Jul 5, 2009 Posted by geekgirl in Electronics, Ereaders & accessories | 0 comments

Kindle DX – Reading is Back

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As most people who know me will say, if there’s a gadget involved, it’s automatically more fun for me. I enjoy reading, but I don’t make time for it. Or didn’t. Enter Kindle DX.

When the Kindle 1 and Kindle2 came out, I thought about getting one each time, but saw too many things that I thought would annoy me. Also I wondered if it would become the George Foreman grill of my electronics–something that’s a great idea but I never use. So I put off buying one and hoped the urge would go away.

Then the Kindle DX came around, taunting me with its bigger screen, its PDF support, and its ability to actually read aloud to me. It only seemed like a matter of time before one would find its way into my life.  And now that it has, do I use it?  Do I like it?

An unqualified yes, I love it.  The Kindle DX is easy to use right out of the box.  But we can talk about the box first.  It has an Apple-like atention to detail.  The box is aesthetically pleasing, and so is all the accompanying packaging.  It doesn’t smell as good as the Apple stuff, but that’s probably just me.

The functions are easy to figure out, and I was able to get started reading right away.  The only thing that tripped me up initially was how it automatically changes orientation as you turn it different directions.  I often lay on my side to read and hold the “book” at a diagnonal so it kept switching from landscape to horizontal and back which was frustrating.  But there is a lock on this orientation shifting, so I just set it to horizontal and I was back to reading.

A big plus with this model over previous versions is its ability to handle PDF.  I can’t comment on how well it works because I haven’t used this function yet, but it’s nice to know that I can snag PDFs of the book that haven’t hit Kindle editions yet (a lot of the business and technical books I read aren’t yet available).

What I like best about the Kindle is how unobtrusive it is to the reading process.  They say on the site that it just sort of melts into the background, and I’ve found that to be true.  There’s nothing distracting about its form or function, and not having to flip physical pages takes another potential distraction away.  It fits nicely in my hands, the buttons are in comfortable locations, and the electronic ink is easy on the eyes.

It’s big enough that it is able to block out a fair sized field of view, letting me focus on the text at hand, and it’s still thin and light enough to tuck into my bag along with my laptop.

The case I bought adds a bit of heft to the final weight, but the built-in easel stand and leather styling makes it worth the extra beef.

I also really like the free chapters.  I tend to be a picky reader who gets easily put off based on a writer’s style.  If they can’t grab me in the first chapter, chances are that’s a book that would normally sit on my shelf with a bookmark tucked in about half way for years before I decide to either start over or give up and donate it.  The sample keeps me from making those bad choices.

The only complaints I have about this Kindle are minor.  A backlight would be nice to have at night, or even a little built-in light that could flip up over the edge and provide front lighting.  I’d also happily pay for one that actually fits the Kindle nicely and doesn’t take up a lot of room in my bag, but so far I don’t see a viable option.

I don’t like the lack of page numbers.  This may just be me, but I like to know how many pages in a book and a chapter so that I can guage my progress.  It does have a percentage completed bar, but there’s no way for me to know how long it will take for that percentage to move.  I’d be happy with just a little background counter that gives me an estimated time of completing reading the book or chapter based on my average page turns.  But that’s me being goal-oriented.

A minor point–it’d be nice to have a clock.  It’s on Whispernet, so it could know the time; it’d be nice if it’d tell it to me.  That way I wouldn’t have to look to my phone to see how long I’ve been laying around lost in my latest book.

And the picky editor part of my brain is somewhat distracted by the OCR errors I run across as I read.  It would be infinitely nicer if the publishers would give these versions a better final proof before releasing the electronic versions of their books.

So thank you Kindle; I’ve already finished a couple books this month which, aside from work-related books, is more than I can say for the last six months combined.  While it’s pricey, I think the savings on books I won’t buy because I’d never finish them will actually pay for this little gem in the long run.