E-Readers reviewed: Kindle 3. Must try harder.
Dean Johnson, Creative Director, Brandwidth gives us his review of the Kindle 3: I’m angry. Angry for two reasons: The first because I never like to start a blog post with the words “I’m angry”, the second because Amazon has failed me. I’ll get to that in a minute.
You’re an intelligent audience so I take it you all know what a Kindle is: It’s an eBook reader with a very specific role – provide the best black and white print simulation in the lightest, most conveniently-sized mobile digital device.
A pocket summary for Kindle 3’s ‘new and exciting features’ is easily condensed into one paragraph: It’s lighter, thinner, smaller and cheaper. It holds more books, its battery lasts longer and it connects to the Kindle Store via WiFi. Believe me, that’s all you need to know as far as features are concerned. Anything else, such as the ‘experimental’ web browser and apps should be left to the professionals (Apple).
So let’s take look at the Kindle’s greatest strengths: Weight, size, price and readability. Ironically, I’ve just listed the benefits of a printed novel, but remember – this is progress. The Kindle’s weight and size are far better suited to a sustained reading experience than the iPad. Sitting close to the £100 barrier further distances the Kindle from Apple’s current pricing structure. The final card to play is the Kindle’s use of E-ink, non-reflective and lacking backlighting, this is a comfortable and familiar experience and where Amazon needs to retain focus.
That wasn’t too bad then, the Kindle seems to do a decent job of being a digital book. Exactly, leave everything else to Apple as Amazon has a chance of survival if they concentrate on manufacturing an affordable reading device and nothing else.
I’ll let you into a secret at this stage – I’ve never owned a Kindle. There I’ve said it. I’ve used one but until I owned an iPad, I was quite happy to consume novels via the printed page. In dipping my toe in the water with Kindle 3, I’d like to think I am providing a fresh pair of eyes, moving directly from a technological tour de force such as the iPad to a no-nonsense eBook reader.
You may have gathered from this post that I’m quite a difficult person to please. I don’t take pleasure in complaining – far from it, I would much rather focus on the positive. However, it’s very odd moving from a device with a multitouch colour screen to an annoying rocker switch, poor navigation, greyscale book covers and buttons for page-turning that get in the way when I’m trying to hold the unit. If it weren’t for the books (my choice) it would be a poor experience.
That’s the product. I’m also a great believer in exemplary customer service through effective communication. This in turn breeds brand loyalty – a priceless commodity in the increasingly crowded consumer electronics marketplace. And so we arrive at the real reason for my “I’m angry” comment.
Amazon had the luxury of an iPad-free market at the time of their previous Kindle launches, not so for Kindle 3 as Apple’s tablet had made its mark. Having lived through (and been swept up in) the hype surrounding many Apple product launches, I was expecting a similar affair for the Kindle...
My order was placed within the window of opportunity to guarantee my Kindle would be one of the first dispatched on launch day. Herein lies the problem. Where Apple sends a regular email, with appropriate countdown and tantilising trickle of information all the way to release, I met a wall of silence from Amazon.
Launch day passed. I emailed and tweeted to see if I could engage the Amazon social media machine. Finally, an email response to let me know that my Kindle ‘might’ dispatch in the next 48 hours. Would I have heard anything without my nudge?
Three days after launch, I receive a tracking number and am then mocked as I see my package take 26 hours to travel from Milton Keynes... to Milton Keynes! Day four, the Kindle is finally here and I’m ready for action.
Digital eBook readers have three very specific criteria to meet for me to believe they offer a true alternative to a printed novel.
1. I have to be able to read it in the bath without thinking “crap, that’s another £100+ for a new Kindle”
2. I must be able to throw my e-Reader down on a sun lounger around a pool without worrying if it will be there when I return
3. I am not willing to pay a premium for portability when a novel is already portable. I can get a second-hand book in a charity shop for as little as 50p so someone has to be offering that pricing structure.
You could solve the first issue with a waterproof case but I’m able to dry the corners of a paperback without any optional extras.
The second would have to be addressed by offering a negligible cost for the hardware but the pre-loaded eBooks are still an attractive prospect for the opportunist thief.
The third is far more complicated and I’ll leave that to the publishers and digital retailers to fight out.
I’m not offering solutions here but as far as I’m concerned, restricting the places I can read and adding a keyboard to every page of my novel is not progress.
Kindle 4 must try much harder, or not at all.
FutureBook Bloggers
Platinum Sponsors
Gold Sponsors
Recent blog posts
- "E-Book Standards" - really?
- An e-book in Italy
- Author Simon Spurrier on his video trailer.....
- A song of ice and fire: Enhanced Editions
- Digital textbooks challenge from US government
- What are we waiting for?
- The book store roars back
- Cheap AND over-priced?
- Lost In Transition
- The direct-to-consumer checklist
Recent comments
- app marketing and discoverability
1 hour 18 min ago - listening
7 hours 45 min ago - Serialization is definitely on the rise
10 hours 25 min ago - Italian publishers are not so digitally Incompetent
18 hours 20 min ago - Enhanced has to be done right
23 hours 40 min ago - The ebook Revolution is coming to Denmark this year!
23 hours 44 min ago - Trailer
1 day 3 hours ago - 'Or give the hardback away
3 days 6 hours ago - Time for a New Reference Point?
3 days 10 hours ago - Asda/kobo
3 days 21 hours ago
Comments
It's funny how the history
It's funny how the history has revised that review. Kindle 3 seems to be keeping its ground, even with an iPad 2 released. And to be perfectly honest, I bought an iPad instead of Kindle. Now I regret this and wished I went with Kindle.
Derek
http://www.staymanchester.com
Not really a review?
I read your review and then thought about it. What you are actually saying is that you don't think a practical E-Reader can be produced. Your criteria are unattainable.
To meet the first your E-reader has to either be so cheap that replacement if broken isn't significantly expensive or it has to be so ruggedised that it can be mistreated and abused.
To meet the second it again has to be so cheap and commonplace that it isn't worth taking.
Finally to meet the third it also has to be very, very cheap.
So what you are basically appear to be saying is that you wouldn't spend more than a couple of quid for one. Practically it is unlikely that an E-Reader could be produced at this price point, so why bother review one at all? If any E-Reader that costs more than £5 is by your lights pointless, why bother us with any comments beyond this.
You do appear to have spent considerably more on an IPad, so presumably you judge the balance of cost against utility worthwhile for that gadget. I disagree, as I wouldn't make sufficient use of one to make shelling out that kind of money worthwhile. This is a personal judgement though, and usually reviewers give you enough information to assist you in taking a view on this for the item they are reviewing.
Most of your review is not very helpful in this regard which appears to consist of two paragraphs, four and five, which are then contradicted by paragraph seven where you adversely contrast it with an IPad (which doesn't claim to be an E-Reader) and which presumably you wouldn't recommend either in this respect (as it costs more than £5).
The rest of it appears to be a tirade against Amazon's lack of co-operation with you as a reviewer, which again bears no relation to my experience as a consumer, as in my experience, Amazon's customer service is exemplary.
So to conclude my review of your review, I think you need to rebrand your review as an opinion piece, or spend fewer words on side issues and concentrate on what the product does and how well it does the job it is supposed to compared to its current rivals.
mixing it up
I'm agreeing with Dean this far. I take the point about being able to carry more books around in a Kindle, but for me the Kindle/eReader essentially places an unnecessary layer of technology over an traditional and effective product (the paperback) without adding much to its utility. The act of reading remains the same.
Right now the same can be said of the iPad, but it promises more with its better and deeper integration with other digital media. Reading could yet be transformed in the way that music appreciation has been transformed by the iPod.
The publisher who can deliver on this promise will clean up, but there is scant evidence of the existing companies really understanding what is required.
My considered view
Sam's review feels like it's straight out of the talksport book of journalism.
E-readers fill a gap. They are not the be all and end all of reading, but they are a great way to keep people reading their favourite material:
1)I'm travelling for 3 weeks and have a 15KG allowance for my flight with no upgrade option. Rubicon (Tom Holland) weighs 399g. 14 similar sized books in my case would weigh 5.6kg. 1 Kindle weighs 0.24kg. Kindle helps me here. Plus, whereas previously due to weight and general carrying constraints I would have limited my self to a maximum number of books, with the Kindle I can take as many books as I want meaning I can choose my holiday reading on my days mood, not from my limited list. Obviously this is extreme but even on a weekend away I've got a huge number of book options literally at my fingertips with the e-reader
2)At home I need instant gratification. I'm impatient. I can download the latest novel in a matter of seconds.
3)You might as well close your eyes when trying to read from a iPad outdoor in the sun
4)Occasionally on holiday in sunny climes, paperbacks can fall apart
5)Sometimes I just want to read a trashy book and I don't want the world to know my guilty pleasure - with an e-reader I'm keeping my book choice private, there's no book cover for the world to see and judge me on
In the same way that when I get hungry it's sometimes a better experience to have a croissant and a coffee than a Sunday roast, sometimes better to play Angry Birds than Red Dead Redempton, sometimes better to have stelvin than cork, it's sometimes a better experience to use an e-book reader than a hardback or a paperback.
All valid
All valid points ct76. No matter how many benefits e-Readers offer, I still feel insulted by the manufacturers as they are failing to deliver when it comes to user interface, product design, feature sets and customer service.
I'm a demanding customer, but publishers are also being let down by lazy hardware manufacturers who stand to lose even more ground when Apple launches smaller iPads with screens that offer a more comfortable monochrome reading experience - and they will.
"2. I must be able to throw
"2. I must be able to throw my e-Reader down on a sun lounger around a pool without worrying if it will be there when I return"
So what do you do with your phone? your camera? Do the same with your kindle.
"3. I am not willing to pay a premium for portability when a novel is already portable. I can get a second-hand book in a charity shop for as little as 50p so someone has to be offering that pricing structure."
You've completely missed the point of 'portability.' The 'portability' of the kindle is its ability to make portable carrying around a number of books on one small device. I'm someone who travels a bit, as well as being a fast reader and let me tell you, having to carry around various paper books is heavy, they take up a lot of space and they're definitely NOT portable. The kindle allows you to carry thousands of books in one device that is the size and weight of ONE paperback. THAT is what the 'portable' refers to.
In reply...
2. When I'm on holiday, I leave my considerably smaller phone (with built in camera) in my hotel room whilst heading for the pool or beach to relax, switch off and be glad I've escaped with a book. Original argument still stands as you suggest I 'do the same with my Kindle'. Why would I leave it in my room if I'm round the pool? Paperback still winning for me there.
3. I haven't completely missed the point of portability - just talked about how this relates to me. Not everyone wants to carry more than one book around with them. I'll happily carry thousands of music tracks with me on an iPhone/iPod as I randomise my collection and listen to music over and over again. Not the same for my book collection. As a designer I often need access to many documents or reference material, most of which is in colour. Again, I'm not missing the point of portability, it's just that I'm not willing to accept that the Kindle delivers the right solution yet.
I love technology but it has to work damned hard to please me by doing what it's supposed to do - hence Amazon needing to lose the keyboard and get a touch screen, amongst other things. Sony has just done this but decided that we don't want a wireless connection. Now they've got to try harder.
So you are angry?
Yes, we are an intelligent audience and you tell us you don’t like Kindle because; it might sink in the bath and get destroyed. Also you don’t like Kindle because you can’t leave it on a sun lounger and not be worried if the Kindle will be there upon your return. Additionally, you are not willing to pay a premium price for a portable device because … novels are already … portable?
I don’t think Kindle 4 must try harder… But you should.
Kindle and e-books are here to stay, we like it or not. The battle is over and it is fun, just enjoy it and don’t be angry, have a hot bath.
Yep, still angry
Kindle and e-books are indeed here to stay, that doesn't mean I have to agree they've reached an acceptable standard yet. If by battle you mean between print and digital, it's far from over and it's a foolish complacent industry that thinks it is.
The digital response has to demonstrate progress for it to be a genuine alternative.
When I'm reading my book in the bath tonight, I'll still be glad the Kindle is in the other room.
One for the technological rubbish dump?
So it looks like this could go the way of Betamax, Minidisc and netbooks...
Post new comment