Thoughts on Using the Kindle this Weekend

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.