
Amazon Kindle To Debut On Monday - Ugly But Impressive - nickb
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/18/amazon-kindle-to-debut-on-monday/
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Kaizyn
This device is dead on arrival.

It uses the same small 6.4", 800x600 screen as the Sony Reader and has a
resolution of 167 dpi. Low quality print is at 600 dpi or more.

Even if it supports PDF format, you wouldn't want to try reading pdf documents
on it because you'd either have to shrink a page down to 35% or so of the full
size (so it fits fully on the screen) or only render 1/3 of a page at a time.

Finally, for $400, this thing is ridiculous. It's interesting that Motorola in
their low-cost cell phones (the Motorola F3) uses the e-Ink display, but these
book readers are sold/marketed as premium products. Ugh.

Go into a Borders or a Sony shop to take a look at the Sony reader to get an
idea of the screen size. The text rendering is impressive but not worth $300
or $400. e-Ink display technology is neat, but this first generation of
products is lousy.

~~~
ajmoir
Low quality is 300dpi old laser printer used to do fine at it.

I have the Sony reader and love it, but this thing is fugly.

There is different types of eink I think the phone screens are not bit mapped.

On the whole I think this is going to flop. Most people do not want to carry
around a tablet when a paperback is what they want. All the gizmos are a
waste.

Also, why add dumb features like wireless? Simplify, the ebook has a built in
mp3 player, guess how many people use it?

The sony could be improved by upping it's resolution to 300dpi, make the
screen a little bigger. Keep the same cool form factor and remove some useless
buttons. Put a front light on it. And remove the DRM, DRM will keep killing
ebooks until publishers get a clue.

I also think there is room for an ereader with a 300dpi letter sized display,
panasonic had really cool looking prototype. Give me that in a sony style
package with a pdf reader and I'll gladly fork over $1K for it.

Currently working through Guttenberg, amazing how Mickey Mouse has totally
corrupted the idea of public domain.

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tlrobinson
I plan on using the OLPC XO as an ebook reader. It's got a dual mode screen
for full color indoors and grayscale in sunlight outdoors.

Since it runs Linux I'm sure it could handle pretty much any format you throw
at it, given the right software.

$400 (including donation of a laptop to a child), so same price, but can do a
hell of a lot more. Plus it looks cool. Plus you're donating a laptop to a
child.

One week left... <http://laptopgiving.org/>

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icky
> And the cellular connectivity, which generally costs $60 or more per month,
> will be included with the device for free says a source close to the
> company.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

Now if only someone would figure out a way to decouple that from the device
itself.... :-D

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zach
It looks as if DeLorean made the Newton.

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ivankirigin
This is awesome [http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/19/live-from-the-amazon-
kind...](http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/19/live-from-the-amazon-kindle-
launch-event/)

The design is ugly, but the capabilities rock out.

~~~
ajju
I don't know man. No native pdf support, I can't get the pdf books I already
have onto it because it won't reader PDFs from the SD card. I have to PAY to
read free blogs. Sounds like a lot of potential but not much utility. I
suppose they have to defray the EVDO costs but it sucks.

~~~
ivankirigin
I would be surprised if they don't turn it into a document reader. Didn't they
mention the ability to send documents to it? What format is needed?

I'm sure there is a way to get even DRMed PDFs into the right format, though
most people won't know how or won't bother.

~~~
ajju
You have to email the files to a pre-specified address and they convert it
into the native format and push it to your device. There is a 10 cent charge
per file to do this. It seems PDF conversion isn't supported (at least from
reading the manual I found on Amazon) but that may change.

~~~
ivankirigin
Paying $10 to put the 100 ebooks you've purchased into this reader is
reasonable after paying hundreds for the device.

~~~
ajju
Think of it this way. If apple suggested that you can transfer AAC files to
the ipod for free but you have to pay 10 cents per MP3 you want to transfer,
would you like it?

Turns out there is a free alternative but it sucks (takes 15 minutes per
file)..and that's now without the system being overloaded.

Worse news...no PDF support, not even via email

[http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2007/11/19/15-things-i-just-
le...](http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2007/11/19/15-things-i-just-lea.html)

Also, what makes you think that I purchase all my documents? What about papers
I have downloaded off the web for free? Technical documents? Reports? God. The
device has USB. It has an SD card. It has EVDO. But I can't transfer my DOC
and PDF files directly without waiting for 15 minutes and/or paying 10 cents
per file?

~~~
ivankirigin
I don't people have as many ebooks as they have mp3s. A better comparison
might be $0.10 per artist.

But you're right. No PDF support is idiotic.

[edit: a tool to print an ebook to a textfile makes this easy]

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thinkingserious
I can't wait to try this thing out. Currently, I love to read eBooks on my
Pocket PC before going to sleep. The only problem is that sometimes, with a
good page turner, I may not sleep at all!

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chaostheory
$400? - I had enough trouble justifying an xbox 360 purchase... couldn't you
just do the same thing with an iphone (or one of its knockoffs)?

~~~
ajju
You can but

a) Smaller screen b) E-Ink displays are much easier on the eyes (no strain)

Still, 400 for a box that won't even let me read my PDFs or blogs that I can
read for free. No thank you, I'll continue using my 12 inch laptop (eye
straining as it is).

~~~
nickb
I read books (PDFs) on my iPhone these days. It's excellent and the resolution
is amazing. Like you said, no PDF support is a dealbreaker.

~~~
ajju
That's cool. I am curious how much of a page fits on the screen at once? 100%,
75%, 50% ? In other words how many times do you have to scroll to make it
through a page.

~~~
nickb
Depends on the PDF but you'd be amazed how high-rez iPhone's screen is... I
really like reading on it.

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run4yourlives
They should really have partnered with Apple on this... gadgets are about cool
factor and then function.

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dfranke
You weren't kidding about ugly. Looks like 1980s-era PCs.

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downer
Kindle, as in kindling, as in burn the (paper) books?

