Here is a list of things that I am not loving about my new Kindle as well as how it rates on my importance scale.
- The case that is packaged with it: I really wish that technologists would interact more with artists. While the case is slim, black and made of faux leather, it is kind of awkward. My Kindle hasn’t fallen out, the back cover does come off when pulled against the small plastic tab that’s supposed to keep it anchored to the book cover. To remedy this I am knitting my own cover.
- The documentation: I have found out more about using the Kindle from the web than I have from the documentation that was provided with the unit, both in the packaging and in the e-book user guide that comes pre-loaded. For instance, I got a tweet the other night told me how to activate a minesweeper game (thanks AG). There will be more on that later, but it’s annoying that Amazon didn’t think to document that.
- EVOD page caching: This is sort of slow, and sometimes the webpages crash leaving me to say bad words and then reset the unit using a paperclip. Now since it’s experimental I forgive this for now.
I’m not going to complain about the loading time for the EVDO pages since they have been clocked as faster than my iPhone (edge not 3G), but I don’t think that anyone has gotten this portable internet thing right yet. It’s definitely nice to be able to read CNN on the way to work and not go through dead zones. Though I have heard that some Whispernet users have hit 0 bars in some places. The tri-state area in the Northeast is pretty stable and I still have dead zones on my Verizon Blackberry for work when I drive into certain parts of my township in New Jersey, so this again is forgivable, for now.
More things I love? Oh gosh there are so many. It’s been a whirlwind romance for Kindle and I and so far I have read 8 novels and 10 textbook chapters since I turned it on. Some of them at the same time ( I usualy read several books at the same time though). Not including newsitems, homework materials and blogs.
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3 Comments
Sunday, August 31, 2008 at 2:17 pm
The thing i love the most is that you’re knitting your own cover. Very nice. Its the softer side of the tech diva.
Sunday, August 31, 2008 at 6:21 pm
It’s real leather (and suede inside).
The easiest way to fix it, btw, is to put a small dot of stick on velcro in the lower right corner (smooth part on the Kindle, so if you use it out of the cover, there aren’t loops to catch on things). This stops all sliding problems and still lets you reach behind the upper right corner to get to the on/off and whispernet controls.
The only other real deficiency I see is lack of SD card pockets – and those can be added with a tiny piece of added leather (pigskin or equivalent weight) and a good adhesive. Total cost of first fix is probably 5 or 10 cents (free if you have some left over velcro) and the second fix is maybe 50 cents to a dollar.
I wouldn’t like a knitted cover – too easy to pull/stretch and get dirty. And you’ll need to add something hard to put your attaching “cables” or whatever on, to use to hook the unit into place. There are people selling cloth covered covers – essentially like the original, but cloth (glued down, as the leather is), usually with extra pockets and a velcro dot included for you to fix the sliding problem.
Sunday, August 31, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Karen,
Thanks for that info. I didn’t know that it was real leather. That’s pretty cool to know. I am not sure I want to put velcro on the actual unit itself. But the fix seems pretty easy. Thanks so much for sharing!!