Opened my new Kindle 2 today after an unexpected delay because of my hospitalization and surgery, as some of you know. It arrived on Wednesday and I could have had my husband bring it to the hospital but I was really in no condition to enjoy it at that point and I worried about its safety in my room.
The excitement was almost unbearable when I got home. My wonderful husband had the unopened Amazon box set up next to my favorite chair.
I opened it and thought, "This thing is beautiful! Let me hear the reviewers criticize the looks of this one as they did K1!" (Although I loved my K1 too!)
Here are my immediate impressions and there may be more coming as I get to know more about the features:
A. What I love:
1. The top button slide to bring it out of Sleep
2. The alt/up arrow/number text spacing feature - this is genius
3. The Next and Previous Page button design - easy to use but not easy to accidentally push.
4. That there is no reason to get to the back because everything is at one's fingertips
5. The improved greyscale. The text is so sharp on mine and the page background is lighter than my K1, making it easier for me to read.
6. The sleek thinness. It feels so good in my hand.
7. That there is only one combo USB and power charger cord to keep track of.
8. That page turns are much smoother and almost unnoticeable.
9. The way the 5-way controller can delete books with a flick
10. The archived books folder so that all the books I have on Amazon don't appear on my Home Page
11. The total locations number being easily visible along the bottom with the progress bar.
I used to have to leave my book and push Menu button/Go to location to see this. (added 3/1/09)
12. The low sleek profile of the keyboard. (added 3/1/09)
B. What I wasn't crazy about:
1. The box - kind of cheesy but, then, I'm not going to be using the box and it certainly gave adequate shipping protection. What else is a box for?
It's like when I order flowers at a florist; I always tell them to put my $50.00 or so into the quality of the flowers and the arrangement, not into the container which most people get rid of or put in a closet in the garage. But, that's just me.
2. The 5-way is a little difficult to control directionally with the flat part of my finger or thumb. I find it is easy to accidentally push down when trying to do this.
I have to use my fingernail along the edge to move it and I don't have large hands. (added 3/1/09)
C. What I will reserve judgement on for a while:
1. The text to speech voice. I really wanted this for use in the gym on the treadmill. I think the electronic voice will work fine for that, especially because the pages turn as the voice is reading, making it easier to understand. But, I haven't used it on the treadmill yet, so I will let you know what I think about this later. The one page I tried it on had the phrase POW/MIA on it and the pronunciatiion was phonetic which was pretty comical but being able to see the words at the same time made it understandable.
D. What I don't like at all: (added 4/15/09)
1. The lighter text. It definitely is lighter than the K1 text at all font sizes but is not as noticeable on font sizes 5 and 6.
2. The sun-fading issue on some units. I have had this problem and am awaiting my second replacement to correct the problem.
Well, as you can probably tell by the relative length of my lists above, in the whole, I like the new features of the K2 but the less readable text is a big one for me. I hope Amazon can and will correct it.
The excitement was almost unbearable when I got home. My wonderful husband had the unopened Amazon box set up next to my favorite chair.
I opened it and thought, "This thing is beautiful! Let me hear the reviewers criticize the looks of this one as they did K1!" (Although I loved my K1 too!)
Here are my immediate impressions and there may be more coming as I get to know more about the features:
A. What I love:
1. The top button slide to bring it out of Sleep
2. The alt/up arrow/number text spacing feature - this is genius
3. The Next and Previous Page button design - easy to use but not easy to accidentally push.
4. That there is no reason to get to the back because everything is at one's fingertips
5. The improved greyscale. The text is so sharp on mine and the page background is lighter than my K1, making it easier for me to read.
6. The sleek thinness. It feels so good in my hand.
7. That there is only one combo USB and power charger cord to keep track of.
8. That page turns are much smoother and almost unnoticeable.
9. The way the 5-way controller can delete books with a flick
10. The archived books folder so that all the books I have on Amazon don't appear on my Home Page
11. The total locations number being easily visible along the bottom with the progress bar.
I used to have to leave my book and push Menu button/Go to location to see this. (added 3/1/09)
12. The low sleek profile of the keyboard. (added 3/1/09)
B. What I wasn't crazy about:
1. The box - kind of cheesy but, then, I'm not going to be using the box and it certainly gave adequate shipping protection. What else is a box for?
It's like when I order flowers at a florist; I always tell them to put my $50.00 or so into the quality of the flowers and the arrangement, not into the container which most people get rid of or put in a closet in the garage. But, that's just me.
2. The 5-way is a little difficult to control directionally with the flat part of my finger or thumb. I find it is easy to accidentally push down when trying to do this.
I have to use my fingernail along the edge to move it and I don't have large hands. (added 3/1/09)
C. What I will reserve judgement on for a while:
1. The text to speech voice. I really wanted this for use in the gym on the treadmill. I think the electronic voice will work fine for that, especially because the pages turn as the voice is reading, making it easier to understand. But, I haven't used it on the treadmill yet, so I will let you know what I think about this later. The one page I tried it on had the phrase POW/MIA on it and the pronunciatiion was phonetic which was pretty comical but being able to see the words at the same time made it understandable.
D. What I don't like at all: (added 4/15/09)
1. The lighter text. It definitely is lighter than the K1 text at all font sizes but is not as noticeable on font sizes 5 and 6.
2. The sun-fading issue on some units. I have had this problem and am awaiting my second replacement to correct the problem.
Well, as you can probably tell by the relative length of my lists above, in the whole, I like the new features of the K2 but the less readable text is a big one for me. I hope Amazon can and will correct it.