Amazon Kindle -- A Year Later?

I don't throw it into a bag full of nails and razors, so my screen has been just fine.

Must be nice...

Robear wrote:
I don't throw it into a bag full of nails and razors, so my screen has been just fine.

Must be nice... :-)

My ereader has survived 2 years of caseless bag riding, half a dozen drops and public transit/pedestrian exposure to extreme midwestern inclement weather. Not sure what you guys are doing that's causing yours to fly apart.

Kurrelgyre wrote:
Robear wrote:

I think you're very lucky, Chris. I don't know anyone who has been able to keep a naked Kindle undamaged for long. Including myself. :-)

My K4's survived since its release sans cover. I couldn't see myself spending $30+ for a form-fitting case to a device that was only $80.

Yeah, that's my logic too. The cases seem nice but they're so expensive! Plus I quite like the default rough finish on the back o the Kindle so I don't feel like I need a case to feel comfortable holding it. If my kindle had broken after a month or so then I would have had to rethink my strategy. But, at this point, it's almost a year old and going strong.

I do keep it in a padded envelope in my bag so I'm not totally careless.

I still wish that there were an easy way to have our own screen-savers for the various Kindles. I don't want to have to hack the damned thing just for that.

Just ordered my Paperwhite! Can't wait...

Did we ever figure out the upshot of the "emailing files to your kindle cloud thing costs money" thing discussed upthread? My reading of it was that you get charged $.15 per download of any personal file that you send to your @kindle.com address, but they might not charge you until you accrue $5 in charges.

If that's the case, it's not a huge deal, since it'd be about $.60 to have your average long-ish book on two devices, but I'd rather know what I'm getting charged for.

If you have a wifi-only Kindle you never get charged. The 3G ones at least used to be charged if you didn't use the @free.kindle.com address, no idea if that's changed.

Since I've got the 3g second-gen one, this is pertinent to me. What's the difference between the @kindle and @free.kindle addresses? Their documentation is kinda sparse on that distinction.

Am I the only one that thinks the higher contrast ratio of the paperwhite Kindle is a bad thing? The lower contrast ratio is the reason I prefer my Kindle to reading on my iPad.

iaintgotnopants wrote:

Am I the only one that thinks the higher contrast ratio of the paperwhite Kindle is a bad thing? The lower contrast ratio is the reason I prefer my Kindle to reading on my iPad.

Could be. Most of us are used to yellowish white paper in books. I'd have to see a Paperwhite first.

The brightness is adjustable, that should help.

iaintgotnopants wrote:

Am I the only one that thinks the higher contrast ratio of the paperwhite Kindle is a bad thing? The lower contrast ratio is the reason I prefer my Kindle to reading on my iPad.

Turning off the light will give you the same greyish contrast as the screen on the previous models, just with a higher resolution. The question is whether it's really the contrast that's off-putting or that the iPad is backlit.

iaintgotnopants wrote:

Am I the only one that thinks the higher contrast ratio of the paperwhite Kindle is a bad thing? The lower contrast ratio is the reason I prefer my Kindle to reading on my iPad.

Turning off the light will give you the same greyish contrast as the screen on the previous models, just with a higher resolution. The question is whether it's really the contrast that's off-putting or that the iPad is backlit. After a short time with the PaperWhite, I'm pretty sure it's the backlight and reflectivity.

Actually the non-lit contrast is supposed to be higher than the Pearl screens, which is the main reason I'm interested. I'm unconvinced on the lighting, I'd have to see it. My main use of it would be reading in bed and my headlamp has the advantage of providing a dash of ambient light to help with eye strain.

LiquidMantis wrote:

Actually the non-lit contrast is supposed to be higher than the Pearl screens, which is the main reason I'm interested. I'm unconvinced on the lighting, I'd have to see it. My main use of it would be reading in bed and my headlamp has the advantage of providing a dash of ambient light to help with eye strain.

The front-lit Paperwhite screen seems like it would be much superior to a head lamp.

SommerMatt wrote:
LiquidMantis wrote:

Actually the non-lit contrast is supposed to be higher than the Pearl screens, which is the main reason I'm interested. I'm unconvinced on the lighting, I'd have to see it. My main use of it would be reading in bed and my headlamp has the advantage of providing a dash of ambient light to help with eye strain.

The front-lit Paperwhite screen seems like it would be much superior to a head lamp.

Agreed. Many of the reviews say that the lighting is quite subtle at lower levels and the fact that it is effective pointing down into the device really cuts down on the ambient light.

I can't turn my iPad down low enough to not light up the room. I've tried the night-time reading modes, but they're not for me.

Paperwhite review from DetroitBORG.

Woot! My Paperwhite shipped and will be here Wednesday. Expect a compare/contrast with my Kindle 3/KB when it arrives.

Now I'm annoyed.

After the debacle with my first Kindle Fire HD (headphone jack not working), I finally convinced Amazon to send a replacement. I've had it a few weeks now, and the headphone jack on this one is having problems, only outputting to the right ear. I do my best to remember that my situation is probably very unlikely and not representative of the product as a whole, but seriously?!

Because of the advanced new audio system on the Kindle Fire HD, your headphones can only handle one channel of sound at a time.

trichy wrote:

Now I'm annoyed.

After the debacle with my first Kindle Fire HD (headphone jack not working), I finally convinced Amazon to send a replacement. I've had it a few weeks now, and the headphone jack on this one is having problems, only outputting to the right ear. I do my best to remember that my situation is probably very unlikely and not representative of the product as a whole, but seriously?!

Is the Fire headphone jack depressed at all? I'm just wondering if it is preventing your headphones from becoming fully seated. (I don't have a Fire so I don't know what the jack looks like)

Did we ever figure out the upshot of the "emailing files to your kindle cloud thing costs money" thing discussed upthread?

The way it used to work was that they were charging you for using 3G bandwidth; I assume the deal is more or less the same. They would convert it for free, and send it to your device over 3G for $X/megabyte. I think the @free.kindle.com service was (is?) just a conversion utility, where you emailed it files to convert, and it would mail them back in .azw format, for you to install over USB.

I assume they've added something new for WiFi; my Kindle doesn't have that. I would imagine it would be free, since Amazon isn't paying a cell company to send you the files. (Cellular data costs them a ton of money.)

The paperwhite has paper'd it's way to my heart.

boogle wrote:

The paperwhite has paper'd it's way to my heart.

It's shipping now, right? I ordered one the other day. After getting the Kindle HD I decided that ultimately I didn't prefer to be reading a computer monitor before going to bed. So I returned the HD and ordered the Paperwhite instead. I'm really excited to try it out.

boogle wrote:

The paperwhite has paper'd it's way to my heart.

Moar details!!!!!!!!111!!1!!1

I've been using one for about a week. I'm using the glow feature less than I thought I would, and the unlit screen looks about the same to me as my keyboard kindle. I needed to replace my old model that broke, so it's worth the money for me. But I don't notice a big difference from by prior reading experience on the old kindle.

muraii wrote:
boogle wrote:

The paperwhite has paper'd it's way to my heart.

Moar details!!!!!!!!111!!1!!1

Got mine on the 6th-ish.
Been using it instead of my old kindle. Its nice to be able to just take it anywhere and adjust the light for the surroundings. The 'X-ray' feature is also cool, lets you track occurrence of characters across chapters and the book.
The reading estimates seem to stau a bit on the long side for me, and now its switched to estimating the whole book instead of chapter. Have not figured out to change that back.
I got the brown leather case for it. Its awesome and I would recommend it. Doesn't add much weight, auto sleep and helps protect the screen.
I also like using it to a-frame the kindle for bed time reading with no hands.

ColdForged wrote:

Woot! My Paperwhite shipped and will be here Wednesday. Expect a compare/contrast with my Kindle 3/KB when it arrives.

What date did you order?

Mine is still listed as shipping 10/25. I'm getting antsy.

boogle wrote:

The reading estimates seem to stau a bit on the long side for me, and now its switched to estimating the whole book instead of chapter. Have not figured out to change that back.

You are supposed to be able to change it by tapping on that area of the screen.

I'm close to ordering a Paperwhite. Just gotta get wife approval. I gave her $500 to spend however she wanted last weekend, so I'm thinking she will be receptive to my request this week.

PaladinTom wrote:
ColdForged wrote:

Woot! My Paperwhite shipped and will be here Wednesday. Expect a compare/contrast with my Kindle 3/KB when it arrives.

What date did you order?

Mine is still listed as shipping 10/25. I'm getting antsy.

September 20th.