Everyone at Amazon’s Kindle press conference (which I liveblogged earlier today) received one of the electronic book readers. I played around with mine while I was waiting to interview Jeff Bezos. My initial impressions:
It is not as clunky as the FCC picture made it out to be, but it still has an odd retro feel. A mod, over-sized, calculator from the 1970s comes to mind. It is much lighter than a book and comfortable to hold. The large, gray panel on the back covering the battery and SD-card memory slot is rubberized and engraved with letters and symbols from different alphabets throughout the ages, a subtle reference to the tablets that held the first written words.
Everything else (other than the text on the screen) is white, which is supposed to help make the device “disappear” so that the reader does not get distracted by anything other than the words on the screen, but it seems like a nod to the original white iPod. The Kindle is essentially an iPod for books, with Amazon’s online book store taking on the role of iTunes.
The Kindle does take some getting used to. I cannot tell if it is supposed to appeal to technophiles or bibliophiles. I think it is the latter (see Bezos’ comments in previous post). Not that the two are mutually exclusive, but the device is more concerned with improving the experience of reading a book than it is with porting over many of the things online readers already take for granted. And that may be its downfall. You can make your own comments on a book or highlight parts of it, but it is not terribly easy to share those notations with others. And forget ever loaning an electronic book to anyone who does not share your Amazon account. The digital rights management [DRM] on the device does not allow it to be transfered.
The screen is amazingly readable, as long as you have a light source (just like with a regular book). It does not have a regular computer display, but a black-and-white E-Ink screen. The scroll wheel controls a digital bar that moves up and down the right side of the screen. At first, I thought it would work like the right-hand navigation scroll bar in a browser, but it does not actually let you scroll through a page. To do that you have to hit the “Next Page or “Previous Page” buttons, which I find slightly annoying (and slower than just scrolling would have been). Also, the device has two of those “Next Page” buttons, one on the left and one on the right, which seems redundant. And you cannot reprogram them like soft keys on a cell phone of other device.
The keyboard does not feel fast enough for me in terms of responding to my fingers. (CrunchGear’s Peter Ha agrees). You have to wait too long to see the letters you type appear on the screen. Too long here being milliseconds, but the lag time is still noticeable. As far as I am concerned, I shouldn’t be able to type faster than any device can register my keystrokes. Although this is primarily a reading device, you can surf the Web and write notes or comments, so you will be typing at times.
What the device does well is provide a seamless purchasing and electronic reading experience. You can shop for Amazon books, or electronic newspaper, magazine, and blog subscriptions, right from the device, which comes with a built-in Sprint EVDO card. (There is no WiFi). Amazon bought EVDO data access wholesale from Sprint and is re-marketing it with the Kindle as Whispernet. The high-speed wireless data access comes free with the device. So everything you buy or subscribe to just gets downloaded seamlessly. This part really works well.
But Amazon must be taking a big hit up front on this. My Sprint EVDO data plan costs $60 a month. That is a consumer price. Obviously, Amazon was able to negotiate a much lower price. Even at $10 a month per Kindle, Amazon would need to sell a dozen books just to recoup its wireless network costs. Maybe it got a better deal than that, since the device is designed more for a download-and-read experience than an always-on experience. So the Kindles may not end up using a lot of bandwidth. It is not like most people are going to be downloading a new book everyday. If Amazon was able to negotiate the rate down closer to $1 a month, that would make more sense, because that would only require one or two book downloads per customer to pay for a year’s worth of wireless access. Amazon would not comment on how much it is paying for the wireless network. If it is paying Sprint on a per-device basis, it won’t really matter unless the Kindle takes off in sales.
In addition to being a book reader, the Kindle has some experimental features. One is a limited Web browser customized for the device with some preselected bookmarks including Amazon.com (in case you want to buy a digital camera instead of a book, which you can do just fine from the main Kindle shopping page), Wikipedia, Google, BBC News, Yahoo Finance, Weather Underground, and the Yellow Pages.
You can also enter any URL, including Bloglines (but not Google Reader, which requires Javascript and which the Kindle browser does not support). So here is a Kindle hack: you can check out your RSS feeds for the New York Times or the full feed of blogs like TechCrunch for free using the browser, rather than choose to pay a subscription to get them downloaded to the Kindle. I don’t have high hopes for the Kindle’s ability to bring back subscription revenues for publishers of any kind.
The fact that it has a functioning Web browser, though, means that you can follow links in the feeds you subscribe to. More importantly, it opens up the world of linking to book authors. Now books can have links, and not just for citations. Authors who take advantage of the electronic book format will start to include hyperlinks for curious readers to follow, and books could become more tightly interwoven with the culture of the Web in general. Reading a book will no longer need to end with the final chapter. Rather, it could literally open up a whole world of information on the Web, just as blog posts or online news article do today.
The other cool experimental feature is called “Ask Kindle NowNow.” You can ask any question you like and you get a response from a human researcher. This is done through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk service. I asked “Who was the first person to ever write about the Kindle?” And I git a response in a few minutes pointing me to an “early” September 11, 2007 post on Engadget. While that post does come up high in a Google search on Kindle, the New York Times had this story on September 5 (and that might not have even been the first mention of it). So NowNow was close, but did not give the best answer. Still, what do you want for free research? [Update: Scratch that. NowNow was right, after all. The Engadget article was in 2006, which I totally missed as I was hurrying to get this post up. Apologies to all].
The Kindle is definitely a step forward in the e-book category. But don’t expect it to fly off the shelves this Christmas. This is a long-term bet for Amazon. Anything it can do to move away from shipping physical goods and selling digital ones is gravy for its margins. This is not about the device. It is about delivering digital books through the ether. You can be sure that there will be more Kindles to come, and this first attempt will soon look as quaint as the first, bulky iPod.
Did you have a chance to play with the device?
I read the ars review about the sony reader and they said it took seconds each time you flick a page for the screen to update. Does this reader have the same problem?
Not. Another. Device.
As long as its legible I believe that it has a potential market.
With products like that you need to solve something that customers are already trying to accomplish.
People do want to have a mobile device where they can read stuff on the fly. Not sure if the next gen cell phones will not do this just as efficiently, though.
I had something that looked just like this back in the 1970’s.
Can’t you just use a laptop instead to read books online?
Why bother with another device like this?
Damn it’s fugly.
It looks like an etch a sketch.
hey erick, im not trying to bash or flame you but cant you make a review without even mentioning ipod? i mean this 2 arent even connected to each other and you try to compare to an ipod. i know you are an apple fanboy, but com’on im getting tired of seeing that word. i mean if this thing was suppose to be a nod to the ipod then it shoulve looked better no?
good review though.
i was just nitpicking on the ipod part…
There. Much better.
I would think that Amazon set up the deal with Sprint to be on a “per use” basis. This would negate any recurring fees and as you said, the evdo access is mostly for downloading books. Then associated costs would be linear with usage for Amazon…
Anyway, that is what I would attempt to do.
it reeks of the same reekness as the cuecat of the 90s
Am I alone here in thinking if you want to replace the traditional book, make a buck and save the environment its probably a good idea to stay with what works with the book.
Like:
1.Folding cover to protect pages ( screen) and invite people in
2.Cover title.
3. Text black on white.
Mike its more than fugly its fuseless
This looks like the best, most well thought out ebook device ever. Sadly, that’s not saying much.
Sent from my mobile using FeedM8
Can you adjust the text size on a Kindle, like you can on some websites?
Will it read the text to you, for those who are visually impaired?
Looks like the screen size is about that of a paperback book page. I am happy to hear how books will now have links and be more integrated with the rest of the web.
I love books, including their smell. Is there a “Smell This Book” tool included?
One word: FUGLY!
Go easy on Etch a Sketch , at least Ohio Art tried within the technologies available to them at the time. This is crazy. Its insane.
WTF is this>
WTF, Fugly?!?! That Etch a Sketch looks sweet.
Michael if you market that thing you’ll be doing good community service by getting all the hipsters in the mission to start reading again. Or at least that picture proves that they should put the kindle out in bright red.
Why on earth would you want to put links into a book? The best books are an immersive experience in and of themselves. Breaking away to follow a hyperlink about Sperm Whales while reading Moby Dick would probably have Melville turning in his grave.
Ok, I hear you, there is a lot to be said for background information, Sperm Whales are kind of cool. But if I have a browser in my eBook, I’d probably just google something myself. Maybe I’m old fashioned, but I say literature and links don’t mix. That being said, I could see links working for non-fiction.
Erick, the idea you point to of being able to discuss a book like a blog posting is right on. Imagine being able to form virtual book clubs on the fly! Or even live chat for others reading the same parts of the same book at the same time. This device doesn’t really support that, but it’s a first step towards a device that could.
hah. sorry to disparage the etch a sketch desik
kin·dle 1 (kndl)
v. kin·dled, kin·dling, kin·dles
v.tr.
1.
a. To build or fuel (a fire). (yeah, would make good substitute for paper/wood)
b. To set fire to; ignite. ( my thoughts exactly)
2. To cause to glow; light up: ( grey?)
3. To arouse ( certainly aroused comparison with Etch a Sketch)
1. To catch fire; burst into flame. ( If only)
2. To become bright; glow. ( read up)
3. To become inflamed. ( next investors meeting)
4. To be stirred up; rise. ( Go for it Apple)
First Impressions. iPod = Cool. Kindle = Shite.
Sent from my PC scratching my arse.
There is something toy-like about it. The industrial design definitely could use some work (Not sure that Etch-A-Sketch knobs are the answer, though they do look cute).
@1, yes, I have a device. The screen does need to update each time you hit “Next Page,” but it does not take terribly long.
@7, it is an iPod for books (and it’s white) so they were asking for a comparison
@13, yes, you can resize the fonts, and there is also a speaker for audio books (and MP3s).
The idea is great, very useful and can be taken anywhere and everywhere, but the design and look isn’t that eye-catching nor is it up to the challenge of many other hand-held devices these days. .
Real Estate Search
Erick:
-Have you played around with the e-mail function? The Kindle website indicates that you can e-mail personal documents to the Kindle for 10 cents each — is this true?
-Is it possible to transfer text files to the Kindle via the USB cable?
-Is the browser proprietary? Is the “enter url” hack confirmed to work on all units? This seems like a pretty big selling point that Amazon isn’t pushing. I wonder if it has to do with the deal they’ve got with Sprint. Hmm.
That’s all for now. Thanks!
No Wi-Fi? Just Sprint EVDO? That means it´s useless out of the US
I can’t wait to see what happens with this technology when other companies begin building their versions. Remember cellphones when they first came out? Now look at what they offer. This technology is groundbreaking and it will take a few years for everyone to jump on the bandwagon.
So does TechCrunch get a cut of the $1.99 subscription fee for the blog? If not is that fair use of the content? If so any idea of the percentage split between publisher and Amazon?
Electronic Book Reader? Amazon could not find anything else to put their money into? An mp3 player would have been a much better bet for the holiday season.
On the EVDO plan, I gotta believe (with no inside information) that Amazon’s deal with Sprint is entirely usage-based — it’s not like an inactive EVDO device is using any network resources. Maybe there’s a small rev-share up front for “activation”.
I’m also guessing that’s why blog access costs money — they have to recoup their underlying usage charges.
I’m constantly reading stuff on my blackberry(s) on the bus on my way to work… this is what I’ve been waiting for! Who cares what it looks like, at the end of the day I don’t want my eyes to bleed, and the Kindle screen looks sweet! In fact, it’s exactly the kind of device I have dreamed about owning… definitely getting one, ugly or not
One thing I can say is that it would be awesome if Amazon let me have digital versions of the books I have already bought through my Amazon account.
I have read 7 books so far on my Nokia E61 all downloaded for free from scribd
@Rishi
But Amazon is currently set up to pay publishers once for the purchase of a physical book and also once for the purchase of a Kindle book. If Amazon wants to subsidies that cost along with lowering the price of the device just to get this platform going, that might not be a bad idea.
bias review, and just reading ur post was like reading a novel.
Erick: Correct me if I’m wrong, but Engadget’s article mentioning Kindle is from 2006, no?
@36
Heh, nice catch there… Indeed, the linked Engadget article is from 2006, the NYT article is from 2007.
Actually there’s another post in Engadget from Apr 20th 2007…
The good thing about the Kindle is that by not buying it, I basically have enough free cash to buy 20 books and at today’s prices I’ll still have enough left over for a cheap bookshelf to put them on.
The dawn of the ebooks is upon us.
Let’s make the last analog product digital.
I am personally looking for a new generation of Newton from Apple that is based on the iPhones.
http://www.atiz.com
E Ink on my Motorola F3 works very well and I think it’s perfect for this kind of device.
I’d like to read more about its search function, bookmarking and all the tools for aspiring e-librarians.
Great idea, bad implementation.
Move over kids
Let Apple do it right!
If Amazon’s reader comes at $400 you can bet that if Apple made one, they’d price it at $1,000 at least. And fanboys would still buy it.
I have read 7 books so far on my Nokia E61 all downloaded for free from scribd
Amazon is *absolutely* not paying anywhere *near* $10/mo per device - not how bulk bandwidth works.
Its probably paying the same way an ISP or large website does - by 95% percentile Mbps monthly usage. With the inability to download or stream anything but 1Mb books (book purchases cover their own BW costs), the bandwidth costs are likely trivial and covered by purchases just fine.
Mobile bandwidth is kinda flip-flopped from land bandwidth - with land bandwidth, you are paying for usage (or in the consumer case, you are paying for everyones aggregate usage) - with mobile broadband, you are paying more for the fact that there is very little usage overall and helping the telco cover the infrastructure investment for now.
quote:
I asked “Who was the first person to ever write about the Kindle?” And I git a response in a few minutes pointing me to an “early” September 11, 2007 post on Engadget.
Wow. Erick, you read that so wrong.. I actually was the person at mechanical turk answering your question. Did you actually check the date? That was september 11, 2006 ! Not 2007, but an entire year earlier.
Even the link says september 11, 2006. So, that actually WAS the first mentioning of the Kindle.
Apologies accepted.
I love to read and I know that this device has gotten knocked a little, but I think it’s one of the best options out so far.
Apple, pls save the day!
Enjoyed reading your post. And …. I am in total agreement with your comments.
I am the founder of Bookyards, a free online library that has been on the web for the past 6 years. My comments and observations are too long to be put here. I invite all those who are interested to read my post on this topic at my blog
http://bookyards.blogspot.com/.....indle.html
Great article! And thxn for the RSS feed hack. I actually use an online tool called Feedity ( http://www.feedity.com ) to create custom RSS feeds, and these as well can be read on the kindle. Chao
It’s an amazing thing. Virtuality cames into reality.
Uhm, isn’t the Nile 250km longer than the Amazon?
-Blake
Google’s Mobile Reader works fine on the Kindle. However, it’s much more efficient if you’re picking a specific subscription to read — otherwise the back and scroll and click gets annoying pretty fast.
It gave me what I was looking for, which was auto-synchronization between the Kindle and my PC reader.
I believe the kindle will be great as long as it is hackable and that seems like it isn;t already a problem
http://everydayyeah.com/?q=content/kindle-review
Adoption for something as ugly as this will be slow - mo…
Apropos to this post, I just launched a service that collects RSS feeds of your choosing, converts them into Kindle-compatible HTML, and delivers them wirelessly to your Kindle. http://kindlefeeder.com
Hey, I have a teacher that wants this product but she is not sure about it. You anyone with the Kindle send me a reply at my email: griff.montgomery@hotmail.com
ablut anything on this Kindle (good or bad) Thanks
Have actually had chance to play with one of these and this really is like the i-pod for the fanatical book reader. Those of us that read a lot of books don’t necessarily want to download tons of music, but books are another idea. I loved the fake book cover that you can hold it in, makes it feel like a real book, the white screen with black writing makes it look like a book page too and the scroll buttons being on the left and right is ideal because not everyone is righthanded, so whoever the blogger was who said the other button was redundant was probably right handed!
This device is ideal for people who love to read and don’t feel the need to collect books which collect dust and use too much paper (ie: trees).
I would highly recommend this to anyone who has the dosh to afford it - it is a little pricey at the moment, but it is great because you can adjust the size of the print etc.
Some people have said why not use a laptop - well, the whole point is this is meant to feel like a book - a laptop is way heavier and cannot be easily tucked into a woman’s small purse, this fit easily into my bag and it is as light as a feather compared to my laptop (which itself is very light for a laptop).
And for those who have said why not have a scroll feature for the pages - the simple reason is you don’t read a book by scrolling down, you READ IT - book readers don’t need a scroll button, they turn a page.
And why would Amazon come up with another MP3 player, like one other blogger suggested would be a better way to make money? Because EVERYONE has an MP3 player on the market already, and they all suck in comparison to the i-pod (I know I have 3 MP3 players - 1 is an i-pod and gets used, the others are crapola and don’t!).
Amazon is onto a really good thing here - just keep it true to its book origins and try to bring the price down closer to an ipod, at $249 I think they would sell a heck of a lot of these, but even with Oprah’s discount of $50, it is still $349.