The first portion of this will be the technical -- well, as technical as I ever get -- discussion of the device in comparison to my K2 and then I'll move on to book readers and the overall Kindle experience.
My husband and I both had Kindles 2 and loved them and I decided to get the newest version. I was so happy with the K2 that I didn't have to make the change -- I wanted to.
The K3 retains most of the great features of the K2 -- like the ability to read anywhere, the ability to change fonts, the built in dictionary, and access to more books than can be read in a lifetime -- adds some new ones that through updates are now available for the K2, too -- such as being able to share favorite passages and organize books by collections -- and brings exclusive improvements.
1. The print, which was always easy on the eyes, is noticeably crisper. I found myself reading a smaller font than I'd been reading on the K2.
2. The print is also darker than it is on either of the K2 in the household.
3. Lighter. Somewhat easier to hold in the hand for long periods of time.
4. Smaller. We set the K2 and the K3 side by side and the difference is marked. The screen size is the same, but they've rearranged buttons to save on room.
5. Page turn speed, which was always pleasing before, is even faster.
6. Markedly better battery life. After I charged it I was arranging collections and left the wireless on. With my K2, there would still be a lot of battery, but there would have been depletion, and so I decided to top off the K3. The light immediately went green, fully charged still. I routinely turn off the wireless, only turning it on once or twice a way, to receive subscriptions or new purchases. I didn't need to leave it off, but liked the extra battery life. With the K3, I'm more inclined to leave it on. According to the details, the battery life should last a month or so with wireless off, which is just wow!
The only issue I have, and it's simply because it was perfect on the K2, are the buttons to the left and right of the screen -- the page forward and page back. They're smaller, which I understand, and more along the side than on the face, I imagine to further save room. The placement is awkward at the moment -- at least until I get a cover, which will offer more ways to hold the device. It makes it too easy to hit the buttons by mistake and when holding with one hand a bit more dangerous as you are more holding on to the edge than before in order to turn pages. I do prefer the K2 in this one regard. I find it disappointing. As with my K2, I'll have a cover for it when the maker I like releases their designs, and that should help, but it's definitely a minus if you have to buy another product to improve a design flaw.
This was a step up -- the improvements do outweigh the flaw -- and I was happy before. With the even better pricing, Kindle is still the one to beat and Amazon is still making their device with the serious reader, as opposed to the gadget junkie, in mind. If you want bells and whistles, nope. If you love reading, yep!
People, readers, are skeptical about eReaders. I was one of them. The Kindle ads used to bug me, and I imagine some people reading this who are still on the fence, understand that. I had all the sentimentality expressed when folks talk about the smell of books. What I think though is that the experience of reading is what makes the smell and other tactile memories so tempting -- the pleasure imprints itself on the other aspects and becomes associated with good memories. Most of the adult readers today do have good associations with print books, like their parents reading them bedtime stories and then doing the same with their own kids, like those Scholastic Book newsletters from school. Like reading Jane Eyre on a rainy day, holed up somewhere like she was in the beginning of the book.
What I've found matters most though are the words. What the author wants to say to you. If the worst book in the world has the best cover in the world and the old book smell, it's still the worst book in the world. The Kindle, and other readers to some extent, gets out of the way and lets it be about the words. Stephen King talks about what happens between the writer and reader as a form of telepathy. He can reach across time and make you see and feel what he has in mind. That magic is still there with an eReader and made easier. Barriers are torn down when you can adjust the font or make the device read to you, if needed. Ever hear someone mention a book, see it on a talk show, and you forget what it was when you get to the book store? Or you order it from Amazon, but even with the fastest shipping are still impatient? (For pubs, the purchase can beat the bad reviews ::grin::)
The Kindle allows you to preorder the next book by your favorite author. You can finish one book, realize that you found a new author you like, and have another book by this writer in your hand in the time it takes you to click a couple buttons and and your yourself a glass of iced tea. If you're like me, and keep a few books going at a time, they're always all there to be continued. Every time I sit down I can ask, "Okay, what do I want to read now?" I can do that because I have hundreds of books in the palm of my hand and countless other books I can access.
Just like everyone else in a waiting room, you can be reading Time or Newsweek or the New Yorker, only you're reading the current issue and they're reading a dog-eared, grimy looking one so old that the big story is about the cold war. If they do become interested in an article, they're leaving it behind if they're called for their appointment. Your article will be waiting for you to continue. If your appointment isn't called and you're reading about the latest strife in some country with which you're not familiar, with the dictionary feature you can find out the basics and your understanding is instantly improved.
My husband and I have the same Kindle account. I'm the one who buys the majority of books. He stumbled onto the Jack Kilborne book,
Afraid
, in the archived books and loved it. He then ordered another book by the author. I realized the author also writes as J.A. Konrath and so I bought a couple of those books and sent them directly to his device. The next time he turns on turns on his device they will either be their instantly or within a minute.
I really could discuss it for paragraphs more, all the things I love about my Kindle! I'm sure other people will do that in my stead.
I'm not going to say these devices are for everyone, but I do think that some of the readers most opposed to them are the ones who would adore them the most. I'm a year and a half in to owning Kindles, and there is no going back for me. Maybe brief vacations if someone lends me a book or there's another reason to do print, but my preference is now for a book reader.
Reviews with images
A Hop, a Leap, and a Bound from the Kindle 1!
I had a very good relationship with my Kindle 1 and was unsure if a newer generation Kindle would ever win me over. Sure the K1 had its quirks but the thing had stolen my heart so much so that its grievances hardly bothered me. It was not until I realized how many hoops the Amazon team jumped through to get the K3 ready for the dog and pony show that I was convinced. I then did the very hard thing of looking at my K1 with a critical eye and recognizing the innovations that had been made on its new cousin. Below is a summary of the highlights and the lowlights of Amazon's efforts with the K3...(To skip to the main points, simply read the headers of each section.)THE GOODS:Text as Crisp and Pristine as Ever-Book readers and K1 veterans alike will notice the sharpness of the K3's text. One side effect of the K1 text was the fact that the edges of letters had a slight fuzziness to them and were a little on the skinny side. This is certainly not the case with the K3's text...its big, its bold, and its beautiful. Funny enough, I even encounter the mythical "read faster" effect on the K3 because the font is so easy on the eyes.Ferrari Page Turn and Interface Speeds-The K1's speed could be best compared to that of turning a page on an actual book. Sure that may be decent but it is only natural to expect our technology to be more responsive than their real life counterparts. The duration of the classic e-reader flash is incredibly short on the K3 and should jar those who disliked it on the K1 much less. However, the star of the speed category should not only be awarded to the page turns, but the interface speed itself. I hardly notice any delay when moving the cursor around or using the menus on the K3.From a Respectable Middleweight to a Light as Air Featherweight-The K1 was hardly a brick in the hand even after outfitting it with a cover. However, the minute you popped the thing in your pack you would feel that you added on some undesired weight. The K3 has gone on quite the diet and rests like a feather on the hand. Covered or uncovered, you will not notice it at all in your carrying case. I swear one of these days I'll have forgotten which bag I put it in heh...Still the Same Great Selection-The Amazon store always manages to stock any book I'm looking for. While there will be a few select instances where one obscure novel or another has not had the Kindle treatment, pretty much any mainstream book in existence is still 60 seconds away. Also the great thing to keep in mind is all the free books at your finger tips. You're guaranteed to find almost any 100 year old public domain classic either within the Amazon catalogue or other great sources. The only irksome quality about the store itself is that it only sells the Kindle proprietary format, as that is the only type of ebook that can be read by the Kindle...I will cover more on this later.Wonderful Wi-Fi-While I did chuck up the extra dough to get the free 3G coverage, I knew I would primarily start utilizing the Wi-Fi feature. Hooking up to the home wireless was a breeze and many out there who settled for the $139 Wi-Fi only Kindle will not be disappointed. So far it doesn't seem to suck up the battery like the 3G might and the connection is as reliable as the Wi-Fi on my laptops. Enjoying Wi-Fi on your K3 may take a bit of tech-savviness though, especially if someone other than you set up your router and put a password on your network. Other than that, you should be hooked up fairly quickly after a simple brushing up on the basics of wireless connectivity.THE BADS:Memory Card Slot Axed-Some ebook/media hoarders will be angry that the memory card slot was axed. 3,500 books is more than enough for me but I can certainly understand that my needs do not reflect everyone else's needs. Memory cards also serve as a nice physical backup of content as well. I even know of some folks who categorized their K1 books via memory card to compensate for the lack of the K2/K3 collections feature. While those who took the plunge to purchase the K2 got over the demolition of this nice feature, I still believe in the future Kindle generations to come, a memory card slot should return.Lackluster Web Browser-The web browser on the K3 is still on the sluggish side unlike the other speedy interfaces on the device. I never bought the K3 thinking I'd use it for web browsing but several people still desire a Swiss Army knife quality to their gadgets. Those who are picturing their decent Blackberry browsers, neat Iphone/Ipad browsers, or similar things will probably be disappointed upon looking at this. As I said earlier though, this was never a biggie to me and at the end of the day the most use the browser on the K3 will get from me is for emergency internet access.PDF Viewing Still Leaves Alot to Be Desired-While I do appreciate Amazon's efforts to correct PDF viewing on the Kindle, its still not simple and snappy enough to leave me satisfied. The zoom feature is utterly essential and does great in a pinch but the fact still remains, that if a PDF is not properly formatted for the Kindle, it will look terrible. Thankfully I am aware of the techniques to easily accomplish this task or if I'm lazy can email a file to Amazon to let them have a go at it. However, many out there who simply want a device where they can pop a file on it and be done with it, will be quite disappointed. Another grievance regarding PDF viewing is that auto-rotation, while present on the Kindle DX, is not included on the K3...meaning that you have to open up another menu when you want to view something in landscape.Still No ePub Support-Though there are several programs which can correct the pitfall of no ePub support on Kindles (Calibre or Mobipocket Creator for example), the fact still remains that there is no native support for ePub. Even with software solutions, DRMs can get in the way in which case there is no chance at all for you to convert your favorite ebook to Kindle format (legally that is). However, it may not be fair to point the finger at Amazon regarding this issue. Most of the e-readers on the market are limiting the format of books they can recognize to their own proprietary formats. At the end of the day, this "bad" can pretty much apply to most of the e-readers on the market in general.Unfortunately there is only so much that can be covered in a review and the K3 bears other numerous improvements that I did not mention (TTS integration, quieter page turns, longer battery life, etc.) At the end of the day, the breakdown above should generally give you an idea of what was done successfully or unsuccessfully on Amazon's newest Kindle. Whether you are still an eternal lover of the printed page or a K1 oldie hesitant to give up on a good thing, the K3 will improve your reading experience and then some.
