12 Nov 2009
I'm always sneaking cool gadgets in as birthday gifts to my wife. "Happy birthday, honey, here is your electronic grill scrubber." But this time she actually asked for a Kindle, so I didn't need to be too sneaky. The idea is that she can read while trying to hold junior. She reads a lot, so theoretically this thing should pay for itself through the lower book costs. Right?
First thoughts, as I unwrap this thing.
- So Amazon hired someone from the Apple packaging team then? Nicely done.
- I thought it had a paper screen covering on in the box. Turns out that's the screen. Amazing display. Looks like paper. Amazing! I said that.
- There is significant lag on most operations, even typing on the keypad. The screen refresh rate is low. I guess that's the very idea of this device.
- The keypad is a little finicky (used that word in two consecutive posts. Need a prize). Particularly the enter/return key which needs to be bigger IMHO.
- There is a browser, and most pages render like it's 1995 and you just fired up Mosaic. Nostalgia.
- The Amazon wireless network is called Whispernet. I immediately thought of Blue Thunder.
- The first book I wanted to buy is Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Doesn't appear to be in the Kindle Store.
- How about Neil Stephenson's Anathem? Found it. OK, let that be my first Kindle purchase then.
- OK, I can subscribe to TechCrunch. Oh, wait, that will cost me $1.99/month? Arrington, you'll stay on my Mac.
- Great, there is a blog called "Hey, It's Free!" so I'll subscribe to that, whatever it is. Oh, Hey It's Free costs $0.99/month? Hmm, OK.
The Kindle User Agent string is:
"Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; Linux 2.6.22) NetFront/3.4 Kindle/2.1 (screen 600x800)"
The main challenge this Kindle is going to face is drool and repeated punching by my son, which will no doubt occur while my wife is trying to read "Patient Parenting Tips" on it. I'll let you know how it holds up.
