiohead allowed you to name your price for the music and contrary to what most people would expect, people paid pretty much right on the average retail price for it.

Where'd you get those numbers? What I've read seems to indicate that an average of all the downloads was roughly $4-5. That's significantly below retail

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: LoKe

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
Radiohead allowed you to name your price for the music and contrary to what most people would expect, people paid pretty much right on the average retail price for it.

Where'd you get those numbers? What I've read seems to indicate that an average of all the downloads was roughly $4-5. That's significantly below retail

http://blog.wired.com/music/20...0/radiohead-spoke.html
Source for the wired article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7024130.stm

I don't know how accurate these are myself, did you see some other articles with more information?

 

[loup garou]

Ok, kaido, agaboogaboo, I'm sure we'll just continue talking in circles about the battery life of this thing. I'm just saying that one of the main benefits of eink technology is its amazingly low power usage. Sacrificing that for a cellular connection is kind of lame to me.

I think you guys are focusing too much on my criticism of the hardware. I think it's just not that great of an eink reader for the price.

For example, Sony's Reader goes 7500 page turns on one charge, that's 10-20 novels. Why aren't you guys excited about it? It's already out, cheaper, and works great from what I've heard.

Of course Sony's reader doesn't have the library backing that the Kindle will, and that's ENTIRELY my point. I'm worried that yet another company is going create a closed ecosystem for a medium, like Apple did for music with iTunes/iPod. I'm worried that I (most likely) won't be able to read Amazon ebooks on a Sony Reader, the Kindle, a PC, a PDA, a phone, or wherever the hell else I want to read the book that I paid for. I want libraries (remember those? They're where we used to get books. FOR FREE!!!) to lend books in a compatible format for all these devices.

Now feel free to make fun of me to no end if Amazon doesn't lock this the hell down, I know they've made strides towards that sort of openness with their music store. But the article lead me to believe that Bezos wants his own iTunes for books here, and if you thought the music, movie, and television industries were dinosaurs in the new age of digital distribution, just wait till the publishing houses arrive on the scene. Once this thing gets popular, you'll get them dropping out and starting their own competing stores with more restrictions and lamer devices, etc, etc

 

[imported_LoKe]

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
http://blog.wired.com/music/20...0/radiohead-spoke.html
Source for the wired article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7024130.stm

I don't know how accurate these are myself, did you see some other articles with more information?

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[George P Burdell]

For $400 I would rather buy a Nokia N810 Tablet

 

[Kaido]

Launch party today - FREE EV-DO! Also automatic free backup of books.