Hands-On: Amazon's Fourth-Gen Kindle Refresh

[hp79]

I looked at the $79 Kindle today at BestBuy, and they had a demo PDF file in it. I tried opening it up, and felt it is a must to use it in landscape mode because the small text.

In landscape mode, the letters still seemed a little small, but it might just work out for reading journal papers and stuff. The charts and figures looked a little small, so it might need zooming in, but I didn't test that.

I wasn't able to test the touch screen model, but I don't think it's really that useful for PDF viewing. For me, the touch screen might be more bothersome because I like to keep my fingers on the screen where I'm reading (there's lots of going back and forth when reading journal papers). So maybe I'm going to get the $79 version. Now I need to convince my wife. lol.

 

[Guest]

I just don't see the attraction with touch screen e-readers. All of the touch screen readers I have seen have had grubby marks which detract from the quality of the reading experience. Kindle Keyboard is the way to go, the difference in price is negligible. The new Amazon Kindle looks like an attempt by the company to get sales from those who were previously hesitant by the 3-figure price tag of the Kindle 3 and 3g.

 

[Guest]

It is really disappointing that Amazon sacrificed the screen quality for the new Kindle. The e-ink screen is the only reason why we choose these kind of device. Lowering its quality even for the affordable price is unacceptable.

 

[pyrrocc]

I looked at both the Kindle 3rd gen and the Nook Simple Touch. I bought the Nook because:

- It supports ePub (my local library lends in ePub)
- It has a uSD card slot (supports up to 32GB)

No matter what anyone buys, I recommend Calibre for library management. It'll do book format conversions and track the different formats for you.

 

[Guest]

When you get your hands on the touch, please look into the ability to use it take take notes, either on a book/PDF or just stand-alone. Ideally want to use it to read, take notes (not just PDF comments), and transfer those notes to PC. Thanks.