HALF-ASSED PRODUCT REVIEWS: The Kindle DX
8 Comments | Posted: August 19th, 2009 | Filed under: Half-Assed Reviews
I recently got myself a Kindle DX as a present for finishing up a particularly onerous project. As a constant reader who happens to live with another afflicted with the syndrome, I was interested in it as a way to save space and to serve as an iPod for books, a resource I could take with me, loaded with something for me to read at all times. Unlike most bibliophiles, I’ve never had the diehard fetishistic attachment for the physical; I’m too neurotic about creases in the spine or dings on the cover to genuinely enjoy having a book as more than a decorative object. Don’t get me wrong: I love a good book cover more than most, and I get into things like paper grade and type spacing, but placing a book in my courier bag and taking it outside of the home with me actually fills me with a bit of dread.
(Yes, I know that replacing a few $10 paperbacks with a $500 device is ludicrous. But indulge me, OK?)
The physical act of reading on the Kindle is a pleasure: the screen’s contrast is very close to the printed page and I learned to ignore the (admittedly disconcerting at first) screen flicker when “turning” pages. One common complain that I’ve come across is that the screen is not backlit, which means that you need a light source to read the books. The non-backlit screen, however, also means that you get a longer battery life and eyestrain is greatly reduced.
What’s most surprising about the Kindle’s screen is how well it handles black and white graphics. Much has been made of the lack of color (and trust me, I would love, love, love to put my Fantastic Four DVD archive onto this thing,) but the sixteen shades of gray are more than adequate for most black and white photos or graphics. As an experiment, I put the last year’s worth of The Rack on it and Birdie’s black and white art looks very nice; I can’t imagine most manga and indie comics wouldn’t be comparable. Can you imagine being able to carry around the complete Usagi Yojimbo or that recent ZOT! collection on one device that’s about the size of a magazine? There are issues related to the page refresh when it comes to graphics, but that’s something further generations will surely improve upon.
I also enjoy having a pretty good bookstore available at all times. Last night, I bought Roger Ebert’s The Great Movies in bed and was reading it in under a minute. That’s about as convenient as it comes. One problem is the selection: the Kindle Store says it offers 300,000+ books, but there’s quite a few titles missing that I have a specific interest in owning on the Kindle. James Ellroy’s bibliography is very underrepresented, there’s a paucity of Iain M. Banks’s material outside of a couple of the Culture novels, and there’s nothing from Hunter S. Thompson’s journalistic efforts. Hopefully, rights issues are being worked out and I’ve spent some time clicking on the “Tell The Publisher You’d Like This On The Kindle!” links scattered throughout Amazon’s site to make sure that I get a word in edgewise.
There’s other features that are part of the Kindle DX that are, at best, prototypes (hence them being under the “experimental” menu:) the text-to-speech feature is more frightening than convenient and the web browser is slower than molasses thanks to its reliance on Amazon’s Whispernet. While I have no need for the former, the latter would be very nice, especially if they improved the keyboard which is, right now, best for doing very brief searches in the Kindle Store.
Is the DX worth the price tag? Maybe not for most people in its current form, but there was a time when many thought that Apple was insane for offering an 5-gig hard drive with white, tinny earbuds for $400.
Gotta love being able to take Kindles on the airplane. I just wish I was flying around more frequently so I could use it more often
-Jack
Although the whole “deleting books you’ve already downloaded” thing is a minus, I was not aware how well the kindle did graphics. I saw that photo and immediately thought “Usagi!”. Also, all those B&W Showcases & Essentals! What kind of format does it need for user provided graphic content? Just .jpgs or what?
Gah! Why can’t it be backlit!
Like… books!
What kind of format does it need for user provided graphic content? Just .jpgs or what?
It takes pages of .jpgs and arranges them by filename. Since The Rack uses the convention 20XX-XX-XX.jpg, it automatically sorted the strips, which were stored in a .zip file. This blog entry explains it a bit better. The DX also accepts .pdf files, while the other models offer conversion of individual PDFs for a modest fee.
You know what would be cool? Instead of the “text to speech” feature just turning the text into (I assume) computer-generated sounds, it should just switch to a book-on-tape-read-by-a-real-person version. It’d be pretty neat to be able to swap back and forth between reading and listening.
Why am I imagining Jack Staff on the Kindle? Because it would rock, that’s why.
My main wishes for the kindle DX:
1) better organization of documents. Hierarchy would be nice
2) Smarter handling of pdfs. Right now it seems to render the full media box, so on some files you get huge margins and needlessly small text. It’d be nice if you could crop out the excess whitespace and thus larger text.
3) Less public domain and self-published spam in the kindle store. Fewer duplicate titles. The ability to squelch a spammy publisher so their items don’t appear in your listings at all.
4) Support for replacing the screensaver images with your own pix. I hate the sad clown Emily Dickinson picture
5) A way to turn off the auto-screensaver, for when you’re studying a diagram or code or using it as a reference and not changing the page for a long time. Since the screen only uses power when it changes, this shouldn’t drain the battery.
Kevin wrote: “One common complain that I’ve come across is that the screen is not backlit, which means that you need a light source to read the books.”
On the other hand, on non-pdfs you can increase the text to MONGO-SIZE, making it much easier to read in dim light. I’ve walked up Prospect St to Inman Square, at night, while reading my kindle by dim yellow streetlights, a few times.
Kevin wrote: “The DX also accepts .pdf files, while the other models offer conversion of individual PDFs for a modest fee.”
The fee is really for the transmission to your device. There’s a way to have Amazon convert the file and email it back to you, which is free. You just plop it on your kindle via USB.
Sandy wrote: “it should just switch to a book-on-tape-read-by-a-real-person version. It’d be pretty neat to be able to swap back and forth between reading and listening.”
Especially since, I think, Amazon owns Audible, the audio book download company, and the kindle can play their files. That could get expensive, however, and would only work with unabridged books.
Oh, and yes, the browser does kinda suck. But it’s extremely handy too. I used it on the Mass Pike to find a tow truck. I’d much rather use it than the browser on my crappy RAZR.