I jumped on the e-reader bandwagon thanks to a well timed Christmas 2009 gift. I write well timed because of an incident on my daily commute a few weeks earlier. That day found me lugging a couple of things: IBM Thinkpad T61, Programming WPF and Against a dark background. The two books almost equaling the laptop in volume and weight and so I said to myself how handy it would be if the two tomes were in electronic form. I must mention that I spend a significant part of my day looking into computer screens in some form or the other. After experiencing a lot of eye fatigue from backlit displays any respite I can get from them is very welcome. If the e-ink displays proved to be as tiring as a backlit display for me then the e-reader would be worthless. Its been more than 4 weeks of Kindle use, so without further ado my thoughts.
The good
I cant say how much of the display can be attributed to e-ink and how much is due to the Kindle implementation (as I haven't seen other e-readers), but for me it does exactly what "it says on the tin". The single most important criteria to me is readability; Readability under different light sources sunlight, light bulbs, office lights, headlamps in that order, is paramount. The 2 factors that affect readability are: high contrast and zero glare. Other reviewers have mentioned the black on gray as not being enough contrast, I disagree. You definitely can't crank the contrast up to be as high as white on black but I find it more than adequate. The second point is where the Kindle excels, reducing glare to practically zero. I for example try to do a lot of reading on my commute. Seeing as my train runs a north-south route I need to get a seat on the left side of the train in the morning and the same on the return trip. Well me and all the other laptop/electronic device users. With the Kindle I don't really care where I sit cause the sunlight has zero impact on my reading ability. Reading outside on the porch is also a no go with my laptop or my iPhone. Its touted IPS technology doesn't work under my sun (I suspect it'll be the same for the iPad). If you do get some glare when reading the Kindle you can always tilt it and because of its ridiculously wide viewing angle you'll definitely find comfortable reading.
The battery life is great, unbelievable for an electronic device and takes me back to the old Nokia 7360 mobile phone I used to own. That would just keep on going - to borrow a phrase. That stated the battery suffers from one very annoying flaw and its not so much with the battery but with the software. The default mode for the wireless connection is on and this drains the battery relatively quickly. I don't see the point of having the wireless connection always on with a device that is primarily for offline reading. I can only assume Amazon is aware of such a bad choice and hence the "Turn Wireless Off" menu item features so prominently (its the first menu item).
@kindle.com; This dedicated email address allows you to send attachments in different formats which are downloaded to your Kindle and appear under the "Personal Docs" category. Aside from making Kindle a good general reader it allows you to read your existing books if you have any already in electronic format. The bad
Yep as well as being the strong point this display is one of the Kindle's biggest shortcomings. I'll keep it short: it is very SLOWWWWWW. For me that translates to very noticeable lag when turning pages (you get used to it) and instances where you do not know what is happening, like when ordering from the store from the Kindle (this catches me off guard every time). Now I am going out on a limb and attributing the slow speed to the display cause thats the only technical component that makes sense. I cant imagine its the processors cause there really isn't a whole lotta of processing going on.
The Kindle
A conclusion I very much recommend getting the Kindle as the closest thing to reading a book that's out there now. Until we get that direct jack into our brains and can "know jujitsu" in the blink of an eye.
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