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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2017
Editing my original review since I've discovered how to get around the biggest flaw that I perceived with the device.
If you are an avid reader and want a reasonably priced device to make your life easier, then you should definitely give the Kindle a try. Especially since Amazon tends to put this device on sale for quite a bit off sometimes. Not only can it hold a large number of books, but it allows you to use Amazon's cloud storage to easily manage your books and collections.
First off, the device itself:
Battery life: Very good, though perhaps not quite as good as advertised. It may indeed last weeks if you rarely use it, but if you are like me and keep your nose buried in a book then you should expect to charge it once every other day. Which is still very good, considering.
Non-glare screen: While much better than any device with a glossy screen, this screen still produces a glare which may require you to tilt the screen away from the light source or reposition yourself. I find it to be just a minor annoyance.
Weight: Perfect. You can hold this indefinitely with no strain on your hand or arm. I even have a thin protective case on mine and still never find myself needing to rest my arm.
Capacity: Extremely good. You won't get the entire 4GB, of course, since a portion of that space will be dedicated to the operating system, important files, and the dictionary if you have it downloaded. Even with that slightly diminished capacity, you will still be able to store hundreds of books. As an example, the book "Clean Code" is 464 pages, and the kindle version is only 42MB. The Kindle's capacity (factoring in the aforementioned reductions) is around 3,400MB.
Usage: I find this device to be very easy to use. Flipping pages just requires a light touch on the screen. Touch towards the left side to go to previous pages. Tapping the top of the screen bring up the menu allowing you to exit the book, search your library, access the table of contents, add a bookmark, etc. Swiping upwards from the bottom of the screen opens up a panel which lets you quickly scroll through the book using a scrollbar. Tapping the bottom left corner of the screen cycles through information that shows up at the bottom, giving you the current page's location id, or what percentage of the book you have already gone through and roughly how much time is left if you continue reading at the same pace. One other important note about usage. The screen is not a capacitive touchscreen, which means that you can use it while wearing regular gloves.
Collection: Have way too many books on your Kindle? Trust me...I understand the feeling! This is where Collections come into play. You can create collections that you then add books into. Then when you are navigating your library, you can tell it to only show you collections.
Adding Amazon Content: If you acquire the content through Amazon, then it is extremely simple to manage. It will automatically be added to your content on the Amazon cloud (click your Account & Lists at the top of the page, then Your Content and Devices). From there you can create collections, and then add your books to those collections. The changes are pushed to your device.
Adding Non-Amazon Content: This was really one of my only complaints. If you end up acquiring content from sources other than Amazon, it can be a bit of a hassle to add into the library. Thankfully, I recently found that Amazon has taken this into consideration, and created an application appropriately named "Send to Kindle". Once it is installed and registered to your Amazon account, it adds a "Send to Kindle" item to your context menu, allowing you to right click the eBook file on your computer and then select Send to Kindle, and it will push the book up into your Amazon cloud library for you. From there you can manage the content and add it to collections the same as you would any Amazon content. One note with registering the Send to Kindle application...if you use 2-step authentication, then in the password field of Send to Kindle enter your Amazon password followed immediately by the current 2-step key. No spaces. Sounds really weird, but it worked.
Adding Content via USB: This deserves a special note. The USB cable that came with your Kindle is not the same as other micro usb cables. This means that, while other cables may work fine to charge the Kindle, they cannot be used to transfer documents and books. Your computer likely won't even detect that the Kindle is plugged in. Just be sure not to lose that cable, and keep in mind my earlier note about using the Send to Kindle application.
On-device Purchases: You can use the Kindle to browse Amazon's books and even make purchases. Very quick and easy.
Device Browser: While the device does have a browser that can display web pages, it is not very good and you shouldn't really expect much from it. I'd recommend just ignoring it and using your smartphone or computer instead.
To sum up, the device is relatively inexpensive, easy to use, and can store a lot of books for you. The only real downside is trying to manage non-Amazon content, but the Send to Kindle application helps alleviate that pain point. If you are a reader, or you are looking for a gift for someone who is, I highly recommend this device.
If you are an avid reader and want a reasonably priced device to make your life easier, then you should definitely give the Kindle a try. Especially since Amazon tends to put this device on sale for quite a bit off sometimes. Not only can it hold a large number of books, but it allows you to use Amazon's cloud storage to easily manage your books and collections.
First off, the device itself:
Battery life: Very good, though perhaps not quite as good as advertised. It may indeed last weeks if you rarely use it, but if you are like me and keep your nose buried in a book then you should expect to charge it once every other day. Which is still very good, considering.
Non-glare screen: While much better than any device with a glossy screen, this screen still produces a glare which may require you to tilt the screen away from the light source or reposition yourself. I find it to be just a minor annoyance.
Weight: Perfect. You can hold this indefinitely with no strain on your hand or arm. I even have a thin protective case on mine and still never find myself needing to rest my arm.
Capacity: Extremely good. You won't get the entire 4GB, of course, since a portion of that space will be dedicated to the operating system, important files, and the dictionary if you have it downloaded. Even with that slightly diminished capacity, you will still be able to store hundreds of books. As an example, the book "Clean Code" is 464 pages, and the kindle version is only 42MB. The Kindle's capacity (factoring in the aforementioned reductions) is around 3,400MB.
Usage: I find this device to be very easy to use. Flipping pages just requires a light touch on the screen. Touch towards the left side to go to previous pages. Tapping the top of the screen bring up the menu allowing you to exit the book, search your library, access the table of contents, add a bookmark, etc. Swiping upwards from the bottom of the screen opens up a panel which lets you quickly scroll through the book using a scrollbar. Tapping the bottom left corner of the screen cycles through information that shows up at the bottom, giving you the current page's location id, or what percentage of the book you have already gone through and roughly how much time is left if you continue reading at the same pace. One other important note about usage. The screen is not a capacitive touchscreen, which means that you can use it while wearing regular gloves.
Collection: Have way too many books on your Kindle? Trust me...I understand the feeling! This is where Collections come into play. You can create collections that you then add books into. Then when you are navigating your library, you can tell it to only show you collections.
Adding Amazon Content: If you acquire the content through Amazon, then it is extremely simple to manage. It will automatically be added to your content on the Amazon cloud (click your Account & Lists at the top of the page, then Your Content and Devices). From there you can create collections, and then add your books to those collections. The changes are pushed to your device.
Adding Non-Amazon Content: This was really one of my only complaints. If you end up acquiring content from sources other than Amazon, it can be a bit of a hassle to add into the library. Thankfully, I recently found that Amazon has taken this into consideration, and created an application appropriately named "Send to Kindle". Once it is installed and registered to your Amazon account, it adds a "Send to Kindle" item to your context menu, allowing you to right click the eBook file on your computer and then select Send to Kindle, and it will push the book up into your Amazon cloud library for you. From there you can manage the content and add it to collections the same as you would any Amazon content. One note with registering the Send to Kindle application...if you use 2-step authentication, then in the password field of Send to Kindle enter your Amazon password followed immediately by the current 2-step key. No spaces. Sounds really weird, but it worked.
Adding Content via USB: This deserves a special note. The USB cable that came with your Kindle is not the same as other micro usb cables. This means that, while other cables may work fine to charge the Kindle, they cannot be used to transfer documents and books. Your computer likely won't even detect that the Kindle is plugged in. Just be sure not to lose that cable, and keep in mind my earlier note about using the Send to Kindle application.
On-device Purchases: You can use the Kindle to browse Amazon's books and even make purchases. Very quick and easy.
Device Browser: While the device does have a browser that can display web pages, it is not very good and you shouldn't really expect much from it. I'd recommend just ignoring it and using your smartphone or computer instead.
To sum up, the device is relatively inexpensive, easy to use, and can store a lot of books for you. The only real downside is trying to manage non-Amazon content, but the Send to Kindle application helps alleviate that pain point. If you are a reader, or you are looking for a gift for someone who is, I highly recommend this device.
