[Jasonmh]

Thanks to all the great and helpful replies I got in my post here:
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,7694.0.html
I ordered a Kindle2, and it just arrived yesterday. Took me about 2 minutes to figure out that almost everything I was worried I wouldn't like about a e-reader was a non-issue. I definitely am loving it.
I know there is a ton of good information on this board, but I figured I'd throw my .02 in and maybe it will help someone who is considering the Kindle. All just my opinion of course:
Pros:
- The screen is definitely nice and easy on the eyes. I don't like reading off of a computer screen, and this is nothing like that. I think they did a great job of simulating reading off of real paper.
- The device itself is sturdier than I imagined it would be. Being so thin, I imagined it would feel very flimsy, but it is pretty solid.
- The page turns are faster than I expected. I had thought that the screen refresh and/or lag time would be intrusive and interrupt the reading experience, but that was not the case. I found the page turns to be quicker than I expected (approx. the same amount of time it would take me to turn a page in a regular book), and it did not interfere with the reading experience.
- The wireless/Whispernet services seems to work very well. When I first got the device I already had 8 books queued up to download. When it started to download the first book, it was taking ~3 mins. That is plenty fast, but I thought it was supposed to be "under a minute". I was surprised to find out that it had actually downloaded all 8 books in about 3 minutes, and that is impressive.
- I found the features and navigation to be fairly intuitive, and I didn't feel like I had to spend alot of time looking things up in the user guide.
- Of course, being able to take so much reading material with you in such a small device is great

 

[Leslie]

Hey Jason, I am so glad you are loving your Kindle right off the bat. Welcome to the club....

L

 

[Jasonmh]

Cons:
Not many, and I wouldn't give it back if you paid me.  But, there are somethings that could be better, although some i admit are very small.

- The biggest thing for me was the lack of a cover.  I don't know what Amazon is thinking on this one.  For the price, and the intended use (and how it is marketed), it should at least come with some kind of a sleeve to protect it.  I know there is a good market for add on products like covers, and that is great, but I am thinking of just the most basic of protection so that you could actually take it with you somewhere without ruining it.  A simple neoprene type sleeve would atleast help keep the screen protected.  You almost have to leave it at home, because you can't put it in a purse, backpack, laptop bag, etc without scratching the screen or messing it up.  The cost of the Kindle is up there, and I bet it would only cost Amazon a dollar or two for a simple sleeve, and for the price I am amazed that it is not included. I ordered a cover when I ordered the device, but it was backordered, so I am carrying it around in the box for now  
-Lack of folder suppport.  This is not a huge deal starting out, but I have had mine for 24 hours, and I am already on 3 pages of content.  What happens when you have hundreds of books?   This wouldn't be too hard to do, even if you had to connect it to a computer to manipulate the folders.  I hope this is something that Amazon will add in the future.  My universal remote and cell phone have more folder and sorting options than the Kindle does.

Those are really the 2 biggest complaints I have right now.  There are some other things that I think would be nice to have:
- Make it easier to add your own screensavers.  Just a screensaver folder would be nice, where you could add and remove the images you want to use as screensavers.  
- The white does show dirt and smudges very well, would be nice to have an option for a an alternate color faceplate.  Alot of devices have faceplates that you can snap on and off to customize.

 

[RamTheHammer]

Welcome to the Kindle world!

I agree that folder support would be great but I would prefer native pdf if I had a choice.

Richard

 

[DD]

Cons:
Not many, and I wouldn't give it back if you paid me. But, there are somethings that could be better, although some i admit are very small.

- The biggest thing for me was the lack of a cover. I don't know what Amazon is thinking on this one. For the price, and the intended use (and how it is marketed), it should at least come with some kind of a sleeve to protect it. I know there is a good market for add on products like covers, and that is great, but I am thinking of just the most basic of protection so that you could actually take it with you somewhere without ruining it. A simple neoprene type sleeve would atleast help keep the screen protected. You almost have to leave it at home, because you can't put it in a purse, backpack, laptop bag, etc without scratching the screen or messing it up. The cost of the Kindle is up there, and I bet it would only cost Amazon a dollar or two for a simple sleeve, and for the price I am amazed that it is not included. I ordered a cover when I ordered the device, but it was backordered, so I am carrying it around in the box for now
-Lack of folder suppport. This is not a huge deal starting out, but I have had mine for 24 hours, and I am already on 3 pages of content. What happens when you have hundreds of books? This wouldn't be too hard to do, even if you had to connect it to a computer to manipulate the folders. I hope this is something that Amazon will add in the future. My universal remote and cell phone have more folder and sorting options than the Kindle does.

Those are really the 2 biggest complaints I have right now. There are some other things that I think would be nice to have:
- Make it easier to add your own screensavers. Just a screensaver folder would be nice, where you could add and remove the images you want to use as screensavers.
- The white does show dirt and smudges very well, would be nice to have an option for a an alternate color faceplate. Alot of devices have faceplates that you can snap on and off to customize.

Congratulations on your new Kindle! Glad you like it.

I think the Archive feature of the Kindle 2 is the next best think to folders. I don't keep all my Amazon books on the Kindle at all times, so it reduces the list on the Home page considerably. I just move them back and forth from the Amazon archives.

Of course, Folders would be great for organizing books from other sources.

 

[Jasonmh]

Welcome to the Kindle world!

I agree that folder support would be great but I would prefer native pdf if I had a choice.

Richard

I agree, I would love to have native PDF support as well. I downloaded the Mobipocket Creator (free), and was able to convert some PDFs to go on the Kindle. It worked pretty well, but native support would be much better.

 

[akpak]

Welcome to Kindle ownership!

I agree with you on your "cons," mostly. I don't mind the screensaver hack... It's not difficult to do, but it would be nice if you didn't have to do it.

I think if they produced different color faceplates, they'd just get stuck with whatever was "unpopular" in inventory. With the huge variety of skins available (check out the Accessories board), I don't see that as a problem. Heh. (Although I think a lot of people would have chosen black if it were an option.)

 

[Jasonmh]

... I don't keep all my Amazon books on the Kindle at all times, so it reduces the list on the Home page considerably. I just move them back and forth from the Amazon archives...

Interesting idea, I had not thought of that. I will give it a try when my list gets too long.

 

[Scheherazade]

I think the lack of a cover was to help lower costs since everyone was so up in arms about how bad the included cover was for the K1.  So many people buy their own covers that it would be a waste of money for a lot of people to have to pay for an included cover which, no matter how much they say it came for free, was included in the price of the K1.  So if you think about it, Amazon was thinking about the consumer when they didn't include the cover.  It may have ultimately been their bottom line in the end, but I think they also did it to give us more options without having to pay for one we may never use.

Someone already answered the white question.  I actually never had problems with mine smudging using it "naked" for the first two months.  I finally broke down and got a skin for it.  A few days later it slipped off my bed and slid across a wine barrel I have as a nightstand.  Scratched up my skin a little (barely noticeable unless the light hits it right) but didn't scratch my Kindle.  So skins can actually be a better solution than different colored cases.  You get alot more variety and like someone else said, Amazon can focus on the Kindle itself without having to worry about a backstock of cases that people won't buy.

I know your cons were minor and weren't so much complaining as providing a balanced commentary on your initial impressions, but I tend to play devil's advocate and hey, maybe some of the points weren't considered at first and might change how you look at things

 

[Betsy the Quilter]

Jason,

Congrats on the new Kindle and joining the Klub!

Thanks for the thoughtful and complete review of the pros and cons in your mind on the Kindle 2.  I think you've made some good points!

Betsy

 

[Bren S.]

Congrats Jason and welcome to the Kindle family.
I am sure you will find yourself luv'ing the Kindle more everyday

 

[L.Canton]

Welcome to the boards, and congratulations on purchasing a Kindle.  I think my K2 was probably one of the best investments I've made in a long time.

 

[Anju]

Congrats Jason - Glad you got your K2 and you will forget all those cons as you proceed into the world of kindle reading 

 

[jpmorgan49]

Welcome Jason!  Thanks for the enthusiastic Kindle 2 remove. I'm sure you'll have many happy hours with your Kindle and KindleBoards..
jp