LOCALDEV (alonovolabs)

Product with a great future! 2009-09-13

Reviewer: Gene Venable

As long as the Kindle 2 continues to allow lifetime free access to the Internet, it's an unbeatable value. If it stops allowing this, other readers can providee real competition for it.

It is hard to account specifically for the popularity of the Kindle, though I love mine.

It isn't the black and white.

I don't find eyestrain that big a problem on computers, which I have been using for many hours daily for many years -- back to before the Internet, when Compuserve and local BBSes were the way to communicate.

I have a Nokia N800 and N810, which is what I was previously using for reading books -- that and text-to-speech software from the Nextup web site.

Now I am exclusively using the Kindle.

I expect color to make a big difference when it becomes available for a Kindle-like device. I found that light blue makes a very nice background color for reading, using FBreader on my tablet computers.

The battery life and always-on aspects, plus the convenient wireless access must be the keys to its popularity.

What is exciting to me about the Kindle is that it has many flaws yet is a fantastic device. What scope for improvement there is!

In the future, I would like to see

* Color
* Easier access to Internet features -- they are too many key-presses away
* Better placement of buttons -- I am always hitting the Home button when I want previous page.
* More third-party applications
* Ability to use multimedia features from the Internet.
* Better access to non-Kindle purchasing from Amazon -- strangely, they left that out! If I want to buy a TV from Amazon, I can't easily use the Kindle!

I figured out my own hack to allow bookmarks from the home page on my Kindle. I hope I learn more easy-to-use hacks!

Perfect for Traveling 2009-09-13

Reviewer: N. Kelly

I read a lot so when I travel I must take along several books. On my last trip I ran out of books. Someone loaned me their first gen kindle so I could read a short ebook. It was a lot more pleasant than I thought it would be. It doesnt "feel" like a book, but the pages do "look" like a book.

After that experience I decided it made more sense to have 1 Kindle with several books on it than to carry multiple books and mags with me on each trip. I bought the second gen kindle and it has an even better layout than the first. I reccomend buying a kindle cover when you purchase your kindle to protect it.

Although I LOVE it I gave it 4 stars because to my knowledge you cant "share" the books you have purchased. Which is frustrating because if you liked reading a book you'd pass it on to a friend, not tell them to go buy their own copy. Also, I get a lot of books from the library and there is no way to "borrow" library books on the kindle.

The Kindle is awesome 2009-09-13

Reviewer: Cindy Lynn Knight

I like the fact that I can use the stairmaster and read,cook and read,sit out in the wind and read (without fighting with blowing pages).I love the fact that no body knows what I am reading.I have lost many a good book when someone else finds the book interesting and will "borrow" the book when I'm only half way through it.The only thing I can think of that is missing is a back light for reading at night and a book stand.

Best thing since the DVR 2009-09-13

Reviewer: Rebecca Nurse

My Kindle changed my life! Almost every book in the world is now at my fingertips. I don't have to hold my book open while doing cardio at the gym or eating. The thing that I love most about it is that I can carry so many books with me at one time. No matter what mood I am in, there is a book in my Kindle that will suit. And I never get tired of hearing people say, "Is that a Kindle?"

Kindle too fragile 2009-09-13

Reviewer: Vasu S. Kengeri

I bought a Kindle a couple of months ago and I like using it but I have had two of them break down while traveling. Both times, Amazon replaced it with out an issue but I am worried that I will need to treat this so carefully. Both times, the Kindle was in a padded pouch and after a few days of travel, the screen looked like an ink splatter and nothing worked. All I can guess is that some thing pressed against the screen but can't see how since my lap top sits in an adjacent padded pouch and I have never had an issue. I now regret getting such a flimsy device that I can't travel with, with out worrying when and how it will break next.