I recently purchased the Kindle 3 and very excited to have this device that lets me read documents without tiring my eyes from the backlight. I can even let it read for me in a fairly natural way “when you get used to it”. I have also played some music using this device and perfectly understand that it was not designed to be some form of music player like iPod or Zune, but does give a good sound either off it speakers or through earphones.
Things i like
- I was tired a few days ago and set the speakers “on” and the Kindle device started reading for me. I normally don't read the types of books that Kindle was reading for me. I quickly start yawning and dosing when i read those types of books, but with kindle reading for me, i lay relaxed on my bed and switched off the lights and Mr Kindle read 9 chapters for me in one evening. I was excited.
- The service is excellent. I called Amazon and spoke to support after my Kindle suddenly started showing only part of the screen and froze the half rest.
- The dictionary that can help me as i read when i focus on a word i need explained. the Kindle has an in-built Oxford American English Dictionary that, i think is excellent and well positioned for immediate help.
- The experimental music playing functionality is cool. I think it plays mp3s only, i don’t know if it plays other formats.
- The new Collections feature is also excellent. I was having problems finding books because i wanted a folder structure that would let me classify content by subject /author or date.
- The Amazon store is awesome, i like the easy way i can search for stuff and tryout – well i know many online stores bound to mobile devices have these features but i truly loved the Amazon store.
- PDF support. This is just necessary.
- Is so easy to upload files into this device. Connect it to your PC and bam! You have it act like a flash disk, copy paste, cut paste, delete.
Things that i wish could be improved
- The screens seem very fragile.
- I wish i could have a more custom dashboard type of interface. Showing books that i’m still reading, New, those on trial, new music/audio files,
- I wish Kindle could support PowerPoint presentation files.
- As a developer, i want to see ways of creating small custom apps, that could make my experience better. I know Amazon has availed the SDK for Kindle, but i think we need more documentation / api details. What happens to us .NET developers? I suppose we use mono or other linux tools like that. But where are the guidelines and best practices?
- The experimental feature for playing mp3, should rather give me some sort of playlist so i can choose what i want to play.
- Touch, gestures and these new things that most geeks are talking about. I found it quite tough to surf the internet, position my mouse click. With touch even context menus will be easier. Touch a word and get a dictionary explanation for it.
- I don’t really care much about color screen for now, but when it comes, i want to play video files too.
- Improve on that browser. I want to save the html locally and open it later where i have no connection and read it.