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Sunday, November 25, 2007

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Thoughts on Using the Kindle this Weekend

- Rob Bushway

I've been using the Kindle some more over the weekend, and thought it would be good to pass along some more usage thoughts.

  • I'm fearful that my Kindle will become my wife's Kindle. She has stolen it for nighttime reading.
  • I took the Kindle to church this morning to see how non-intrusive it would be, compared to a Tablet PC or UMPC. It certainly fit the bill for not bringing attention to itself and being quiet. However, as nice as it is for general reading, I did not like it at all for navigating the Bible during a sermon or class.  Having to go back to the Table of Contents, select the book, select the chapter, then hit "Next Page" to get to the verse proved to be very cumbersome. It was especially cumbersome if someone was speaking and referencing multiple books of the Bible. I prefer a paper-based Bible or something like e-Sword / OneNote on a Tablet PC / UMPC for quick navigating and notetaking during church or class. For general reading, though, the Kindle will be great.
  • In this video, I mentioned that the Experimental Web Browser on the Kindle worked quite well for navigating text-based websites. However, I experienced problems with Google Reader and Gmail because they required Javascript, and Javascript was not enabled on the Kindle. Well, Daniel Meyers emailed me to say that he found that Javascript was Disabled by default, but could be turned on. I turned it on, and now do not  get the Javascript errors. However, I still had problems getting Reader to work, and Gmail was just about worthless from a navigation standpoint. So, I loaded up the mobile versions of them, and the experience was much better. Recommendation: use the mobile version of Google products if you want browse Google using the Kindle. I probably won't fool with. Thanks for the tip, Daniel.
  • I finished my first book, Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy, and have moved on to my second book, The Nine, by Jeffrey Toobin. My wife and I are both reading the Kindle with the book cover on. We both find it easier to hold, and that it actually feels more like a real book with the cover.
  • My wife and I have used the Kindle on an off for the past four days, and the battery is at 60%. I've only charged it once, and that was last Tuesday.
  • I still don't like using the keyboard to take notes. The response time from pressing the key to it displaying on the screen is too slow.
  • I'm still happy that I bought it - it was a very good purchase.


11/25/2007 3:09 PM MST  

Thoughts on Using the Kindle this Weekend     Comments [5]  |  Digg This |  del.icio.us |  Citations 
Sunday, November 25, 2007 10:03:50 PM (Mountain Standard Time, UTC-07:00)
I feel that besides the whole whispernet feature of the Kindle, something like irex's iliad ebook reader is a better option. Maybe not for the price since it is technically 300+ dollars just for a wacom digitizer, but it allows for note taking.
Howard
Monday, November 26, 2007 2:22:49 AM (Mountain Standard Time, UTC-07:00)
The Kindle allows for note-taking too.
Anu
Monday, November 26, 2007 5:23:31 AM (Mountain Standard Time, UTC-07:00)
right, but the keyboarding of those notes is less than optimal
Rob
Monday, November 26, 2007 8:51:13 AM (Mountain Standard Time, UTC-07:00)
thats unfortunate about the bible being a little hard to use. as a seminary student i already use E sword daily and wish i could do more with my pen. though i didn't know about the esv onenote! i tried it out its pretty awesome. marked up eph 1 pretty quick in onenote! the only issue i have is the same as yours quick fliping through the bible.
creek
Monday, November 26, 2007 9:57:46 AM (Mountain Standard Time, UTC-07:00)
the problem is exacerbated by their use of menu navigation choice. At least with the OneNote version I created, you see the visible books listed and it is easy enough to click on them. Not so with the Kindle - you have to navigate backwards in order to go back to your choices to go forward. Again - good for casual reading, but not for quick navigating.
Rob
Comments are closed.


       





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