Tag: Kindle

Kindle Thoughts: A Day Later

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SANTA MONICA, CA - SEPTEMBER 6: Amazon CEO Je...

Yesterday, we quickly wrote up a few stories reporting the important details of the Amazon Kindle announcement. A day later, it is time to reflect.

Amazon has said it is about content. And they are. They started out as a bookseller, and despite being very technically adept, they’ve always used hardware as a way to move along their various content ecosystems. But we don’t quite believe them they aren’t being shrewd about the hardware too.

  • The base Kindle is now $69 with offers. We had thought it might go as low between $30 and $50, but at $69 it is still in the impulse buying range. It is almost disposable.
  • The Kindle Paperwhite is $119 with offers. It incorporates Amazon’s latest screen improvements, including a new lit design that allows for night reading as well as better contrast during the day, and still with amazing battery life. (8 hours). The 3G version is $179 with offers.
  • In the case of all three, to disable the offers is an additional $20.

So, let’s talk about a few things in the e-reader family before moving on to the Fires. Text to speech, a formerly touted feature, is gone on all Kindles(the Keyboard is still being sold, but that is legacy).

This appears to be because they will be offering Audible/Kindle book bundles in the future. To be honest, an e-reader really doesn’t need audio capability, and few people wanted to hear a book read using text to speech. More would prefer a human. So we’d imagine there wasn’t much interest in the feature, although vision impaired individuals are likely trying to figure out what they will do.

The Kindle DX is dead. No surprise there. A larger e-ink screen has its place, but there wasn’t sufficient interest.

Moving on to the Fire Line.

  • Kindle Fire(2nd generation) – $159. This is basically the same as the old Fire, but boosts the performance, memory, and battery life, also adds stereo speakers.
  • Kindle Fire HD – $199/(16GB), $249(32GB) 1280×800 resolution compared to the Fires 1024×600, Dolby Audio Speakers, dual-band/antenna wi-fi, bigger battery and more sensitive touchscreen.
  • Kindle Fire HD 8.9 – $299(16GB), $369 (32GB) – 1920×1200 display with anti-glare technology, faster processor
  • Kindle Fire HD 8.9 4G – $499(32GB), $599(64GB), adds 4G LTE and the option of a $50 a year 250MB data plan.

Some interesting facts about the new Fires.

  • Cloud Drive Storage included
  • Ads on the Lockscreen
  • Bing is the default search engine
  • Based on Android 4.0. Original Fire based on 2.3

A lot of the features that Amazon focused on were improvements to their content.

  • Whispersync for Voice, and between Audible books and Kindle books…this is just smart marketing. You can sell people the book twice by bundling them together and allowing them to switch back and forth.
  • X-Ray for Movies – They do own IMDB, and this allows them to use that data to make it easy for people to find more content…which they can now sell to you.
  • Kindle Serials – a serialized model for selling stories. A good move for a different product they can offer individuals as part of the book market.
  • Kindle FreeTime – Custom Profiles for users to restrict usage…an upgraded parental control
  • Whispersync for Games – Allowing you to sync your game data across platforms. Developers will have to build this in, but an API is likely out or will be.

There’s a lot there, but we can’t believe Amazon’s insistence that they want to be everywhere. The Kindle Fire has been out for a year, and yet there is still no native Android app for Amazon Video, and the Amazon Mobile app is not even tablet compatible. If Amazon wants hardware to advance content, they also have to release their software. The Kindle app, in varying qualities, is on everything. They should innovate features so that every device has access to the full range as soon as possible.

Then, they can truly be the indispensable source for content.

More on this in the future…but…who is going to order one of these?

 

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Will Kindle Soon Be Free?

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Slate technology columnist Farhad Manjoo insists that the Kindle wants to be free, and someday will be.

English: Latest Kindle (2011) showing Esperant...

The truth of the matter is…Amazon has been slowly reducing the price of the Kindle because their interest in its manufacture is the purchase of content, not the purchase of the device itself.

Personally, we’re skeptical about free…with the exception of bundling deals where it is part of a larger purchase. We think the base device will likely settle somewhere between $30 and $50, making it a basically disposable purchase.

Amazon is feeling more downward pressure because more affordable tablets are coming into the mainstream. Some people use these devices over the Kindle, many use it in addition to the Kindle. The e-ink Kindle offers incredible battery life, simplicity, and distraction-free reading. There will always be a place for it. And at a price point that is as close to free as realistic for Amazon to achieve.

Either way, the Kindle Fire is now sold out, as well as the Kindle Touch, and Amazon has an event scheduled for next week, where it is said we will see new Kindles.

What do you think?

 

 

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Why are People Against the Kindle Fire?

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Amazon Kindle Fire in the Box
Image by IslesPunkFan via Flickr

Last week, we picked up a Kindle Fire. It was a ‘gift’ for an older relative. But, in the name of ‘configuring’ it, we played with it for three days before delivering it. The Kindle Fire is a great device. We’re not sure why tech writers are coming out against it left and right.

The Kindle Fire is a solid device, solid enough it doesn’t really need a case. It has two small speakers, a headphone jack, a USB connector, and a power button. Simple and good. The headphone jack allegedly supports an external microphone, although the Appstore is not aware that it is sound capable.

The Amazon Appstore offers a good selection of apps, but not everything. We could live without the Android Market, although we paid for a lot of apps there we want to use. But we immediately side-loaded Gmail and the Google Services Framework, which can be installed without root access. If you are a Google mail user, apps or gmail, the Gmail app is superior to most third-party email apps, as it is customized.

The fact that the Amazon Video app is not available in the Appstore for non-Fire use is a mistake on Amazon’s part. Even if it is just for the streaming part, and not offline store and play. We tried downloading a few things, and see this as a great feature, if you are willing to buy.

In the end, handing it to an older relative, we preloaded it with Gmail, with dozens of Kindle books, with music, by hooking it into the Amazon account. We also loaded up some of their favorite apps from their cell phone. And while it is limited compared to their phone, the bigger screen makes it easier for them to read and do related surfing and apps. And it plays Wordfeud wonderfully…and if that is what you want…it’s great.

The one big annoyance is the carousel in the launcher. Visually it is pleasant, but anything you do ends up in this carousel and you can’t customize or remove it. Better off installing a ‘real’ Launcher.

Not everyone wants or needs a fully featured tablet. You can live without GPS, bluetooth, etc, if they aren’t things you need in daily life, and be perfectly happy.

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Kindle Fire isn’t a Full Tablet, but the Price is Right

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NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 28: Amazon founder J...
Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Everyone wants to compare the Kindle Fire to the iPad, or some other tablet. The truth is…it isn’t comparable. But for those interested in owning a tablet, it is a good solid option at an affordable price.

The Fire runs a stripped down version of Android 2.3, but we predict that the hacking will commence immediately, and with the recent release of the Ice Cream Sandwich source code, someone will quickly enhance the software side of things.

We did not buy a Kindle Fire, but it might be a consideration as a gift. It is a great option as a media consumption device. Magazines, videos, music…all are customized around Amazon’s media offerings.

Whatever you can say about Amazon, they offer a good variety of media services, and if you pay for Amazon Prime($79/yr), you will not want for videos to watch, even if they are not current blockbusters, Amazon is committed to adding new content.

If we do get a Fire, we’ll have more on this. In the meantime, there are a lot of reviews out there. The bottom line, it is a good product for the price, and a great entry into the tablet world. If you are trying to compare it to an iPad, which is several hundred dollars more, the comparison is flawed.

We own a Nook Color, which we’ve hacked into a full fledged Android tablet. The new Nook Tablet is pretty much, except for the guts, identical to the old. It is the closest comparison to the Kindle Fire. To be honest, Amazon is offering a more integrated experience, but the Nook Tablet offers its own advantages.

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Amazon Partners with AT&T to Offer Kindle 3G for $139

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Kindles at The Unquiet Library
Image by theunquietlibrary via Flickr

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We love the Kindle. And it continues to get less expensive. There have been predictions that a new Kindle will come before the end of the year, that the Kindle will go sub $100, that Kindles will come free with Amazon Prime, etc.

But Amazon launched the Kindle 3G with Special Offers, sponsored by AT&T for $139. That is the same price we paid for a Kindle Wi-Fi last year, so we bought one.

Many have complained about the Special Offers, but they are nonobtrusive. And, global 3G data for life is a useful thing to have. Of course, we have a smartphone, but it has a monthly fee for data. Any tablet would have a monthly fee for data. The Kindle is not for games(although it has some great simple ones). The Kindle is for reading. But some reading, for example, news, is best delivered whereever you happen to be without need to hunt for an internet connection.

Conversely, there is a value to disconnecting and focusing on one thing, rather than switching. Multitasking, some say, is preventing us from giving proper focus to any one item.

Argue as you might, but the Kindle has a place in our society. And we’ve already taken advantage of our first special offer…a book for a buck.

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Barnes and Noble offers new Nook and Amazon Kindle 3G with Special Offers

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Cover of "Kindle Wireless Reading Device,...
Cover via Amazon

 

Amazon has launched a Kindle 3G with Special Offers. The Kindle Wi-Fi with Special Offers has been their best-selling Kindle so far. The same discount of $25 off will be offered off of the regular Kindle 3G.

Barnes and Noble, meantime, released its new wi-fi only Nook, which will compete with the Kindle Wi-Fi. Unlike the Kindle, the Nook will offer a touch screen, a two month battery. It only offers one button, compared to the Kindle’s 38, with full mini keyboard.The device runs Android 2.1.

Barnes and Noble’s basic improvement over the Kindle 3, the current king of e-ink, is to eliminate the hardware keyboard in favor of a touchscreen to allow for a smaller device with the same screen. We look forward to seeing Amazon’s response, but this is a worthy competitor to the Kindle 3.

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Decluttering Your Life with an E-Reader

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Stack of books in Gould's Book Arcade, Newtown...
Image via Wikipedia

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We’ve continued to grow more and more enamoured with the Kindle as an e-reading device, especially now that it has become so comparatively inexpensive. Business Insider reported today that the Kindle with Special Offers is the bestselling Kindle.

But, how can you, as is our title, declutter your life with an E-Reader, kindle or otherwise? Start by reducing your book collection with a few simple tips.

  • Replace all your books that are in the public domain with free electronic editions.
  • If you have a shelf of O’Reilly reference books, take advantage of their $4.99 EBook upgrade. Get the e-book version of any book you own for only $4.99. They don’t specify you have to keep the book after that.
  • Identify beloved books in your collection that are falling apart. If they are worth keeping for your love of them, it may be worth repurchasing them in e-book form.
  • If you want to go to the extreme, go a step further and sell your paper books in favor of a complete digital library. You will lose money on this deal, but think of the space you’ll gain

We asked Len Edgerly of The Kindle Chronicles podcast to solicit feedback from his users, asking how many of them had actually repurchased a book they’d owned in paper form in electronic form. We recommend the podcast, even if you aren’t a Kindle owner, for his excellent and informative interviews.

What other papers other than books can you save? Well, magazines and newspapers are not quite all there yet. A big part of this is that the layout of these, when offered on e-readers, leaves much to be desired. Many pieces are omitted, or substandard. Many titles are not digitally available(More on this in the future).

What about article reading? Many people print/clip articles to take with them. There are services that will send articles to your reader. To name a few, popular service Instapaper, which we’ve mentioned before, will send you the last 20 articles you saved in it on a time schedule. You have Send to Kindle extensions and sites. There are similiar ones for other formats. An we’ve mentioned Calibre as a way of sending even more content to an E-Reader

So, what is left? Simple Note taking?

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There’s a decent app for that that might eliminate a basic notepad.

Ultimately, you can’t do everything with every device. But, imagining how much stuff we could get rid of if we moved our written materials digital is a very interesting and compelling idea. There are many things we will never part with, many books in particular. But there are plenty that our attachment is to the words, not to the form, snd would not mind compressing our collection.

What do you think?

Review: Kindle with Special Offers

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Update: The $114 Kindle has been deprecated, please try the new $79 Kindle linked above

The Gadget Wisdom labs got in the $114 Kindle with Special Offers today, on launch day for the item. As previously mentioned, the Kindle with Special Offers is, hardware-wise, identical to the Kindle Wi-Fi, currently listed at $139.

So, what do you get for your $25 savings? You get ads on the bottom of the home screen and as the screen saver, instead of random images of authors and such, you get ads. Ironically, you will likely have more dynamic screensaver options on this Kindle with Special Offers than you will on the more expensive Kindles, which do not let you customize your screensaver at all, unless you hack it.

Aside from that, the Kindle, no matter what version, has its place. Even Joe Wikert, who shuttered his Kindleville blog when he went out and bought an iPad, came back a year later, declaring the Kindle the perfect iPad accessory. We’re not quite so sure about that, but a lightweight reading device at $114, while not the magic $99 price people speak of, is inexpensive enough to feel comfortable taking it anywhere.

With Whispersync, even if the Kindle is stolen, it can be deregistered and nothing(save the device) is lost. You cannot say that about an iPad. While e-readers may change over the years, and get cheaper, we cannot say, like some pundits, that the tablet computer will make the e-reader obsolete any time soon.

That said, buy the Kindle with Special Offers. Save yourself $25. You aren’t losing anything by having ads.

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Kindle Library Lending is the Last Big Missing Feature of the Platform

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Amazon Kindle PDF

Amazon announced yesterday a new feature for the Kindle, Kindle Library Lending. In partnership with Overdrive, a company that already provides E-Book lending services for tens of thousands of libraries, Amazon will offer customers the chance to take books out of their local library.

Lending will be enabled not only on the Kindle itself, but on the ubiquitous Kindle apps. That means the books will be lent to the account, not to the individual devices within it. The service will offer not only Whispersync between devices, but the opportunity to annotate books. If you later purchase the book, your notes will return.

We’re not sure if you’ll be able to browse a library collection and take out books easily directly from the Kindle. The shopping functionality on the Kindle already lacks in ease of use compared to shopping on the Amazon site.

Unfortunately, while the announcement is now, the actual functionality will not be available until later this year. Librarianbyday.net commented on a few lingering questions.

  • Existing E-Books that libraries have will now be available in Kindle format. But it does not say definitively whether or not there will be an additional cost for this for the library
  • Are you required to link your Kindle account to your library account to the point at which data is exchanged between the two? If so, how much data? Does Amazon get to know all of your checkout history

We’ll have more on this when it actually happens.

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Amazon Releases New Ad-Supported Kindle – Save 25

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Cover of "Kindle Wireless Reading Device,...
Cover via Amazon

Amazon announced on Monday a new Kindle option, Kindle with Special Offers. It is a $139 Kindle Wi-Fi selling for $114 if you agree to have ads on it. The ads would appear as part of the screensaver, and at the bottom of the Home Page, but not inside the reading experience. This is the sort of ad experience we can live with.

Business Insider insists that this is the future of gadgets…ads that are not annoying, but are present. Remember, a newspaper has ads and people do not find them offensive. The subsidy is $25 now, but it could be more on future projects, depending on the results. And as long as the ads aren’t annoying, and you have the choice to buy adless…why not?

As for why the Kindle isn’t free with ads…there is no proven business model for that. But maybe, after this, there will be.

From a Kindle perspective, we are very disappointed that you can get a custom screensaver that shows ads, but you can’t get one that shows something other than the random authors and art Amazon chooses. Seems a shame.

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