kindle 2 thoughts coming

got my new kindle 2 last night — played with it a little bit, but not enough to have really well-formed thoughts yet. will post this weekend, but a few initial thoughts:

  • device size & shape is decidedly less quirky than the original — thinness is great; marginally larger overall height isn’t as good; much more stable feeling
  • overall interface is better — more direct interactions, quicker lookups, better notetaking
  • the screen with 16 shades is better, but not a lot better
  • this feels like a very transitional interface — the eInk screen is more responsive, so there’s a bit of a cursor now — but I think the UI concepts are not quite clean yet — the cursor is laggy enough that I think moving to this mode of dialog boxes & such is a little funky

but on the whole, i like it & think it’s a keeper. wouldn’t have bought it unless i thought i could sell my v1 on eBay. (which brings up another point: the packaging this time around is much more minimal & eco-friendly, but decidedly less eBay-able down the road.)

on kindle overall, still a bit of a niche device, with flaws, but i would not give mine up for really any amount of money. improves my life immensely.

3 comments

  1. I think it is unfair that such a wonderful device is only available to the citizens of the USA. Why is the rest of the world always kept out of new technology.

    I think it is a shame that this device cannot be shared with the rest of the world. After all we do buy books from Amazon.com.

  2. Thank you I think it is unfair that such a wonderful device is only available to the citizens of the USA. Why is the rest of the world always kept out of new technology.

    I think it is a shame that this device cannot be shared with the rest of the world. After all we do buy books from Amazon.com.