The device is smaller than I thought it would be. I think I was envisioning something that was a bit thicker and maybe closer to a traditional hardback (or the oversize paperback) in size. I was happy to discover that I was mistaken. It is actually fairly thin on its own and is roughly the size of a paperback. I have taken a picture of the Kindle, in its cover, beside a "normal" size paperback book.
I did not realize that the Kindle is intended to be used inside the cover. Most of the video I've seen of the product seems to feature the Kindle outside the cover. You sort of wedge it inside the cover, hooking it in with a tab that fits into an indentation in the Kindle and anchoring it with the corners of the cover. You are then supposed to bend the front cover back to read. I must say that the cover could use some work. It did not fit securely at first. Adam did a little tweaking and it seems to fit now, but I am not confident that the cover will last. The bending back of the cover seems wrong given that it seems to crack like a hardback--going against early training in book handling. Despite that twinge, I admit that it is more comfortable to hold and read inside the cover. I used the Kindle for awhile without it and even with my relatively small hands, I experienced some discomfort. I will say that it is a good thing that some different covers are on the market now.
The screen is not backlit; it is made to look like ink and paper. I prefer it this way. I would rather be able to read it in direct light than in the dark. I really like the look of the Kindle screen. It is crisp, you can change the font sizes easily, and it is easy on my eyes. It can handle pictures fairly well too (though it certainly isn't photograph quality). Here is a picture of the Kindle in its cover, in sleep mode).
Navigating is pretty easy. There are buttons on both sides of the screen: next page, previous page, and back (will take you back to an original screen when you have followed a footnote or a link elsewhere). I haven't had much trouble with accidentally hitting the wrong button. The menus and means of selecting are straightforward. I appreciate that.
There were a few things I was worried about, but it looks like they won't be an issue. I was worried about how the pages would change. There is a flash, but it doesn't really bother me. It doesn't last long and I suspect I'll soon be able to tune it out. I can still get lost in the story. I can also write and highlight in the books. There is a highlight, clipping, and annotation feature. I can also look up words in the dictionary or in Wikipedia. I can delete books from the Kindle and if I purchased them on Amazon they are saved there so I can reload them when I want to (they also save the Annotations). The content management looks pretty good, though it would be nice to be able to do things like group a series together chronologically. I think that non-genre readers often overlook the importance of this kind of capability.
The thing that really sets this apart for me is that it is connected to Amazon.com. I can search the Kindle store on the Kindle and I can purchase books on it. They are downloaded and ready to go in about a minute. My favorite part so far has been the Sample feature. I can ask for a sample and it is sent to the Kindle. I've looked at a few titles so far and looks as if the usual amount is at least the first two chapters; it is certainly a big enough chunk to get a good idea about whether or not you're interested. There is no obligation to buy.
There are some magazine and newspaper subscriptions available, but I haven't been tempted yet. If I can buy a single issue I would do that just so I could see what it would be like. You can subscribe to blogs too, but I can't see paying for what I can browse for free on my laptop. I guess there aren't any sites out there that I feel that I must be able to get to. I do like the idea that I can do a bit of limited web browsing from the Kindle (for free). I say limited because Adam went to this site and while it did display thesacredcheese, when we tried to go to one of their listed sites it claimed it had run out of memory and that we needed to restart the device. Uncool. I will stick to my books, thank you.
So far I have sampled a few books, bought a couple (each for a little over six dollars, though most current titles are $9.99), and I went to manybooks.net and got an unabridged version of Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo for free. That was easy enough, once Adam walked me through it.
I'll be giving it a good long test when we take the train to Kansas City for our vacation. It will be so comforting to have a number of books with me and it will be great to not have to take up valuable room in the suitcase for them.
I could go on and on, but I've got some reading to do.
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