When you read a lot (and I think I do), sooner or later you end up having a dilemma: keep buying books and run out of physical space or get increasingly frustrated and tired with reading from the computer monitor. Luckily, there’s a third option nowadays: ebook readers. The main difference between them and tablets is the technology that’s used to display the book contents. Whereas tablet use the ubiquitous LCD screens, ebook readers sport e-ink. Leaving the details aside, the main difference for user is that LCD emits it’s own light, whereas e-ink is more like a real paper: doesn’t have its own light source and needs the external one. As a result of that, the batteries in ebook readers last for a very long time (several weeks), compared to tablets.
When I was looking for a reader for myself, my main concern was the size – I had a chance to look at Kobo and was not too happy with its 6″ screen size. After weighings all pros and cons I ended up choosing an Amazon Kindle DX.
Kindle DX Graphite Compared to 13" MacBook
I ordered it on Monday and it was delivered on Wednesday – good job, Amazon & UPS! Prior to that, once my order was processed, I’ve got a confirmation from Amazon telling me that the device has been preregistered using my Amazon account.
First impressions: the main feature of the device, its 9.2″ e-ink screen does everything that it is supposed to do: deliver a high quality paper-like reading experience. The fonts are very crisp, regardless of the size and somehow even the simplistic interface does the job. I would describe the user experience as “sufficient”. It should be noted, that since the main purpose of the device is to facilitate comfortable “real book like” reading and it does it well. Aside from that I should note that Amazon built a quite well thought through infrastructure around the whole buying process. I was able to buy a book online using my existing Amazon account and it was automatically delivered to my Kindle right after I turned it on next time (device comes with free (yes as FREE) 3G connectivity). All in all, I’m not surprised that ebooks are already outselling regular books – it costs less, doesn’t incur shipping charges and you can start reading minutes after you bought it!
I will miss good old paper books, but looks like tere’s finally an adequate replacement.
