I met up with Robert Scoble last night at an Orange party in San Francisco (my photos from the party are here). He brought along his Amazon Kindle and let me and others test it out. It was the first time I’d held one - the Kindle I bought hasn’t arrived yet and my co-editor Erick covered the New York launch.
Anyway, he took video of me giving my opinion of the Kindle (thumbs down). The problem is the UI is completely non-intuitive and the screen is unreadable in medium light (it was much brighter in the room than the video suggests and it was easily bright enough to read a normal book). I was trying to simply pull up the browser and go to a web page and I couldn’t figure it out. The scroll wheel on the side is obviously designed only to frustrate users. And without any sort of mouse, I kept touching the screen to try to get it to do what I wanted (which of course doesn’t work). I also compare it in the video unfavorably to the etch-a-sketch.
I asked Robert to pull up a web browser and load TechCrunch. He did it once and it took so long I asked him if I could video it. He agreed, and did it again. It took him 55 seconds to pull up the browser and enter the TechCrunch URL. I then pulled out my iPhone and did the same thing in 14 seconds.
The Kindle can be given some slack since web browsing isn’t its core function. But web browsing on the iPhone isn’t the key feature of that device, either. Amazon just didn’t design a good device (the user interface, keyboard and screen are all very flawed), and they had all the time in the world to get it right. Hopefully v.2 will be an improvement.
Of course this is just my opinion after trying it out for a few minutes, and I’d had a couple of beers. Don MacAskill wrote up his own review after a day with the device and says its wonderful.
#37 is dead right - ebook readers will never take off because they are worse than the technology they are attempting to replace. I remember reading somewhere that the definition of a paper page is thousands of times better than any screen. That’s why your eyes never hurt after reading a book for hours.
Who brings their kindle to a party
I think I heard this conversation once before when digital cameras first came out.
I still read ebooks on my Palm Treo’s eReader.
omg scoble and arrington are such nerds
“so… that took 55 seconds, and mine took 14″ *adjusts taped glasses and snorts* “is that a 3.5 out of 10, hehe”
lame
Ever read instructions? Slapping at the screen when it isn’t touch sensitive? Reviewing something in a bar? Bitching about the browser when it’s meant for reading digital books?
You don’t come across as an exceptionally bright person after a piece like this.
Another dumbass Maczealot compares Apples and oranges.
Best part: Scoble types “www.” Someone tell him it’s 2007.
I just want to jump in and say that Michael Arrington sounds like a real idiot trying to use the touch screen on a device which doesn’t have one.
LOL.
How idiotic. I have a Kindle, I bought it to READ BOOKS! They don’t advertise the browsing ability as a key selling point but I have found it to be very useful. I can do a quick email check, check the weather, catch a few newsfeed headlines and most importantly access several free e-book websites to download free e-books on the fly. If you complain about the quality of the web browsing, mp3 playing or photo resolution you bought the wrong device dodo! If you want something that lets you get free or paid-for e-books, magazines or newspapers wireless (which they don’t even charge you for) then the Kindle works as advertised. And if the navigation seems complicated to you try reading the manual, it may not be intuitive but it’s certainly not complicated. Now put away that stupid iPhone and read a book, your brain obviously needs some exercise!