Life and Times

Amazon Kindle - A Couple of Months On ...

I've been using my Kindle since Christmas and its revitalised my reading. What I really like is the convenience and how easy it is to buy books & explore new authors. Amazon's book store is so simple to use that its easy to buy way too many books to get through. I've used the "download sample" functionality to try before buying. I think that one of the biggest plus points is the way books are kept in sync between my Kindle and iPhone. Its great to be able to put down my Kindle then pick up my phone and read from where I left off. This is ideal for those odd moments when I'm travelling and need something to read. I have tried to read newspapers on the Kindle & trialled The Times & Daily Telegraph and whilst I loved the convenience of having the paper delivered wirelessly every morning I felt that the lack of photos meant that the experience was somewhat lacking. On the other hand, I suppose that paying less than £10 a month for a quality newspaper is still good value for money, but maybe not when compared against The Times app on an iPad. I don't use the web browser at all, as the experience is just too slow in my opinion. So, overall I am very happy with my Kindle for reading & purchasing books and would recommend it without reservation. However, if you want a richer media experience, then you should probably look elsewhere .....  Cheers for now, K

Web browsing on a Kindle 3

The Kindle 3 comes with an experimental web browser that is better than I was expecting but has a few limitations that mean I don't use it very often. As I have the 3G version I was hoping to use it to access my work email on the go using OWA but this doesn't work - something to do with current limitations of spawning new windows. I hope its fixed in a future release.

Apart from the OWA issue the biggest problem is the size of the screen & the method of scrolling around a page.  I am writing this article on the Kindle, but its quite slow going as I've put the display in landscape but, of course, the keyboard is in portrait which makes it difficult to read what's written.

I've used it to access my Gmail account and send emails - best to use the old (simple) interface for slower devices. By doing a bit of digging you may find simplified versions of the web page you want to view & you can always turn off pictures in the settings menu.

In summary, the web browser works OK, but it's slow going and I'll only be using it when I have no other option ....

Cheers for now,
K

Reading UK Newspapers on a Kindle 3

In my last post I mentioned that I'm currently half-way through a two-week free trial of the Kindle version of the Daily Telegraph newspaper. The latest edition is delivered wirelessly to my Kindle every day at 7AM and the previous version is archived. It's easy to navigate to the section that you want to read and the 5-way button is used to skip articles that aren't of interest. I think all newspapers share the same navigation technique as this is the same as used by The Times that I previously looked at. As with The Times, there are usually no pictures and sometimes the caption appears to have been left in the copy, which shows a lack of attention to detail in the editing of the Kindle edition. The lack of pictures does detract from the overall experience, but the Kindle edition is still a convenient way to consume the news. It's not as rich an experience as reading news on an iPad or similar device, but I think I'll be sticking with the subscription after the trial as £9.99 a month is quite good value.  Cheers for now, K

Kindle 3 - First Impressions

I'd been thinking about getting a Kindle for a while and was delighted to receive the 3G version for Christmas. Since then I've used it every days and now its part of my daily routine. It's true that after a while you forget that you are reading using a piece of technology and just get "into the book." The form factor really doesn't interfere with your reading. I find using the Kindle to be more convenient than a physical book as its generally lighter and smaller & you can turn the page with either hand. The screen is so easy to read, apart from when the light is poor when you need to use a lamp. I'm running a two-week free trial of The Telegraph newspaper at the moment, which is delivered wirelessly every day at 7AM. I'm looking forward to my trip to London on the train in Friday ..... More to follow. Cheers for now, KP