Today I found out about Amazon’s (new) portable book substitute named “Kindle”. Its name — first of all — reminded me of the German word Kind, which means child. Maybe its the child of books? Then to kindle sth. itself came to my mind, having said this you probably will look at it a bit differently. Are we going to set those books on fire?
So I watched the surprising videos introducing this small device. It said it was for sale at about $399, had built-in wireless connection with no need for cellular contracts. That’s what caught my interest.
Books, as well as national and international newspapers, magazines and even special versions of blogs can be purchased right at the spot, and — if e.g. you made a subscription to a newspaper — have it delivered to you — immediately. So sad its download capabilities do not work abroad.
The other thought that came to me was the remnant image of my Apple Newton, and I started asking myself if I really had heard those strange click-beep-noises when the presenter scrolled through books and articles on it or if it only was in my imagination.
Anyway, it is for sale, at least you could have a look at their video gallery here.
Also, Newsweek has a very extensive and interesting article/review on the device.
All in all, Amazon’s Kindle seems to be a nice gadget, although I would never dare to buy one. First of all, it seems to me a bit to large, heavy, and not intuitive enough. For example the navigation keys: Scrollbar wheel, large buttons that cannot be missed, even when you only wanted to hold it steady. Many also point out that it doesn’t have backlight, which is funny, because that is what you pay for — having a readable display. However, I also have to admit that the Kindle sets new standards. Not for design, not for its usability, but clearly for its wireless approach. I can imagine its fun to have one around, and I am very excited about the next step in this direction.
